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Thread: Gaylon George Walbey - Texas

  1. #1
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    Gaylon George Walbey - Texas




    Facts of the Crime:

    Walbey was convicted of the May 4, 1993 murder of Marionett Beyah, 46, who was Walbey's former foster parent. Walbey was burglarizing Beyah's home when she returned and confronted him. She was stabbed 12 times in the neck and back and struck in the head with a fire extinguisher nine times. Walbey stole several items from Beyah's home and returned twice more following the murder to steal additional items which he sold to buy and sell cocaine.Beyah, a Galveston college instructor, had several years earlier been a foster parent to Walbey, who last stayed at her home four months prior to the murder.

    Walbey was sentenced to death in Galveston County in August 1994.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Inmate’s troubled childhood sways court
    New punishment hearing ordered for death row inmate


    A death row inmate convicted of bludgeoning, stabbing and strangling a former foster parent in Galveston will get a second chance to avoid execution.

    The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state district court in Galveston to conduct a new punishment hearing for Gaylon George Walbey Jr., 34, on death row since 1994.

    A three-judge appeals court panel ruled that Galveston attorney Roger Ezell failed to properly investigate Walbey’s troubled childhood, facts that could have persuaded a jury to spare him the death penalty.

    Ezell could not be reached for comment.

    “Counsel did not conduct an investigation that, had he done so, would have uncovered evidence of a nightmarish childhood,” according to the opinion by judges Patrick E. Higginbotham, Jacques L. Wiener Jr. and Rhesa H. Barksdale.

    The attorney who represented Walbey in his appeal, Brian Wice, said, “I’ve been on this case a dozen years and I’m gratified that the 5th Circuit finally recognized ... that the case was fundamentally unfair.”

    The ruling was the second by the 5th Circuit Court in the case. The 5th Circuit Court had earlier sent the case to U.S. district court in Galveston, where a magistrate judge recommended a new punishment hearing. The recommendation was rejected by U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent and Walbey appealed.

    Walbey was convicted of the 1993 slaying of Marionette Beyah, an office technology instructor at Galveston College.

    Beyah had been a foster parent for Walbey when he was 14, but she returned him to state custody.

    Walbey’s father snatched the boy from his mother and severely abused him for five years.

    Walbey, who was 18 at the time of the murder, said in his confession that Beyah returned home while he was burglarizing her house and that he panicked, stabbing her 12 times in the neck and back, hitting her in the head with a fire extinguisher nine times and strangling her with an electrical cord.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6219975.html

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0007.0.wpd.pdf

    The way the opinion is written the 5th has directed them to either resentence with a trial for death or come up with some non-capital punishment (I.E. plea)

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    Man's death sentence overturned

    A Galveston man convicted of capital murder in the brutal killing of a college instructor in 1993 will remain on death row while prosecutors decide whether to appeal the reversal of his death sentence.

    Gaylon George Walbey Jr., 34, was sentenced to die in the May, 4, 1993, slaying of Marionette Beyah, who had been his foster mother in 1988 and 1989. Police found Beyah, 46, bludgeoned to death inside her island home. Police said she interrupted Walbey's burglary of her residence.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion Monday reversing Walbey's death sentence, citing ineffectiveness of council during his punishment hearing. As the reason for the reversal, the court's opinion states defense attorney Roger Ezell failed to investigate mitigating circumstances of Walbey's mental state, childhood and a host of other potentially mitigating circumstances.

    Ezell, who works for the appellate division of the Galveston County District Attorney's Office, said Thursday he disagreed with the court's decision and would have no part in the state's proceedings regarding Walbey.

    Reasons For Reversal

    The court stated Ezell waited until the week before the hearing to prepare for Walbey's punishment phase and only skimmed the records provided by the district attorney on Walbey's background.

    Ezell failed to contact potential witnesses, namely Walbey's mother, and others who had direct knowledge of Walbey’s "troubled" childhood, the opinion states.

    Ezell also didn’t probe Walbey's relationship to Beyah, even though there were no impediments to conducting an investigation or to hiring a mitigation expert, the opinion states.

    The appeal of Walbey’s death sentence has been ongoing for 14 years, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a federal appeals court judge upheld the death sentence, Ezell said.

    Guilty Plea Withdrawn

    Walbey originally agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but changed his mind, Ezell said.

    "There was a prisoner from death row at the court house for a hearing, and they put him in the same holding cell with the prisoner," Ezell said. "The guy talked him (Walbey) into rolling the dice. That prisoner now of course has been executed."

    The appeals court ordered a new punishment phase of Walbey's capital trial or the imposition of the appropriate noncapital alternative sentence.

