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Thread: Christopher Anthony Young - Texas Execution - July 17, 2018

  1. #11
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Young's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    Case Numbers: (15-70023)
    Decision Date: June 20, 2017

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/17-6405.html

  2. #12
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Article

    Death row inmates from San Antonio, Houston, lose appeals

    HOUSTON - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review appeals from two Texas death row inmates, including a San Antonio man convicted of killing a convenience store owner during a robbery and man condemned for his involvement in the slaying of a former suburban Houston police officer's wife.

    The high court, without comment Monday, refused the cases of 34-year-old Christopher Young and 60-year-old Joseph Prystash. Neither has an execution date.

    Young's lawyers argued his Bexar County jurors may have received incomplete instructions at his 2006 trial for fatally shooting 55-year-old store owner Hasmukh Patel.

    Prystash's attorneys raised questions about jury selection and instructions and evidence at his trial for being the middleman in a plot orchestrated by former Missouri City police officer Robert Fratta to murder 34-year-old Farah Fratta in 1994.

    https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/deat...n-lose-appeals
    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

  3. #13
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    San Antonio man one of 2 more Texas killers given execution dates

    Two more Texas killers, including a San Antonio man behind the 2004 slaying of a convenience store owner, now have dates with death.

    Christopher Young, who was on probation when he committed the string of crimes in Bexar County that landed him on death row, is now set to die on July 17, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel.

    In addition to abducting, raping and robbing a woman, Young was convicted in the killing of 53-year-old store owner Hasmukh "Hash" Patel.

    Last year, Young's case sparked pushback from religious leaders who said he deserved a new trial in light of alleged religious discrimination during jury selection.

    The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his latest appeal in January and Texas prisons received notification of an impending death date earlier this month, Desel said. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    On Tuesday, TDCJ also received notice that Clifton Williams, an East Texas man convicted of robbing a 93-year-old woman before strangling her and setting her body on fire, was given a June 21 execution date.

    News of the upcoming executions comes just a day after a Harris County judge signed off on an execution warrant for Danny Bible, a serial rapist and murderer whose string of rapes, robberies and slayings crossed multiple states.

    On appeal, his attorney argued the 66-year-old is no longer a future danger as he is in a wheelchair as the result of a 2003 car crash.

    Three Texas killers have already been executed this year, and now six more executions are on the calendar.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chr...n-12768096.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

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    Now this is the kind of news I like to hear! About time to flush some of these turds down the toilet! Florida needs to follow suit and set some dates! Also, religious discrimination during jury selection? Does anyone know what the hell they are talking about, or is the media just spouting their routine anti-DP drivel? I read that the 5th circuit did hear his appeal, but it was just over mitigating evidence during the penalty phase, and they turned it down.
    Last edited by one_two_bomb; 03-20-2018 at 05:19 PM.

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    More info on this case. From the appeal on post 5.

    On the morning of November 21, 2004 Young forced his way into the apartment of Daphne Edwards, where she lived with her three young daughters. Pressing a revolver to her head, he demanded money. She gave him 28$ all she had. Young demanded that Edwards undress. When she did not do so fast enough, Young shot into the ground at her feet. He then sexually assaulted Edwards, with her girls nearby so he could keep an eye on them. On leaving he "walked over to the children and kissed each of them on the cheek and told them that their mommy would be back". Young then forced Edwards, still at gun point into her red Mazda Portege and her drive to the front of the apartment complex. At that point Young decided he wanted to drive. He exited the passenger side of the car, telling Edwards not to drive off or he would go back her apartment to kill her daughters. Circling around to the drivers side, Young ordered Edwards to scoot over to the passengers seat. Edwards seized her opportunity to escape through the still open passenger side door. Young drove off in Edwards car. Minutes later, Young entered the mini-mart/dry cleaners owned by Patel. Young moved behind Patel, threating him "I'm not playing. I'm not fucking playing ." Patel moved behind the counter toward the cash register. While continuing to demand that he "give up the money". Young shot Patel twice. Patel tripped the alarm between shots as he attempted to flee. Young pursed him momentarily, yelling once more for money, before concealing his revolver under his shirt exiting the store. All interactions between Young and Patel were captured on the stores surveillance video.

  6. #16
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    Three new dates in 24 hours in TX. Good job. Hope the TCCA won't interfere.

