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Thread: Larry Ray Swearingen - Texas Execution - August 21, 2019

  1. #71
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Swearingen's petition for certiorari.

    Docketed: May 12, 2016
    Lower Ct: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
    Case Nos.: (AP-77,043, AP-77,044)
    Decision Date: October 28, 2015
    Rehearing Denied: February 10, 2016
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  2. #72
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    Supreme Court rejects Texas inmate call for DNA testing

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not allow additional DNA testing of evidence a death row inmate in Texas says could show he didn't kill a suburban Houston college student.

    The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Larry Swearingen, who was convicted of abducting, raping and killing 19-year-old Melissa Trotter in 1998.

    Swearingen has sought to test fingernail scrapings from Trotter, items of her clothing and cigarette butts found near her body. The trial court in his case has twice ordered the testing, but was reversed by the state Court of Criminal Appeals on both occasions.

    http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ne...NA-9603309.php

  3. #73
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Death row inmate sues state’s highest criminal court over DNA testing

    A death row inmate has sued the state’s highest criminal court and its nine judges, arguing that they have deprived him of the opportunity to prove his innocence.

    Lawyers for death row inmate Larry Swearingen argue that the Court of Criminal Appeals adopted a flawed and unconstitutional interpretation of a state law intended to allow inmates to seek DNA tests, particularly if modern testing techniques were not available when they were convicted.

    In a federal lawsuit filed Friday and served on the Texas court Monday, Swearingen asked U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin to rule that the Texas court violated his constitutional rights by needlessly restricting his access to DNA tests.

    The lawsuit also asked Yeakel to order DNA testing on several items of crime scene evidence, arguing that the results will show that somebody else strangled Melissa Trotter in 1998. The 19-year-old college student’s body was discovered one month later in a national forest near Conroe in East Texas

    http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news...al-cour/ns2Cm/
    "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

  4. #74
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Montgomery County DA's Office requests new execution date for Swearingen

    The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office asked a judge Tuesday to set a Sept. 21 execution date for Larry Swearingen, the Willis man sentenced to death for murdering a teenage Montgomery College student in 1998.

    But Swearingen's attorney thinks an ongoing civil rights suit on his case should be decided before any execution date is even suggested.

    Swearingen was sentenced to death in 2000 for murdering Melissa Trotter, an 18-year-old Montgomery College student. Trotter went missing Dec. 8, 1998, and was found dead in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Lake Conroe.

    After years of appellate fights over post-conviction DNA testing, Swearingen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of Texas in October 2016 claiming he should be entitled to that DNA testing. Swearingen sought testing on Trotter's sexual assault collection kit; hairs recovered from her body, the gloves used to move her body and a hairbrush found on the ground near her body; all hairs collected from her clothing; the ligature and the pantyhose used to strangle Trotter, among other evidence his appellate attorneys believe contain biological evidence that has not been tested.

    "It's premature to even have filed this motion," said Swearingen's attorney James Rytting, adding that he plans on filing a motion opposing the fall execution date sometime soon.

    The execution date motion will be decided upon by visiting Judge J.D. Langley in the 9th state District Court. Judge Phil Grant, having previously worked on the Swearingen case during his time with the DA's Office, was recused from the case in June 2016.

    But the DA's Appellate Division Chief Bill Delmore said the September date was appropriate and intentionally selected.

    "A September date will provide sufficient time to allow a resolution of the civil suit," Delmore said. "I have not found anything that suggested the existence of an appeal from the denial of a DNA motion should preclude going forward on an execution date. I've even seen cases in which the Court of Criminal Appeals has denied a stay (of execution) even when there's an appeal from the denial of a motion for DNA testing pending."

    As for the DNA testing, then-9th state District Court Judge Kelly Case approved the testing in August 2014. But subsequent appeals filed by Montgomery County prosecutors blocked it all the way to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Rytting appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court in February 2016, which refused to hear the case in October 2016.

    Swearingen has dodged four execution dates – in 2007, 2009, 2011 and most recently in 2013 – that were all stayed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. He's been in and out of the appellate process for more than a decade, including four previous motions for DNA testing which lost their momentum in appeals courts each time.

    For Melissa Trotter's family, the September date cannot come soon enough.

    "We're definitely ready to be done with all this judicial process," Melissa's mother Sandy Trotter said. "It hinders all of us from healing as we just keep remembering all the bad that happened to Melissa. It's unfinished business yet. It's not going to bring Melissa back. We're never going to have her. But it'd be better to remember the good memories than all this stuff that happened Dec. 8, 1998."

    Langley had yet to rule on Delmore's motion as of Tuesday evening, court records show. Swearingen's federal case in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas has yet to be resolved.

