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Inmate facing possible death sentence to learn fate next month
BY MOLLY SMITH
The Monitor
EDINBURG — A decade later, the punishment phase of a capital murder trial will start again for a death row inmate accused of killing a Donna man.
Douglas Armstrong, 47, appeared in the 370th district courtroom Wednesday before the same judge who sentenced him in 2007, after a jury decided on the death sentence upon convicting him of fatally slashing Rafael Castelan with a box cutter in 2006.
Armstrong won a new punishment trial this past November after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the defendant’s trial attorneys “failed to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation of mitigating evidence that could have been introduced during the punishment phase of his trial.”
The state’s highest court said that a more thorough investigation of “the chaotic circumstances of [Armstrong’s] childhood, fueled by a family legacy of alcoholism” and his “mental deficiency” may have convinced at least one juror to choose a life sentence over death.
Armstrong allegedly ran out of money while drinking at a Donna bar before he robbed 60-year-old Castelan and slashed his neck. He subsequently returned to the bar to continue drinking, according to witnesses.
Armstrong, however, has maintained his innocence.
In 2013, he was indicted for the 2003 murder of an Alabama woman.
On Thursday, District Judge Noe Gonzalez told Armstrong that if the state decides not to seek the death penalty during the new punishment phase, Armstrong would automatically be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. If the state does seek the death penalty, a new trial will be set for the punishment phase.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph Orendain, who tried the case more than 10 years ago, will announce the state’s decision at a Feb. 12 hearing.
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...65b7e7110.html
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They better do their job and retry him. With new evidence tying him to another murder they should get another death sentence no problem.
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Prosecution Granted More Time in 2006 Capital Murder Case
By Carolina Cruz
KRGV
EDINBURG – A judge granted the state more time to decide if they’ll seek the death penalty for a man convicted of capital murder.
Douglas Armstrong is accused of killing a Donna man in 2006.
On Monday, the state requested more time to make “a complex decision”. This means Armstrong will continue waiting before knowing what penalty he’ll be given.
Armstrong was found guilty more than 10 years ago in the death of 60-year-old Rafael Castelan.
His guilty ruling was upheld by an appellate court following an appeal in 2007. However, his death row sentence made by a jury wasn’t.
The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office has to decide whether to seek the death penalty again or not. If they chose not to, it leaves Armstrong with life in prison without parole.
If the state seeks the death penalty, evidence will have to be presented to a new jury. The state says they’re requesting more time to review documents and discuss with Castelan’s family before ultimately making their decision.
Armstrong is scheduled to return to court mid-March.
In addition, a local attorney was appointed by the judge to represent Armstrong as a backup in case his out-of-town attorney can’t be present.
Armstrong also requested to be moved with the general jail population, but that’s a decision only the county sheriff can make.
Typically, capital murder felons are kept in some form of isolation.
Count on us to continue tracking this story.
http://www.krgv.com/story/37486331/p...al-murder-case
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New Punishment Trial or Death Penalty For Inmate Convicted of Murder
By Amy Martinez
KVEO-TV
EDINBURG, Texas - The Hidalgo County District Attorney's office is expected to decide if they'll seek the death penalty in a case dating back to 2006.
47-year-old Douglas Armstrong was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing a Donna man the previous year. However, in November 2017 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Armstrong a new punishment trial.
On March 19 the district attorney’s office will decide if it'll move forward with a new punishment trial or if the death penalty is off the table.
http://www.kveo.com/news/local-news/...der/1053205029
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State opts against death penalty in 2007 Donna murder case
By Molly Smith
The Monitor
EDINBURG — A man sentenced to death more than a decade ago was given a different type of death sentence Monday: life in prison without parole.
Douglas Armstrong was sentenced to life after prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against him. The 48-year-old won a new punishment trial late last year on appeal.
A jury found Armstrong guilty of capital murder in 2007 for killing 60-year-old Rafael Castelan of Donna with a box cutter during an alleged robbery the year before. Armstrong was sentenced to death for this crime.
He has long maintained his innocence, however, and Maslon LLP — the Minnesota law firm representing him pro bono — has argued that someone else killed Castelan in a drug deal gone wrong.
According to a Nov. 28, 2017 press release the law firm issued after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Armstrong’s resentencing, Armstrong stumbled upon Castelan’s body on his way home from a Donna bar. He attempted to walk Castelan, who was critically injured, to a nearby hospital but panicked and fled after witnesses “misinterpreted the scene, called the police and drove their van at Armstrong.”
Armstrong was removed from death row after Maslon’s team successfully argued that his court-appointed trial attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel during the conviction and punishment phases of his trial.
“Armstrong’s court-appointed lawyers did nothing to prepare Armstrong’s defense,” the press release reads, charging the Hidalgo County defense attorneys with only speaking with two witnesses, failing to investigate Castelan’s history of drug dealing and failing to conduct forensic testing on the physical evidence related to the murder scene.
Although the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Maslon’s attempt to overturn Armstrong’s guilty verdict, the court ruled that his defense team “failed to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation of mitigating evidence that could have been introduced during the punishment phase of his trial,” namely the physical abuse Armstrong suffered as a child, his history of substance abuse and his cognitive impairments.
Castelan’s son was present during Monday’s sentencing, having traveled to the Rio Grande Valley from Chicago, and he expressed anger at the state’s decision not to seek the death penalty.
“I was hoping to watch you die but obviously somebody felt sorry for you,” Castelan said to Armstrong during his crime victim statement. “And I don’t feel sorry for you … you took my father …”
Now off death row, Armstrong’s legal battle is not over. Maslon noted in its November 2017 press release that it “plans to continue its long-standing fight” toward exonerating Armstrong.
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...ign=user-share
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Once a cold case, man jailed for killing Dothan woman at hotel
A man freed from death row in Texas is now in Dothan where he faces murder charges stemming from the death of a woman in 2003.
Dothan investigators believe 49-year old Douglas Tyrone Armstrong inflicted blunt force trauma to the head of 40-year old Debra Hopey Wilson. A cleaning crew discovered her body in a guest room at Beeline Inn, a downtown Dothan hotel.
For 10 years investigators struggled with the case until DNA and video evidence linked Armstrong to Wilson's death and, in 2013, a Houston County Grand Jury indicted Armstrong.
By then, he had been convicted of murdering a 60-year old man in Texas and awaited execution. However, two attorneys successfully fought to have his sentence overturned. Afterwards, prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty again and Armstrong is serving life in prison.
Armstrong, a Mobile County native, was brought to Dothan over the weekend where he will likely remain until he is tried for Wilson's murder. If convicted, he could receive another life sentence.
(source: WTVY news)