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Thread: Jack Gordon Greene - Arkansas Death Row

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    Jack Gordon Greene - Arkansas Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    On July 26, 1991, Greene was arrested in Norman, Oklahoma for his role in the July 23, 1991 slaying of Sidney Burnett in Arkansas.

    Greene was sentenced to death on October 15, 1992.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    April 21, 1997

    Criminal procedure -- death penalty -- appellant's motion to dismiss appeal denied. -- Where appellant had made it clear that he would not cooperate with any attempt on the part of State Hospital personnel to conduct an evaluation of his mental capacity to understand his choice between life and death and to resolve it knowingly and voluntarily, the supreme court denied his motion to dismiss his appeal, declared that the stay of execution would remain effective, and directed the clerk of the court to establish a briefing schedule.


    Full opinion here

    http://courts.state.ar.us/opinions/1.../cr96-362.html

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    December 9, 1999

    Condemned killer seeking hearing before high court

    LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Convicted killer Jack Gordon Greene, scheduled to be executed Tuesday, has apparently changed his mind about wanting to die and now wants the state Supreme Court to hear his case.

    Greene, who had waived his right to appeal, is seeking to change attorneys and delay his execution so that the high court can consider his case.

    Greene was convicted in the 1992 killing of retired minister, Sidney Burnett, 69, of Knoxville, who was bound, gagged, beaten with a can of hominy, stabbed and had his throat slit.

    The change of mind comes after the Supreme Court's Dec. 2 decision to review all death penalty cases, regardless of whether defendants waive their rights to appeal, according to a motion filed on Green's behalf.

    A request was filed with the Supreme Court to replace Greene's attorney, Bill Pearson of Clarksville, with a new public defender. Pearson said in an affidavit that Greene told him Dec. 2 to take steps "immediately to rescind his waiver of appeal and to go forward with an appellate review of his case."

    Pearson's affidavit says Greene has "unequivocally requested" an appeal of his death sentence. Pearson said he filed notice of appeal Dec. 3 in Johnson County Circuit Court, where Greene was convicted.

    Attorney General Mark Pryor's office is opposing Greene's request for a new lawyer, arguing there is not enough cause.

    Pryor's office said Greene may not be entitled to delay his execution, because the Dec. 2 Supreme Court decision is not yet final and the state intends to ask for a re-hearing.

    http://thecabin.net/stories/120999/sta_1209990014.html


    Obviously, his execution was stayed.

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Personal Inmate Information
    DOB: 03/13/1955
    Race: White
    Gender: Male

    Crime and Trial Information
    * County of conviction: Johnson
    * Number of counts: One
    * Race of Victim: White
    * Gender of Victim: Male
    * Date of crime: 07/23/1991
    * Date of Sentencing: 10/15/1992

    Legal Status
    Current proceedings:
    Habeas petition pending in E.D. Ark.

    Attorneys
    Jenniffer Horan
    Josh Lee
    Scott Braden

    Court Opinions
    Greene v. State, 878 S.W.2d 384 (Ark. 1994) (remanding for new sentencing phase); Greene v. State, 929 S.W.2d 157 (Ark. 1996) (denying motion to withdraw appeal); Greene v. State, 977 S.W.2d 192 (Ark. 1998) (vacating death sentence for competency hearing); State v. Greene, 1 S.W.3d 442 (Ark. 1999) (affirming circuit court's findings that Mr. Greene was competent to waive appellate and post‐conviction remedies); Greene v. State, 37 S.W.3d 579 (Ark.)(affirming conviction and sentence following re‐sentencing), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 858 (2001); Greene v. State, 146 S.W.3d 871 (Ark. 2004) (affirming denial of post‐conviction relief).

    Legal Issues
    (1) trial counsel's failure to investigate and present (at either phase of trial) evidence of mental illness, including frontal lobe damage, post‐traumatic stress disorder and severe depression
    (2) Ake claim stemming from the denial of an adequate pretrial mental health evaluation
    (3) competency claim

  5. #5
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    December 30, 2012

    Four Convicted Of Murder Remain On Death Row

    By Jeff Arnold
    The Times Record

    Although Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel will not seek execution dates for inmates on death row until the legislature rewrites the state’s execution law, death sentence appeals are still moving forward.

