STORY: "Judge withdraws execution date in college slaying," by Associated Press reporter Michael Gracyk, published in the Star-Telegram on January 30, 2013.
GIST: "A state district judge Wednesday withdrew next month's execution
date for a 41-year-old convicted killer who now has avoided the Texas
death chamber four times. Judge Kelly Case ordered that Larry
Swearingen's Feb. 27 lethal injection be put off indefinitely, clearing
the way for DNA testing in his case. Swearingen is on death row
for the 1998 abduction, rape and strangling of Melissa Trotter, a
19-year-old Montgomery County community college student. His attorneys,
who include lawyers from the New York-based Innocence Project, contend
he didn't kill Trotter and say evidence that was never tested for DNA
would support their contention. Montgomery County prosecutors
argued the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2010 ruled that no
additional testing should be done in the case and said they were
disappointed with the decision Wednesday. "Mr. Swearingen is
probably the most guilty person in Montgomery County when it comes to
the death penalty," prosecutor Warren Diepraam said. "These defense
attorneys are the kings of stalling, and that's what they're doing." James Rytting, one of Swearingen's lawyers, called the decision "just." "The judge recognized the need to have the testing pursuant to the statute, pursuant to the law" Rytting said."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/01/30/4587253/judge-withdraws-execution-date.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty
incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the
harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into
pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology
system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent
stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please
send any comments or information on other cases and issues of
interest to the readers of this blog to:
hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
