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Thread: Shawn William Windsor - Kentucky Death Row

  1. #1
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    Shawn William Windsor - Kentucky Death Row




    Facts of the Crime:

    Was sentenced to death on November 17, 2006. Windsor was convicted of two counts of murder and theft-by-unlawful-taking over $300. On December 28, 2003, in Jefferson County, Windsor beat and stabbed his wife, Betty Jean Windsor and eight-year old son, Corey Windsor. At the time of the murders, there was a valid domestic violence order in effect which ordered Shawn Windsor to remain at least 500 feet away from Betty Jean Windsor and to commit no further acts of domestic violence. After killing his wife and son he fled to Nashville, Tennessee in his wife's car where he left it in a hospital parking garage. Nine months later, in July 2004, Windsor was captured in North Carolina.

  2. #2
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    August 7, 2009

    Inmate Who Wanted Death Penalty Now Asks To Live

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky death row inmate who admitted killing his estranged wife and son and asked for a death sentence is now fighting to stay alive.

    Shawn Windsor, 45, asked the Kentucky Supreme Court in court papers released Wednesday to reverse his case and halt his execution, which has not been scheduled. The high court has scheduled oral arguments for Sept. 23 in Frankfort.

    Windsor was sentenced to death in November 2006 to killing Betty Jean Windsor and their 8-year-old son, Corey, in December 2003, then fleeing to Shelby, N.C., where he was arrested seven months later at a junk yard where he worked.

    Windsor declined an interview request from The Associated Press. His attorney, public defender Dan Goyette, did not immediately return messages.

    Another of his attorneys, David Niehaus, wrote in Windsor's briefs to the high court that he no longer wants to die.

    "As the Court has certainly inferred by now, (Windsor) no longer desires to be put to death," Niehaus wrote.

    Shelley Catherine Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Attorney General's office, declined to comment on Windsor's case.

    There are no solid statistics on the number of people who have volunteered, then changed their minds. However, 133 inmates have waived appeals and asked to die, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-capital punishment group that compiles statistics on executions. That accounts for about 12 percent of all executions.

    Windsor's attorneys cite multiple reasons the plea and sentence should be thrown out, including Windsor's suicide attempt days before his plea. They also say Windsor should have had a second mental evaluation before he was sentenced because he said he wanted to die.

    Assistant Attorney General Hays Lawson said in briefs there's no evidence Windsor was incompetent at the time of his plea or sentencing.

    "He demonstrated clear understanding of his rights and the rights he would be giving up by pleading guilty," Lawson said.

    Windsor became the second man in Kentucky in a three-year span to ask for a death sentence. Marco Allen Chapman pleaded guilty in December 2004 to killing two children and seriously wounding another along with their mother in an attack in northern Kentucky.

    Chapman was executed in November 2008 and did not fight the sentence.

    That case looms large over Windsor's efforts. Prosecutors cited the Kentucky Supreme Court ruling in 2007 allowing Chapman to pursue his own execution, saying the opinion makes it clear that asking for a death sentence doesn't show someone is incompetent.

    Niehaus also addressed Chapman's case, noting that unlike Chapman, Windsor has sought to regain appellate rights and has not repeatedly sought to fire his attorneys, as Chapman did.

    Windsor's journey to asking for a death sentence started when his wife and son were found beaten and stabbed in the apartment they shared. Windsor was nowhere to be found for the next seven months, with the disappearance drawing the attention of the television show "America's Most Wanted."

    At one point during his November 2006 sentencing, Windsor asked Jefferson Circuit Judge Martin McDonald to stop his attorneys from trying to spare his life.

    "I do not wish and I do not want this to go any further," Windsor said. "It's a waste of the court's time."

