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Thread: Christopher Chubasco Wilkins - Texas Execution - January 11, 2017

  1. #11
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    Wow, a 5th denial after just 6 years. And after Coleman it's another Tarrant case which is that fast.

  2. #12
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On June 10, 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit DENIED Wilkins' petition for rehearing en banc.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...les/14-276.htm

  3. #13
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Wilkins' petition for certiorari.

    Appeals exhausted decision could result in an execution date.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Two Convicted Texas Killers Lose Death Row Appeals

    Two Texas death row inmates convicted in separate slayings in Fort Worth lost U.S. Supreme Court appeals Monday.

    Justices without comment Monday refused to review appeals from Billy Jack Crutsinger, 60, and Christopher Wilkins, 46.

    Both argued they had deficient legal help at their trials in Tarrant County.

    Crutsinger is awaiting execution for the fatal stabbings of Pearl Magouirk, 89, and her daughter Patricia Syren, 71, during a robbery 12 years ago at their Fort Worth home.

    Wilkins was convicted of fatally shooting two men in Fort Worth for duping him into buying a phony rock of crack cocaine.

    At the time of the 2005 slayings, Wilkins had escaped from a Houston halfway house and drove a stolen truck to Fort Worth.

    Neither convict has an execution date yet.

    http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/T...293696141.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #15
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge sets execution date for Fort Worth killer of three

    A Tarrant County judge on Monday set an October execution date for a Fort Worth man who killed three men in two days in 2005.

    State District Judge David C. Hagerman ruled that Christopher Wilkins, 46, of Fort Worth will be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Oct. 28.

    Wilkins took the witness stand in March 2008 and admitted to a string of crimes that included the killings, then told the jury that he didn’t care whether he lived or died. But now, as he lives on Death Row, Wilkins may be having second thoughts, said his attorney, Hilary Sheard.

    “It would not be the only case that I’ve come across where someone has changed their mind,” Sheard said outside the courtroom Monday.

    Sheard argued that the court should not schedule Wilkins’ execution so she would have more time to file appeals, and she said his previous appeals attorney had not adequately investigated his case.

    Hagerman denied all of Wilkins’ claims, saying the same arguments had been made to appeals judges and had been rejected.

    During his 2008 trial, a jury of five women and seven men deliberated for about 90 minutes before deciding that Wilkins should die for his crimes. Several jurors cried as state District Judge Everett Young announced their verdict.

    The jury convicted Wilkins of capital murder for fatally shooting Willie Freeman and Mike Silva on Oct. 27, 2005. A day earlier, according to prosecutors and Wilkins, he killed Gilbert Vallejo outside a south Fort Worth bar during a dispute about the pay phone.

    In 2005, Wilkins said, he was released from a California federal prison to a halfway house in Beaumont, where his family lived. His stepfather got him a job making $23 an hour, and his grandmother gave him a Cadillac, he testified. But, he said, when Hurricane Rita struck, he was transferred to a halfway house in Houston, where his children and ex-girlfriend lived. He got a day pass and called his ex-girlfriend, wanting to see his three children, he said.

    That didn’t work out and, instead of returning to the halfway house, he went to a strip club. Later, Wilkins said, he stole a truck and drove to Fort Worth.

    Wilkins then detailed for jurors how he killed Freeman out of revenge because Freeman ripped him off in a dope deal and laughed at him, and how he killed Silva, Freeman’s friend, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He killed Vallejo, he said, because Vallejo made him mad.

    Wilkins acknowledged that he also nearly killed two more people about a week later when he intentionally ran them down on a sidewalk in a stolen car because he believed that one of them had stolen his sunglasses.

    After he was captured and charged with capital murder, Wilkins testified, he began plotting his escape from jail.

    He said he also lied about committing other killings all over the country, hoping that police would continue taking him out of the jail for interviews. He planned to use a handcuff key that he bought from an inmate for $100 and reproduced to free himself and make a run for it, he said.

    His plans were foiled, however, when the handcuff key was discovered.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  6. #16
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Execution date put off for Fort Worth killer

    By Deanna Boyd
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    FORT WORTH - The execution of a convicted Fort Worth killer, scheduled for next month, has been called off while a state commission addresses concerns raised recently about DNA statistics and interpretation.

    Tarrant County prosecutors filed a motion Monday in 297th District Court, asking the judge to recall the death warrant for Christopher Chubasco Wilkins, who was scheduled to be executed Oct. 28.

    The prosecutors wrote that they were seeking the recall because the Texas Forensic Science Commission “is in the process of addressing emerging issues involving the calculation of DNA population statistics and DNA mixture interpretation.”

    “While the State has no reason to believe that these DNA issues are material to or have any effect on [Wilkins’] conviction and death sentence, the State believes that a stay of [Wilkins’] currently scheduled execution should be granted in order to allow the parties to more fully investigate these matters.”

    State District Judge David Hagerman signed an order that day, withdrawing the execution date and recalling the death warrant.

    DNA, including mixed DNA, was among evidence presented at the 2008 trial of Wilkins, who was convicted of fatally shooting two men — Willie Freeman and Mike Silva — on Oct. 27, 2005.