    In an opinion in October 2015 reversing Judge Case's DNA ruling, the Court of Criminal Appeals referred back to previous rulings it and lower appellate courts had made in Swearingen's case. In the October 2015 ruling, they said Rytting's motion did not meet the five-pronged requirement for green-lighting DNA tests in the appellate phase as outlined in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

    Instead, the CCA denied Swearingen's appeal on the basis that he did not provide new information that would show the DNA evidence would prove his innocence.

    The court's concurring opinion also referenced a "mountain of evidence" that originally convicted Swearingen in 2000. Delmore called the evidence "overwhelming" in Tuesday's motion.

    http://m.chron.com/neighborhood/news...w-10916044.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

  5. #75
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Federal judge dismisses Swearingen suit; DA hopes to soon set execution date

    A federal judge on Friday tossed the civil-rights lawsuit filed by Larry Swearingen, the man sentenced to death for the young coed's 1998 rape and murder, paving the path to an execution date being set in his case.

    Swearingen was sentenced to death 17 years ago Tuesday for murdering Melissa Trotter, an 18-year-old Montgomery College student. Trotter went missing Dec. 8, 1998, and was found dead in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Lake Conroe months later.

    The lawsuit's dismissal means Montgomery County prosecutors are hopeful they can get an execution order signed, and they're pushing for a late November date. Montgomery County District Attorney's Office Legal Services Bureau Chief Bill Delmore is consulting with the Texas Attorney General's Office to make sure the November date is available, and if not, when the next available date is for Swearingen's execution.

    But for Trotter's mother, that same hope is met with an equal amount of skepticism.

    "I try to not let Swearingen take any more of my days," Melissa's mother Sandy Trotter told the Courier Tuesday. "It's like we're in limbo."

    Swearingen has dodged four execution dates – in 2007, 2009, 2011 and most recently in 2013 – that were all stayed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. While prosecutors hoped visiting 9th state District Court Judge J.D. Langley would sign off on a Sept. 21 execution date for Swearingen, no such order came down as the federal case went on.

    Judge Phil Grant, having previously worked on the Swearingen case during his time with the DA's Office, was recused from the case in June 2016.

    The possibility of a Sept. 21 execution date is long gone, too, as state law mandates there be 90 days between the moment a judge signs the death warrant and the inmate is executed.

    "How many more 90 days is he going to get?" Sandy Trotter said. "I wish there was more, as a victim or the victim's family, you could do to speed up the process so the victim or the family doesn't get caught up in this."

    She complimented the DA's Office, saying they have been with her and her family throughout the last few years as Swearingen fought his execution.

    "I hope this year can be the end of this part of life with Swearingen," she said. "It doesn't bring Melissa back. At least it's closure for this phase of life."

    December will mark the 19th anniversary of Melissa Trotter's murder.

    Federal Ruling

    Swearingen has been in and out of the appellate process for more than a decade, including four previous motions for post-conviction DNA testing which lost momentum in appeals courts each time. He sought testing on Trotter's sexual assault collection kit; hairs recovered from her body, the gloves used to move her body and a hairbrush found on the ground near her body; all hairs collected from her clothing; the ligature and the pantyhose used to strangle Trotter, among other evidence his appellate attorneys believe contain biological evidence that has not been tested.

    At one point, then-9th state District Court Judge Kelly Case approved the testing in August 2014. But subsequent appeals filed by Montgomery County prosecutors blocked it all the way to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

    Swearingen's Houston-based attorney James Rytting appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court in February 2016, which refused to hear the case in October 2016. Rytting did not return calls before press time.

    Rytting has previously proclaimed Swearingen's innocence.

    "The bottom line is we believe firmly that Mr. Swearingen is innocent," Rytting said in an Oct. 6 Courier article. "Under those circumstances, you have to act. It's really a tragedy in the making."

    After years of losing appellate fights over the DNA testing, Swearingen filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Montgomery County District Clerk Barbara Adamick, former Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Gage and Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw in October 2016 claiming he should be entitled to that DNA testing.

    But U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Texas Lee Yeakel sided with prosecutors Friday, repeating what previous courts have called a "mountain of evidence" that even favorable DNA testing could not overcome.

    "In this case, the uncontested evidence in the record belies Swearingen's claim that exculpatory DNA evidence would change the analysis of whether or not he is actually innocent," Yeakel wrote. "Even assuming the DNA evidence yielded a hypothetical match, this would in no way exclude Swearingen from having committed the murder."

    Yeakel's ruling also called Swearingen's suit frivolous and said he failed to show how state law regarding post-conviction DNA testing was unconstitutional in his case.
    Delmore has previously said the DA's Office is ready to fight for Swearingen's execution in the courts.

