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Thread: Arthur Brown, Jr. - Texas Execution - March 9, 2023

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge recommends Death Row inmate should get new trial in 1992 killings

    A Harris County judge has ruled that a death row inmate deserves a new trial because of false testimony by a Houston Police Department ballistics expert during a trial in 1993.

    The Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in Texas, will ultimately decide whether 46-year-old Arthur Brown will get a new trial in the shooting deaths of four people during a drug deal in 1992, Brown's lawyer said Friday.

    Attorney Paul Mansur said state District Judge Mark Kent Ellis ruled earlier this month that ballistics examiner Charles Anderson testified falsely in 1993 about whether bullets found at a grisly murder scene matched two pistols connected to Brown.

    "(Prosecutors) presented this false testimony as part of its attempt to tie these guns to Mr. Brown and his co-defendants," Mansur wrote in court filings. He said police recovered two handguns in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Brown had dealings, then connected the guns to him through friends and family. HPD firearms experts then connected the guns to the killings.

    Brown was convicted of being part of a cocaine ring smuggling drugs to Alabama when six people were shot execution-style in a massive drug deal in southwest Houston in 1992. Two of the people survived to testify against him and two other men, all of whom were convicted.

    A decision by a felony judge to grant a retrial in a death penalty case is rare in Harris County. The decision was quietly handed down on Dec. 19 after the issue was aired during a hearing in Ellis' court in October. The ruling, a public document, has yet to be posted to the district clerk's website where court records are typically found.

    Mansur confirmed the judge's decision and referred questions about the case to public filings.

    According to court records, HPD firearms analyst Anderson testified unequivocally that two bullets from the crime scene came from a .357 revolver and four bullets came from a .38 revolver. Both guns were recovered during investigations of Alabama drug dealers known to associate with Brown.

    Under a recent Texas law designed to let defendants take advantage of recent developments in science, Brown was entitled to a re-test, setting up a battle of experts that played out in front of Ellis. One of the firearms experts for the defense testified the four bullets previously linked to the .38 caliber pistol were conclusively not from that specific gun. Another said the evidence was inconclusive – that it could not be determined either way.

    "In sum, there is no evidence that supports Anderson's opinion that the Charter Arms .38 Special fired [the four bullets]," Mansur wrote in court filings.

    Both of those experts also said they could not determine if the other two bullets came from the .357 Magnum.

    "Anderson's identification of the Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum is plainly wrong and false," Mansur wrote.

    In their responses, Harris County prosecutors said Anderson's findings in 1993 were verified by a second HPD firearms examiner who agreed with his conclusions.

    Assistant District Attorney Joshua Reiss said Anderson's trial testimony was correct, truthful, and reflected what he actually observed during his ballistics examination. Raymond Klien, another examiner, confirmed the accuracy of Anderson's findings.

    "The record considered by the (judge) during the...hearing is inconclusive, muddy, disputed and ambiguous and does not support a finding that Anderson's testimony was 'false,' " Reiss said in court filings.

    He noted that "false testimony" is different from perjury, which triggers different standards.

    Experts found the judge's ruling perplexing because disagreements among experts are common but seldom lead to retrials.

    "This happens all the time," said Geoffrey Corn, a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He said experts often disagree about whether a particular bullet can be traced to a specific gun. "It doesn't mean they're lying, it just means they reached a different expert opinion."

    Reiss, the prosecutor, also argued that the issue was not significant because the jury was able to consider a plethora of evidence that emerged during Brown's trial more than 20 years ago.

    In 1992, Brown and two other men were working together to move cocaine from Houston to Alabama. The smugglers decided to cut out the middlemen and were all later convicted of fatally shooting four people, including a pregnant woman, and wounding two others on June 20, 1992.

    Brown, with Marion Dudley and Tony Dunson, arranged to buy 3 kilograms of cocaine from Rachel Tovar and her estranged husband, Jose Tovar, according to court records.

    When the three went to Tovar's home in the 4600 block of Brownstone for the deal, they tied up the couple and four other people - friends and neighbors who were in the house coincidentally. All six were shot in the head. Four people were killed: Tovar's husband; 19-year-old Jessica Quinones, who was seven months pregnant; Audrey Brown, 21; and 17-year-old Frank Farias. Rachel Tovar survived along with family friend Nicholas Cortez; they told police there were two shooters.

