Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 17

Thread: Douglas Tyrone Armstrong - Texas

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Douglas Tyrone Armstrong - Texas




    Facts of the Crime:

    On April 21, 2006, in Hidalgo County, the subject cut the throat of Rafael Castellan with a box cutter. The subject then robbed the victim of an unknown amount of money. The subject was arrested a short time later.

    Armstrong was sentenced to death in January 2007.

  2. #2
    Jan
    Guest
    DOUGLAS TYRONE ARMSTRONG v. THE STATE OF TEXAS

    In an opinion dated January 27, 2010, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals AFFIRMED Armstrong's conviction and death sentence on direct appeal.

  3. #3
    Jan
    Guest
    EX PARTE DOUGLAS TYRONE ARMSTRONG

    ORDER

    In January 2007, a jury found applicant guilty of the offense of capital murder. The jury answered the statutory punishment questions in such a way that the trial court set applicant's punishment at death. On October 15, 2008, the State filed in this Court its brief on applicant's direct appeal. Pursuant to Article 11.071 §§ 4(a) and (b) (1), applicant's initial application for a writ of habeas corpus was due to be filed in the trial court on or before February 27, 2009, assuming a motion for extension was timely filed and granted. It has been more than two years since the application was due in the trial court. Accordingly, we order the trial court to resolve any remaining issues within 90 days from the date of this order. The clerk shall then transmit the complete writ record to this Court within 120 days from the date of this order. Any extensions of time shall be obtained from this Court.

    IT IS SO ORDERED THIS THE 1ST DAY OF AUGUST, 2012.

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Texas death row inmate charged in Ala slaying

    A Texas death row inmate is now charged with killing a woman in Alabama a decade ago.

    Police In Dothan say grand jurors indicted 43-year-old Douglas Tyrone Armstrong on a murder charge in the slaying of 40-year-old Debra Wilson.

    A cleaning crew found Wilson dead at a motel on May 17, 2003, but no one was ever arrested.

    Armstrong was later convicted in the slaying of a man who was slashed to death outside a bar in southern Texas in 2006. Records show he's now on death row.

    Armstrong claims he is innocent in the Texas slaying. A defense lawyer didn't immediately return a message about the Alabama charge.

    Dothan police say DNA evidence links Armstrong to Wilson's killing. Grand jurors indicted him last week.

    Armstrong is originally from Mobile.

    http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ne...ng-5051489.php
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #5
    Passed away.
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    The Phog
    Posts
    651
    I would bet 100$ that he raped her. This is how backed up some DNA labs are.

    Armstrong was convicted of killing a man who was slashed to death outside a bar in southern Texas seven years ago. Records show he is now on death row, and an appeals court upheld the conviction in 2010.

    David Schultz, an attorney representing Armstrong in Texas, said he was unaware of the Alabama charge.

    "In my mind there is no doubt that Tyrone is wrongfully convicted in Texas, so I am surprised by this," he said.
    Oh, come on!

  6. #6
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Posts
    1,122
    Quote Originally Posted by tpg View Post
    I would bet 100$ that he raped her. This is how backed up some DNA labs are.
    There must be thousands of old cases where DNA is still viable, waiting for the samples to be tested. But that's not enough. Then the results have to be uploaded to a national database. The entire justice system is understaffed, from lab techs to LEOs to attorneys to courts. Did you catch the post about the Nashville public defender's office wanting to outsource a DP case to a private attorney? I wonder that we don't see more courtroom scenes like this:


  7. #7
    Jan
    Guest
    We remand this application for the trial court to gather information and make specific findings of fact concerning the credibility of applicant’s post-conviction mitigating evidence. The trial court shall also make findings as to whether applicant’s proffered witnesses would have been available to testify at trial or to give depositions. The trial court shall also make any other findings of fact and conclusions of law that it deems relevant and appropriate to the disposition of applicant’s claim for habeas corpus relief.
    This application will be held in abeyance until the trial court has resolved the fact issues. The issues shall be resolved within 90 days of this order. A supplemental transcript containing all affidavits and interrogatories or the transcription of the court reporter’s notes from any hearing or deposition, along with the trial court’s supplemental findings of fact and conclusions of law, shall be forwarded to this Court within 120 days of the date of this order. Any extensions of time shall be obtained from this Court.

    IT IS SO ORDERED THIS THE 18th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2015
    EX PARTE DOUGLAS TYRONE ARMSTRONG

  8. #8
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    I wonder what happened with the murder case against him in AL?
    "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

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    1,363
    HC RELIEF GRANTED - OPINION JUDGE YEARY

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...4-cdfc36044639

    DISSENTING OPINION PRESIDING JUDGE KELLER

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...0-0d466e1edb13

    DISSENTING OPINION JUDGE NEWELL

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...d-0cbdd44d9995

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    FRANCE
    Posts
    3,073
    Maslon gets inmate off Texas death row

    By Barbara L. Jones
    Minnesota Lawyer

    Witness by witness, statement by statement, inkling by inkling, a pro bono team at Maslon put together a habeas corpus case that got its client off death row in a Texas prison.