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Originally Young's defense claimed that three of the potential jurors that were struck from the trial, were struck because of their race. They than changed it claiming that two of them was due to the religious thing. Looking at the appeals, the first person Myrtlene Williams was part of a religious group called Outreach Ministries that would go to prisons and try to help prisoners reform. Also one of her children was convicted of larceny at the time, So they struck her. Another person Paulette Bell was an Evangelical Missionary that was also with Outreach. Her son had been convicted of a DUI. In Bells case she argued that she was against the dp and in Bells case she was part of a jury in a different trial that had found a person not guilty.

    After both of these people were struck the defense immediately claimed they were struck solely because of their race.

    So both jurors were part of groups that regularly worked with prisoners and both of them had children that were convicted felons. Both were clearly bias.
    Last edited by Mike; 03-20-2018 at 06:13 PM.

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Texas death row inmates go high-tech in longshot bid for clemency

    By Keri Blakinger
    The Houston Chronicle

    When he watched the first video, he looked for remorse. When he watched the second, he found understanding. Then he watched the third and the fourth, pressing play again and again.

    Seeing the footage only reinforced what Mitesh Patel already knew: He would fight for the man who murdered his father 14 years earlier.

    The killer — former San Antonio gang member Christopher Young — never claimed he was innocent. He didn’t argue it was self-defense. He still has pending appeals. But with an execution looming on July 17, his best hope for reprieve may lie in a 14-minute clemency video.

    Young’s rare tech-savvy submission to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is a sign of the times. As courts transition into the digital age with online records and e-filings, clemency proceedings, too, are moving into the 21st century. Where 20 years ago a paper submission and calls to the governor were the best options, today prisoners can garner support through Change.org petitions, Facebook campaigns, emailed calls to action, and — as in Young’s case — painstakingly produced footage.

    “A picture is worth a thousand words,” said attorney Keith Hampton, who is not representing Young. “So we take advantage of that.”

    A rarely used executive privilege, death row clemency offers an 11th-hour reprieve to a lucky few prisoners slated for execution. In Texas, a written petition —sometimes dozens of pages long — is carefully crafted by a legal team and sent in hard copy to the parole board in Austin at least 21 days before the scheduled death date.

    Then, the seven board members review the petition independently. One member may pay a visit to the condemned. Others may talk to survivors and victims’ families.

    Two business days before the execution, they announce their decision. If it’s a yes, the plea lands on the governor’s desk for the final decision. If it’s a no, mercy is off the table.

    Room to be ‘creative’

    Throughout most of the Lone Star State’s history, that’s been the entirety of the process. But with the rise of the internet, advocates, lawyers and even the condemned men themselves are harnessing its power to beg for a second chance at life.

    “The board has rules about clemency petition submissions and they’re very bare bones — and in those blank spaces, there’s space to be creative,” said Kathryn Kase, a longtime defense attorney who previously headed up Texas Defender Services.

    In the early 2000s — in what likely was among the first video offerings — attorney Jim Marcus submitted a VHS tape with his clemency petition for Thomas Miller-El. He never found out if the board actually watched it, but in the end the courts intervened and Miller-El got a stay based on racially tainted jury selection practices in Dallas County.

    Since then, other Texas prisoners — including death row inmates Paul Storey and Scott Panetti — have released clemency videos publicly, sometimes even when they weren’t part of the official petition.

    “Videos — particularly in clemency — are going to be the wave of the future,” Hampton said.

    But it’s hard to say how often submissions like these pop up, as many pieces of clemency submissions aren’t public. What is public — as pointedly public as possible — is the broader clemency campaign effort, which often includes a push for supportive calls, letters and emails to the board or the governor.

    In support of Young’s efforts, for example, the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty launched a Change.org petition including an embedded video and a plea to “send a message” to the board and the governor. As of Monday morning, more than 21,000 people had signed.

    ‘A hard realization’

    Young carjacked a woman at gunpoint in San Antonio in 2004, then headed to a mini-mart and dry cleaners. He walked in, asked for prices, and then demanded money.

    Store owner Hasmukh “Hash” Patel pushed the panic button and ran, but Young followed and shot him to death before fleeing. Police caught him later that morning just a few miles away.

    When a Bexar County judge pronounced his death sentence two years later, Young heard a gasp from the crowd. His mother had fainted.

