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Judge grants stay of execution for convicted murderer
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A stay of execution has been granted for a Baton Rouge man convicted of double murder.
The judge granted the temporary order Wednesday for Todd Wessinger.
A jury convicted Wessinger in 1997 for the murders of his co-workers, Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell, at the now-closed Calendar's restaurant.
Wessinger's execution was scheduled to happen on May 9.
Earlier in the month, Wessinger asked a federal judge to reconsider his request for a new trial.
There has been no word on when the judge will rule on a permanent stay of execution.
http://www.wafb.com/story/17789910/j...icted-murderer
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Hearing granted on death sentence
Todd Wessinger must receive a third federal court hearing on his push to overturn his death sentence after being convicted of murdering two workers at a Baton Rouge restaurant in 1995.
U.S. District Judge James J. Brady scheduled the hearing for Dec. 13, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
In February, Brady denied Wessinger, 44, a new trial. The judge ruled that “overwhelming” state court evidence supported Wessinger’s conviction on charges that he murdered 27-year-old Stephanie Guzzardo and 46-year-old David Breakwell at the since-closed Calendar’s restaurant on Perkins Road.
In April, however, Brady took additional defense motions under consideration and indefinitely blocked Wessinger’s scheduled May 9 execution.
On Wednesday, Brady rejected four of Wessinger’s latest five claims of state court errors.
But the judge ruled that Wessinger’s claim of “ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of the trial” is “deserving of further proceedings.”
By limiting his latest ruling to the penalty phase of Wessinger’s trial, Brady signaled his future decision would either support or overturn the jury’s imposition of the death penalty. The murder conviction stands.
Brady noted that an on-point ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which governs federal court decisions in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi — shows new claims of mental illness, low intelligence and childhood abuse can be raised at sentencing and on appeal.
The judge noted the 5th Circuit’s decision only applies to defense evidence on federal appeal that is “significantly different and stronger” than defense evidence presented to state courts.
But Brady added Wessinger cannot win a new sentencing hearing unless he can show his defense attorney’s failure to present new evidence of his claimed mental problems at sentencing was so significant that “he might not have received the death penalty.”
In April, defense attorneys argued Wessinger suffered childhood seizures and physical and emotional abuse, developed substance addictions and was traumatized by the deaths of his children prior to the murders of Guzzardo and Breakwell.
Those arguments were presented by appellate attorneys Danalynn Recer, of The Gulf Region Advocacy Center in Houston; Soren Gisleson, of New Orleans; and Federal Public Defender Rebecca Hudsmith, of Lafayette.
Assistant District Attorneys Dale R. Lee and J. Christine Chapman argued against Wessinger’s stay of execution.
Chapman and Lee told Brady the families of Guzzardo and Breakwell “have endured years of uncertainty and appeals. They undoubtedly endure harm each day that the lawful sentence of the court is not carried out, and they are clearly entitled to finality and closure.”
http://theadvocate.com/home/2860362-...death-sentence
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Federal judge throws out death sentence of man convicted in murders of Calender’s Restaurant employees
Condemned killer Todd Wessinger deserves a new sentencing hearing in the 1995 slaying of two Baton Rouge restaurant employees because his attorneys were deficient at the 1997 penalty phase of his capital murder trial, a federal judge ruled Monday when he threw out Wessinger’s death sentence.
U.S. District Judge James Brady’s 15-page decision did not disturb Wessingger’s first-degree murder convictions for the Nov. 19, 1995, shooting deaths of Stephanie Guzzardo, 27, and David Breakwell, 46, at the now-closed Calendar’s Restaurant on Perkins Road. Guzzardo managed the store.
But if Brady’s ruling stands on appeal, Wessinger, 47, of Baton Rouge, would be entitled to a new penalty phase hearing in the 19th Judicial District Courthouse.
Wessinger’s attorneys had argued to Brady that one of his trial lawyers, the now-deceased Billy Hecker, was appointed to represent Wessinger just six months before the start of the trial and was ill-prepared.
Wessinger’s attorneys also contend the jury never heard about what they have described as Wessinger’s significant neurological problems as well as compelling family issues such as poverty, abuse, violence and alcoholism.
“This Court finds there is a reasonable probability that the evidence of Petitioner’s brain damage and other impairments, as well as his personal and family history would have swayed at least one juror to choose a life sentence,” Brady wrote.
Wessinger, a former Calendar’s dishwasher at the time of the killings, shot a third employee in the back, who survived. His gun jammed when he tried to shoot a fourth worker in the head.
http://theadvocate.com/news/13022135...rows-out-death
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On August 24, 2015, the State of Louisiana filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca5/15-70027
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Two convicted murderers seek to intervene in suit over constitutionality of lethal injections
BATON ROUGE – Convicted murderers Shedran Williams and Todd Wessinger, who have been on death row since being sentenced in the 1990s, are seeking to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the method of execution used in Louisiana.
