Summary of Offense:
On July 8, 1991, Stokley and Randy Brazeal kidnapped two 13-year-old girls near Elfrida in Cochise County and took them to a remote area, where they raped them. Fearing the consequences, they agreed to kill the girls and each man strangled one of the girls. To ensure that the victims were dead, Stokley repeatedly stomped on them and stabbed each of them in the right eye. Stokley and Brazeal then threw the bodies down a water-filled mine shaft.
On May 1, 2009, Stokley filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit over the denial of his habeas petition in Federal District Court.
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir.../ca9/09-99004/
Related:
It's been almost twenty years since a brutal crime rocked the small community of Elfrida, Arizona. Two teenage girls, Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder, were brutally raped, beaten and murdered. Their bodies were then thrown down an abandoned mine shaft.
Richard Stokley and Randy Brazeal were both arrested. Stokley was convicted on both sexual assault and murder charges and received the death penalty. Brazeal plead guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years in prison. DNA evidence that tied Brazeal to the crime was never used because the case did not go to trial. Subsequently, he was never convicted of a sex crime. Brazeal is scheduled for release from prison on July 2, 2011.
During our initial investigation in November of 2009 Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer told 9 On Your Side that Brazeal would serve the full term of his 20-year sentence and then be released from prison. But 9 On Your Side learned that Brazeal's release was not be guaranteed.
Because Brazeal's crime was sexually motivated, the Arizona Department of Corrections told 9 On Your Side he is eligible for an evaluation to determine if he is still considered a sexually violent predator, or SVP. The Department of Corrections has the authority to order the evaluation under Arizona Revised Statute 36-3702 (B). If the Arizona Department of Correction determines Brazeal may still pose a threat, a second, and very lengthy evaluation, would be ordered.
The second evaluation would take place in Phoenix at the Arizona State Hospital. If during that evaluation Brazeal is found to be a risk, the question over his future would head to court where a jury would decided whether or not to have him civilly committed.
9 On Your Side Investigator Ian Reitz has learned that the evaluation was requested by the Cochise County Attorney's Office in April 2011. County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer told 9 On Your Side that Brazeal refused to take part in the process. His refusal means that the initial evaluation will be completed based solely on his case and his record. But that is no guarantee that he will be found to pose a risk.
"It's not automatically enough to determine that someone continues to be a sexually violent person just because they committed a sexually violent act at some point in the past," said Rheinheimer.
If it does reach a point where Brazeal's civil commitment is in question, the evidence collected at the scene of the crime in 1991 and never used could come into play.
"It would be nice to know that we can now use that evidence that we couldn't use 20-years ago," said Rheinheimer. "But, at the same time it reminds us that we couldn't use that evidence 20 years ago, that we believe would have caused a different out come in this case."
As for Hancock, she is trying to still find peace almost two decades after the brutal murder of her then 13-year old daughter. "I'm at peace, for whatever peace I'm going to get out of this. You wonder, where would she be? How many kids would she have? I think about what she would have looked like. I'll never know, but he gets to go and walk the streets?"
http://www.kgun9.com/story/14669410/...er-behind-bars
RICHARD DALE STOKLEY V. CHARLES L. RYAN
In today's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions, Stokley's request for a re-hearing was DENIED.
And here is the article. I love James King's style!
AG Tom Horne on Upcoming Execution of Kid-Killing Rapist Richard Stokley: Hurry Up
A Federal appeals court today upheld the death sentence for kid-killing rapist Richard Stokley. No execution date has been set, but Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne doesn't want to see Stokley's date with death delayed any further.
"The date for Stokley's sentence to be carried out has not been set, but I am hopeful that this killer will be brought to justice without excessive delay from the federal system," Horne says. "The families of the victims deserve to see justice in a timely manner."
Stokley was convicted of the brutal 1991 rapes and murders of two girls, Mandy Meyers and her friend Mary Snyder, each just 13 years old.
