-
On May 18, 2020, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Eaton's petition for a writ of certiorari.
Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Case Numbers: (15-8013, 16-8086)
Decision Date: July 23, 2019
Rehearing Denied: September 27, 2019
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-7810.html
-
Natrona County Prosecutor Again Will Seek Death for Murderer Dale Eaton
The Natrona County District Attorney's Office again will file a notice to seek the death penalty for Dale Wayne Eaton, who was convicted in 2004 of the murder of Lisa Marie Kimmel in 1988, and for a while was Wyoming's lone death row inmate.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Blonigen on Tuesday told Natrona County District Court Judge Daniel Forgey during a status conference conducted by video conference that he again will file a notice even though one had been filed before.
The case started in 1988, when the 18-year-old Kimmel was found in the North Platte River at Government Bridge in Natrona County on April 2, 1988. She was driving from Denver to her home in Billings, Mont., and was to pick up her boyfriend in Cody. He called to report that she never arrived.
The case remained unsolved until 2002 when researchers found DNA from her rape kit matched Eaton's, who had owned property in Moneta between Casper and Shoshoni. Her car was unearthed on the property that summer.
Eaton was tried -- during which a mental evaluation was performed and he was found competent to stand trial -- and was convicted in 2004.
The jury decided he deserved the death penalty and the court sentenced him to death, which required another mental evaluation for competency.
An appeal to the Wyoming federal court stopped that mental evaluation. The U.S. Supreme Court, after a series of legal battles in other courts over more than a decade, decided on May 18 to not hear the case.
At Tuesday's status conference, Eaton, 75, was not present.
Blonigen and Eaton defense attorney Sean O'Brien agreed for the need for the pre-death penalty mental evaluation.
However, Blonigen had objected to O'Brien or other defense attorney be present at that evaluation, saying the presence of an attorney could affect the outcome of the evaluation.
O'Brien said this is a resentencing, and not a retrial of the guilt or innocence of Eaton. Eaton cannot enter a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, because he has been convicted, O'Brien said.
He also said he's attended many mental evaluations, withdraws from the questioning, and that he doesn't interfere. But if Eaton has any discomfort such as anxiety he can ask for help and O'Brien said that would help the evaluation go forward.
Forgey set a deadline of June 19 for the Natrona County District Attorney's Office to file its documents about the sentencing mental health evaluation, and another 7 days for Eaton's attorneys to respond.
He will conduct the mental health hearing by teleconference at 2:30 p.m. July 10.
(source: k2radio.com)
-
He's like 70 something, just let him waste away at this point. Giving him what is essentially a token death sentence isn't worth the public funds
-
He's 75 bruh. I do want to see a centenarian executed so bring on the death penalty.
-
This is completely pointless. At best if he survives long enough, he will just end up another Vernon Madison. Considering he already has mental issues and his age, the chances of him being competent for execution by the time he finished the appeals process is incredibly slim.
I dont understand why you would waste money pursuing a death sentence that will never be carried out in a state that doesn't execute anyone for symbolic purposes. Why not use that money to investigate other cold cases or literally anything else.
-
Dale Wayne Eaton is 'extremely paranoid' and may not participate in mental evaluation, lawyer says
Dale Wayne Eaton -- the man whom Natrona County prosecutors are trying to put back on death row -- has a mental state so precarious that he may not be able to participate in a hearing to evaluate him, said a defense lawyer.
Sean O'Brien, the Kansas City law professor who has recently led appellate representation of Eaton, made the statement during a Friday afternoon video hearing held in Natrona County District Court.
Judge Daniel Forgey held the hearing to solicit arguments on an issue pertaining to whether Eaton is entitled to representation during his mental evaluation. The results of that evaluation could be used to prevent prosecutors from seeking Eaton's death.
Forgey did not make a determination on the issue Friday afternoon. But during the approximately 40 minute hearing -- for which Eaton did not appear -- O'Brien in addition to the statements pertaining to Eaton's mental health said that Eaton has chronic injuries resulting from a crushed pelvis.
