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Thread: Andre Lee Thomas - Texas Execution - Stayed

  1. #21
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Jurors swayed by racism in Texas death penalty case?

    Andre Thomas is blind because he gouged out his own eyes and ate one of them.

    He is incarcerated because he stabbed his white wife, their young son and her infant toddler, cutting out their hearts before stabbing himself.

    And he is on death row because an all-white jury in the North Texas town of Sherman — infamous for a 1930 lynching and race riot triggered by allegations that a black man raped a white woman — condemned the now-36-year-old black man to die.

    On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments from Thomas’ lawyers who contend that the jury was so racially biased and his trial lawyers were so incompetent that he was unfairly sentenced to death despite ample evidence of debilitating mental illness.

    Lawyers for the state, however, argued that the jurors’ biased statements didn’t affect his sentence and that he caused his own murderous psychosis by ingesting a powerful concoction of drugs and alcohol.

    “There is nothing here indicating that any of these jurors’ verdict was influenced by their bias,” Matthew Frederick, assistant solicitor general for the Texas attorney general, told the 3-judge panel.

    The court could take days or months to render a decision. But its deliberations come in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have overturned cases in which racial bias played a role. And experts say this case will be seen as a test of the historically conservative 5th Circuit, which has in the past rejected similar race-based claims.

    “Turning a blind eye to racial discrimination in this case sends a terrible message about our criminal justice system and what people of color are entitled to or should expect from the criminal justice system,” said Christina Swarns, president and attorney-in-charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender in Manhattan.

    For Thomas, who is incarcerated in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice psychiatric unit, the court’s decision could have little effect on whether he is executed in the near term, experts said. Despite the arguments over how race affected his sentence, there is little disagreement that Thomas remains psychotic. And the U.S. Supreme Court has firmly decided that an inmate who is to be executed must understand why.

    “A guy pulled out both his eyes and ate one of them. That is the conversation we should be having,” Swarns said. “What should happen to Andre Thomas because he is severely mentally ill, not should we be killing him.”

    In May 1930, a black farm hand named George Hughes, who some called “crazy,” was accused of raping a white woman in Sherman. During his trial, an angry mob set the Grayson County Courthouse on fire, dragged Hughes’ body behind a car through the streets and hung him from a tree in the town’s black business section before lighting his corpse aflame, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Most of the town’s black businesses were charred, hundreds of National Guard troops descended on Sherman, and then-Gov. Dan Moody declared martial law.

    14 men were indicted for inciting the riot. 2 were convicted — 1 for arson, 1 for rioting — and served 2-year sentences.

    Andre Thomas grew up in a poor, black neighborhood in the small town still scarred some 70 years later by those deep racial wounds.

    On March 27, 2004, Thomas, who had a history of bizarre behavior, charged up the stairs to the apartment of his estranged wife, a petite blonde named Laura Boren. He would say later that God had instructed him to kill Boren, whom he said was Jezebel, his 4-year-old son, Andre Jr., whom he said was the anti-Christ, and Boren’s 1-year-old daughter Leyha, whom he described as an evil being.

    The interracial crime outraged the community. It captured local news headlines for weeks. A makeshift memorial appeared in front of Boren’s apartment, overflowing with flowers, cards and teddy bears. Calls for the ultimate punishment were immediate and widespread.

    Thomas confessed to the murders, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His appellate lawyers say the historic backdrop in Sherman, paired with the horrific nature of his crime, made it crucial for his trial lawyers to impanel a jury that could fairly assess his troubled mental history without racial bias.

    Instead, the all-white panel that decided Thomas’ fate included three jurors and an alternate who noted on a jury questionnaire their opposition to “people of different racial backgrounds marrying and/or having children.” One said they “vigorously” opposed interracial relationships, adding, “I don’t believe God intended for this.” Another said, “We should stay with our bloodline.”

    Thomas’ trial lawyers did not object to the impaneling of those jurors during his 2005 trial.

    What’s more, his current lawyers contend, the prosecutors played to jurors’ prejudice throughout the trial and in the final remarks during sentencing.