    The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the Methods of Execution Act of 2009 earlier this year, finding that it gave the Department of Correction too much discretion in determining what drug or drugs would be used for lethal injections.

    At that time, The Attorney General’s office announced it wouldn’t ask Gov. Mike Beebe to set execution dates for any inmate on death row until lawmakers rewrite the law.

    But Aaron Sadler, spokesman for McDaniel, said neither McDaniel nor the high court’s decisions prevent a defendant from being sentenced to death or stall appeals of death sentences.

    Four death row inmates sentenced to death in the Times Record coverage area are at different stages in their appeals.

    Jack Gordon Greene, 57, is the longest serving area defendant on death row. He was sentenced to die by a Johnson County jury in October 1993, after he was convicted of capital murder in the 1992 killing of a retired minister, Sidney Burnett, 69, of Knoxville.

    However, his death sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court the following year, and he had to be re-sentenced.

    In February 1996, a second Johnson County jury sentenced Greene to death and once again the high court ordered a new sentencing for trial. Greene was sentenced to death a third time in in July 1999.

    In 2004, after exhausting his appeals in state court, Greene’s case moved to U.S. District Court in Pine Bluff.

    In October, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that Greene — against the advice of counsel — could waive their claim he is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. In the same order Wright ruled the appeal could move forward on the remaining 16 arguments that Greene’s death sentence should be set aside.

    Filings in the case continue, with the state filing a response to defense arguments as recently as Dec. 6.

    On May 23, 2000, a Polk County jury convicted 44-year-old Karl Douglas Roberts of capital murder and sentenced him to die for the rape and strangulation of Andria Nichole Brewer, his 12-year-old niece, whom he murdered a year earlier.

    Within two weeks of being condemned, Roberts announced he wouldn’t appeal the sentence.

    Although he waived his right to appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court did a mandatory review of his case for any errors that could have led to a wrongful conviction, and upheld Roberts’ death sentence in April 2003.

    Then on Jan 6, 2004, only hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, Roberts allowed his defense team to file a motion to stay his execution.

    The stay was granted by a federal judge and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, before it languished in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas until 2007, when the judge became ill and died before the case was assigned to a new judge.

    The new judge ruled Roberts must return to state court to exhaust his appeals, before any federal appeal could move forward.

    Roberts’ defense team filed a 245-page “Rule 37” petition in Polk County Circuit Court, claiming Roberts had ineffective counsel, couldn’t receive a fair trial in Polk County and was incompetent to stand trial, among other arguments.

    A Rule 37 petition argues a defendant had ineffective counsel at trial or sentencing.

    Following a December 2008 hearing, Polk County Circuit Court Judge J.W. Looney issued a five-page letter in January 2009 ruling on Roberts’ petition, rejecting each argument point-by-point, including a determination that Roberts’ Rule 37 claim wasn’t timely.

    But the case stalled again, when the order wasn’t entered until 2010, which was necessary before Roberts’ defense team could move forward in state appeals courts.

    In December 2011, the state Supreme Court ruled Roberts had waived his right to appeal; therefore, he would have to file a motion to reopen his appeals before justices would rule on Looney’s finding.

    The petition was subsequently filed by Roberts’ defense team, and the matter is scheduled for argument before the high court on Jan. 25.

    Rickey Dale Newman, 55, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die at the end of a one-day trial on June 10, 2002, in Crawford County for the 2001 murder of 46-year-old Marie Cholette. He represented himself and waived his appeals.

    However, Newman then considered whether to appeal his conviction and ultimately a federal judge allowed a federal public defender to argue he wasn’t competent to stand trial or waive his appeals.

    Then the Supreme Court remanded Newman’s case to circuit court in November 2009, after a psychologist who found Newman competent to stand trial admitted errors in his evaluation during a federal court hearing in 2007, and questions were raised about whether the state withheld evidence from the defense.

    In March 2011, Circuit Court Judge Gary Cottrell presided over a five-day hearing regarding Newman’s competence to stand trial in 2002, and in July 2011, ruled that Newman was mentally retarded but was competent to stand trial when he was convicted.

    In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing a mentally retarded defendant is “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eight Amendment.

    However, because he wasn’t mandated to make a determination with regard to the Atkins decision, Cottrell didn’t recommend commuting Newman’s sentence to life without parole.

