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Thread: Robert Mitchell Jennings - Texas Execution - January 30, 2019

  1. #31
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Houston cop killer gets execution date for 1988 slaying

    A Harris County judge on Tuesday signed a death warrant for a cop killer originally sentenced to die three decades ago after a botched robbery at an adult bookstore.

    Robert Mitchell Jennings is now scheduled to meet his end in the Huntsville death chamber on Jan. 30, the first Texas execution on the calendar for 2019.

    It's the second time in three years the 60-year-old with claims of mental impairment has landed a date with death.

    "It always feels good to see that justice is done," said long-time former District Attorney Johnny Holmes, who prosecuted the case. "And I think in that case justice was done."

    The high school dropout has never claimed innocence in the 1988 slaying, but defense lawyer Randy Schaffer has doggedly fought to keep him alive with requests for a lesser sentence in light of Jennings' horrible childhood, mental impairment and apparent remorse - as well as his first lawyer's failure to raise those issues at trial.

    "The criminal justice system promises equal justice under the law to every defendant," Schaffer wrote in May. "The system is measured, not by how it treats the best among us, but by how it treats the worst. Robert Mitchell Jennings has not received equal justice under the law."

    On July 19, 1988, Houston police vice officer Elston Howard walked into the Empire Bookstore to write a ticket.

    His undercover partner had just busted the store owner showing pornographic films without a permit and, wearing his vice raid jacket, Howard followed him inside to fill out the paperwork. He called for a squad car to take the man downtown to booking and was still standing behind the counter when Jennings burst in.

    The robber spotted the police jacket, and started shooting. Two bullets hit Howard in the neck. He tried to flee but collapsed, according to court records.

    Jennings shot him two more times as he lay face down.

    Afterward, he demanded money, and the clerk handed over his wallet and cash from the register.

    Jennings ran outside and hopped in a getaway car. But the driver, upon learning his accomplice had just killed a police officer, turned and shot him in the hand. Jennings dove out the car window and got himself to a hospital, where he was arrested and offered a written confession.

    He was sentenced to death in 1989.

    The condemned killer, who'd grown up in poverty, had a long criminal history including juvenile crimes and past prison sentences. He was born the child of rape and his drug-addicted mother openly resented him, frequently telling him she did not want him, according to court records.

    In 1978, a psychologist found that he had an IQ of 65 and mild organic brain dysfunction, including damage caused by a childhood injuries - one from a rollover car crash and the other from a baseball bat. But there was also evidence Jennings was malingering, or at the least exaggerating his symptoms to delay court proceedings.

    During trial, Jennings' attorney, who was defending two capital cases at the same time, didn't do enough to investigate and bring up those claims, Schaffer argued - so a jury heard little about reasons to consider choosing a life sentence over death.

    They also didn't learn about his showing of remorse just after his arrest, and only heard from one witness who spoke on his behalf - a jailhouse chaplain who swore Jennings was a changed man.

    In 2012, he won a new trial on punishment, but a higher court reversed the decision. Four years later, he got his first execution date - though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed it with days to go.

    https://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...e-13119723.php
    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

  2. #32
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    No kidding... Is it possible for a Judge to set a date without the DA's request? Or did she actually ask for this? Could it be because the previous DA requested a date which was stayed?
    Last edited by one_two_bomb; 07-31-2018 at 03:25 PM.

  3. #33
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    SUGGESTION TO RECONSIDER DENIED

    DISSENTING OPINION JUDGE ALCALA

    http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Searc...1-2b7d6655fc8b

  4. #34
    Senior Member Frequent Poster joe_con's Avatar
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    I have a feeling this will get stayed, I could be wrong though.

  5. #35
    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    I think this one will actually go through. TCCA stayed him last time, so I think they're less likely to hear his case again. I've heard a lot of talk in the anti sphere about him being intellectually disabled, but searching through older articles, his lawyers have been making that claim for a while, so it might have already been reviewed and rejected. Anything can happen over the next week, but I'd bet that Jennings has a week to live.
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

  6. #36
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Jennings completed 40 hours of college credit while in prison. His TDCJ profile says he has 14 years of education. Not exactly a sign of incompetence.
    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

  7. #37
    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...6-d44fc6cf5f90

    MOTION FOR STAY OF EXECUTION DENIED:

    http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMed...1-fbd6d795b743

  8. #38
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    This may seem like a very silly question, im still a novice with all of this, does he have any more appeals to file before the 30th?

  9. #39
    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    He can still appeal to federal courts (district, then 5th Circuit, then SCOTUS), but they’ll almost certainly turn him down. He can also appeal to the Texas Parole Board for clemency. If they were to recommend it, then Gov. Abbott would have the option of granting it or not. However, he’s less likely to be successful with the parole board than the courts. Gov Abbott could also give him a 30 day reprieve, but he won’t. Robert Jennings is a dead man.
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

  10. #40
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    There is always last minute appeals that can be filed. In some cases the attorneys say screw it and don't file any late appeals, but 99% of the time they will challenge retardation issues or execution method issues all the way up to the supreme court.

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