    "I would like to think we're done litigating the validity of his conviction," Delmore said. "I'd be surprised if his attorneys did not file something to continue to delay the execution."

    http://www.lmtonline.com/news/articl...s-11281942.php
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    "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

  6. #76
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    Judge sets death date for Montgomery County killer

    After seven thwarted attempts, Montgomery County has finally succeeded in setting yet another execution date for its only death row convict, a Willis man who raped a 19-year-old coed before strangling her with panty hose nearly two decades ago.

    Larry Swearingen, convicted of slaughtering Montgomery College student Melissa Trotter in 1998 and dumping her body in the Sam Houston National Forest, is slated to meet his fate in Huntsville's death chamber on Nov. 16, a judge ruled late Wednesday.

    "It still won't bring back Melissa," her mother, Sandy Trotter said in July.

    "There are no winners in this because we still don't have Melissa."

    Victim advocate Andy Kahan said it's been a "painstaking" wait for the Trotter family.

    "Even when you finally believe that you're going to achieve justice, until it actually happens you're questioning whether the actual execution will take place or not," he said.

    And in Swearingen's case, those questions are particularly well placed.

    This is the state's eighth effort to get Swearingen's execution on the calendar. At least four times, similar requests yielded a death date, but every time the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution.

    But it is those repeated bids for testing that have become the hallmark of Swearingen's legal case. For years, his lawyers have insisted that crime scene DNA taken from evidence near Trotter's body could hold the keys to prove his innocence. But prosecutors - and higher courts - have deemed such testing unnecessary.

    At least twice, a trial court judge sided with Swearingen's testing requests - but each time the state slapped down the lower court's grant, ruling that new DNA wouldn't be enough to counter the "mountain of evidence" pointing to Swearingen's guilt.

    Swearingen and Trotter were seen in the college's library together on Dec. 8, 1998 - the day of the teen's disappearance. Afterward, a biology teacher spotted Trotter leaving the school with a man. Hair and fiber evidence later showed that she'd been in Swearingen's car and home the day she vanished.

    The killer's wife testified that she came home that evening to find the place in disarray - and in the middle of it all were Trotter's lighter and cigarettes. Swearingen later filed a false burglary report, claiming his home had been broken into while he was out of town.

    That afternoon, Swearingen placed a call routed through a cell tower near FM 1097 in Willis - a spot he would have passed while heading from his house to the Sam Houston National Forest where Trotter's decomposing body was found 25 days later.

    "A too trusting 19-year-old in the wrong place at the wrong time," Sandy Trotter said, recalling her daughter's death. "It's just every parent's nightmare."

    Swearingen was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000. He went on to file what prosecutors described as "an abundance of habeas corpus applications, pro se motions, mandamus petitions, civil-right actions, and amended pleadings in both state and federal courts."

    The state's Court of Criminal Appeals rejected all seven of Swearingen's habeas appeals, and in July a federal district court slapped down a civil suit seeking to win the convicted killer more DNA testing.

    Through it all, Swearingen maintained his innocence.

    "The way I look at it, I'm a POW of Texas," the former electrician has told the media. "It's my army against their army."

    Even though his bids for more testing ultimately didn't pan out, Swearingen's DNA complaints sparked charges in state law in 2015. That year, lawmakers expanded access to testing by removing the requirement that the accused prove biological material - like saliva, sweat or skin cells - exists before testing evidence for it.

    But no amount of DNA evidence would be enough to exonerate the convicted killer, prosecutors say.

    Visiting Judge J.D. Langley greenlit Friday's decision in the 9th state District Court after Judge Phil Grant recused himself from the case in June 2016 given his prior involvement as a prosecutor during his time in the District Attorney's office.

    Even at this late date in legal saga, Montgomery County prosecutor Bill Delmore still anticipates pushback from Swearingen's attorneys.

    "I would say I'm cautiously optimistic that if there's an execution date we might finally see the culmination of this case," he said. "But I fully expect the attorneys for Swearingen to request another stay and they've been very tenacious in the past."

    Even before the judge's decision, Swearingen's attorney James Rytting said he planned to file a motion opposing the execution date because DNA from a rape kit and the murder weapon had not yet been tested.

    "How can you not test a rape kit?" he asked.

    Just weeks before Langley issued his decision, Texas executed another convicted killer, Taichin Preyor. The San Antonio man was sentenced to death for killing a woman who sold him drugs. His attorneys filed a flurry of appeals, arguing that former lawyers who worked on the case were "utterly unqualified."