    Cortez identified Dudley as the man who shot him and Jose Tovar with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun, according to court records. He was sentenced to death and has been executed. Dunson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

    Prosecutors said Brown used the .38-caliber revolver to shoot Farias, Audrey Brown, who was no relation to Arthur Brown, and Quinones.

    After a three-month trial in 1993, Brown was sentenced to death. Afterward, his trial lawyer said the most damning piece of evidence was Brown's sister admitting he told her he had shot six people.

    The sister also told police she was missing a pistol, which was the same brand as the .38 caliber revolver prosecutors said Brown used. Brown's sister did not know the serial number of her lost gun, so it could not be established if that gun, a snub-nosed revolver made by Charter Arms and later found next to a homicide victim in Alabama, was originally hers. Prosecutors said it was likely.

    In the most recent appeal, prosecutors argue that jurors were able to consider that confession, that he told his sister he had to go away and was tired of the killings.

    The original jury also listened to testimony that he hurriedly fled Houston in the immediate aftermath and gave his sisters $1,000 to drive his van across state lines in the middle of the night carrying narcotics.

    Prosecutors also noted that he was identified as being at the home where the capital murders were committed while holding a gun, that an eyewitness identified him as the man who cut up bedsheets to bind the victims, and that hours after the shooting one of his sisters saw him in a room where stacks of money were being counted.

    Defense pleadings poke holes in all of those assertions, most notably claiming Brown's sister was interrogated for 10 hours and intimidated by police into giving false answers. Brown's defense attorneys also say there is evidence the eyewitness testimony was coerced.

    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...w-10827453.php
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  2. #22
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    ARTICLE 11.071 APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS DISMISSED WITH WRITTEN ORDER:

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...8-e17f8291421e

    DISSENTING OPINION JUDGE ALCALA

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...1-9f6883b7277b

  3. #23
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Supreme Court turns down appeal from Texas death row inmate convicted in 1992 quadruple killing

    By Keri Blakinger
    The Houston Chronicle

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a death row prisoner convicted in a quadruple murder during a drug deal more than 25 years ago in southwest Houston.

    Arthur Brown, who was sent to death row in 1993, was appealing his case based on claims of false testimony from a Houston police ballistics expert who identified a pair of revolvers as the murder weapons.

    Two years ago, a Harris County judge sided with Brown, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed. On Monday, the nation's highest court did, too.

    At the time of the 1992 slayings in southwest Houston, Brown was part of a cocaine smuggling ring, according to records. He and two other men - Marion Dudley and Antonio Dunson - set up a 3-kilogram buy, then showed up at the seller's home and tied up everyone inside and shot them execution-style.

    Jose Tovar, Frank Farias, Audrey Brown, and Jessica Quinones - who was pregnant at the time - all died. Two others survived and later identified the attackers.

    One of the men, Marion Dudley, was executed in 2006 for one of the slayings. The third man, Antonio Dunson, was sentenced to life in prison.

    In 2013, Brown was scheduled for execution but the date was called off to allow time for more testing on the guns prosecutors argued were used in the crime.

    Once the results came back, Brown's attorneys filed a new appeal in which they argued that Charles Anderson - the ballistics expert who testified at trial - was misleading when he said he was certain the two guns were the murder weapons.

    In 2015, a state appeals court sent the case back to Harris County to re-examine Anderson's conclusions. Two other ballistics experts retested the guns and failed to reach the same result. After holding a hearing where all three experts testified, the trial court recommended relief.

    But when the case went back up to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the jurists there disagreed with the lower court and said that the false testimony wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome anyway. Instead, in a split decision, they pointed to the survivors' testimony and Brown's alleged admission of guilt to a family member - even though she later recanted and said she'd been coerced.

    On Monday, the Supreme Court without comment turned down his appeal. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

    Brown is now eligible for an execution date, though one is not currently set.

    The Lone Star State has executed 10 men so far this year, and another six are scheduled to die in the coming months.

    https://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...h-13308082.php
    Last edited by Mike; 10-15-2018 at 12:11 PM.