    Along with Chapman, Kentucky has executed two inmates since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Harold McQueen of Madison County was put to death in the electric chair in 1997, and Eddie Lee Harper of Louisville became the first inmate to be executed by lethal injection in 1999.

    http://www.kypost.com/content/news/c...Fm2R4MVTQ.cspx

  3. #3
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    March 5, 2010

    Two Kentucky death row inmates trying to speed up their executions

    By BRETT BARROUQUERE
    The Associated Press

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A pair of Kentucky death row inmates are seeking to end their appeals and potentially hasten their own executions, possibly under a new set of rules for lethal injection that the state is pushing for. The inmates, Shawn William Windsor and James Hunt, are both pursuing lawsuits against their public defenders in Franklin Circuit Court in an effort to fire the attorneys and waive their remaining appeals. The Kentucky Supreme Court is reviewing the criminal cases of both men, with rulings in their cases possible later this month. Should both men be successful and be executed, they would become the third and fourth Kentucky inmates to die at their own request.

    The suits come as Kentucky is pursuing readoption of its lethal injection protocol. A legislative subcommittee is scheduled to consider the method on Monday as it makes its way to Gov. Steve Beshear for eventual rejection or approval. There's no sign in the men's appeals, though, that their effort is linked to the new protocols. Kentucky is attempting to re-enact the protocol used for the three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates after the Kentucky Supreme Court halted executions last year. The high court said the state improperly adopted its protocol.

    The proposed protocol includes several provisions dealing with what to do if a volunteer changes his mind once the execution starts. The proposed protocol allows an inmate to contact his attorney and the warden to notify the Department of Corrections commissioner about the change, with the commissioner telling the governor and courts. About 12 percent of the roughly 1,600 inmates executed in the United States since 1976 abandoned their appeals and asked for their sentences to be carried out, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and an adjunct law professor at Catholic University in Washington. Each time, the inmate either fired the defense lawyer or told them to stop filing appeals. "It amounts to the same thing," Dieter said.

    Because several inmates are at the end of their appeals, Windsor, 46, and Hunt, 62, may not be the first executed if the protocol is readopted and approved and they are successful in their lawsuits. But, both inmates said they are intent on waiving their appeals, which would open the door to an execution. Windsor, who pleaded guilty and asked for a death sentence in the killings of his wife and son in Louisville, confirmed to The Associated Press that he wants to be executed, despite efforts by his attorney to continue pursuing appeals. "I'm trying to do the right thing," Windsor said in a phone interview. Hunt of Prestonburg, convicted of killing his wife in eastern Kentucky, sent his public defenders a letter firing them. "Thank you for your assistance to date, but your services are no longer needed or wanted," Hunt wrote, explaining that he wanted no more appeals on his behalf.

    Attorneys in both cases have raised the issue of whether the men are competent to waive appeals, but have also focused on the unique aspects in each case. Hunt's attorney, Shelly R. Fears, said Hunt's case is different from the others on death row because he was condemned for killing his wife after months of marital turmoil, making him the only person currently sentenced to death in Kentucky for a single-death domestic homicide. Fears said the Kentucky Supreme Court failed to consider those circumstances in initially upholding the conviction. The high court has been asked to reconsider the ruling and weigh those circumstances. "No one else has been sent to death row for a comparable situation," Fears said. One of Windsor's attorneys, Louisville public defender Dan Goyette, said Windsor has changed his mind multiple times about wanting to be executed. "We've been down this street several times with him," Goyette said. Shelley Catharine Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Attorney General's office, declined comment on Hunt's and Windsor's lawsuits, saying the office is not a party to the litigation. Kentucky has executed three people since 1976, two of whom waived all or part of their appeals to speed up their executions.

    http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/86602697.html

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    July 7, 2010

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Shawn Windsor's lawsuit to fire his public defender has been dismissed without prejudice at Windsor's request.

    Windsor filed suit to fire his public defender.

    He is now waiting for a ruling from the Kentucky Supreme Court later this summer.

    Friday, Windsor appeared in Jefferson County Circuit Court by phone from the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange.

    "In the best interest of all right now it would be wise, for myself especially, to wait for the Kentucky State Supreme Court to actually come out on a ruling for me," Windsor said.

    Windsor was convicted for the 2003 murders of his estranged wife, Betty Jean, and their 8-year-old son, Corey.

    He admitted to the crimes and asked for the death penalty.

    At issue is Windsor's desire to have the death penalty against him to be carried out as quickly as possible.

    Representatives from Kentucky State General's Office prepared to argue that Windsor has a right to fire his public offender and seek the death quickly as possible.

    His attorney later said Windsor was not competent to make that request.

    It's possible the state Supreme Court could make a ruling on Windsor's request to be put to death without further appeals as soon as next month.

    Windsor asked Judge Brian Edwards to dismiss his request for the dismissal of his attorney without prejudice. It means if Windsor receives an unfavorable ruling in the Supreme Court, he could re-file his lawsuit making that request.

    Representatives of the Kentucky attorney general's office were in court on Wednesday prepared to argue on behalf of Windsor's request to drop his attorney.

    Windsor's attorney was also present in court.

    http://www.wlky.com/news/24169602/detail.html

  5. #5
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    August 26, 2010

    Shawn Windsor death penalty upheld

    The Kentucky Supreme Court says a Louisville man is still guilty of killing his wife and son, and he will be put to death for the crime.

    Shawn Windsor is on Death Row for killing Betty Jean Windsor and their 8-year-old son Corey in 2003.

    After going on the run for months, then trying to kill himself in jail, Windsor pleaded guilty to their murders and asked to be put to death.

    His attorney keeps filing appeals to get him off Death Row, but Thursday the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld Windsor's guilty plea and death penalty.

    http://www.fox41.com/global/story.asp?s=13050600

    Opinion is here:

    http://opinions.kycourts.net/sc/2008-SC-000383-MR.pdf

  6. #6
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    WINDSOR v. COMMONWEALTH 2008-SC-000383-MR.

    In an opinion dated March 24, 2011, the Kentucky Supreme Court denied Windsor's petition to rehear.

  7. #7
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    Supreme Court Rejects Shawn Windsor Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a Kentucky death row inmate who wanted to hasten his execution.

    The high court's decision on Monday does not mean that 47-year-old Shawn William Windsor will be immediately executed.

    Windsor pleaded guilty in 2006 to killing his estranged wife and son in Louisville and asked for a death sentence.

    Kentucky is under an injunction barring executions unrelated to Windsor's case. Also, the state lacks a supply of sodium thiopental, a key drug used in a lethal injection.

    The decision came in an appeal over whether Windsor could fire his attorneys and waive his appeals.

    Windsor's attorneys in the Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday.

    http://www.wlky.com/news/29372478/de...#ixzz1ZjvzDFa4

    July 7, 2010: Windsor Suit Dismissed Pending Supreme Court Ruling

    September 23, 2009: Supreme Court Weighs Death Row Killer's Request
    September 23, 2009: State Supreme Court To Hear Death Penalty Case
    August 6, 2009: Once Willing To Die, Inmate Now Fights For Life
    November 17, 2006: Windsor Sentenced To Death
    July 17, 2006: Man Charged In Wife, Son's Slaying Pleads Guilty
    July 11, 2006: Trial Of Man Charged In Family's Slaying Delayed
    September 8, 2005: Man Accused Of Killing Wife, Son Back In Court
    June 6, 2005: Man Accused Of Killing Wife, Son Due In Court Today
    March 14, 2005: Man Who Admitted Killing Wife, Son Back In Court
    September 28, 2004: Alleged Killer Says He Planned Murder-Suicide Plot
    September 9, 2004: Prosecutors Will Seek Death Penalty For Windsor
    July 21, 2004: Victim's Family: Windsor Took Pictures Of Abused Wife
    July 21, 2004: Windsor Pleads Not Guilty To Killing Wife, Son
    July 20, 2004: Man Accused Of Killing Wife, Young Son Returned To Louisville
    July 16, 2004: Windsor Caught, Victim's Mother 'Will Get Even'
    July 16, 2004: Windsor Caught In North Carolina
    July 13, 2004: Victim's Mother To Son-In-Law Suspect: 'Give Yourself Up'
    July 13, 2004: Marshal: Finding Windsor Car 'A Big Break'
    July 13, 2004: Car Belonging To Slain Woman Found In Nashville
    June 18, 2004: TV Show To Feature Local 'Most Wanted' Fugitive
    February 9, 2004: Popular TV Show Yields Leads About Alleged Local Killer
    January 6, 2004: Local Man On Run After Allegedly Killing Wife, Son

  8. #8
    Derek
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    Shawn Windsor is the 801st direct capture of the America's Most Wanted television show.

    http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=26851

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