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Thread: Claude Lee Wilkerson - Texas

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    Claude Lee Wilkerson - Texas

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    Claude Lee Wilkerson Inmate Number 648

    On January 23, 1978, three men working at a Jewelry store in Houston were kidnapped. They were taken to a farm in Shiner and shot and killed.

    Wilkerson was one of four men arrested in 1978 in connection with the slayings of three people who were taken hostage during a jewelry store robbery in Texas. The victims’ bodies were later found in a shallow grave, according to a 1987 Associated Press article.

    Wilkerson was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of one of the victims and sentenced to death. He entered a Texas state prison in 1979, Texas Department of Public Safety records show.

    He was release on bond, however, in 1983 after the Texas Court of Appeals, in a split decision, reversed Wilkerson’s conviction, ruling police had illegally obtained his confession because he didn’t waive his Miranda rights.

    A Texas state district court judge later agreed and tossed out the evidence that accompanied the confession.

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear prosecutors’ appeal.

    With no confession and no evidence to build a case on, prosecutors in 1987 dismissed the charges against Wilkerson, according to the Associated Press article.

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/artic...s-on-death-row

    If anyone wants to read the news article about Wilkerson's release here it is.

    https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,5030781&hl=en
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Rape suspect was on death row

    The Gateway man suspected of kidnapping and raping a woman is a former Texas death row inmate who was exonerated after a judge threw out his confession — and all the related evidence — nearly 30 years ago, The Daily Sentinel has learned.

    Mesa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Henry Stoffel confirmed that the Claude Lee Wilkerson who is being held in the Mesa County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond is the same man who spent four years on death row before he was freed from a Texas state prison in 1983.

    Authorities continue to say little about their investigation into Wilkerson, who was arrested before dawn Sunday at his home in Gateway.

    The arrest warrant in the case remains sealed.

    Wilkerson, 61, is scheduled to be formally charged Monday with first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, false imprisonment and harboring a minor.

    Investigators have searched and gathered evidence from Wilkerson’s home.

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/artic...s-on-death-row
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Cops: Gateway man chained, raped woman over months

    To the casual passerby or curious neighbor, 451 Foy Road suggested a hermit, or a hoarder. Or perhaps just a quirky resident of the longtime ranching community of Gateway.

    Peeling paint on the outside of the house, situated just a few hundred feet from the K-12 school. A heavily overgrown yard choked with piles of junk that largely obscured a “no dumping” sign on the porch and made it difficult to find the pathway to the front door. A cluttered, poorly lit interior.

    It wasn’t until nearly two weeks ago, when a shy woman who refused to make eye contact quietly begged to be arrested on a $50 warrant, that investigators uncovered something much more sinister.

    The owner of the house, a former Texas death row inmate, kept the woman chained up in the house with the assistance of a runaway teenager and raped her daily for months, telling the woman he was a serial killer and others that he saw the “devil” inside the woman and tied her up in an effort to exorcise it. When police interviewed the woman, she didn’t know what month it was or how long she had been held captive, according to an arrest affidavit unsealed this week.

    Claude Lee Wilkerson, 61, was charged Monday with a total of 10 felony and misdemeanor counts — two counts of first-degree kidnapping, four counts of sexual assault, and single counts of false imprisonment, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, third-degree assault and harboring a minor. He remains in the Mesa County Jail on a $1 million cash bond.

    Mesa County sheriff’s investigators responded to Wilkerson’s house on Feb. 20 after receiving a report that a runaway had been found. The girl told police she had been staying with a man she knew as “Chay” near Gateway and had helped him tie a woman to a bed. She said the man had threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone about the woman.

    An employee of the Gateway Fire Department told deputies he knew who “Chay” was and helped them locate his house. There, deputies met with a man later identified as Wilkerson, who told them he and the alleged victim had been staying there, according to the affidavit.

    In her initial conversations with investigators, the woman appeared reluctant to talk. She looked at Wilkerson, then looked at the ground and away from the deputy. The deputy asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else to talk.

    “He advised (the woman) took a couple of steps to the side while looking up towards Claude Wilkerson and then positioned herself so that Deputy Parker was between them. Deputy Parker said (the woman) then very softly told him, ‘I kinda wanted to be arrested on my warrant,’” an investigator wrote in the affidavit, quoting the woman and referring to a $50 warrant she had out for her arrest.

    Deputies initially assured her they did not plan to arrest her and told her how she could get it resolved.

    “Deputy Parker said he told her he was more than willing to give her a ride back to Grand Junction if she wanted to go anywhere else. She then asked Deputy Parker again, ‘Can you arrest me on my warrant, please?’” the affidavit said.

    The woman began opening up on the ride back to Grand Junction.

