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Thread: Scott Dever Cheever - Kansas Death Row

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  1. #1
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    Scott Dever Cheever - Kansas Death Row


    Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels




    Facts of the Crime:

    Convicted in November 2007 of killing Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels in January 2005.

    Cheever was sentenced to death on January 23, 2008.

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    Judge Mike Ward said this morning that he will impose the jury's verdict that Scott Cheever receive the death penalty.

    This past fall, a jury from Greenwood County convicted Cheever of the capital murder of its sheriff, Matt Samuels.

    During the hearing, Tammy Samuels -- the sheriff's wife -- called Cheever "a coward hiding crouched in the dark."

    Cheever had been making methamphetamine in a house in the remote Hilltop area. Cheever testified that he was upstairs hiding, and fired over a railing as Samuels stood at the bottom of the stairs.

    Tammy Samuels talked about how her husband served as a mentor to young people and a friend to many in the community. She talked about his devotion as a father and his plans for the future, cut short by his shooting death on Jan. 19, 2005.

    "You killed a hero; not a hero for how he died, but how he lived," she said.

    When asked by Ward, Cheever declined to make any statements regarding his sentence.

    Cheever also stands convicted of four counts of attempted murder against two Greenwood County deputies and two state troopers. The jury also found him guilty of manufacturing methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

    For those counts, Ward imposed the maximum sentence of 737 months.

    "Assuming that the jury's verdict of death is upheld and carries out, I don't want to say these sentences are meanlingless or moot, but they aren't controlling," Ward said. "But each of these crimes have a victim, and you have received a sentence on each of those."

    Throughout the hearing, Cheever sat with his hands shackled to a belt chained around his waist and leg irons. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit from the El Dorado Correctional Facility, where he will remain in 23-hour secluded lockdown, awaiting his execution.

    Cheever's mother, Brenda Freisner, attended her son's sentencing. She had been prohibited from attending the trial because she remained in jail charged with jury tampering.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    The U.S. Supreme Court will review the decision issued in 2012 by the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn the capital murder conviction of death-row inmate Scott Cheever on grounds trial prosecutors violated Cheever's right under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. An expert witness testified, without Cheever's consent, about results of a psychiatric examination Cheever was required to take by order of a federal judge.

    During the trial in 2007, Cheever's attorneys didn't deny Cheever shot the sheriff. They claimed the defendant's heavy consumption of methamphetamine prevented him from forming premeditation to commit murder. A jury rejected the theory and sentenced him to death.

    Cheever also was convicted of four counts of attempted capital murder for shooting at two sheriff's deputies and two state troopers. The state Supreme Court also overturned this convictions, but left intact convictions for manufacturing meth and possession of a firearm.

    Schmidt said the state Supreme Court decision incorrectly reflected requirements of the Fifth Amendment and that the original conviction and death sentence should be reinstated.

    http://cjonline.com/news/2013-10-07/...-supreme-court
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  4. #4
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    The Kansas Supreme Court opinion makes for interesting reading. Go to http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Op...0824/99988.pdf

    Although the federal court ordered psychiatric exam was compulsory, and although Cheever objected to the testimony offered by the examining expert at trial, the record shows that the testimony was offered to rebut evidence offered by Cheever in his defense, i.e., he was intoxicated and therefore could not form the mental intent necessary to sustain a conviction for murder.

    One would think that Cheever "opened the door" and placed all aspects of his mental state and abilities into issue.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    State Supreme Court will hear appeal from death row inmate Scott Cheever

    The Kansas Supreme Court will hear a number of appeals in the case against Scott Cheever. Cheever was convicted and sentenced to death murder of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels.

    Samuels was gunned down while trying to bust a methamphetamine operation in January of 2005.

    Cheever was convicted of Capital Murder and several other charges.

    The appellate motion includes several issues including the constitutionality of the state's death penalty and jury instructions relating to the guilt and sentencing phases.

    The hearing is set for May 18th.

    http://www.kwch.com/news/crimewatch/...,2757210.story

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    State's Supreme Court to hear appeal of sheriff's convicted killer

    Lawyers this morning will argue the death penalty appeal of a man accused of killing Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels at a meth lab six years ago.

    Scott Cheever admitted killing Samuels in 2005, as the sheriff tried to serve a warrant. At trial Cheever said he was so intoxicated by methamphetamine that he didn't know what he was doing. Two years later, a jury in Eureka convicted Cheever of capital murder and sentenced him to death.

    Death sentences get an automatic review by the state's high court.

    Kristafer Ailslieger, assistant solicitor general, is set to argue the state's side. Capital defender Debra Wilson will present Cheever's side.

    Arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m.

    http://www.kansas.com/2011/05/18/185...#ixzz1Mhlf4JsE

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Court doesn't seem likely to give new trial to man sentenced to death for killing sheriff

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed skeptical of a Kansas court decision that overturned the conviction and death sentence of a man who admitted killing a sheriff, with one justice asking a lawyer to choose the way the court would rule against him.

    This came as justices debated whether to uphold a Kansas Supreme Court decision that threw out Scott Cheever's capital murder conviction and death sentence for the fatal shooting of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels.

    The Kansas court said Cheever's rights had been violated during trial by prosecutors using a court-ordered mental evaluation from a different trial against him. Cheever's mental status had not been brought up in the trial under which Cheever received his death sentence, the court said, meaning the use of a court-ordered mental evaluation and the psychologist's testimony violated Cheever's Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

    Several justices seemed to disagree with the idea that it would be unconstitutional for the government to order a mental evaluation of a defendant and use that evaluation against the defendant.

    "The idea that the government can force someone to undergo a mental or, excuse me, a physical evaluation and maybe extract stuff from their body as the price for putting on a defense, yeah, I think that raises some Fifth Amendment questions," said Neal Katyal, Cheever's lawyer.

    "Assuming the incredulity of my colleagues continues with your argument, which way would you rather lose?" Justice Sonia Sotomayor said to Katyal.

    Cheever acknowledged shooting Samuels when the officer tried to serve a warrant at a rural home where meth was made. But Cheever argued at his trial that he was high on meth and incapable of premeditation when he opened fire on Samuels and four other officers in January 2005.

    The Kansas Supreme Court said Cheever's rights were violated when a psychiatrist disclosed his psychological records during the trial without Cheever's consent. The testimony was based on Cheever's court-ordered evaluations when the case was in federal court before it was remanded to state court. The state court said Cheever had to consent to material from the psychiatrist's exam being used in court because he wasn't pursuing what amounted to an insanity defense. Instead, the justices said, he was arguing that he was drug-impaired, not permanently mentally ill.

    Kansas officials asked the court to reinstate Cheever's conviction and sentence. Cheever had used an expert in psychiatric pharmacy to bolster his voluntary intoxication defense. Expert witnesses testified that Cheever demonstrated the effects of long-term meth use, including suspicious behavior toward those around him.

    "Once the defendant puts on his expert ... the government may respond in kind," Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

    The Obama administration is supporting Kansas in this argument. "When a defendant puts his mental state at issue through the testimony of an expert who's examined him, the state may rebut that testimony with its own expert who examined the defendant," said Justice Department lawyer Nicole A. Saharsky. "The Fifth Amendment does not allow a defendant to put on his side of the story and then deprive the prosecution of any meaningful chance to respond."

    A decision is expected early next year.

    The case is Kansas v. Cheever, 12-609.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...-Sheriff-Slain
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Cheever shot down by SCOTUS in today's ruling! YAY! Reversed and remanded in favor of Kansas. (unless I'm reading this totally wrong)

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions...2-609_g314.pdf

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    Maybe he should get a sad face tattoo now under his other eye.

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Court: Kan. Death Sentence Shouldn't Be Thrown Out

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a lower court in Kansas should not have overturned the conviction and death sentence of a man who said he was high on methamphetamine when he killed a local sheriff.

    The high court unanimously overturned the Kansas Supreme Court's decision to throw out Scott Cheever's death sentence for the 2005 fatal shooting of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels. Wednesday's decision sends the case back to the Kansas Supreme Court for further proceedings.

    The Kansas court said Cheever's Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination were violated by prosecutors who used a court-ordered mental evaluation from a different trial against him.

    Cheever's own expert argued that methamphetamine use had damaged his brain. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that because Cheever's side raised the brain damage issue, prosecutors were entitled to use testimony from the mental health expert from a different trial against him. That expert said Cheever killed because of an anti-social personality, not because of brain damage.

    The court agreed with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's argument that once Cheever's defense presented mental health issues, he was not protected from answering rebuttal questions from prosecutors.

    Messages left with Cheever's attorneys seeking comment on Wednesday weren't immediately returned.

    Cheever acknowledged shooting Samuels when the officer tried to serve a warrant at a rural home where meth was made. At his trial, Cheever argued that he was high on meth and incapable of premeditation when he opened fire on Samuels and four other officers.

    State prosecutors initially filed the case in federal court to seek the death penalty, after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the law was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that Kansas ruling and charges were then filed in state court seeking the death penalty.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...hrown-21176659

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