    Joel Bennett, 1st-assistant criminal district attorney for Galveston County, said no decision has been made on whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The state has 14 days to decide whether to ask the appeals court to reconsider its opinion or 90 days to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, said Tom Kelley, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General.

    (Source: The Galveston Daily News)

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    A convicted killer sentenced to die for the 1993 slaying of a college teacher will soon return to Galveston, where attorneys will decide whether to seek a new punishment hearing or permanently remove him from death row.

    After 12 years lobbying the courts for his client Gaylon George Walbey Jr., defense attorney Brian Wice won a new punishment hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel.

    Meanwhile, the National Alliance on Mental Illness continues to lobby against states imposing death-sentences in cases against the mentally ill, a situation that is not unique to Texas, said Ron Honberg, the organization’s legal director.

    Walbey, 34, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a child, repeatedly bludgeoned Marionette Beyah — his former foster mother and a Galveston College teacher — inside her island home May 4, 1993, authorities said.

    No Supreme Court Review


    With the assent of the state’s Office of Solicitor General and Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appeals court’s decision, said Thomas Kelley, a spokesman for Abbott.

    Wice declined to discuss his negotiations with Sistrunk, but said Walbey, who is no longer under a death sentence, would likely return to Galveston soon where a decision on whether to impose a life sentence or hold a new punishment hearing would be forthcoming.

    Roger Ezell — who now works for Sistrunk — failed to investigate “a cornucopia of mitigating circumstances about (Walbey’s) horrific upbringing and background that would have led at least one juror to reject a death sentence,” Wice said.

    Prosecutors gave Ezell, who defended Walbey, a mass of mitigating material, such as medical records and records from juvenile court, school, child services and health and human services, Wice said.

    The records “painted a portrait of Gaylon’s upbringing and background that even the conservative Fifth Circuit described as ‘nightmarish,’” Wice said.

    Ezell said a federal judge and lower appellate court upheld the death sentence, but a state district court and federal magistrate ruled in Wice’s favor, ultimately leading to the higher appeals court’s ruling.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has with previous death-penalty cases raised the question whether mentally ill defendants understand the nature of the death penalty enforced upon them, Honberg said.

    Scott Louis Panetti was convicted of capital murder in Texas in the 1992 death of his in-laws, but the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to Panetti’s death sentence and remanded the case for further consideration, saying Panetti was sentenced to die despite a well-documented history of mental illness. Panetti remains on Texas’ death row.

    ‘Not Unique To Texas’

    Panetti represented himself and subpoenaed for his trial Jesus, former President John F. Kennedy and Pope John Paul II, Honberg said.

    “This is not unique to Texas,” Honberg said. “We’ve followed cases in Virginia, Georgia, Indiana and other states as well. There are four states, North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky, that have legislation pending or are considering legislation to reduce the application of the death penalty where serious mental illness is involved.”

    Brain disorders have a profound impact on a person’s comprehension of reality, Honberg said.

    Walbey was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a very young age, although it doesn’t appear that he suffers from it now, Wice said.

    Beyah’s Death Remembered

    Sistrunk, who tried the case and argued for the death penalty, said he remembered the circumstances surrounding Beyah’s death as if it were yesterday. These cases stay with you, and your victims stay with you, too, Sistrunk said.

    “I still remember arguing to the jury how Ms. Beyah was repeatedly beat over the head by the defendant with a fire extinguisher, and that not having killed her, she was then stabbed repeatedly with multiple knives,” Sistrunk said.

    One of the knives broke off in Beyah’s back, Sistrunk said.

    “The defendant then tried to cut her throat, and that not having killed her, the defendant began choking her with an electrical cord,” Sistrunk said. “Finally he just left her there on the floor of her home, breathing her last breath, as he stepped over her and dug in her purse for her car keys.”

    Decision By August

    The decision on whether to seek a new punishment hearing for Walbey or to impose a life sentence must be made by mid-August, Sistrunk said.

    “We’ve begun our review of the evidence from the first trial and are still awaiting evidence that was offered by defendant’s counsel during the appellate process,” Sistrunk said. “We’ve also contacted the family of Ms. Beyah to begin some discussions on our options at this point.”

    Sistrunk could remember only one Galveston County case, that of Santiago Varelas, where a death sentenced was reversed. The case was retried in 2002, and the decision was made not to pursue the death penalty. Varelas was found guilty again and sentenced to life in prison, Sistrunk said.

    “Having been personally involved in it and remembering it all, the temptation is to make a quick decision to seek death,” Sistrunk said of Walbey’s case. “But there is no substitute for reviewing everything that is available to us now, and that is what we will be doing over the next few months.”

    http://galvestondailynews.com/story....2fcf257ced36ec

  6. #6
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    Death penalty sought in man's retrial for 1994 slaying

    Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in a sentencing-phase retrial of a man convicted in 1994 of bludgeoning, stabbing and strangling a former foster parent to death in Galveston, District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said today.

