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Thread: Amos Joseph Wells III - Texas Death Row

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    Amos Joseph Wells III - Texas Death Row


    Chanice Reed (left), Eddie McCuin (center), and Annette Reed





    Man accused of slaughtering ‘three generations out of one family’

    By Deanna Boyd
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    FORT WORTH — Amos Joseph Wells kept his head down as video of the carnage he is accused of causing flashed across a courtroom screen Monday morning.

    As the victims’ family members cried — some so distraught that they left the courtroom — jurors watched as emergency crews worked desperately to save the lives of Wells’ estranged 22-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Chanice Reed, and her 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin Jr., inside the family’s east Fort Worth house.

    The video was shot by a police sergeant’s body camera.

    Outside the home, other paramedics tended to the wounded pair’s mother, Annette Reed, who had been crying for help when officers first arrived — despite a gunshot wound to the face.

    Despite their efforts, all three would die, as well as Chanice Reed’s unborn son.

    “This defendant slaughtered three generations out of one family,” Lloyd Whelchel, who is prosecuting the case along with Kevin Rousseau, told jurors in opening statements Monday. “He took four innocent lives that day.”

    Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Wells.

    He has been jailed since shortly after the July 1, 2013, slayings, when he walked into the Forest Hill Police Department and announced, “I’ve done something bad.”

    Though Wells is on trial for the deaths of Chanice Reed and her mother, Annette Reed, jurors also learned about the two other lives lost that day.

    Reed’s unborn son would be 3 today had he lived, Whelchel told jurors, likely getting ready to go trick or treating with his cousins.

    McCuin would have been 13 and in the seventh grade, his life still wide open before him. Instead, the 10-year-old boy was chased down by Wells and executed inside the house after first witnessing his sister being shot, Whelchel told jurors.

    Wells’ defense attorneys, Bill Ray and Steve Gordon, did not give an opening statement Monday.

    ‘They’re dying’


    In an emotional day of testimony, jurors heard from those who heard or witnessed Chanice Reed and Wells arguing moments before the triple shooting occurred.

    They also heard Annette Reed’s own voice as she called 911, asking for assistance at the home in the 2900 block of Pate Drive, in a chaotic call drowned out by screams and the shouts of “No!” and “Stop!” in the background.

    Annette Reed later updates the call taker that “He’s going to his truck” followed by more screams of “No!” before the call abruptly ends.

    Joylene Parsons, Annette Reed’s aunt, testified that she had also heard shouting in the background when her clearly troubled niece called, asking her to come over and explaining that Chanice Reed and her boyfriend were arguing.

    Esqual Martinez said he was working two houses down, patching up a driveway, when he saw and heard a man and woman arguing in the nearby front yard.

    He said it sounded as if the man wanted the woman to come with him, but she kept yelling no and telling the man to go.

    Martinez said the man walked to the driver’s side of a Tahoe parked on the street in front of the home.

    “At first I thought he was leaving but he came back with a gun in his hand,” Martinez testified.

    Martinez said he watched as the man shot the woman he had been arguing with multiple times.

    He said he then saw the man approach an older woman with the gun. He said the older woman was trying to bat the gun away but the man kept repositioning it toward her until shooting her too.

    Scared, Martinez said he grabbed a shovel and hid in a corner of the house he was working at for fear that the gunman might come after him next.

    “I heard some more shots,” Martinez testified. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

    ‘Just pray for her’


    Before emergency crews could arrive, another of Annette Reed’s sons arrived at the home after his own worrisome conversation with his mother.

    Kenneth Speed, 21, testified that he had called his mother to seek permission to go swimming but heard his sister, Chanice Reed, arguing with Wells loudly in the background. He said he and other relatives and friends rushed to his home after hearing his mother curse at Wells and the call ending.

    He said they arrived to see the home’s front door and screen door open and a neighbor standing in the yard.

    “I opened the door and said, ‘What’s going on?’” Speed recalled. “He said, ‘Someone got shot.’ ”

    Speed testified that he looked to the left and saw his mother on the ground.

    “I ran up. She was choking on her own blood,” Speed testified. “I looked to the left and I saw my sister in the doorway with a hole in the head.”

    After seeing bullet holes inside the home’s walls, Speed said he headed down toward the hall to find his little brother.

    “I looked down the hallway. He was on the ground,” Speed testified. “I rolled him over. He had three bullets in his chest.”

    By the time Parsons arrived at her niece’s home, police cars had already packed the street and she was prevented from going close to the house, she testified.

    Parsons said she remembered a female officer approaching her, calling her by name and wrapping her in an embrace.

    “She grabbed me and held me and she told me what happened,” Parsons recalled. “I think I fainted.”