The two girls were camping with friends in the small town of Elfrida, about 80 miles southeast of Tucson.
The girls were lured or abducted from the campsite, taken to a remote area where they were raped, beaten, and stabbed to death. Their bodies were then thrown into a partly flooded mine shaft.
Stokley's accomplice, then-19-year-old Randy Brazeal, told his father about the murders the next day and surrendered to police. Brazeal told the cops Stokley had forced him to participate in the rapes and murders, although, Stokley maintains his accomplice was a willing participant.
Brazeal accepted a plea deal from the Cochise County Attorney's Office -- he admitted guilt to two counts of second degree murder and accepted a sentence of 20 years.
Stokley is one of 24 Arizona prison inmates who've been on death row for at least 20 years.
According to the DOC's 2010 Operating Per Capita Cost Report, it costs taxpayers $66.90 a day ($24,418 a year) to house, feed, and care for a single inmate in the Browning Unit of the Eyman Prison, where death-row inmates are housed. That's about $6 more than the $60.59 average for all units in the prison system.
Multiply $24,418 by the 24 inmates who've spent more than 20 years on death row, and you'll see that Arizona spent $586,032 last year alone to house convicted murderers who've spent more than two decades waiting to be executed.
Again, that's last year alone -- and it's only about 20 percent of the Death Row population. When you look at all of death row, Arizona taxpayers spent $3,174,405 on cell space for convicted murderers last year as they attempt to cheat court-ordered executions.
"Stokley was eligible for the death penalty because the victims were minors, Stokley committed multiple murders, and he committed the crimes in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner," Horne continues. "The panel rejected Stokley's appeal claim that his sentencing counsel had been ineffective."
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/val...ming_execu.php
In today's United States Supreme Court orders Stokley's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED
*Expect an execution date request in the near future.
A uniformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
Execution date sought for teen girls’ killer
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for a Cochise County man who raped and murdered two teenage girls in 1991 and threw their naked bodies in a flooded mineshaft.
On Oct. 30, the high court will consider whether to issue a death warrant for Richard Dale Stokley, 60. If the justices issue the warrant, Stokley’s execution would be set for early December.
According to media accounts and court records, Stokley, who went by the name of “Big Foot” because of his size — 6 feet 5 inches and 230 pounds — was a ranch hand and bouncer in Elfrida, in southeastern Arizona. On July 7, 1991, he was participating in a fundraising fair for the local Fire Department when he and another man kidnapped two 13-year-old girls who were camping at the fair site.
Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder were last seen getting into a truck with the two men late that night. The other man, Randy Brazeal, dated Meyers’ older sister.
Brazeal turned himself in to Chandler police; Stokley was arrested in Benson. They led police to the bodies, which they had thrown into an abandoned mine 12 miles south of Tombstone. Each girl had been sexually assaulted, strangled, beaten and stabbed in one eye.
Stokley was sent to Death Row; Brazeal was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was released in 2011.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ls-killer.html
A uniformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.
Execution date set for AZ killer
PHOENIX (CBS5/AP) - The Arizona Supreme Court has granted a motion for a warrant of execution for death row inmate Richard Dale Stokley.
The warrant announced Tuesday sets the execution date for Dec. 5.
Stokley was convicted in the July 1991 kidnapping, rape and murder of two 13-year-old girls who went missing from a campout in Elfrida in southwestern Arizona's Cochise County. Authorities say the girls' bodies were later dumped down a water-filled mineshaft.
Stokley was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and death sentence in 1995.
Stokley's friend, Randy Brazeal, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killings. He was released from prison last year.
The 60-year-old Stokley lost an Oct. 1 appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
He is currently being held at Eyman prison complex in Florence.
http://www.kpho.com/story/19958198/e...-for-az-killer
Good.
(Apparently my post has to be of at least 10 characters in length.)
Enjoy your last month on earth, Mr. Stokley!
Last edited by Stro07; 11-11-2012 at 09:16 AM.
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