    “Are you going to take the risk about him asking your daughter out, or your granddaughter out?” Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown asked, encouraging jurors to imagine what might happen if Thomas were someday paroled.

    “This was a palpable dynamic throughout the whole case,” defense lawyer Catherine Carroll told the court.

    Thomas’ lawyers say the jurors’ racial bias prevented adequate consideration of his long history of mental disturbances. They also argue his trial lawyers presented only a smattering of witnesses to testify about his mental illness or to refute prosecutors’ theory that his psychosis was substance-induced.

    “The jury was affirmatively misled by an inaccurate depiction,” Carroll said Wednesday.

    Jurors heard little of the abuse Thomas suffered as a child, of his family’s long history of mental illness or of his own battle with mental demons that started as early as age 9, when he first reported hearing frightening voices.

    “Andre Thomas committed horrific crimes. But he did so in the throes of acute psychosis,” his lawyers wrote in their brief. “His case exemplifies the injustice that occurs when counsel utterly fails to provide competent assistance.”

    Prosecutors during the trial argued that Thomas could not be found insane under the law because in the days leading up to the crime he had willfully ingested enough alcohol, marijuana and cough medicine to trigger a break with reality. His willful intoxication, prosecutors contended, negated his insanity plea.

    Frederick told the court Wednesday that Thomas’ insanity plea was also insufficient because he knew his actions were wrong, referring to his confession to police soon after the crime. In the hours after the murders, Thomas turned himself in, asking if he would be forgiven because he had done what God wanted him to.

    “Mr. Thomas did know that his conduct was wrongful at the time,” Frederick said.

    Lawyers in the Texas attorney general’s office argue that race was not a critical issue in Thomas’ case. Though they acknowledge the jurors’ responses indicate racial bias, they say there is no proof the bias affected their final decision.

    State lawyers also contend that additional evidence of Thomas’ mental health struggles would not have changed the jury’s verdict. When jurors saw photographs of the crime scene, Frederick said, they decided Thomas deserved the death penalty.

    The 5th Circuit Court has a checkered history on issues of race.

    In 2013, civil rights groups filed a complaint against Judge Edith Jones, who was appointed to the 5th Circuit Court in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. At issue was a speech she gave at a Pennsylvania university in which she claimed that blacks and Hispanics were more likely to commit violent crimes. In the same speech, she also allegedly described defenses such as mental retardation and systemic racism as “red herrings.”

    Jones publicly denied making racist remarks, and a panel of judges eventually decided against taking disciplinary action.

    The court, on which Jones currently sits and formerly served as chief justice, has often rejected race-based claims of injustice.

    In the case of Duane Buck, a Texas inmate condemned to die for a 1995 double murder, the 5th Circuit three times rejected his lawyers’ claims that an expert’s race-related testimony unfairly prejudiced jurors deciding his sentence.

    Psychologist Walter Quijano told jurors that the fact Buck was black meant he was more likely to be violent in the future.

    In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the court’s ruling, deciding that Quijano’s testimony had unconstitutionally tainted Buck’s trial.

    “When a jury hears expert testimony that expressly makes a defendant’s race directly pertinent on the question of life or death, the impact of that evidence cannot be measured simply by how much air time it received at trial or how many pages it occupies in the record,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court’s majority opinion. “Some toxins can be deadly in small doses.”

    While the Supreme Court has shied away from cases making claims of systematic racial discrimination, Jordan Steiker, director of the University of Texas School of Law Capital Punishment Center, said it has recently shown special interest in cases involving explicit racial bias.

    “Without the racial component in (the Thomas) case,” Steiker said, “it’s hard to imagine prosecutors would have sought the death penalty against somebody so obviously mentally ill or that a jury would have been willing to return the death penalty against somebody so mentally impaired.”

    As it reviews Thomas’ case, Steiker said, the 5th Circuit judges will likely have in mind the Supreme Court’s recent decisions and a desire not to have their work again reversed.

    “The 5th Circuit is likely to tread carefully on the race question in fear that this case is ripe for Supreme Court review,” he said.