    She said the officer told her that Chanice, her baby and “little Eddie” were already gone but that Annette Reed “is fighting for her life.”

    “She said, ‘We don’t think she’s going to make it but just pray for her,’ ” Parsons testified.

    ‘A lot of rage’


    Defense attorneys declined to discuss their defense Monday during a courtroom break.

    But while questioning Fort Worth police Sgt. Scott Sikes, whose bodycam video was shown to jurors Monday, Ray questioned the sergeant about whether the scene — particularly the shooting of the 10-year-old boy — was indicative that the shooter was filled with “a lot of rage.”

    “It looked like someone that was very upset,” Sikes said. “I’m not sure what the situation was.”

    Rousseau countered by asking Sikes about a live round, about which he had earlier testified, that was found among the shell casings inside the house, indicative that the gun used had “stove-topped” or jammed with a round that was not fully ejected, requiring that the gun be cleared before it could be fired again.

    Rousseau asked Sikes if the live round indicated that the shooter was calm, cool and collected enough to clear the jammed handgun — to which Sikes agreed.

    Testimony will continue Tuesday in the 432nd District Court before State District Judge Ruben Gonzalez.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...111687297.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - 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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Fort Worth triple-slaying suspect planned suicide after confession, witness says

    By Mitch Mitchell
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    FORT WORTH - On the day he became a suspect in the slaying of his pregnant girlfriend, Amos Joseph Wells III told the mother of his 7-year-old daughter in a phone call that he had one bullet left and enough gas to drive 97 miles, according to testimony Wednesday in his capital murder trial.

    Valrecia Brooks testified that she received two phone calls from Wells on July 1, 2013, the day he became a suspect in the slayings of his pregnant girlfriend, Chanice Reed, 22; her mother, Annette Reed, 39; and Chanice Reed’s 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin.

    Wells wanted to speak to the 7-year-old daughter whom he and Brooks parented together, she said. Initially, Brooks said, she objected, then helped the conversation take place. It sounded as though Wells was saying goodbye, Brooks said.

    “I tried to get off the phone to see if I could help,” Brooks said. “But [Wells] said it was too late. They had already gone.”

    Another woman who overhead the conversation between them testified Tuesday that when Brooks asked if those Wells had shot had died, he replied yes, that he could see their deaths in their eyes.

    “He said he was going to drive away and shoot himself,” Brooks said. “I told him to turn himself in. I ended the call feeling as though he would.”

    Tarrant County state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez stopped the trial for 10 minutes Wednesday while members of the victims’ family and the defendant’s former girlfriend cried in the courtroom.

    “Help me, Lord, ” one woman kept repeating as she wept aloud and was led out to the hallway. “Help me through this Lord. Help me.”

    As the jury left, the shoulders of Brooks, who was on the witness stand, began to shake from long, wracking sobs. Gonzalez resumed the trial when the crying ceased.

    While first responders surrounded the residence in the 2900 block of Pate Drive where the shooting happened, Wells was already inside the Forest Hill Police Department lobby.

    Video surveillance showed the defendant leaning on the counter top in front of a window that led to the police communication division. One officer leveled his service weapon at Wells, who begged for the police to take his life, according to testimony.

    “He was saying things like, ‘Put me in jail. Kill me,’ ” said Sgt. Chris Hebert, a patrol officer at the time of the slayings. “I asked him for his name and he said that ‘y’all will know soon enough. Y’all are looking for me.’ ”

    Hebert said he could not detect the odor of alcohol or marijuana on Wells, but it seemed as though he was not present in the moment. Wells was somber, sitting on a bench with his shoulders slouched, Hebert said.

    Hebert said he told Wells that he could not put him in jail just because he wanted to go to jail.

    “There were a couple of times he went into a trance,” Hebert said. “It was like he was on another planet.”

    Forest Hill officers called Fort Worth police and discovered that they were looking for Wells, Hebert testified. A Fort Worth officer said someone would pick Wells up, which they did, Hebert said.

    Investigators with the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office testified that Chanise and Annette Reed most likely died from gunshots in the head.

    The cause of death for both was listed as multiple gunshot wounds, with the manner of death listed as homicide, according to testimony from officials with the medical examiner’s office.

    Eddie McCuin, 10, was shot three or four times, said Tasha Greenberg, deputy medical examiner. It is difficult to tell the exact number because the wound paths joined as the bullets moved through his body, Greenberg said.

    A normal but nonliving male fetus believed to be 26 to 27 weeks old was removed from the body of Chanise Reed, Greenberg said.

    “With medical attention, certainly that is considered a viable age,” Greenberg testified.

    Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. A defense motion asking the court to set aside the death penalty was denied July 13.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...112161517.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - 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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Fort Worth man guilty of capital murder in deaths of boy, two women

    By Mitch Mitchell
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    FORT WORTH - A Fort Worth man was found guilty of capital murder Thursday for shooting his pregnant girlfriend, her 10-year-old brother and their 39-year-old mother.

