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Thread: Theodore Washington - Arizona Death Row

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    Theodore Washington - Arizona Death Row





    Facts of the Crime:

    Fred Robinson and Susan Hill lived together for a number of years. Beginning in 1984, Susan made several efforts to leave Robinson, but he always forced her to return. In February 1987, Susan left Robinson for a week to visit her father, and stepmother, Sterleen Hill, in Yuma. After this visit, Susan went to California to live with other relatives and did not tell Robinson.

    On June 8, 1987, Robinson decided to go to Yuma and bring Susan back. Robinson persuaded his friends, Washington and Jimmy Mathers to go with him. The men loaded Robinson's car with weapons and drove to Yuma. Washington was wearing a red bandanna. Around 11:45 p.m., two men entered the Hills' home, forced the couple to lie on their bedroom floor and tied them up. A black man wearing a red bandanna held a gun to the husband's head, then ransacked the drawers and closet while the second man stood over the Hills. One of the men shot the Hills with a 12-gauge shotgun. Sherleen Hill died from her wounds but her husband survived.

    Washington, Robinson, and Mathers were tried jointly and each received the death penalty. On appeal, in 1990, the state Supreme Court reversed Mathers' conviction, finding insufficient evidence to support the jury verdict. In 2011, Robinson's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In 1990, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld Washington's death sentence on direct appeal.

    http://www.supreme.state.az.us/court...uid/page52.htm

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On November 9, 1995, Washington filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/ari...5cv02460/78291

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    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    1995 ???

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    WASHINGTON V. RYAN

    In today's opinions, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals DISMISSED AS UNTIMELY Washington's habeas corpus petition, and AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of his motion to vacate the judgment under Fed. R.Civ. P. 60(b) (appeal number 07-15536).
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    WASHINGTON V. RYAN

    Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Washington's case be reheard en banc pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 35(a) and Circuit Rule 35-3.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On March 21, 2016, oral argument will be heard in Washington's appeal before the Ninth Circuit sitting en banc.

    http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/calendar...2021&year=2016

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    The en banc panel will be made up of Judges THOMAS (Clinton), W. FLETCHER (Clinton), RAWLINSON (Clinton), CLIFTON (G.W. Bush), BYBEE (G.W. Bush), CALLAHAN (G.W. Bush), BEA (G.W. Bush), M. SMITH (G.W. Bush), IKUTA (G.W. Bush), CHRISTEN (Obama) and WATFORD (Obama).

    http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/calendar...2,23&year=2016

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    New Hearing Ordered for Ariz. Death-Row Inmate

    SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The Ninth Circuit on Monday ordered an Arizona death row inmate's one-day-late habeas corpus petition to be heard and determined on its merits.

    Theodore Washington and two co-defendants, Fred Robinson and James Mathers, were convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 for shooting Robinson's common-law wife's step-mother.

    Mathers' conviction was overturned by the Arizona Supreme Court due to insufficient evidence.

    Robinson's sentence was reduced to 67 years to life because of an improper sentence enhancement.

    Washington's federal habeas petition was denied on June 8, 2005. He had 30 days to file an appeal, but his legal team made a mistake and filed the appeal on July 11, one business day after the deadline. He then had a 30-day grace period to explain why the filing was late, but due to a court error he didn't learn about the late filing until two and a half months later.

    The timeliness issue seemed to be a hurdle that could not be cleared. The district court denied Washington's petition to have the judgment vacated and re-entered so as to make his appeal timely. Then a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit decided that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

    But the Ninth Circuit decided to rehear the case en banc, and Judge Morgan Christen, who delivered the 6-5 decision, wrote that this is an extraordinary case.

    "We conclude that when Congress adopted the Federal Rules, it entrusted the courts with the essential task of identifying the rare cases that warrant reentry of judgment for purposes of restoring the right to appeal," Christen wrote. "Of the thousands of judgments entered by district courts each year, only a handful have been found to warrant this type of relief. We conclude that Washington's is one of them."

    Christen found it crucial that for two and a half months the district court's docket was empty after Washington filed his notice of appeal, and the district clerk did not send the notice to the appellate clerk in that time. Washington's attorneys could not have known from checking the docket that the notice was late. They would have had to recalculate, unprompted, when the notice was due.

    "Washington's lawyers are responsible for the initial late filing, but we cannot say they lacked diligence for failing to detect their late filing in time to seek an extension. The district court abused its discretion in concluding otherwise."

    The state would not be prejudiced if the appeal were heard, Christen wrote, so it should be heard, especially given that this is a death penalty case and Washington's co-defendants have received relief.

    "Dismissal of Washington's appeal would prevent any appellate review of the denial of his potentially meritorious habeas petition, yet it was a court error that prevented Washington from seeking an extension of time expressly allowed by the Rules."

    Judge Jay Bybee, however, in one of two dissenting opinions, said the Ninth Circuit lacks jurisdiction.

    "[The majority] has utterly failed to explain how a claim-processing rule like Rule 60(b) can be used to undermine a jurisdictional, statutory filing requirement promulgated by Congress," Bybee wrote. "And it ignores the consequences of its decision today: that in allowing relief under Rule 60(b) from an untimely appeal, the court puts a hole right through the Rule 4(a) timing requirements, now giving parties up to a year to attempt to pursue an appeal."

    http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/0...row-inmate.htm
    "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

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    One-day-late habeas petition, and he gets a do-over because his attorneys lacked the 'diligence' to do it right?! They had a whole year to 'do it right.' Thank God the 9th Circus of clowns doesn't have jurisdiction in TX.

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