Louisiana will not be carrying out executions this year or in 2017 because of a court order challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection process. According to deathpenaltyinfo.org, a federal judge is delaying proceedings on the state’s lethal injections for 18 months, at the request of the Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. That means Louisiana could resume executions no earlier than January 2018.
The state’s execution drug expired in June 2015, meaning Louisiana did not have enough drugs to carry out executions. Louisiana law allows for either a one-drug execution using the drug pentobarbital or a two-drug formula of midazolam and hydromorphone.
Louisiana last had an execution in 2010. Since that time, the state has had to rewrite its execution protocol several times.
“We are not prepared to give a comment at this time,” Mercedes Montanges of the Promise of Justice Initiative in New Orleans told the Louisiana Record. She represents Williams, along with fellow Promise of Justice Initiative attorney Cecelia Trenticosta Kappel and attorney Letty DiGiulio.
Kappel, Montanges and New Orleans lawyer Soren Gisleson represent Wessinger.
Williams was sentenced to death for murdering Baton Rouge Police Lt. Vickie Wax in 2004 outside of a now-closed Walmart store where she was working security.
Wessinger was sentenced to be executed for the 1995 killing of Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell, employees of a now-closed Calendar’s Restaurant. Last July a federal judge threw out the sentence and ordered a new penalty hearing.
Motions were filed by Williams and Wessinger on June 28. The two are seeking to join in a suit filed in 2012 by convicted killers Jesse Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado, who had both been sentenced to death. Sepuvaldo had been scheduled to be executed in 2014. He was convicted of the 1992 killing of his 6-year-old stepson Allen Mercer after he fatally beat and scalded the boy.
Hoffman received a death sentence for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and shooting of Mary “Molly” Elliot of Covington.
Kevan Brumfield joined the suit in 2014. Brumfield had been sentenced to death for the 1993 killing of Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Betty Smothers, but he was recently re-sentenced to life in prison after he was found intellectually disabled and ineligible to be executed.
Attorney John DiGiulio of the firm Manasseh, Gill, Knipe, Belanger offered a look at the lawsuit.
“My take is that the case is seeking transparency for the process of executions,” he told the Louisiana Record.
Williams' and Wessinger’s requests to intervene in the suit are pending before U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Wilder-Doomes.
“The state has stayed the cases twice as it continues to search for a viable constitutional execution method,” John DiGiulio said.
http://louisianarecord.com/stories/5...hal-injections
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On June 21, 2017, oral argument will be heard in the State of Louisiana's appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/clerk/ca...6/15-70027.htm
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The panel was made up of Judges Dennis (Clinton), Clement (G.W. Bush) and Owen (G.W. Bush).
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/clerk/ca...6/15-70027.htm
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BR killer's death sentence reinstated by U.S. appeals court in 1995 Calendar's double-murder
By Joe Gyan, Jr.
The Advocate
Todd Wessinger's death sentence in the 1995 shooting deaths of two Calendar's Restaurant employees in Baton Rouge was reinstated Thursday by a federal appellate court in New Orleans.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Senior U.S. District Judge James Brady, who in July 2015 threw out Wessinger's death penalty in the killing of Stephanie Guzzardo, 27, and David Breakwell, 46, during a robbery at the now-closed restaurant that
Guzzardo managed. Wessinger was a former dishwasher at the eatery.
Guzzardo's father, Wayne Guzzardo, said he almost passed out and his wife nearly fell off the couch when the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office called late Thursday afternoon with the news.
"We couldn't be any happier. We thought we had been lost in the system. It's a relief," he said. "We just want justice done. At least it's a step closer."
Brady, who let Wessinger's first-degree murder convictions stand, ruled that Wessinger's trial attorneys provided him ineffective assistance at the 1997 penalty phase of his trial.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit, in a 2-1 decision Thursday, disagreed with Brady.
District Attorney Hillar Moore III applauded the court's ruling and "thorough review of the record in reinstating Wessinger's death penalty.
"This case and the appellate process has haunted these victims' families for years," he said. "Hopefully this decision will put these families closer to imposition of the jury's decision and justice for all."
Stephanie Guzzardo was making a 911 call when she was shot. She had begged Wessinger to spare her life.
Wessinger shot a third employee in the back, but that worker survived. Wessinger's gun malfunctioned when he tried to shoot a fourth employee in the head.
Wessinger's attorneys had argued to Brady that one of his trial lawyers, the now-deceased Billy Hecker, was appointed to represent Wessinger just six months before the start of his trial and was not prepared. Hecker inherited the case from Baton Rouge lawyer Orscini Beard in January 1997 after Beard was indicted on felony theft charges. Hecker's father died in April 1997.
Wessinger was convicted and condemned to die by an East Baton Rouge Parish jury in June 1997.
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rou...e87077923.html
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COA denied today by the 5th Circuit.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...12-70008.0.pdf
And the opinion yesterday reinstating the death sentence vacated by the district court:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...-70027-CV0.pdf
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James Brady was the same judge who struck down Brumfield that the Fifth Circuit reversed. Only to have SCOTUS strike it down again.