    Amos Joseph Wells III elected not to to have anyone testify on his behalf in the guilt/innocence phase of his case, paving the way for the Tarrant County jury to begin deliberations.

    Wells, 26, was accused of killing his estranged pregnant girlfriend, Chanice Reed, 22; her mother, Annette Reed, 39; and Chanice’s 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin Jr., in the family’s east Fort Worth house on July 1, 2013.

    Wells just shook his head as one of his relatives stormed out of the courtroom crying and shouting: “You all are just murderers! No DNA! Just murderers!”

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The jury was instructed to return to the courtroom Friday to begin hearing evidence in the punishment phase.

    In his closing arguments, prosecutor Kevin Rousseau told jurors there should be no doubt in their minds that Wells is guilty of killing Annette and Chanice Reed.

    Rousseau projected evidence on a screen under the label “Amos Wells is Guilty” and showed it to the jury. The evidence included the fact that 12 shells were missing from a box of ammunition found in Wells’ room — the number of shells used at the residence where first responders found the three mortally wounded victims.

    Prosecutors also showed the jury evidence that all the bullets came from the same type of handgun authorities believe was used in the slayings.

    Wells surrendered to Forest Hill police, asking to be shot and killed, prosecutors said.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...112294532.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - 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.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Fort Worth man sentenced to death for killing pregnant girlfriend, 2 others

    FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County jury has sentenced Amos Wells to death.

    Wells was convicted on Nov. 3 of capital murder in the deaths of his pregnant ex-girlfriend Chanice Reed, 22; her mother, Annette Reed, 39; and Chanice Reed’s 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin, on July 1, 2013.

    A Tarrant County jury deliberated for about four hours Friday afternoon before reaching the decision.

    “This has been a long trial,” said Kevin Rousseau, Tarrant County prosecutor. “The family is happy that justice was served. Nothing will replace the lives that were lost. But this was a necessary first step in the healing process.”

    Prosecutors argued during trial that after Wells shot his girlfriend and her mother, he chased the 10-year-old boy, Eddie McGuin, through the house and shot him while he cowered on the floor.

    A woman who identified herself as Chanise Reed’s cousin said during her victim’s impact statement that she forgave Wells, but still could not understand why he killed the woman and the unborn child he claimed he loved.

    “There have been six deaths in our family between 2010 and 2012,” the woman said. “All we have left is memories that will never fade away.”

    State District Judge Ruben Gonzalez allowed his family to speak to Wells after his death sentence was announced to a packed courtroom. Wells, who barely showed any emotion as his sentence was read, broke down in tears as they said their goodbyes.

    One man said that he would do all that he could for Wells and told him he would take care of his mother, take care of his daughter and supply him with whatever he needed while he was in prison waiting for the state to carry out his sentence.

    “I did this,” Wells told his relatives. “I’m an adult. Don’t bear this burden. This burden is mine. The more you see me, the more you do for me, the more I will feel like I am putting this burden on you.”

    On July 1, 2013, while first responders surrounded the residence in the 2900 block of Pate Drive where the shooting happened, Wells had already turned himself in at the Forest Hill Police Department.

    Video surveillance showed the defendant leaning on the counter top in front of a window that led to the police communication division. One officer leveled his service weapon at Wells, who begged for the police to take his life, according to testimony.

    The last man to be sent to death row by a Tarrant County jury was Cedric Allen Ricks. Ricks received the death sentence on May 16, 2014. Ricks got into an argument with Roxann Sanchez, his 30-year-old common-law wife and grabbed a kitchen knife and began stabbing the victim and her 12-year old and 8-year old sons.

    Before Friday’s verdict there had been three death sentences handed down in Texas this year, according to The Texas Tribune. Last year, Texas sent two convicted killers to Death Row in 2015, the fewest since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's capital punishment statute nearly four decades ago, according to a Texas-based group that opposes the death penalty, the Tribune story stated.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...115763903.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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    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Amos Joseph Wells III entered Texas' death row on November 22, 2016.

    https://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Conviction and death sentence affirmed on direct appeal November 18, 2020.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/c...ap-77-070.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    ARTICLE 11.071 APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS DENIED WITH WRITTEN ORDER:

    https://search.txcourts.gov/handdown...ate=12/15/2021
    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

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    On December 29, 2021, Wells filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/te...cv01384/357459
    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

  9. #9
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Distributed for conference May 12, 2022.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/21-7388.html
    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

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Wells' petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
    Case Numbers: (WR-86,184-01)
    Decision Date: December 15, 2021

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/...22zor_hgcj.pdf

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