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Thread: Abdur Rahim Ambrose - Mississippi Death Row

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    Abdur Rahim Ambrose - Mississippi Death Row




    Harrison County jury to deliberate on death penalty for Rahim Ambrose


    GULFPORT -- A Harrison County jury will deliberate on the death penalty Friday morning after finding Rahim Ambrose guilty in the capital murder of Robert Trosclair Jr.

    Jurors convicted Ambrose, 30, after deliberating less than three hours Thursday.

    Circuit Judge Roger Clark sent the sequestered jury back to a hotel with bailiffs after a sentencing hearing ended late Thursday afternoon.

    Trosclair, 31, lived in Pass Christian with his mother.

    Three eyewitnesses and Ambrose have testified the series of beatings took place April 7, 2013, on Lobouy and Firetower roads in the DeLisle community.

    One witness said Ambrose and two other men dumped Trosclair, unconscious and unrecognizable, on the side of Cunningham Road. A motorist found him hog-tied with a tow strap just before dusk. Medical witnesses said Trosclair was already brain-dead.

    In closing arguments Thursday morning, Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker described it as "a two-hour beat-down at two locations."

    That and the element of kidnapping made Ambrose guilty of a capital murder, District Attorney Joel Smith said.

    Ambrose testified he punched and kicked Trosclair, but denied smashing his head with a car tire on its rim and denied having ever seen a garden-hose reel one of his accomplices used to strike Trosclair on the head.

    Ambrose and the other men took turns assaulting Trosclair, who never fought back, according to testimony.

    A medical examiner's testimony revealed Trosclair suffered a 4-mm midline shift in his head, among many other injuries. Trosclair had three causes of death: Blunt-force trauma to the head, stab wounds to his side and asphyxiation by strangulation.

    Defense attorney Charles Stewart, in closing arguments, urged the jury to consider the lesser charges of manslaughter or second-degree murder. He said the killing was unintentional, not premeditated and could be considered a heat-of-passion killing.

    Ambrose claimed Trosclair had stolen drugs and stereo equipment from his vehicle.

    "Rahim was mad and wanted his stuff," Stewart said.

    Smith said there was no evidence Trosclair had stolen from Ambrose, or of who stabbed or choked him.

    But, he said, "it's crystal clear" that Ambrose was part of the beatings and the kidnapping. Smith said Ambrose held Trosclair against his will after Trosclair "ran for his life down a dead-end, dirt road to the main road wearing only his shorts and socks."

    When the state seeks the death penalty, a guilty verdict is followed by a sentencing hearing.

    Defense attorney Glenn Rishel told jurors Ambrose's life has value and meaning. He asked jurors to spare his life.

    Eight friends and relatives testified Ambrose is a loving father who provided for his children and always had a job. They said the actions described in court were out of character for him.

    Several wept as they testified.

    "Lord, Jesus," Mike Henry moaned as he put his head in his hands.

    "He's like a son to me," Henry said. "I've never known him to be a violent person."

    Outside the courtroom, Vena Trosclair said she still misses her son. She said he was loving, considerate and enjoyed fishing and crabbing. She said he called her every couple of hours each day.

    "That's how I knew something was wrong when he went missing," she said.

    http://www.sunherald.com/2015/06/18/...case.html?rh=1

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    Rahim Ambrose gets death penalty in killing of Pass Christian man

    GULFPORT -- A Harrison County jury returned the death penalty Friday for Rahim Ambrose, convicted of capital murder in the kidnapping and killing of Robert Trosclair Jr., his lifelong friend.

    Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker said Circuit Judge Roger Clark read the verdict to a crowded courtroom and imposed the sentence.

    The death sentence is the fifth handed down in Harrison County since 2009.

    The jury convicted Ambrose on Thursday. Eyewitnesses testified Ambrose and two other men beat Trosclair over a two-hour period at locations on Lobouy and Firetower roads in the DeLisle community April 7, 2013.