    Whatever the toll on his family — and his victim’s family — Young came to death row angry and bitter. For almost a decade, he stayed mad at the world. Then, five years ago, something changed. The anger dissipated, replaced with remorse, he told the Houston Chronicle in a death row interview.

    He doesn’t know what clicked or why he moved on. But today, he says, he’s a different person.

    “I stopped blaming others for my situation and realized that I put myself here,” he said. “And that’s a hard realization.”

    Los Angeles-based filmmaker Laurence Thrush first set his sights on Young’s case in 2014, when he started making a show about the prominent Houston-based capital defense lawyer David Dow. The series fell through, but in the process, Thrush met Young, one of Dow’s clients. The two hit it off.

    They stayed in touch, and at the start of this year, the pair teamed up to make a film from death row.

    “For me conceptually it was really interesting to see what he would make as a filmmaker, this idea that we can really make things remotely,” Thrush said, “that he can tell me what to shoot and who to interview.”

    At that point, Young still had pending appeals. But then in March, he got an execution date, and everything changed.

    Putting the main film on hold, Thrush redirected his efforts, instead focusing on a video aimed at saving the condemned man’s life.

    Does videos work?

    The parole board doesn’t have to give any insight into the reasoning behind its decisions, so it’s hard to say what will work or even to pinpoint what’s been persuasive in the past.

    But videos do offer a few clear advantages.

    For one, it’s a way to shoehorn in more voices in states that limit the number of witnesses allowed at live clemency hearings, said Laura Schaefer, an attorney with the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project.

    But in Texas, the condemned doesn’t get to talk to the entire board, so a video is a way to make that happen. And footage can bolster broader clemency campaigns with an emotional message.

    “In terms of getting more public support,” Schaefer said, “using a video is going to help bring more people to the cause because they can see the person speaking.”

    It’s hard to say if it’s effective, though; clemency is rarely granted. And it could work the other way, too — if video can bolster the defense arguments, the same strategy could help the state.

    “There’s nothing to stop district attorneys from doing the same thing,” Hampton said, “making videos saying, ‘Here’s the victims.’”

    Looking for the good

    When Gov. Greg Abbott granted a last-minute commutation to death row inmate Bart Whitaker following a board recommendation earlier this year, it was the first time a Texas governor had shown such mercy in more than a decade.

    The Fort Bend man’s case stood out because the one survivor of the attack — Whitaker’s own father — begged Abbott to spare his son.

    Three months ago, Young was in a very different position; the family of his victim planned to watch the execution and did not support clemency. But then Thrush reached out to Patel, showing up unannounced on his doorstep one day.

    At first, Patel was hesitant. But then, he agreed to talk. And it was learning of the video — and the fact Young showed remorse —that swayed him.

    “I assumed he was a typical death row inmate with no remorse,” Patel said. “But learning that he’s been a positive force in his daughter’s life, that struck a chord with me.”

    Maybe, Patel thought, Young could serve a better purpose in prison, sharing his story of change and personal transformation. And maybe his daughters wouldn’t have to go through the same heartache Patel has for more than a decade without a father.

    So he decided to go to the board and advocate for Young’s life for the sake for his children.

    “We’d rather see some good from all of this,” Patel said. “His execution doesn’t change what he did 14 years ago. It doesn’t bring my dad back.”

    https://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...t-13061252.php
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    “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.”
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  9. #19
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The media is launching a strong campaign to try to help out Young. Just as a number of bias religious jurors attempted to infect his trial they are now trying to show him as a better man. In none of these articles do they mention any of the events that occurred before the robbery. One may not even know of the rape and attempted kidnapping that Young carried out mere minutes before he murdered Patel. A person doesn't change from that kind of behavior in a couple of years.

  10. #20
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Yeah, it's unbelievable that Patel's family are so easily manipulated after years of supporting the execution. It's like someone vowing to be celibate until marriage, only to be swayed by a smooth talker at a bar one night.

    The board better shoot this down. Young is remorseful because it might save his life. He won't say anything apologetic when he is taken to the death house next week.

    I don't think this will work as well as Whitaker's case did. Whitaker was a nice looking white boy with a rich daddy (who was also the crime's victim). Young is just a regular thug with none of that. Victim's family objecting isn't usually successful. Just look at Juan Garcia (his victim's widow sent him a card and opposed the death penalty), and like Young he was a regular thug who killed a man in a robbery.
    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

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