BACKGROUND: (Apart from the constitutional issue relating to clinical factors such as the development of the brain) "He received his death sentence in 1993 for killing an 82-year old man during a robbery when he was 18-years old. Here's what the jury was told about whether Wardlow would constitute a future danger to others in prison: The most chilling testimony for the state came from Royce Smithey, an investigator for a group that prosecutes felony crimes committed in Texas prisons. If the jury sentenced Wardlow to death, the investigator said, he would be “segregated” and “severely restricted” until he was executed. He would have limited access to prison employees whom he might harm. Solitary confinement on death row would punish Wardlow and protect prison employees from the continuing danger he represented, Smithey testified. But if the jury gave him a life sentence, he asserted, Wardlow would be released into the general prison population with other felony offenders. Recently, Frank G. Aubuchon, who was a correctional officer and an administrator with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for more than 26 years, reviewed Smithey’s testimony at the request of Wardlow’s current lawyers. Aubuchon wrote, “Mr. Smithey’s multiple falsehoods served to mislead the jury into believing that TDCJ would be completely unprepared to imprison Mr. Wardlow in a secure environment unless he received a death sentence. Based on my decades of experience as a TDCJ corrections officer, administrator, and prison classifications expert, I can say that this is categorically false.”
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "While waiting for trial, Wardlow wrote a confession letter to the sheriff investigating the murder. Part of it read: “Being younger and stronger, I just pushed him off and shot him right between the eyes. Just because he pissed me off. He was shot like an executioner would have done it.” He later recanted this confession, saying he believed the sheriff, who was a family friend, told him the letter was for his mental health and would be inadmissible. What has started since is a legal battle over how Texas sentences capital criminals, particularly younger offenders, to death. In the sentencing phase, the jury is asked to consider factors that could help predict the inmate’s future risk if he were to be handed life in prison without parole. While there were a number of mitigating factors that could have persuaded the jury to not hand down the death penalty, including his ongoing abuse as a child, the prosecution hammered home the confession letter and his repeated outbursts toward guards before his trial to paint a picture of Wardlow as too dangerous to not be kept on death row. There is a quiet, but growing movement to stay the execution of #BillyWardlow, who has been on death row since the mid-90s for an East Texas murder when he was 18."
-------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "State set to execute man for 1993 East Texas murder as activists and even jurors fight to have it commuted, by reporter Patrick Cunningham, published by KETK (FOX5) on July 7, 2020.
STORY: The State of Texas is set to put a Fort Worth man to death on Wednesday for the 1993 murder of an elderly East Texan when he was just 18.
The execution would be the first-ever for Titus County, a small East Texas community with a population of just over 32,000, and the first for the state since the coronavirus pandemic began this year.
Billy Joe Wardlow, 45, was just 18-years-old when he and his then-girlfriend Tonya Fuller robbed 82-year-old Carl Cole at his Titus County home.
Both victims of child abuse and neglect, Wardlow and Fuller had hoped to begin a new life together in Montana that would start by stealing Cole’s car.
But the plan went sideways when, unexpectedly, Cole put up a fight and rushed toward Wardlow. A struggle ensued and Cole was shot between the eyes, dead before he hit the ground.
Two days later, the pair was arrested in Madison, South Dakota and extradited back to the Lone Star State.
The Trial
While waiting for trial, Wardlow wrote a confession letter to the sheriff investigating the murder. Part of it read:
“Being younger and stronger, I just pushed him off and shot him right between the eyes. Just because he pissed me off. He was shot like an executioner would have done it.”
BILLY WARDLOW CONFESSION LETTER
He later recanted this confession, saying he believed the sheriff, who was a family friend, told him the letter was for his mental health and would be inadmissible.
What has started since is a legal battle over how Texas sentences capital criminals, particularly younger offenders, to death.
In the sentencing phase, the jury is asked to consider factors that could help predict the inmate’s future risk if he were to be handed life in prison without parole.
While there were a number of mitigating factors that could have persuaded the jury to not hand down the death penalty, including his ongoing abuse as a child, the prosecution hammered home the confession letter and his repeated outbursts toward guards before his trial to paint a picture of Wardlow as too dangerous to not be kept on death row.
There is a quiet, but growing movement to stay the execution of #BillyWardlow, who has been on death row since the mid-90s for an East Texas murder when he was 18.
He is set to die on Wednesday after his death sentence was delayed due to COVID-19."
The entire story can be read at:
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;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