    “Thus, although significant, this Court makes no further holding on this matter,” Cottrell wrote in his ruling.

    The matter is now back before the state Supreme Court, with the latest filing being an order by the court entered in November, granting the state more time to respond to defense filings. Newman’s defense team filed a motion in October seeking oral arguments, although the justices haven’t ruled on that request.

    Thomas Leo Springs, 50, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death by a Sebastian County jury in November 2005 for the stabbing death of his estranged wife, 41-year-old Christina Springs, on Jan. 21, 2005.

    The crime — which occurred at the intersection of North Greenwood and Rogers avenues — had so many witnesses that authorities could not locate them all. During jury selection for Thomas Springs’ November 2005 trial, one potential juror was excused after she said she witnessed the killing.

    In March, the state high court upheld Springs’ conviction and sentence; two months later the court denied Springs’ petition to reconsider its decision; and in November the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Springs’ appeal of the state Supreme Court decision.

    Also in March, a federal public defender was assigned by U.S. District Court Judge Leon Holmes to handle Springs’ appeal in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

    In September, Holmes granted a defense motion seeking a psychological evaluation of Springs.

    http://swtimes.com/sections/news/fou...death-row.html

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On March 27, 2015, Greene's habeas petition was DENIED by US District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright.

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...0373/52091/223

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 23, 2016, Greene filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...ts/ca8/16-1456

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    On June 3, 2016, the Eighth Circuit DENIED Greene's appeal. On August 31, the Eighth Circuit DENIED Greene's petition for en banc rehearing.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/Search....es\16-7425.htm
    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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    Former Girlfriend Of Death Row Inmate Breaks Her Silence About Years Of Torture

    JOHNSON COUNTY (KFSM) — For the first time, the former girlfriend of a man on death row is breaking her silence. Donna Johnson said a now convicted killer tortured her for years.

    “The executions that are coming up now, eight people in one month's time, to me, to watch that it brings back a lot of horrible memories,” Johnson said.

    Johnson spent six years dating Jack Greene. He now sits on death row at the Varner Unit, a high-security prison In Gould, Arkansas, awaiting an execution date. The two met working at a mall in North Carolina in 1984.

    “He was so sweet,” she said. “He would bring me flowers and everything and he was really a nice guy.”

    They later moved to Springdale and had a daughter. She said it didn’t take long to realize Greene had a dark side. Johnson said Greene told her if she ever left him, he would kill her and her entire family. She said she reported the threats to police, but they didn’t take her seriously until she left with their daughter in July of 1991. Records show he went back to North Carolina, kidnapped his niece and then killed his brother, Turner “Tommy” Greene. His niece, 16 at the time, survived.

    “He headed straight for Arkansas, straight to find me to murder me,” Johnson explained.

    She said she reported Greene to her bosses, and police kept surveillance on the house where she was staying.

    “Knowing Jack, he just kept drinking,” Johnson said, “and he went to Mr. and Mrs. Burnett's house. He always swore he'd kill both of them. Luckily Mrs. Burnett was not there.”

    Greene killed 69-year-old Sidney Jethro Burnett at his home in Knoxville in Johnson County. He was a retired preacher. Johnson said the Burnett’s did nothing but help her during the worst times of her life. She said Greene once cut her finger off and they took her to the hospital to get it sewn back on.

    “He beat that old man, tied him to a chair, beat that old man with a hominy can,” Johnson said. “[He] slit him from ear to ear, stabbed him.”

    Greene received a life sentence in North Carolina for his brother’s murder and niece’s kidnapping. In 1992, a jury sentenced him for the brutal slaying of the Johnson County pastor.

    “You can't get justice if they continue putting off these executions,” Johnson said. “I still live in fear everyday.”

    Greene's attorney John C. Williams said his client has a history of serious mental health problems including brain damage and a psychotic disorder. Williams has filed a petition for the Arkansas Supreme Court to take a deep look at those issues.

    http://5newsonline.com/2017/04/18/fo...rs-of-torture/
    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

  10. #10
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Greene's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
    Case Nos.: (16-1456)
    Decision Date: June 3, 2016
    Rehearing Denied: August 31, 2016

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....es/16-7425.htm

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