    She told investigators she was homeless and met Wilkerson in October, and that he offered to let her stay with him and agreed to pay her to do yard work and help clean his home, but never actually gave her money. She said a young girl who had run away from home had been staying with Wilkerson before she arrived.

    One day shortly after she arrived at the house, the woman said the runaway girl approached her from behind and covered her mouth and nose with a rag soaked with some kind of chemical, while Wilkerson tried to wrap her feet with a wire. When she kicked out of the wire, Wilkerson grabbed a tow chain, wrapped it around her legs and secured it with a padlock, then secured the chain to the leg of a bed.

    She said Wilkerson and the girl occasionally allowed her hands to be chained in front of her instead of in back and eventually started taking the chains off of her. She said she didn’t try to escape because she feared punishment, according to the affidavit.

    The runaway girl later told investigators she and Wilkerson researched ways to make the woman pass out so they could tie her up, choosing ultimately to use a diesel engine cleaner.

    While chained up, the woman said Wilkerson repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

    The woman said she rarely got to leave the house — she said she was allowed to go into the yard a few times and to the general store in Gateway twice — and she had trouble remembering dates related to her imprisonment in the house. She said the last date she could remember was Christmas, because Wilkerson gave her a glass marijuana pipe and a coloring book, according to the affidavit.

    She said Wilkerson often claimed to her that he was a shaman and a serial killer. She said he never showed any emotion or remorse about chaining her up, instead doing it matter-of-factly. The runaway girl also told investigators Wilkerson made claims that he was a shaman, and that he could see the “devil” inside the woman. He said the woman needed to be chained up until the devil left her, as well as until the woman agreed to marry him, according to the affidavit.

    The woman told police there were only two occasions when other people besides her and the runaway girl were inside the house. On one occasion, she said Wilkerson laid her on the floor in the basement with her hands and legs chained. The other time, the heater broke in the home and a repairman came to fix it. That time, she said she remained unchained on the bed.

    “She knew not to cause any alarm,” an investigator wrote in the affidavit.

    Wilkerson was convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 in the murder of one of three people who were robbed at a Texas jewelry store, taken hostage and killed. He was released, however, in 1983 after the Texas Court of Appeals reversed his conviction, ruling police had illegally obtained his confession. A state district court judge agreed and tossed out the evidence accompanying the confession.

    Wilkerson’s public defender this week waived his right to have a preliminary hearing within 30 days. He’s scheduled to return to court on March 21.

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/artic...use-of-horrors
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Man accused of chaining, raping woman in Gateway pleads not guilty

    GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO/KJCT) -- A man once on death row in Texas, now accused of chaining and raping a woman in a local community, pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges against him.

    Claude Wilkerson, 61, was arrested in March for allegedly chaining up a woman and raping her in his Gateway home.

    A jury trial will start June 12, according to a Mesa County judge.

    Court documents said this happened over a course of several months.

    Wilkerson allegedly told the woman he was a serial killer, and that he saw the devil inside the woman, and kept her chained up as a way to get the devil out of her.

    In October, a judge decided there was enough probable cause and evidence in the case to go to trial.

    Wilkerson's bond is listed at $1 million, cash only, which defense attorneys were trying to change.

    Wilkerson was charged with first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, harboring a minor and false imprisonment.

    http://www.nbc11news.com/content/new...401084216.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Man to be tried on felony counts of rape, kidnap

    A Gateway man accused of keeping a woman chained in his basement and raping her repeatedly for months has been scheduled to stand trial next spring.

    During a short hearing Tuesday afternoon in Mesa County District Judge Lance Timbreza’s courtroom, Claude Lee “Chay” Wilkerson’s case was set for a 10-day trial starting March 26.

    He will be represented by attorney Dan Shaffer and Mesa County Chief Deputy Attorney David Waite will be prosecuting the case. Wilkerson faces charges including first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault and false imprisonment in the case.

    He pleaded not guilty in November, after he was arrested in February 2016 when deputies visited his home and found the woman’s behavior suspicious, as she asked to be arrested for an outstanding warrant. She later told investigators she had been held against her will for months after he and a runaway girl used diesel engine cleaner on a rag to subdue her.

    Wilkerson was previously on death row in Texas and spent four years in prison before he was freed in 1983 due to a state court of appeals decision. Wilkerson is currently being held on a $1 million bond in the Mesa County Jail.

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/artic...of-rape-kidnap
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Judge won't let kidnap suspect fire his attorney

    By GABRIELLE PORTER
    The Daily Sentinel

    A former Gateway man accused of chaining up a woman in his basement and sexually assaulting her for months before his 2016 arrest was not allowed to fire his court-appointed attorney Thursday, three months before the scheduled start of his jury trial.

    Mesa County District Judge Brian Flynn said Thursday that 63-year-old Claude "Chay" Wilkerson's request to fire his appointed attorney seemed disingenuous and motivated by a possible desire to delay his trial.

