PUBLISHER'S NOTE: So bizarre! Larry Swearingen is to be executed on November 16 because the courts have refused to permit the DNA testing Swearingen claims will help prove he did not murder Melissa Trotter. Serial killer Anthony Shore was supposed to be executed on Wednesday but has had his execution deferred because he claims Swearingen plotted with him to take the rap for the Trotter murder. Something does not fit in this ugly picture. Welcome to Texas!
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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STORY: "Montgomery County DA Ligon uncovers Swearingen scheme to have fellow inmate confess to Trotter murder," by Catherine Dominguez, published by The Courier on October 18, 2017.
GIST: "Death row inmate Anthony Allen Shore has come forward and told
Montgomery County District Attorney's Office that fellow death row
inmate Larry Ray Swearingen attempted to persuade him to take
responsibility for the murder of Melissa Trotter - the crime for which
Swearingen is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 16, 2017. Shore was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. However,
District Attorney Brett Ligon asked Gov. Greg Abbott for a 30-day stay
for Shore to review evidence found in Shore's cell. Late Wednesday, a Harris County district court judge, at the
request of Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, granted Shore a
90-day stay, according to Ligon. Trotter was last seen leaving the Montgomery College campus (now Lone
Star College-Montgomery) along Texas 242 in South Montgomery County on
Dec. 8, 1998. Her body was found by hunters in the Sam Houston National
Forest Jan. 2, 1999, north of Lake Conroe. "Larry Ray Swearingen has tried this scheme before while waiting for
his original trial," District Attorney Brett Ligon told The Courier
exclusively. "As the appellate courts have stressed, there is a mountain
of evidence supporting the conviction and execution of Mr. Swearingen.
I am not surprised in the least that he would have attempted this
scheme to avoid his overdue date with justice." According to a release from Ligon, Shore told chief investigator
Chris Smith and assistant chief investigator John Stephenson that he
conspired with Swearingen to take responsibility for Melissa Trotter's
murder, but had a change of heart shortly before his execution date and
decided to come forward with the truth and expose Swearingen's scheme. Texas plans to execute on Wednesday a man
convicted of raping and murdering five children and young women, using a
tourniquet to torture and strangle his victims.
Anthony Shore, 55, is set to be put to death by lethal injection at the
state’s death chamber in Huntsville at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT). If the
execution goes ahead, it will be the seventh this year in Texas and the
545th in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty in 1976. "Shore identified a map found in Shore's death row cell as one
of the items Swearingen gave Shore in an effort to enable him to make a
convincing admission of Trotter's murder," the release stated.
Dubbed the Tourniquet Killer, Shore was convicted of capital murder
in 2004 after he confessed to brutally slaying four young women in the
Houston area. In the interview conducted at the Polunsky unit on Oct. 17 Shore said
he initially refused Swearingen's request that he take responsibility
for Trotter's murder, but eventually became friends with Swearingen and
agreed to try to exonerate Swearingen of the crime as a favor to
Swearingen, according to the DA's office. He said that Swearingen gave
him a hand-drawn map of the location where Swearingen had left physical
evidence of the murder of Melissa Trotter. According to Ligon, Shore's revelation came shortly after he asked
Gov. Greg Abbott to grant Shore a single 30 day reprieve, in order to
allow him to complete an investigation of the materials found in Shore's
cell on death row at the Polunsky Unit July 21.
That request remains pending at this time.
She says the notorious Tourniquet Killer "should be killed" Harris County District Attorney's Office conducted an inventory of
the contents of Shore's cell in July, in anticipation of a potential
claim regarding Shore's mental health. "They discovered a folder containing approximately ten items
pertaining to the murder of Melissa Trotter, including copies of court
exhibits and scene photographs; a hand-drawn page of a calendar for the
month of December, 1998, with handwritten notations regarding weather
conditions; and a hand-drawn map which appears to depict the location
where Melissa Trotter's body was found," the DA release stated. "The
handwriting on the map is dissimilar to Shore's distinctive handwriting,
but bears similarities to Swearingen's hand-writing." The Harris County District Attorney's Office informed the Montgomery
County District Attorney of the discovery of the material in Shore's
cell on September 1 after the District Court for the Ninth Judicial
District issued an order setting an execution date for Swearingen. Ligon launched the investigation that led to an interview with a
woman who had visited Shore at the Polunsky Unit. She said that Shore
told her that he expected to take responsibility for Melissa Trotter's
murder shortly before Shore's execution. She also said that Shore was
aware of the location of physical evidence pertaining to Trotter's
murder, according to the DA's office.
Ligon said he would not provide any further details."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/Montgomery-County-DA-Ligon-uncovers-Swearingen-12287634.php
Read CBS (Associated Press story on the judge's order to temporarily halt Anthony Shore's execution at the link below:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-tourniquet-killer-anthony-shore-execution-halted/
Read this Blog's most recent post on Larry Swearingen (October 5, 2017) at the link below. (I have been covering his claims of innocence and the DNA issues in his case for years. HL)..."Larry Swearingen: Death Row; Texas: Jeff Gamso (Gamso for the Defence)
revisits the Larry Swearingen case, in another memorable 'Commentary by
an Ohio Criminal Defence Lawyer.'..."It's been a while, years in fact,
since I've written about Larry Swearingen who did not kill Melissa
Trotter. That's the same Larry Swearingen the good people of the State
of Texas intend to kill on November 16 for the murder of Melissa
Trotter. The same Melissa Trotter Larry Swearingen did not kill."..This
'Gamso - For the Defence post' is brilliantly headed: "Did Kellyanne
Conway murder Melissa Trotter?"..."Part I: Larry Swearingen was in
police custody when Melissa Trotter was elsewhere getting killed. That
seems incontestable. The Texas courts don't care. The prosecutors
don't care. After all, there's all that circumstantial evidence and
junk science that points to him. Therefore he's guilty. Proof that
he's innocent would be, I don't know . . . . Wait, I got it. Alternative
Facts. Cool. Let's blame the killing on Kellanne Conway. I don't know
where she was at the time. Anyhow, whoever killed Melissa Trotter, it
wasn't Larry Swearingen. But, again, the courts don't care. The
prosecutors don't care. And Texas plans to kill him on November 16."
https://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2017/10/larry-swearingen-death-row-texas-jeff.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the
Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.