    Even with the addition of Swearingen's death date to the calendar, the Lone Star State's use of capital punishment has been in a long-term downward slide.

    So far, Huntsville has seen five executions in 2017, with another six - including Swearingen's - on the calendar. Another is already slated for early 2018, just days after all of the state's current supplies of lethal injection drugs expire, according to information obtained through a public records request.

    The last time a Montgomery County killer saw the death chamber was in 2012, when Jonathan Green was executed for strangling and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

    Afterward, he first buried the body, then dug it up and stashed it inside his house, behind a chair.

    http://m.chron.com/houston/article/J...r-11747592.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

  7. #77
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    Death Row Inmate Sought For Questioning In Melissa Witt Murder

    Fort Smith (KFSM) -- December 1994, Melissa Witt disappeared from the Fort Smith Bowling World parking lot. Reports show police found her vehicle and signs of a struggle.

    Her body was discovered a month later near Turner Bend in the Ozark National Forest. The murder of a 19-year-old college student still haunts the River Valley. For a documentary team who is investigating Witt's murder, it may haunt them the most.

    "We have a six person team and we try to split up if we can. This is a pretty large project," said Ladonna Humphrey, the Executive Producer of the Melissa Witt documentary.

    The team uses their Facebook page called 'Who Killed Missy Witt', to receive tips in the case. Right now, an article on their page mentions the name of death row inmate Larry Swearingen.

    "In 1999, law enforcement became aware of Larry Swearingen because he had murdered a 19-year-old college student named Melissa Trotter. The murder is very close to that of Melissa Witt," Humphrey said.

    That murder conviction has Swearingen on death row in Texas. According to Humphrey's, Swearingen has been granted stays seven times. A few weeks ago a judge set Swearingen's execution date for November 16, 2017.

    The documentary team is hoping to speak with Swearingen about Witt's case before that date arrives.

    "We know that Swearingen was in the area very close to the time of Melissa Witt's murder, so he has become a person of interest but because of the lawyer team who supports him none of us have been able to interview Swearingen yet," Humphrey said.

    Humphrey said the team is now trying to secure the interview through the courts.

    "It's a blow to what we are trying to accomplish here. It's our goal to spend some time with Swearingen, hear his side of the story. He has denied to me in a letter that he killed Melissa Witt but we would like to see him be formally interviewed by law enforcement to make that determination and to corroborate with this investigation before he's put to death," Humphrey said.

    http://5newsonline.com/2017/08/17/de...a-witt-murder/
    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

  8. #78
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    Montgomery County DA Ligon uncovers Swearingen scheme to have fellow inmate confess to Trotter murder

    Death row inmate Anthony Allen Shore has come forward and told Montgomery County District Attorney's Office that fellow death row inmate Larry Ray Swearingen attempted to persuade him to take responsibility for the murder of Melissa Trotter-the crime for which Swearingen is scheduled to be executed on November 16, 2017.

    Shore is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday.

    "Larry Ray Swearingen has tried this scheme before while waiting for his original trial," District Attorney Brett Ligon told the Courier exclusively. "As the appellate courts have stressed, there is a mountain of evidence supporting the conviction and execution of Mr. Swearingen. I am not surprised in the least that he would have attempted this scheme to avoid his overdue date with justice."

    According to a release from Brett Ligon, Shore told chief investigator Chris Smith and assistant chief investigator John Stephenson that he conspired with Swearingen to take responsibility for Melissa Trotter's murder, but had a change of heart shortly before his execution date and decided to come forward with the truth and expose Swearingen's scheme.

    "Shore identified a map found in Shore's death row cell as one of the items Swearingen gave Shore in an effort to enable him to make a convincing admission of Trotter's murder," the release stated.

    Dubbed the Tourniquet Killer, Shore was convicted of capital murder in 2004 after he confessed to brutally slaying four young women in the Houston area.

    In the interview conducted at the Polunsky unit on Oct. 17 Shore said he initially refused Swearingen's request that he take responsibility for Trotter's murder, but eventually became friends with Swearingen and agreed to try to exonerate Swearingen of the crime as a favor to Swearingen, according to the DA's office. He said that Swearingen gave him a hand-drawn map of the location where Swearingen had left physical evidence of the murder of Melissa Trotter.

    According to Ligon, Shore's revelation came shortly after he asked Governor Greg Abbott to grant Shore a single 30 day reprieve, in order to allow him to complete an investigation of the materials found in Shore's cell on death row at the Polunsky Unit July 21.

    That request remains pending at this time.

    Harris County District Attorney's Office conducted an inventory of the contents of Shore's cell in July, in anticipation of a potential claim regarding Shore's mental health.

