I just watched the show again, and I agree, Colette. Mr. Ward was making excuses for his son.
I just watched the show again, and I agree, Colette. Mr. Ward was making excuses for his son.
An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
"Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd
On March 6, 2014, Ward's habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...2101/200507/47
On April 7, 2014, Ward filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca5/14-70015
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca5/14-70016
COA denied yesterday by the 5th Circuit.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...-70015-CV0.pdf
Convicted killer in North Texas hoarding case loses appeal
A federal appeals court has refused an appeal from a 32-year-old man sent to death row for gunning down a North Texas city's code enforcement officer in a trash dispute nearly 10 years ago.
Attorneys for Adam Kelly Ward argued his lawyers were deficient during the sentencing phase of his 2005 trial in Hunt County, that some of his jurors improperly contacted someone while having lunch during his trial, and that his death sentence was unconstitutional because he's severely mentally ill.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday rejected the appeal.
Ward was convicted of fatally shooting 44-year-old Michael Walker in Commerce, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas. Walker had taken pictures of Ward's home, where court documents say rubbish was hoarded inside and outside.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/27923...e-loses-appeal
An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
"Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd
On March 2, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit DENIED Ward's petition for en banc rehearing.
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...s\14-10033.htm
In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Ward's petition for certiorari.
Docketed: June 2, 2015
Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Case Nos.: (14-70015)
Decision Date: January 22, 2015
Rehearing Denied: March 2, 2015
http://www.supremecourt.gov/search.a...s/14-10033.htm
Execution date set for Texas death row inmate
HUNT COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - A "death warrant" has been issued and an execution date set for a death row inmate convicted in the 2005 killing of a City of Commerce Code Enforcement Officer.
Adam Kelly Ward, 33, was convicted of capital murder in the death of Michael "Pee Wee" Walker. His execution is set March 22, 2016.
On Wednesday, Hunt County Sheriff's Office said Sheriff Randy Meeks was en route to serve the warrant.
A death warrant is an official order for the execution of a condemned person. The warrant was signed by Judge Richard Beacom of the 354th District Court. According to state codes, the sheriff of the county in which a "death warrant" is issued must deliver that warrant to the Texas Department of Corrections.
The sheriff's office released a statement on the warrant and Walker's death, saying:
"Sheriff Meeks would like the public to remember the real victim in this senseless tragedy. ... Michael "Pee Wee" Walker was not armed and worked alone as all Code Enforcement as they routinely do and was simply doing his job. Michael "Pee Wee" Walker loved his job and is survived by two children and his father."
On June 13, 2005, Walker was taking pictures of a house on Caddo Street for city code violations. Ward, the homeowner's son, confronted him and shot him with a pistol. Walker got in his car and backed away, and a co-worker called him on his cell phone. He told them he needed an officer.
Police arrived shortly after. Sgt. Jeff Haines said Walker's father, Dick, was an emergency first responder who was one of the first to arrive at the scene.
Haines recalled the incident, saying, "It was just horrible."
Walker was taken to a hospital, where he later died of gunshot wounds.
Dick said dealing with his son' s tragic death has been a terrible ten and a half year process.
"I've lost all my anger toward Adam Ward, I'm working on forgiveness," Dick said. "I'm hoping the [execution] gives me a little more closure. [Michael] was not only my son, he was my best friend."
Dick said one blessing at the time of his son's death, is that he was able to spend the final moments with his son in his arms.
"I was able to be with him when he took his last breath," Dick said. "And the last thing he was able to hear was his daddy telling him he loves him."
http://www.kltv.com/story/30434786/e...ath-row-inmate
Ward execution date nearing
Last minute appeals continue to be filed, although an execution date is set in less than two weeks for a Commerce man, convicted of capital murder for the killing of one of the city’s code enforcement officers almost 11 years ago.
Adam Kelly Ward is set to die on the evening of March 22.
Last fall, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of Ward’s 2007 conviction and sentence to death by lethal injection for the 2005 death of Michael “Pee Wee” Walker.
In January 2015 the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also rejected Ward’s formal appeal. Ward's attorneys had argued Ward's trial counsel was deficient. The court also denied a writ of habeas corpus filed in Ward's behalf in 2014.
In the writ, Ward contended his conviction and death penalty sentence were unconstitutional because he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel, was not tried by an impartial jury, and is severely mentally ill.
The court reviewed the case and in a 63-page opinion denied the writ in a unanimous ruling, also noting Ward failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. Ward’s defense counsel then filed the formal appeal with the court.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in a February 2010 ruling, also denied an appeal raised by Ward.
Walker was working as a code enforcement officer for the City of Commerce and shortly after 10 a.m. on June 13, 2005 he was taking photos of alleged code violations at the home where Ward lived on Caddo Street. The two engaged in a verbal altercation, which ended when Ward shot Walker as many as nine times with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol.
In order to have been convicted of capital murder, the prosecution had to show Ward knowingly and intentionally either obstructed Walker’s ability to do his job or retaliated against Walker for doing his job as a public servant, while in the course of committing the murder.
Defense attorneys attempted to show Ward may have been psychotic and suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the shooting.
Ward was found mentally competent to stand trial in a separate hearing which occurred even as a jury was being impaneled to consider guilt or innocence on the capital murder charge.
http://www.heraldbanner.com/news/war...74eef2d1a.html
An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
"Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd
ARTICLE 11.071 APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS DISMISSED WITH WRITTEN ORDER:
MOTION FOR STAY OF EXECUTION DENIED:
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/handd...ate=03/14/2016
Death Watch: A Question of Premeditation
Adam Kelly Ward set to die March 22
Shortly after 10am on June 13, 2005, 22-year-old Adam Kelly Ward was out front of his parents' home in Commerce, Texas, washing a car, when he started arguing with Michael Walker, a code compliance officer sent to take photographs of the home after the Wards had grown noncompliant on an unsheltered storage violation. Ward's father, Ralph, came outside to try to diffuse the situation, but in talking with Walker, realized his son had disappeared. Worried about the gun his bipolar and oft-agitated son kept in his bedroom, Ralph ran off to look for Ward, advising Walker to leave the property. Walker retreated to his truck and called for law enforcement's assistance. Moments later, however, before Ralph could find his son, Ward ran up to Walker's truck and shot the code compliance officer – nine times in all.
In his confession, Ward told authorities that he believed the "city" was perpetually after his family, and that he feared for his own life after he and Walker started arguing. That worked against him, however, as prosecutors were able to point to the initial argument – plus a history of run-ins between the Ward and Walker families and the fact that Walker was unarmed – and charged Ward with shooting the officer in retaliation. Ward's trial attorneys attempted to argue that their client's mental state was too inept to conceive any prepared retaliation, but he was convicted of capital murder in June 2007 and sentenced to death. Habeas efforts filed at the state and federal levels have focused on Ward's lifelong troubles with mental illness, beginning with a bipolar diagnosis at age 4. Ward couldn't stay in school, couldn't keep a job, and in turn could not move out of his parents' deteriorating and often violent house. His habeas attorneys also pointed to a number of problems with the trial in general – like the fact that a friend and collaborator of the prosecution, Dr. Paul Zelhart, was seen having lunch and talking with jurors during the trial.
Ward's efforts for relief failed in federal court in March 2014. His appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals was denied in Jan. 2015. He got word that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case nine months later, and on Nov. 6, he received his execution date. He's currently set for execution at 6pm on Tuesday, March 22. He'll be the fifth Texan executed this year, and the 536th since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/...premeditation/
An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
"Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd
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