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Thread: Richard Allen Masterson - Texas Execution - January 20, 2016

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    Richard Allen Masterson - Texas Execution - January 20, 2016





    Facts of the Crime:

    On February 9, 2001, in Houston, Masterson choked Darin Shane Honeycutt to death. Masterson also took Honeycutt's vehicle after the murder.

    Masterson was sentenced to death in Harris County on May 15, 2002.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On August 17, 2009, Masterson filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/tex...v02731/693064/

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    EX PARTE RICHARD ALLEN MASTERSON

    In today's TCCA orders, Masterson's subsequent application for a writ of habeas corpus was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 28, 2014, Masterson's habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...2731/693064/79

    On May 15, 2014, Masterson filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca5/14-70021

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    On January 9, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Masterson a COA.

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...14-70021.0.pdf

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Article

    Man sent to death row for strangling female impersonator in Houston loses federal appeal

    The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused an appeal from a Harris County man sent to death row at his request for the strangling of a female impersonator 14 years ago.

    Attorneys for 42-year-old Richard Masterson contended his earlier lawyers were deficient and his confession to police about the death of Darin Shane Honeycutt, known by the stage name of Brandi Houston, was improper.

    Masterson testified against his attorneys' advice at his 2002 trial. He told a Houston jury the 35-year-old Honeycutt died while the two were having sex. He also testified he'd be a future danger. That's one of the questions put to jurors who deliberated the death sentence.

    The appeals court, in its ruling late Friday, said the testimony meant Masterson's lawyers "faced an uphill battle."

    http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/sto...cution-Appeal/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Masterson's petition for certiorari.

    Appeals exhausted decision could result in an execution date.

    Docketed: April 14, 2015
    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    Case Nos.: (14-70021)
    Decision Date: January 9, 2015
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Man condemned for female impersonator's death loses appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal from a Harris County man sent to death row at his request for the strangling of a female impersonator 14 years ago.

    Attorneys for 43-year-old Richard Masterson contended his earlier lawyers were deficient and his confession to police about the death of Darin Shane Honeycutt, known by the stage name of Brandi Houston, was improper.

    Masterson testified against his attorneys' advice at his 2002 trial, telling a Houston jury the 35-year-old Honeycutt died while the two were having sex. He also testified he'd be a future danger. That's one of the questions jurors deliberate to decide a death sentence.

    The justices made no comment in their decision Monday.

    Masterson doesn't yet have an execution date.

    http://www.ksla.com/story/29321200/m...h-loses-appeal
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Masterson has an X date of January 20, 2016.

    http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_ro...xecutions.html

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    After court defeat, Houston killer's lawyers launch appeals blitz in state and federal courts

    Convicted killer's lawyers pressing various appeals for man who is next on execution list

    Fresh from defeat in the state's top criminal appeals court and with execution looming, lawyers for Houston killer Richard Masterson are launching a flurry of state and federal appeals claiming their client is being sent to his death through legal, medical and judicial bungling.

    Masterson, 42, is to be executed next Wednesday for the January 2001 strangulation murder of Montrose professional female impersonator Darrin Honeycutt. Masterson is the first of nine convicted killers scheduled for execution at Texas' Huntsville death house in the first six months of 2016.

    On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a petition for Masterson that argued former Harris County assistant medical examiner Dr. Paul Shrode wrongly interpreted results of Honeycutt's autopsy, calling a likely natural death a homicide. The appeal also asserted that Masterson's confession to police was obtained while he was profoundly depressed as a result of withdrawal from addictive drugs.

    The court rejected the petition because its claims could have been presented earlier in the appeals process but did not rule on its merits.

    "It is always tough ... because one wants to always do the best possible work for the client," said Masterson attorney Patrick McCann. "We will continue to work for Mr. Masterson until the end, no matter what. This is the job."

    In a death row interview, Masterson said he "accepts responsibility" for his actions , but insisted "I never admitted I murdered anybody."

    "I feel pretty good," he said. "I'm ready to find out the outcome one way or the other. It's been a long road."

    Two additional petitions from McCann's legal team were in the hands of appellate judges Tuesday - one challenging the constitutionality of the Texas law protecting the identity of makers of the state's lethal injection drug, the second claiming a judge wronged Masterson by failing to tell jurors they could convict him of the lesser offense of felony murder.

    Additionally, Washington, D.C., lawyer Gregory Gardner was preparing an appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. In a plea for clemency filed with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gardner renewed the assertion that Shrode misinterpreted the Honeycutt autopsy, giving little emphasis to evidence that the victim suffered from serious heart disease.

    He also contends that Shrode's professional performance in jobs elsewhere led, in one case, to a commutation of a death sentence, and, in a second, his dismissal for falsifying his résumé.

    "Because Richard's lawyers failed him at every stage, the court system will not provide relief to him based on insurmountable procedural obstacles," Gardner wrote. "His last chance is executive clemency. The governor is the last line of defense to stop the execution of an innocent, severely mentally ill man."

    In his recent interview, Masterson said he had met Honeycutt at a Montrose bar and accompanied him home to have sex. During intercourse, Honeycutt asked Masterson to apply pressure to his neck to enhance the erotic experience. After doing so, Honeycutt fell from the bed, conscious but not responding. After a few minutes, Masterson concluded the man was dead. Masterson said he fled the apartment - taking Honeycutt's car - because of his record of Texas and Georgia burglary convictions.

    Masterson said he never planned to rob Honeycutt, contending that the man's jewelry was present on the corpse when police arrived. After leaving Houston, Masterson traveled to Florida, where he was arrested. On the return trip to Houston, he confessed to his police escort.

    In the interview, Masterson complained that "Nobody wants to know the truth."

    He challenged the performance of his lawyers and told a convoluted tale of physical abuse at the hands of his father, sexual attacks by an older brother, multiple sexual escapades with married women and criminal arrests in five states. From early adolescence, he was a heavy user of addictive drugs.

    "It wasn't just the drugs," he said. "I was addicted to the whole life. Women and drugs. I thought I was God's gift to women."

    Both Masterson and his lawyers contend he was wronged by the criminal justice system. But, to an extent, Masterson played a role in his undoing.

    Testifying against counsel's recommendations in the punishment phase of his trial, Masterson conceded that he probably would become violent in prison.

    "Future dangerousness" is one of two special questions jurors must affirmatively answer in order to assess the death penalty.

    "I said that if I were attacked, I would fight with any means necessary," he said in the interview. A transcript of Masterson's testimony reveals he also told jurors they should sentence him to death "if they're following the law."

    Later, Masterson - as a result of profound depression, his lawyers claim - repeatedly wrote the court from death row, asking to be executed. He retracted the requests when prison doctors prescribed an anti-depressant.

    In his interview, Masterson said execution would "free me from hell."

    The bright spot in his life, he said, is his girlfriend, Renee, whom he met through a pen pal correspondence.

    "She's really special," he said. "It's a shame we met under these circumstances. What we share is real, honest and true."

    Masterson said he hopes "things work out." But if his appeals fail, he said, "I won't have tears dripping down my chest. I'll hold my head up and take it like a man."

    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...#photo-9242210
    Last edited by Helen; 01-13-2016 at 07:17 PM. Reason: spacing
    "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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