    "They discovered a folder containing approximately ten items pertaining to the murder of Melissa Trotter, including copies of court exhibits and scene photographs; a hand-drawn page of a calendar for the month of December, 1998, with handwritten notations regarding weather conditions; and a hand-drawn map which appears to depict the location where Melissa Trotter's body was found," the DA release stated. "The handwriting on the map is dissimilar to Shore's distinctive handwriting, but bears similarities to Swearingen's hand-writing."

    The Harris County District Attorney's Office informed the Montgomery County District Attorney of the discovery of the material in Shore's cell on September 1 after the District Court for the Ninth Judicial District issued an order setting an execution date for Swearingen.

    Ligon launched the investigation that led to an interview with a woman who had visited Shore at the Polunsky Unit. She said that Shore told her that he expected to take responsibility for Melissa Trotter's murder shortly before Shore's execution. She also said that Shore was aware of the location of physical evidence pertaining to Trotter's murder, according to the DA's office.

    Ligon said he would not provide any further details.

    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neig...n-12287634.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

  9. #79
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    Execution stayed according to The Marshall Project.

    https://twitter.com/thenexttodie/sta...41908879527937

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    Swearingen execution delayed due to District Clerk's Office error

    The execution date for convicted murderer Larry Swearingen is being reset because the Montgomery County District Clerk's office sent the execution order to the wrong place, District Attorney Brett Ligon confirmed to The Courier Thursday.

    According to the motion to withdraw the date, the execution order is statutorily required to be sent to the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs within two days of the scheduling of an execution date. However, the District Clerk's Office sent the execution order to the capital writ office of the Texas Attorney General.

    The OCFW represents individuals in state post-conviction litigation. The writ office within the AG's Office opposes relief to petitioners who have been sentenced to death.

    "It's horrible that Mr. Swearingen's execution date is forestalled due to a technical defect by the district clerk's office in failing to provide notice to the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs as per the statue and the judge's ruling," Ligon told the Courier late Thursday. "I have spoken frequently with the Trotter family and even though they understand the process, this one hurts even more because Swearingen will live a little longer not based on innocence but upon a clerical mistake."

    Ligon added ultimately it is his and his office's responsibility to make sure the death sentence imposed on Swearingen does occur in the future.

    "We will continue to work diligently toward that end," he said.

    Swearingen was sentenced to death 17 years ago for murdering Melissa Trotter, an 18-year-old Montgomery College student. Trotter went missing Dec. 8, 1998, and was found dead in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Lake Conroe months later.

    Swearingen has dodged four execution dates – in 2007, 2009, 2011 and most recently in 2013 – that were all stayed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. While prosecutors hoped visiting 9th state District Court Judge J.D. Langley would sign off on a Sept. 21 execution date for Swearingen, no such order came down as the federal case went on.

    The motion to reset also states "a modification of execution date is appropriate to investigate newly discovered information suggesting that Anthony Shore – a convicted serial killer – has confessed to the murder of Melissa Trotter."

    At the request of the Montgomery County and Harris County district attorney's offices, Shore's execution date was postponed. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection Oct. 18.

    In July, the Harris County District Attorney's Office conducted an inventory of the contents of Shore's cell in anticipation of a potential claim regarding Shore's mental health.

    "They discovered a folder containing approximately ten items pertaining to the murder of Melissa Trotter, including copies of court exhibits and scene photographs; a hand-drawn page of a calendar for the month of December, 1998, with handwritten notations regarding weather conditions; and a hand-drawn map which appears to depict the location where Melissa Trotter's body was found," stated an Oct. 18 dated release from Ligon's office. "The handwriting on the map is dissimilar to Shore's distinctive handwriting, but bears similarities to Swearingen's hand-writing."

    The Harris County District Attorney's Office informed Ligon of the discovery of the material in Shore's cell on Sept. 1 after the District Court for the Ninth Judicial District issued an order setting an execution date for Swearingen.

    Ligon immediately launched an investigation.

    According to Ligon, during an interview Oct. 17 Shore said he initially refused Swearingen's request that he take responsibility for Trotter's murder, but eventually became friends with Swearingen and agreed to try to exonerate Swearingen of the crime as a favor to Swearingen. He said that Swearingen gave him a hand-drawn map of the location where Swearingen had left physical evidence of the murder of Melissa Trotter.

    "Larry Ray Swearingen has tried this scheme before while waiting for his original trial," Ligon said in a Courier article. "As the appellate courts have stressed, there is a mountain of evidence supporting the conviction and execution of Mr. Swearingen. I am not surprised in the least that he would have attempted this scheme to avoid his overdue date with justice."

    http://www.yourconroenews.com/neighb...t-12310117.php

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