    Sistrunk had to decide whether to seek life imprisonment or the death penalty for Gaylon George Walbey Jr., 35, after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January ordered the penalty phase be retried.

    "In the review process it became clear why we sought the death penalty in the original trial," Sistrunk said. "With all the same evidence essentially available to us, along with witnesses, it was the only decision to be had."

    Galveston County District Judge Lonnie Cox will appoint an attorney for Walbey if it's determined during a hearing next week that he is unable to hire one.

    A 3-judge appeals court panel said a new punishment trial was necessary because Walbey's defense attorney failed to properly investigate Walbey's troubled childhood. The court said the jury might have spared him the death penalty if members had known how his father had snatched him from his mother and severely abused him for 5 years.

    Walbey was convicted of killing Marionette Beyah, 46, an office technology instructor at Galveston College, in 1993 after she surprised him in the act of burglarizing her home.

    Beyah had been a foster parent for Walbey when he was 14, but she returned him to state custody. Walbey said in a taped confession that he panicked when Beyah began screaming.

    The prosecution said Walbey, then 18, strangled Beyah with an electrical cord, stabbed her with several knives, fractured her skull with a fire extinguisher and left a long barbecue fork protruding from her back.

    The jury took 40 minutes to find Walbey guilty of capital murder, but deliberated for 5 1/2 hours during the penalty phase before sentencing him to death.

    (Source: The Houston Chronicle)

  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    State opts for life in prison for teacher’s murder

    By Chris Paschenko
    The Daily News

    GALVESTON — The district attorney’s office decided against seeking the death penalty again for an inmate who spent 16 years on death row for slaying a Galveston College teacher in 1993.

    Gaylon George Walbey, 36, was convicted of capital murder in 1994 and sentenced to death for the May 4, 1993, bludgeoning death of Marionette Beyah, 46, his former foster mother.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed Walbey’s death sentence in January 2009, citing ineffective assistance of council in his punishment hearing, and asked the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office to impose either the noncapital sentence or hold another sentencing hearing.

    Former District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk announced in July that year his office would seek the death penalty again.

    Jack Roady, who was elected criminal district attorney in November, said he decided against pursuing death in Walbey’s case.

    “After speaking with the family and evaluating all the evidence in this case, including evidence developed over the last 16 years since the original trial, justice would not be served by seeking the death penalty again,” said Roady, who noted Beyah’s relatives were “satisfied with the decision.”

    On Monday, Judge Lonnie Cox, of Galveston’s 56th District Court, sentenced Walbey to life in prison. He becomes eligible for parole in 2029 after having served 35 years, Roady said.

    Kent Schaffer, Walbey’s attorney handling the punishment hearing, said the state considered the mitigating evidence, which he called sizable in nature, and came to the right conclusion.

    “He had a very, very tough life as a child with illness, abuse and neglect,” Schaffer said of Walbey. “If it was all presented to the first jury, he would have received life back then. That’s why the appeals court found it necessary to give him a fair chance.

    “What Jack Roady did was the same thing the jury would have done.”

    In overturning the initial death sentence, the appeals court opinion stated defense attorney Roger Ezell failed to investigate mitigating circumstances of Walbey’s mental state, childhood and a host of other potentially mitigating circumstances.

    Ezell, who works for the appellate division of the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, was not involved in the decision, Roady said. Ezell told The Daily News in January 2009 that he disagreed with the appeals court’s decision.

    Walbey’s appeals attorney, Brian Wice, lobbied courts for 12 years before winning a new punishment hearing.

    Wice told The Daily News in January 2009 that Ezell didn’t investigate mitigating circumstances involving Walbey’s “horrific upbringing that would have led at least one juror to reject a death sentence.”

    Sistrunk, who prosecuted the case, recalled arguing at trial that Walbey repeatedly beat Beyah over the head with a fire extinguisher and stabbed her multiple times. One of the knives broke off in her back. Walbey strangled Beyah with an electrical cord then dug in her purse for her car keys, leaving her to die, Sistrunk told The Daily News in March 2009.

    Linda Alford, Walbey’s mother, told The Daily News in 1993 that her son had a long history of mental illness and was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had been in and out of psychiatric institutions.

    Walbey spent 16 years on death row, with exceptions of traveling to Galveston court hearings, Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said.

    http://galvestondailynews.com/story/237774/

  8. #8
    So he'll be a free man by the time he's 54. Nice job Galveston D.A

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Well, to be fair to the Galveston DA, Walbey would have probably recieved the same sentence had he gone to trial which would of been a waste of taxpayer money. I also doubt the Texas board will release him as soon as he comes up for parole. He will be a very old man when he, if ever, gets released.

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