O'Brien he believes Eaton is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to have a lawyer present during the evaluation.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Blonigen disputed O'Brien's understanding, saying that he does not believe case law cited by the defense lawyer is applicable to Eaton's circumstances.
The prosecutor as well indicated that he expects the Wyoming State Hospital -- which will be responsible for administering the examination -- may take some time to complete this portion of the sentencing process.
“I recognize that it’s highly unlikely we’ll get this evaluation done in 30 days," Blonigen said. "But it gives us a place to start.”
A jury sentenced Eaton to death following his 2004 conviction for the 1988 kidnapping, rape and murder of a teenage woman who disappeared when she was passing through Wyoming on her way home to Montana.
Eaton, though, has mounted a series of appeals since the conviction. A federal judge in 2014 threw out his death sentence, ruling that Eaton, then the state’s only death row inmate, had not received appropriate representation during the sentencing stage of the case.
His sentence remains undetermined. Wyoming law mandates that the only other sentence Eaton could face is life in prison.
But defense attorneys following the 2014 determination brought a series of appeals seeking to avert a new death sentence. After a defense appeal to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals failed, local prosecutors in 2019 announced they would again seek Eaton’s execution. O'Brien soon asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, but earlier this year it declined to do so.
Nobody else faces the death penalty in Wyoming. Although state legislators have in recent years cited the cost of death penalty prosecutions in their attempts to end capital punishment, those efforts have been unsuccessful. This year, an introductory vote on the issue failed narrowly.
(source: Casper Star-Tribune)
-
Eaton is in his mid 70s. If he were to be resentenced to death, he probably wouldn’t be executed til he was in his early 90s
-
Wyoming should just do away with capital punishment. For 1 person to be on death row awaiting a new trial, there is no structure to keep it. Eaton will never be executed even if re-sentenced to death.
-
I personally think they should keep it on the books, cause you never know what could happen in the future. Wyoming could get it’s very own Ted Kaczynsky, William Bonin, Patrick Purdy, Blaine Milam or Billy Joel Tracy
-
Edited:
Dale Wayne Eaton will undergo mental evaluation as state of Wyoming again seeks his execution
By Joshua Wolfson
Casper Star-Tribune
Dale Wayne Eaton will undergo another mental evaluation as the legal system again grapples with whether he should be executed for the 1988 murder of a Montana woman who disappeared while driving through Wyoming.
Eaton’s attorney had sought to have a defense lawyer present at his client’s evaluation, arguing such representation was required under the U.S. Constitution. But in an oral ruling delivered Monday morning, Natrona County District Judge Daniel Forgey was unmoved.
Forgey noted that in Wyoming, information from competency hearings cannot be admitted as evidence at a criminal proceeding for any issue other than the mental condition of the accused. He also noted that an appeals court had found that an attorney present at a psychiatric evaluation “could contribute little and might seriously disrupt the examination.”
Eaton’s attorney, University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Sean O’Brien, had argued his client had the right, pursuant to the Fifth, Sixth and 14th amendments to the Constitution, to have a defense lawyer present at any state-ordered competency hearing.
“The defendant is particularly concerned about 'the tendency of prosecutors to use competency evaluations as Trojan horses for their own penalty phase preparation in death penalty cases,'” Forgey said.
But the judge went on to stress that rules exist in Wyoming to make competency evaluations fair, including that the evaluator will be selected by the Wyoming State Hospital, an agency independent of the district attorney’s office.
“In this case, the defendant has counsel who are aware of the impending evaluation in its scope, and the defendant will have the opportunity to consult his counsel regarding the evaluation,” Forgey said during a 10-minute virtual hearing.
Eaton’s evaluation will be conducted in person and outside the Wyoming State Hospital, Forgey said. Eaton is currently being held at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington.
https://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...4b033ff07.html