  4. #24
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    An execution date will be set for Brown on May 20

    Execution looms for man convicted in 1992 killing of four at Houston home

    By Nicole Hensley
    The Houston Chronicle

    A man convicted in a deadly drug rip that left several members of a southwest Houston family dead is a step closer to an execution date.

    A judge in the 351th District Court is expected to sign a death warrant for 51-year-old Arthur Brown Jr. — convicted of capital murder in 1993 for killing Jose Tovar, 32; Jessica Quinones, 19, who was seven months pregnant; Frank Farias, 17, and their 21-year-old neighbor, Audrey Brown. The four were tied up with linen at a home in the 4600 block of Brownstone Lane and shot execution-style.

    Police linked the June 1992 shooting to drugs but only small amounts of marijuana were found.

    Rachel Tovar and a sixth person were shot in the attack but survived. Tovar sat in the courtroom as Harris County District’s Office prosecutors on Wednesday read the names of her slain husband, son, daughter-in-law and neighbor to the judge.

    Brown fled Texas with the help of relatives and was caught months later in Alabama.

    “When his sister voiced concern about helping him do that, he joked with her that he had killed six Mexicans and that's why he needed to escape,” prosecutor Joseph Sanchez said in court.

    A jury convicted him in 1993. Tovar said she was stunned that after three decades, Brown was still alive.

    “It’s been 30 years,” she said. “When they took my family’s life — they took it right then and there. He’s still alive, he’s still here. He still gets to survive all these years. My children and my husband didn’t.”

    She visits her son and daughter-in-law’s grave but is unable to do the same for her husband, who was buried in Mexico.

    “I haven’t ever gone back,” Tovar continued.

    Quinones’ niece and sister also appeared in the courtroom.

    “She was an innocent party in all of this,” said Monica Morales, who was a toddler when Quinones was killed. “I feel it’s my duty to be her advocate.”

    Brown, among more than 70 defendants with Harris County cases on death row, has exhausted all appeals in the capital murder case. Prosecutors have since asked Judge Natalia Cornelio whether she wants Brown to be brought from the Polunsky Unit on May 20 to sign the death warrant in his presence.

    “My preference is that he be here for this,” Cornelio said.

    Brown is expected to appear either by Zoom or to be brought to the court. If the judge signs the execution order by the end of May, the execution by lethal injection would happen in August.

    Brown’s lawyer, Paul Manser, could not be reached for comment.

    Brown had two co-defendants in the capital murder case — one of whom has already been executed. Authorities put Marion Butler Dudley Jr. to death in 2006, according to TDCJ records.

    Antonia Dunson, who is serving a life sentence in Huntsville, is eligible for parole in 2027.

    The state’s oldest death row inmate, a Harris County defendant, is slated for execution later this month.

    Carl Wayne Buntion, convicted of killing a Houston police officer during a 1990 traffic stop, will be put to death April 21 at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility in Huntsville.

    The state last executed death row prisoner Rick Rhoades — also a Harris County case — in September 2021. There are nearly 200 people on death row in the state, records show.

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...f-17062883.php
    Last edited by Bobsicles; 04-07-2022 at 08:26 AM.
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  5. #25
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    Kim Ogg is going for the guys from the early 90s apparently. I predict his execution will be scheduled for August 25.
    Last edited by Julius; 04-07-2022 at 09:10 AM.

  6. #26
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    If this guy does get executed then it’s pretty saddening that a left leaning DA has outshined DeSantis on setting execution dates. She has sought 6 execution dates since her time in office and this one will be number 7. Dexter Johnson was the only warrant that didn’t go through. DeSantis has sought only 3. Even though shes been in office for 2 years longer than DeSantis and governors of other “conservative” jurisdictions like Tennessee and Georgia. They should have much higher execution totals than she has but instead those “conservative” states are right around the same total as her with DeSantis having the least amount.
    Last edited by Neil; 04-26-2022 at 10:14 AM.

  7. #27
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    Concerns over intellectual disability arise ahead of Harris County defendant’s execution

    By Nicole Hensley
    The Houston Chronicle

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys are trying to sway a Harris County judge to make a decision about death row inmate Arthur Brown: set an execution date or let his lawyers investigate whether he has an intellectual disability that could preclude him from capital punishment.