    Other evidence implicating Wilkins included fingerprints found inside and outside Silva’s vehicle. A pentagram and the numbers 666 were carved into the hood of Silva’s vehicle — matching tattoos on Wilkins.

    But perhaps most damning was Wilkins’ own testimony, in which he admitted to jurors that he killed Freeman out of revenge after Freeman ripped him off in a dope deal. He said he killed Silva, who had been with Freeman, simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Wilkins also told jurors that he killed another man, Gilbert Vallejo, the day before outside a south Fort Worth bar during a dispute about a pay phone.

    He told jurors that he didn’t care whether he lived or died, and he said whatever they chose for him was fine.

    “I am as undecided as you are,” Wilkins told jurors. “You’ve got a job to do. You tell the judge, ‘Get a rope’ or not. …

    “Look, it is no big deal. It is no big deal.”

    The jury chose death, and prosecutors still intend to see that the sentence is delivered, said Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

    In an email responding to questions from the Star-Telegram on Wednesday, Jordan said the office has had the DNA recalculated and has received an amended report that confirms compliance with current lab interpretation and reporting protocols.

    Prosecutors hope to proceed with the Wilkins case after the state commission meets in October, when the DNA mixture issue is expected to be addressed.

    “It is our intention to enforce the jury’s decision in this case,” Jordan said.

    Hilary Sheard, Wilkins’ attorney, said, “That funny sound you hear is heads being scratched across the state as people try to figure this out.”

    “It is clearly a major issue in many cases, and I think that the state acted entirely appropriately in choosing to withdraw, or asking the court to withdraw, the warrant in these circumstances.”

    Sheard said she hopes the delay will “allow sufficient time for other issues in the case to continue to be litigated.”

    DNA concerns arise

    Concerns arose this spring when the FBI notified all Combined DNA Index System laboratories that minor discrepancies had been identified in the DNA statistical population database used by labs nationwide since 1999.

    The discrepancies in the database, which is used to calculate DNA match statistics in criminal and human identification cases, were attributed to human error and technological limitations.

    The FBI has since provided corrected data to labs.

    “The immediate and obvious question for the criminal justice community was whether the discrepancies could have impacted the outcome of any criminal cases,” the Texas Forensic Science Commission wrote as part of a letter and attached memo to the criminal justice community. The letter was posted on the commission’s website Aug. 21.

    “The widely accepted consensus among forensic DNA experts is the database corrections have no impact on the threshold question of whether a victim or defendant was included or excluded in any result.”

    Mixed DNA interpretation

    But adding to the concerns is that many labs have interpreted DNA mixtures found on evidence differently over the years.

    The scientific acceptability of some of those approaches has now been brought into question, and several labs are adopting a new standard of interpreting mixed DNA, which involves evidence that contains more than one person’s DNA.

    In its letter, the commission recommends that prosecutors, defendants and defense attorneys with a pending case involving a DNA mixture should inquire with the testing lab whether new protocols were used.

    If not, the commission advises requesting a recalculation using the new protocols.

    “The extent to which any closed criminal cases my require re-analysis will be a subject of Commission review and subsequent notification to the stakeholder community,” wrote Dr. Vincent Di Maio, the presiding officer.

    Tarrant County’s response

    Amid the DNA concerns, Jordan said, the district attorney’s office has been meeting with each of the labs to obtain a list of relevant cases during the time in question.

    She said the office is also reviewing pending cases involving DNA, as well as the case files of Death Row inmates from Tarrant County, to determine any potential effects.

    According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, the county has 18 inmates on Death Row, including Wilkins.

    Jordan said labs used by Tarrant County agencies have told prosecutors that they are following current guidelines known as Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods. Staff members have participated in several lab meetings and multiple legal and Forensic Science Commission conferences to “understand and stay up to date on the evolving scientific protocols.”

    “We remain in regular communication with the labs and the Forensic Science Commission, which has assembled a panel of world-renowed DNA experts to determine the potential to define a single standard protocol,” Jordan said.

    http://www.star-telegram.com/news/lo...e36348045.html

  7. #17
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On September 30, 2015, Wilkins filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca5/15-70033

  8. #18
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On January 29, 2016, Wilkins filed an appeal anew before the Fifth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca5/16-70002

  9. #19
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    The 5th Circuit denied Wilkins money to support a clemency petition and to seek another state habeas petition yesterday. The court also reversed the district court's denial of payment to Wilkins' attorneys. The opinion is a consolidated result of Wilkins' two appeals.

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...-70033-CV0.pdf

  10. #20
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Execution date set for convicted Texas killer

    HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A Texas death row inmate convicted in the slayings of two men in Fort Worth almost 11 years ago has been set for execution in early January.

    Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says the agency has received orders from a Tarrant County court setting Christopher Wilkins, 47, for lethal injection Jan. 11.

    Wilkins was scheduled to die last October until prosecutors asked his date be withdrawn to resolve questions about DNA statistics during trial testimony.

    http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Exe...1.html?ref=351
    "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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