    A decade-and-a-half after that Sherman jury sentenced him to die, Thomas talks to his lawyers about getting out of prison, getting his eyes back and going for a drive in the old car he tinkered with obsessively as a teen.

    Either way the court decides on the issues of race, the Texas criminal justice system will be confronted with new questions about how to deal with a man whose mental state allows him little to no capacity to understand the repercussions of his horrendous crime.

    If the court agrees that Thomas should have a new trial, prosecutors and defense lawyers will again be forced to decide whether he is mentally competent to stand for judgment or whether he should be institutionalized in a psychiatric facility. And if prosecutors debate seeking the death penalty again, they must consider whether a new jury would deem a completely blind man such a future danger to society that he would be eligible for the ultimate punishment.

    If the court rejects Thomas’ lawyers claims and his case proceeds toward an execution date, an entirely new round of litigation will ensue in which questions arise about whether he is mentally competent to face lethal injection.

    The Supreme Court has banned execution for intellectually disabled people and for those who were juveniles at the time of their crimes. But the court has issued no such ban for mentally ill people, leaving it to the states to determine whether defendants are sane enough to understand the reason for their execution.

    The court has provided some guidelines in the landmark Texas death row case of Scott Panetti, a paranoid schizophrenic who murdered his family in 1992. During his trial, Panetti famously represented himself clad in a purple cowboy outfit and presenting a witness list that included John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ.

    In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Panetti’s case that inmates must have a “rational understanding” that they are being executed as retribution for their crimes. Since then, nearly 30 years after his crimes, Panetti and his lawyers remain in a legal battle with the state over whether his mental illness prevents him from grasping the reason for his impending execution.

    The 5th Circuit’s decision about whether racial bias tainted Thomas’ case could determine whether decades from now he remains indefinitely in a prison psychiatric unit, heavily medicated, with visions of freedom playing behind his surgically shut eyes while lawyers fight over whether he understands his fate.

    (source: Austin American-Statesman)
    "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

  2. #22
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    The Fifth Circuit has denied Thomas’ appeal and affirmed the district court’s denial of his habeas petition.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...021-04-23.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

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  3. #23
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    The decision was 2-1. Judges Jones (Reagan) and Southwick (G.W. Bush) were the majority. Higginson (Obama) dissented.

    There's a zero percent chance the Texas Circus Clowns don't stay this if he ever gets a date.
    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

  4. #24
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    As usual it was partisan. The Obama judge was the one who dissented. But according to king Roberts there are no Clinton judges or Obama judges or Bush judges.

  5. #25
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Sherman's only death row inmate seeks Supreme Court appeal

    By Jerrie Whiteley
    Herald Democrat

    Grayson County's only death row inmate, Andre Thomas, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court Monday evening related to a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back in April of last year denying Thomas' appeal to them.

    Here are five things to know about Andre Thomas and his appeal.

    1. One of the area's most shocking crimes

    Thomas' trek through the American legal system reads like something out of a horror novel. It began on March 27, 2004 when he broke down the door of the apartment belonging to his ex wife Laura Boren.

    From there, he fatally stabbed Boren, her infant daughter Leyha Hughes, and Andre Jr., the four-year-old son she shared with Thomas.

    After killing the three, Thomas removed organs out of each of the bodies and took them with him. He then stabbed himself several times before returning to his own home where he talked with family and friends about what he had done.

    He later walked into the Sherman Police Department to turn himself in saying God told him to kill his former wife and her children. Five days later, he plucked out his own eyeball while quoting a bible verse. Years later while on death row, he would pull out his remaining eye and ate it.

    2. The Grayson County trial

    An all white jury sentenced Thomas to death for murdering Leyha Hughes.

    Before he was brought to trial, however, he was judged to be incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state mental health hospital. After five weeks there, he was returned to Grayson County after doctors deemed him competent and indicted for capital murder in Leyha Hughes' death.

    Former Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown and his First Assistant Kerye Ashmore prosecuted the case. Thomas was represented in the case by an experienced death penalty attorney R.J. Hagood and former Assistant Grayson County District Attorney Bobbie Peterson Cate.