    Court documents filed ahead of setting an execution date Friday show two sides to Brown, the Alabama native who killed several members of a southwest Houston family, including a pregnant woman, during a 1992 drug rip. In one document, Brown’s lawyers said setting an execution date “is premature because there are several potentially unexhausted” claims that has an intellectual disability.

    Brown, from Alabama, had a low IQ score as a child and was placed in special education classes, Brown’s attorney, Paul Mansur, wrote in court documents. Records show his mother admitted to drinking alcohol on a weekly basis while pregnant with him and that he may have suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child.

    A lawyer with experience in investigating such claims should be appointed instead, he continued, adding that more time will be needed.

    “None of these red flags for intellectual disability have been investigated, nor has anyone investigated Mr. Brown’s adaptive functioning,” wrote Mansur, who has represented Brown since 2008. “Anyone whom this Court appoints will require substantial time to become familiar with the case.”

    The filing comes as Judge Natalia Cornelio in the 351st District Court is expected Friday to set Brown’s execution date — presumably for Aug. 31, records show.

    The Harris County District Attorney’s Office expressed no surprise by Mansur’s apparent attempt to push back the execution and reminded Cornelio that “the law does not require a delay for appointment of new counsel.”

    Brown in 1993 was convicted in the execution-style deaths of Jose Tovar, 32; Jessica Quinones, 19, who was seven months’ pregnant; Frank Farias, 17; and their 21-year-old neighbor, Audrey Brown.

    Joshua Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division in the district attorney’s office, attached in his response to Mansur’s request a reminder of what police found in the Brownstone Lane home. Eight black and white photographs of the crime scene shown decades earlier to jurors.

    The victims can be seen face down on the ground with gunshot wounds to the head, blood-stained linens used to tie them up pictured near their bodies. Toys for children are scattered about.

    The photos show Quinones on the bathroom floor, her blood soaking her white shirt and shorts.

    “Crime scene photographs considered by the jury underscore the brutality of the capital murders and the appropriateness of the death sentence,” Reiss wrote.

    Police linked the killings to drugs, but only small amounts of marijuana were found. Brown fled Texas with the help of relatives and was caught months later in Alabama.

    One of Brown’s relatives recalled that Brown joked that “he had killed six Mexicans and that’s why he needed to escape,” prosecutors said.

    Reiss notes that Brown and his attorneys have been eligible to bring up an intellectual disability claim for two decades and that many Harris County death row inmates have done so. More than 70 Houston-area defendants are on death row.

    The district attorneys’ office in 2020 moved to commute death row inmate Gilmar Guevara’s sentence after determining his intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution — the first time since a Texas case in 2019 that established standards defining what constitutes an intellectual disability. Guevara had spent nearly two decades awaiting execution for fatally shooting two store clerks during a botched 2000 robbery. He is not longer on death row, Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show.

    The district attorney’s office agreed last September that Steven Butler, another death row inmate, is intellectually disabled — but the decision to commute his death sentence is pending a decision by the Criminal Court of Appeals.

    A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2002 made executing defendants with an intellectual disability illegal.

    Also attached in the prosecution’s request are letters from relatives of those killed in the 1992 shooting, and from those who survived. Many were in the courtroom in April when prosecutors initially sought the judge’s signature on Brown’s death warrant.

    In one letter addressed to the judge, Loraine Marie Lopez — Tovar’s daughter — wrote that Brown knew right from wrong and that he“knew exactly what he was doing.”

    Lopez’s mother survived the shooting but still has a bullet lodged in her body.

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...y-17185557.php
    Last edited by Julius; 05-20-2022 at 08:22 AM.

  8. #28
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    I had an execution date of August 23 figured, but now it hardly matters. The TCCA will allow another fake retard to escape punishment, and I'm pretty sure this guy's offense preceded the advent of LWOP in Texas.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

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  9. #29
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    Am I wrong, or this guy had an execution date back in 2013? It could be interesting, because it would mean TCCA already screened him.

  10. #30
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    You are right he had a date in 2013 but that was stayed to allow additional forensic tests on evidence. Apparently, his lawyers had not raised the ID claim until the DAs office requested an execution date.

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