    Douglas Tyrone Armstrong was not exonerated of a murder he says he didn’t commit, but he will get a new punishment hearing and will be removed from death row, where he has been in solitary confinement for all but 10 hours per week for 10 years. He was represented by Maslon’s pro bono committee chair Julian Zebot, Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, Michael McCarthy and Nicole Narotzky. Many others were involved in the case during the 11 years the firm worked on the case.

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in a 5-4 opinion, determined that Armstrong’s defense counsel failed to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation of mitigating evidence. The lower court also found that the defense failed to investigate, but that Armstrong was not prejudiced thereby.

    The team has brought other habeas issues that are yet to be resolved, including Armstrong’s claim of actual innocence.

    “Tyrone has consistently proclaimed his innocence,” Zebot said. His trial lawyers were ineffective at the culpability phase as well as the punishment phase — “essentially he didn’t get much of a defense at all.”

    He added, “We are going to fight for the client’s complete exoneration.”

    The eyewitness testimony changed several times during the process, shifting in a direction unfavorable to Armstrong, he said. Additionally, the physical evidence doesn’t match up to the rest of the evidence, he said.

    Wiggins standard

    The Texas court relied on Wiggins v. Smith, a 2003 Supreme Court opinion where the court said that the standard of review is whether counsel’s investigation was reasonable under prevailing professional norms, including a context-dependent consideration of the challenged conduct as seen from counsel’s perspective at the time. It’s unusual for a court to grant relief under Wiggins, Zebot said.

    Maslon lawyers dug deeply into Armstrong’s history and presented additional evidence of his disadvantaged background and entirely new expert testimony with respect to his mental state at the time of the offense, not evidence that was essentially more of the same character of evidence presented at trial. A Wiggins claim is not barred by the presentation of some mitigating evidence by the trial counsel, if the habeas counsel provided new evidence that demonstrated a reasonable probability that at least one juror would have held out against the death penalty, the court said.

    The most compelling evidence to the Texas court appeared to be the new mental health evidence, and it relied primarily on that to conclude that there was a reasonable probability of a different outcome had that evidence been available.

    But to get to that expert testimony, the lawyers needed to develop more lay testimony, mostly from Armstrong’s family. They interviewed witnesses and were assisted by a mitigation investigator. They looked for school and medical efforts but most of them had been destroyed.

    “The family was so brave in sharing their stories. They were willing to offer this really traumatic history to the experts and the court,” Ahlin-Halverson said. “You’re asking people to share extraordinarily painful personal history.”

    “You could hear a pin drop when the family was testifying. It was absolutely riveting,” she said.

    The lawyers and investigators worked to establish trust over time, Ahlin-Halverson continued. “The first time we met with the family members we didn’t learn everything. Every time we spoke with them we got a deeper and more comprehensive understanding.

    “To me, the most important thing we did was stick with them, and be where we said we would be so they could learn to trust us.”

    Critical to the success of the case is the strong internal team at Maslon.

    “We had so many attorneys, paralegals and staff running around in different directions, gathering affidavits. The case was going to rise or fall on the strength of the people working on it,” Zebot said.

    “It demonstrates Maslon’s commitment to pro bono. We literally spent thousands of hours,” Zebot said. It was also a significant financial commitment, he added.

    History of abuse

    The family member’s testimony included accounts of physical abuse endured by all the children, including Armstrong. Armstrong was frequently locked in an empty room for days at a time, with no food or access to a bathroom. The parents were alcoholics and both beat the children with some kind of tool. Armstrong was beaten in the head.

    His siblings also learned to physically abuse him. Armstrong and his sister were the only siblings who had the same father, and he raped the sister, resulting in a pregnancy. There were other instances of sexual abuse in the family. Additionally, the parents spent all their resources on alcohol and never bought food for the children. The family moved constantly because the parents did not pay their rent. Armstrong was introduced to alcohol by his brother at the age of five.

    Neuropsych evaluation key

    The experts were Dr. Phillip D. Harvey, a clinical psychologist in the field of study and diagnosis of cognitive impairment; and Dr. Robert Lee Smith, a forensic psychologist and addiction specialist.

    Harvey’s neuropsychological evidence was the “linchpin” of the court’s opinion, Ahlin-Halverson said. His diagnosis was borderline intellectual functioning and acquired dementia. The dementia was likely caused by substance abuse, repeated traumatic brain injury and extreme life stress, he said. Those symptoms were fully formed by the time of the murder for which Armstrong was convicted.

    Smith diagnosed Armstrong with dysthymic disorder (long-standing depression), substance dependence and personality disorder-not otherwise specified. He attributed the dysthymia to environmental factors in Armstrong’s past.

    The absence of psychological evidence was prejudicial, the court determined. The court could not determine that the state’s evidence would clearly outweigh the totality of the mitigation evidence, the court concluded.

    Armstrong is incredibly grateful to his lawyers, Ahlin-Halverson said. He speaks of his love for his family often, she said.

    At some hearings the judge has allowed Armstrong to greet and hug (unshackled) each of his family members, including his son. “That really brings it home, what he’s been through,” Zebot said.

    “You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved,” Ahlin-Halverson said.

    http://minnlawyer.com/2017/12/05/mas...xas-death-row/

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •