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Thread: Jason Farrell McGehee - Arkansas

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    Jason Farrell McGehee - Arkansas




    Facts of the Crime:

    McGehee was convicted by a Boone County jury on January 9, 1998, of capital murder and kidnapping in the August 1996 death of John Melbourne, Jr., 15. McGehee, then 21, was the leader of a group of six friends — teens and young adults — who lived together in a house in Harrison and survived by cashing stolen and forged checks. On August 19, 1996, McGehee sent Melbourne, the youngest of the group, into Harrison to cash a stolen check. The boy attracted the suspicion of a store manager who alerted police, who questioned Melbourne and released him into his father’s custody after he told the officers about stolen property at the house. The other residents, angry that Melbourne had “snitched,” later lured him to the house, where they beat him. The group then bound his hands and took him to an abandoned house in Omaha, where they beat him again, cut him and burned him. Finally, McGehee and two others took turns strangling him until he died.

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    December 16, 2009

    In St. Louis, a federal appeals court reinstated the death sentence for a man convicted of beating and strangling a teenager from Boone County, Ark., in 1996.

    In January 2008, a federal judge threw out the death sentence for Jason McGehee, 33. He's convicted of capital murder and kidnapping for the death of John Melbourne Jr., 15. In throwing out the sentence, U.S. District Judge James Moody found jurors should have heard testimony about McGehee's violent childhood while deliberating his sentence.

    The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision on Wednesday. It says the testimony likely wouldn't have changed the jury's decision. The panel cited the brutality of Melbourne's death and that there was no evidence that McGehee was physically abused or neglected as a child.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    December 16, 2009

    Death sentence reinstated for man

    Testimony about a convicted murderer’s rough childhood — which included watching his father slit the throats of two beloved pets — likely would not have stopped a jury from sentencing him to die, a federal appeals court said Wednesday as it reinstated the death penalty.

    A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a federal judge’s decision, reinstating the death sentence for Jason McGehee, 33. Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney for McGehee, said he was disappointed and that he will request a hearing from the full 8th Circuit.

    McGehee was convicted along with two others in the 1996 death of 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr. Prosecutors argued that the trio kidnapped, tortured and killed the teen because he told police about their involvement in a theft.

    A federal judge last year threw out McGehee’s death sentence, saying the trial judge should have allowed evidence during sentencing that McGehee had a violent childhood.

    According to court documents, jurors weren’t allowed to hear evidence that McGehee’s mother made him sleep outside for days without access to food or a bathroom, that his father slit the throats of two pet dogs, and that his stepfather kicked McGehee’s dog, Dusty, and made McGehee watch the animal suffer and die.

    McGehee’s attorney had tried to present that testimony as mitigating evidence as jurors considered whether McGehee should be executed or spend life in prison.

    “The death of a pet can be a traumatic experience for a child, and the story of parental cruelty may have contributed to the picture of family dysfunction,” the 8th Circuit’s opinion said. “But to the extent that the testimony was offered to show a pattern of physical violence, it was contradicted by other evidence. McGehee’s grandmother testified that McGehee was not physically abused or neglected as a child.”

    According to prosecutors, McGehee was the leader of a group of friends who lived together in a house in Harrison and survived by cashing stolen and forged checks. On Aug. 19, 1996, he sent Melbourne, the youngest of the group, into Harrison to cash a stolen check, but the boy attracted suspicion and was taken into questioning by police. Authorities say Melbourne told officers about stolen property at the house and police released him into his father’s custody.

    The three men later lured the boy to the house and beat him, then bound his hands and took him to an abandoned house in Omaha, Ark., where they beat him again, cut him and burned him, according to prosecutors. McGehee and two others took turns strangling him until he died, prosecutors said.

    The other two men were sentenced to life in prison without parole — and jurors weren’t allowed to hear that as they considered McGehee’s sentence, an issue that the 8th Circuit upheld Wednesday.

    “The evidence at trial showed that McGehee was the ringleader of a torture murder and that his younger, weaker victim was brutalized because he told the truth when confronted by police,” the 8th Circuit’s opinion said. “McGehee inflicted most of the blows during the several hours in which Melbourne was tortured, and he exhibited no hesitation or remorse, apparently laughing just after he had left Melbourne’s naked body lying in the woods.”

    http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...einstated-man/

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    Inmate Personal Information
    DOB: 07/04/1976
    Race: White
    Gender: Male

    Crime and Trial Information
    * County of conviction: Boone
    * Number of counts: One
    * Race of Victim: White
    * Gender of Victim: Male
    * Date of crime: 08/19/1996
    * Date of Sentencing: 01/08/1998

    Legal Status
    Current proceedings:
    Post certiorari

    Attorneys
    Bruce Eddy
    Jeffrey M. Rosenzweig

    On 8th Cir. Appeal:
    Julie Brain
    Josh Lee
    Deborah Czuba

    Court Opinions
    McGehee v. State, 992 S.W.2d 110 (Ark. 1999); McGehee v. State, 43 S.W.3d 125 (Ark. 2001) (reversing denial of post‐conviction relief and requiring trial court to enter a written order making specific findings of fact and conclusions of law on each issue raised in petition); McGehee v. State, 72 S.W.3d 867 (Ark. 2002) (affirming denial of post‐conviction relief); McGehee v. Norris, 2008 WL 90021 (E.D. Ark. Jan. 2, 2008) (granting in habeas corpus in part and denying in part); McGehee v. Norris, 2008 WL 110914 (E.D. Ark. Jan. 9, 2008) (staying order); McGehee v. Norris, 588 F.3d 1185 (8th Cir. 2009) (remanding the case with directions to dismiss the petition because district court erred in considering new evidence that was never presented in state court).

    Legal Issues
    On habeas appeal in the 8th Cir.:
    (1) whether district court erred in considering new evidence that was never presented in state court;
    (2) whether the trial court's decision to exclude additional mitigation testimony from defendant's aunt was an unreasonable application of federal law;
    (3) whether defendant demonstrated that his mental state was likely to be a significant factor at trial; and
    (4) whether the district court abused its discretion in denying habeas petitioner an evidentiary hearing based on statements made by his codefendants.

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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, McGehee's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.

    Order here

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    Beebe sets execution dates for two death row inmates

    Gov. Mike Beebe today set execution dates for condemned killers Jason Ferrell McGehee and Bruce Earl Ward.

    McGehee, of Harrison, is set to be put to death July 26 in the 1996 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr. He was convicted in 1998 of capital murder and kidnapping in Boone County Circuit Court.

    Ward’s execution is set for Aug. 16 in the 1989 rape and murder of 18-year-old Little Rock convenience store clerk Rebecca Lynn Doss, who was found strangled in the men’s restroom of the store where she worked the night shift alone.

    He was convicted of capital murder in 1990 in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

    In April, Beebe set execution dates for two death-row inmates. One of those, however, was stayed last month by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

    On July 12, Marcel W. Williams is scheduled to be executed for the 1994 death of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson of Jacksonville. The mother of two was found in a shallow grave near the Arkansas River with her hands bound behind her. She had been abducted two weeks earlier after stopping to get gasoline on her way to work. The coroner ruled she had been suffocated.

    Williams was convicted of capital murder, rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the case.

    Frank Williams Jr, who was scheduled to be put to death June 22 for the 1992 slaying of Lafayette County farmer Clyde Spence, had his execution stayed by the state Supreme Court on May 5.

    The high court said it granted the stay because Frank Williams is involved in a lawsuit with three other death-row inmates that challenges the constitutionality of lethal injection in Arkansas and another lawsuit that challenges the state Department of Correction’s policies on visitors mail and other privileges.

    Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said today the governor decided to set the execution dates even though several previous dates have been stayed.

    “Once we get the letter from the attorney general that the inmate has exhausted his appeals, then the governor has a duty to go ahead and set those dates,” DeCample said. “We understand there are still some things to be resolved in the courts and we never know what the courts are going to do, but the governor has a legal duty to carry out.”

    Death row inmates Don William Davis, Jack Harold Jones Jr. and Terrick Nooner are currently challenging the state’s new execution procedures and questioning the quality of the state’s supply of a key execution drug. Beebe previously set execution dates for all three, but the dates were later stayed by a federal judge.

    http://arkansasnews.com/2011/06/06/b...h-row-inmates/

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    Parole Board Rejects Clemency For Killer

    LITTLE ROCK - The state Parole Board recommended Wednesday that condemned killer Marcell Williams be denied executive clemency.

    The board's recommendation comes less than a month before Williams' scheduled execution July 12.

    Williams was convicted of capital murder, rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the 1994 abduction and suffocation death of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson of Jacksonville. The mother of two was found in a shallow grave near the Arkansas River with her hands bound behind her back. She had been abducted two weeks earlier after stopping to get gasoline on her way to work.

    Gov. Mike Beebe set Williams' execution in April.

    In his clemency request, Williams' attorney Josh Lee asked for mercy for his client, saying Williams suffered a violent and tragic childhood.

    Williams suffered "extraordinary trauma" as a child, including repeated beatings and rapes, Lee said, adding that the jury that sentenced Williams was never told of his "tragic life history."

    Lee also said that Williams' previous attorneys failed to present his troubled youth during his appeals process.

    "Mr. Williams admitted at his trial that he committed the terrible crimes for which he stands convicted," Lee wrote, adding that "no matter what, Mr. Williams knows that he will spend, and deserves to spend, the rest of his life in prison paying for his crimes."

    In separate hearings Monday, the parole board listened to Williams present his case for executive clemency and heard from relatives and friends of Errickson on why the request should be denied.

    The board's recommendation is non-binding and the final decision on executive clemency lies with the governor.

    Williams' execution is one of two Beebe scheduled for July.

    Death-row inmate Jason Ferrell McGehee is scheduled for execution July 26 in the 1996 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr. McGehee was convicted in 1998 in Boone County Circuit Court.

    http://www.swtimes.com/state_news/ar...cc4c03286.html

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    High court halts three executions

    By John Lyon
    Arkansas News Bureau

    LITTLE ROCK — The state Supreme Court today halted the executions of three inmates who are challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection in Arkansas.

    The high court issued stays for the executions of Jason Farrell McGehee, who was scheduled to die July 26; Bruce Earl Ward, who was scheduled to die Aug. 16; and Marcel Wayne Williams, who was scheduled to die July 12.

    The three men are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court alleging that a state law authorizing the director of the state Department of Correction to choose the drugs used for lethal injection constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of authority.

    The Supreme Court today directed the circuit court to provide it with a status update on the case.

    A clemency hearing and victim input hearing in McGehee’s case were scheduled for today at the state Parole Board’s headquarters in Little Rock.

    McGehee was convicted of capital murder and kidnapping in Boone County Circuit Court in the 1996 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr. Prosecutors said McGehee and accomplices killed Melbourne because they believed he had talked to police about their involvement in stealing and forging checks.

    Ward was convicted of capital murder in 1990 in Pulaski County Circuit Court in the 1989 rape and murder of 18-year-old Little Rock convenience store clerk Rebecca Lynn Doss, who was found strangled in the men’s restroom of the store where she worked the night shift alone.

    Williams was convicted of capital murder, rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery in Pulaski County Circuit Court in the 1994 killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson of Jacksonville. Errickson was found in a shallow grave near the Arkansas River with her hands bound behind her, two weeks after she was abducted from a gas station where she had stopped to buy gas. The coroner ruled she had been suffocated.

    http://arkansasnews.com/2011/06/23/h...ee-executions/

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    Marcel Wayne Williams v Ray Hobbs

    A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of lawsuits by death-row inmates that challenged the way Arkansas conducts executions.

    The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied the appeals on grounds that the lawsuits only speculated about possible problems and didn't identify constitutional violations.

    Marcel Wayne Williams filed one lawsuit and seven other condemned inmates joined in a similar court action.

    The inmates argued that the state shouldn't be allowed to change its lethal injection procedures without proper notice and that the uncertainty heightened their anxiety about suffering as they are being killed.

    The state has no scheduled executions.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...eals-Arkansas/

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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, McGehee's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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