    Trosclair was found face-down in a ditch on Cunningham Road. He was hog-tied with a ratchet strap, unrecognizable and brain-dead.

    Prosecutors said they were unable to confirm a motive.

    Only a jury can decide on a death penalty. Otherwise, capital murder carries a prison term of life without parole.

    Ambrose's family members pleaded for his life in a sentencing hearing Thursday. They said he'd had a hard life, but was a positive person who encouraged others, worked hard and supported his three children.

    They said he wasn't a violent person and his actions were out of character, but his life had value.

    Robert Trosclair's life had value, too, Vena Trosclair said Friday. He was her son.

    "He had three sons and relatives and friends who loved him just as much as Rahim's family loves him," she said. "He loved his children very much and all that was taken away."

    Robert Trosclair was a commercial fisherman who enjoyed working on the water. His mother said he was devoted to family. When his brother was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, he stayed by his brother's bedside six weeks without leaving the hospital, she said.

    "I'm relieved, but the death penalty doesn't matter much to me. Rahim will probably sit on Death Row for a long while."

    "He brought all this on himself. He made the decision to do wrong, and now my son is not here and he is."

    Justice brings some relief, she said, "But closure? You never get that."

    District Attorney Joel Smith said the hard work of the Harrison County Sheriff's Office made the verdict possible.

    "This has been a tough case and a difficult week for the Trosclair family," Smith said. "The jury's verdict provides them justice as they continue to mourn the loss of their loved one."

    Ambrose, 31, was about 9 years old when his mother's live-in boyfriend killed his father outside Isabelle's Lounge on Dec. 2, 1988. Willie Lee Dedeaux was convicted of murder for the shooting of Luke Turner. The state Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993 and sent the case back to court as a manslaughter case.

    Ambrose's mother testified she has remained in a relationship with Dedeaux and they live together.

    Ambrose's relatives said his life grew hard after his parents separated. He shared other relatives' clothes and shoes whether they fit or not, they said, and he often slept on the floor and covered his head to keep roaches off his body.

    Dominique White, the mother of two of Ambrose's children, called him "the perfect dad." She said Ambrose provided financial support while she went to college and raised their children.

    The Rev. Mark Turner, twin brother of Ambrose's slain father, said Ambrose attended church and had recently been baptized. He said Ambrose, a singer and songwriter, had planned to join the church's praise team.

    http://www.sunherald.com/2015/06/19/...says.html?rh=1

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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Ambrose's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Mississippi
    Case Numbers: (2015-DP-01159-SCT)
    Decision Date: August 2, 2018
    Rehearing Denied: October 18, 2018

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-7503.html

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    Harrison County man denied appeal of capital murder conviction, death sentence

    By WXXV News

    A man convicted and sentenced to death in the brutal beating of a Pass Christian man has been denied in his appeal in those findings.

    The state Supreme Court on Thursday handed down the decision to deny the appeal of Abdur Rahim Ambrose Sr., convicted in 2015.

    Ambrose was convicted of capital murder in the death of Robert Trosclair, 31. According to the coroner, Trosclair was beaten, stabbed and strangled to death in what the prosecutors described as a “two-hour beat-down” in 2013 at the hands of Ambrose and two others after Ambrose accused Trosclair of stealing items from his vehicle.

    Prosecutors at trial said there was no evidence of any theft.

    In his appeal, Ambrose claimed that the investigation and presentation of mitigating factors were inadequate, that the judge showed gender bias during jury selection and that the death penalty statute is arbitrary and capricious.

    All three points were denied, allowing the court to deny Ambrose’s appeal.

    https://www.wxxv25.com/2021/05/20/ha...eath-sentence/
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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Abdur Rahim Ambrose a/k/a Abdur Ambrose v. State of Mississippi
    Date: August 19, 2021
    Citation: 2018-DR-01525-SCT
    The Motion for Rehearing filed by Appellant is denied.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/mississ...me-court/2021/
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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    On September 21, 2021, Ambrose filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/mi...cv00302/112947
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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