    Hagood was sick at the time of the trial and died in 2010. Cate now works for the state of Oklahoma.

    Thomas appealed the conviction in state court but lost. The case then made its way through several other courts.

    3. 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has its say

    Earlier this year, that court allowed Thomas to appeal on four specific grounds including, "(A) the jury was tainted with racial bias, and the state court unreasonably held that defense counsel provided effective assistance during voir dire; (B) the state court unreasonably held that defense counsel provided effective assistance despite their failure to challenge Thomas's competency to stand trial; (C) the state court unreasonably held that defense counsel provided effective assistance despite their failure to present an expert in pharmacology to rebut the State's evidence that Thomas's psychosis was voluntarily induced; and (D) the state court unreasonably held that defense counsel provided effective assistance, despite their failure to prepare and present an effective mitigation case at sentencing."

    While the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that there were concerning spots on the record in Thomas' case, it also found that those were not enough to overcome the presumption that jurors were able to use only the law and the facts of the case to reach a verdict.

    At the time of that ruling, Assistant Grayson County District Attorney Karla Baugh, who has handled the appeal of the Thomas death row sentence for Grayson County, said Thomas' next move would probably be an appeal to the Supreme Court.

    4. Thomas appeals to the highest court

    In his appeal to the U.S.Supreme Court, Thomas' counsel asserts that he was clearly mentally ill when he killed his ex wife, his son and her daughter.

    They point out Thomas' long history of mental illness including the fact that he had attempted suicide in the days leading up to the murders and was twice taken to a local mental health facilities where professionals attempted to have him committed.
    However, he was left unattended and was able to walk away from the last hospital.

    The appeal asserts that Thomas conviction violates parts of the 6th, 8th and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and cites many of the same arguments made in the appeal to the 5th Circuit. It asserts that a shuffle of the original jury panel in the case virtually assured that the case would be heard by an all white jury. It also points out the number of jurors in the case, three, that said on their jury questionnaires that they opposed mixed race marriages and that Thomas' defense counsel in the capital murder trial, R. J. Hagood and Bobbie Peterson Cate, did not object to any of them as jurors and asked only superficial questions about their stated beliefs that such mixed race couples should not have children.

    The petition states: “The Court’s commitment to eradicating overt racial discrimination from the administration of justice, especially in capital cases, requires review of Andre Thomas’s death sentence … Far from the 12 ‘impartial and unprejudiced jurors’ required by clearly established law . . . [Mr.] Thomas was convicted and sentenced to death by multiple jurors who harbored—and did not disclaim—racial bias directly implicated by the facts of this case.”

    5. What happens next

    Information on the Supreme Court's website shows that the court gets between 7,000 and 8,000 requests to hear cases for each session. It hears about 80 cases. Grayson County prosecutors are no longer in charge of the case as death penalty appeals are handled by the State Attorney General's Office. They have 30 days to file an answer to the appeal and then Thomas' counsel has ten days to answer that filing. Then everyone will wait on the justices. The case will be added to the list of cases circulated to the justices. If the case does not appear on the following Monday's order list, it will be relisted for future consideration.

    "If the petition is granted, the petitioner (in this case Andre Thomas) has 45 days within which to file a brief on the merits, and the respondent (in this case the state of Texas) has 35 days within which to file the brief in response, for a total of about 80 days.

    The petitioner may then file a reply brief up to one week prior to the date oral argument has been scheduled," the website said.

    https://www.heralddemocrat.com/story...al/5795141001/
    "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

  6. #26
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    En banc rehearing denied April 23, 2021.

    Final petition for writ of certiorari filed September 20, 2021.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....ic/21-444.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  7. #27
    aclay
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    Yes, I think he's mentally ill too. He should be in a mental institution instead of prison.

  8. #28
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    I'd like to see him executed solely because of how angry it would make death penalty opponents.
    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. #29
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Again there's no compromise with the "they/them BLM ACAB" crowd and if you give an inch they'll take a mile.
    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

  10. #30
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Final appeal distributed for conference January 7, 2022.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....ic/21-444.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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