    Wilkerson — a former Texas death row inmate who is set to begin trial March 26 before District Judge Lance Timbreza — said Thursday he did not want to be represented by appointed attorney Dan Shaffer. Flynn said he thought it was possible that Wilkerson would not get along with any attorney assigned to his case.

    Chief Deputy District Attorney David Waite told Flynn he didn't have a stance on Wilkerson's request.

    Flynn cleared his courtroom briefly when Shaffer asked to speak to him privately about Wilkerson's request. When he reopened the court, Flynn said Wilkerson would not be allowed to fire Shaffer.

    "I'm not going to lie to the jury," Wilkerson said.

    Flynn said he didn't find Wilkerson's statement's credible and noted that the case was nearly two years old.

    Wilkerson was removed from Flynn's courtroom partway through Thursday's hearing after first interrupting the judge, then refusing to answer a question. While being escorted from the room, he told Shaffer loudly, "Don't come see me. You're not going to represent me in court."

    Wilkerson was arrested in February 2016 after Mesa County sheriff's investigators responded to his Gateway home on a report that a runaway teenage girl had been found and was living there. Authorities allege that the teen told investigators she had helped Wilkerson tie up a homeless woman at his home.

    The woman told authorities she was chained to a bedpost and sexually assaulted repeatedly over several months.

    Wilkerson is no stranger to the criminal justice system; convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 in the robbery and murder of one of three people in Texas, he was released in 1983 after the Texas Court of Appeals ruled police had illegally obtained his confession, according to earlier reports

    https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/west...04b9f7e7c.html
    Last edited by Moh; 01-06-2018 at 03:17 AM. Reason: Spacing

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Man once on death row in Texas pleads guilty to keeping a sex slave

    By Nia Bender
    KOAA News

    A plea deal is reached in the case of a Colorado man accused of keeping a homeless woman chained in his basement and treating her as a sex slave over the course of several months in Gateway, about an hour southwest of Grand Junction.

    Claude Lee Wilkerson pleaded guilty on Tuesday to counts of second-degree assault and false imprisonment. The deal calls for six years in prison and three years on parole.

    Wilkerson was arrested in February 2016 after sheriff's deputies visited his home and found a woman who asked officers to arrest her on an outstanding warrant.

    This wasn't Wilkerson's first run in with the law. In 1983, Wilkerson spent time on death row in Texas. How Wilkerson got off of death row is explained by the former defense attorney of Claude Wilkerson, and a former Houston police officer who investigated his capital murder case, went into detail on about how he was able to get his death row case dismissed.

    The Murders

    Earl Musick, the former HPD officer, described the murder case -- in which three people were killed in January 1977 during a botched robbery at a jewelry store, where Wilkerson once worked.

    Musick said Wilkerson had planned the robbery.

    "They held them hostage, taped them up, put duct tape over their eyes with tissue so they couldn't see. They took them form the jewelry store ... and they took about $200,000 worth of jewelry," Musick said. "What was planned was the robbery of the jewelry store. Claude was not going to be -- he was on the outside, kind of planning it."

    Musick said three others were doing the robbery.

    "Once they got them taped and everything, then Claude came in. Don Fantich recognized Claude's voice," he said. "Fantich said, 'Claude, I know that's you.' And because he had recognized the voice, they all get together and decide that they have to dispose of them."

    The Confession

    Musick said he had gotten to know Wilkerson over the years.

    When Wilkerson saw Musick at the police station, he told the police captain he would be willing to describe the robbery to Musick.

    "I know Earl Musick. Ask Earl to come in here and I'll tell him what happened," Musick recalled Wilkerson saying. "So, Claude basically got me to come in and from there we did a confession and all of that."

    But Musick said Wilkerson only confessed to a part of the crime.

    "He confessed to being part of the abduction, but claimed not to know that they were murdered," Musick said.

    That confession was enough to help prosecutors convict Wilkerson of murder in 1978. He was sentenced to death and spent four years on death row before his case was dismissed because of the way the confession was given.

    Wilkerson had invoked his right to an attorney during the interrogation, prior to the confession, but Musick said he unknowingly continued to interrogate him after a period of time after not hearing from the lawyer.

    That violated a Supreme Court decision, said Stanley Schneider, Wilkerson's attorney at the time.

    "They reinitiated interrogation after he asked for lawyer," Schneider said. "Once you stop that interrogation, you can't go back and reinitiate."

    A federal court agreed and ruled that the confession was inadmissable, as was "the existence of accomplices, the bodies of the victims, the murder weapons and the stolen jewelry.

    Wilkerson was freed on bond in 1983 and moved to Colorado four years later.

    http://www.koaa.com/story/37667950/m...ng-a-sex-slave

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