Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 20

Thread: Frederick Bell - Mississippi

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Frederick Bell - Mississippi


    Robert C. “Bert” Bell




    Facts of the Crime:

    On May 6, 1991, Robert C. “Bert” Bell was working as the store clerk at Sparks Stop-and-Go in Grenada County. That day Frederick Bell accompanied by Anthony Joe Doss, Robert Kennedy James, and Frank Coffey purchased beer and potato chips from Bert. The two Bells are not related. The four exited the store, sat at a nearby picnic table and talked. Planning to go to Memphis, Bell said that he needed money. Bell announced that he was going to rob the store and showed the group a .22 caliber pistol. Doss also had in his possession a gun, which turned out to be inoperable. Refusing to take part, James and Coffey departed the premises as the other two went back into the store.

    Minutes later, James and Coffey heard hollering accompanied by gunshots. When Bell and Doss caught up with the other two, they showed them items they had taken from the store, including a money bag, .38 caliber pistol and a box of bullets. Because he did not want any witnesses, Bell then threatened to kill James. Coffey and Doss stepped in to prevent this. Both James and Coffey testified that Bell said he shot Bert. Later that day, Bernard Gladney drove Bell, Doss, and Coffey to Memphis. On the way, Bell again stated that he wanted to kill James to prevent him from telling anyone about the murder.

    Eventually, Bell was arrested in Memphis on another crime. Two guns were found in the house where he was arrested, a third was found in Gladney’s vehicle. Leland H. Jones, III, represented Bell during both the trial and the direct appeal. During the trial, there was no direct testimony regarding what actually occurred inside the store. Bell maintained that he was in Memphis the day of the murder. However, there were no witnesses to corroborate his alibi. Both James’s sister and Coffey’s girlfriend testified that they saw Bell with Coffey, Doss and James the day of the murder. The store owner, James Shelby Sparks, testified that a .38 caliber pistol (which was later recovered during Bell’s arrest), a box of shells, and a money bag were taken from the store during the robbery. An autopsy revealed that Bert was shot several times. Ballistics tests showed that Bert was shot with the .38 and a smaller caliber gun, likely a .22 caliber.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    July 20, 2009

    Death row inmate seeks new trial; blames lawyer

    Death row inmate Frederick Bell argues in court documents for a new trial on the grounds that his attorney could have done a better job of investigating his alleged alibi.

    The attorney general's office says it wouldn't have mattered because the evidence was overwhelming against Bell.

    The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case today in Houston, Texas.

    A federal judge in Mississippi in 2008 granted Bell, now 37, a certificate of appealability on the issue of ineffective counsel.

    A certificate of appealability is similar to a post-conviction petition, in which an inmate argues he has found new evidence or a possible constitutional issue - that could persuade a court to order - a new trial.

    Bell was convicted in 1993 in Grenada County for killing a grocery store clerk. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in 1998.

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal in 1999.

    Bell and Anthony Doss, who is also on death row, were convicted for the 1991 killing of grocery store clerk Bert Bell.

    The Bells were not related.

    Bert Bell was killed during the armed robbery of Sparks Stop-N-Shop.

    In 2004, the Mississippi Supreme Court rejected Frederick Bell's post conviction claim that his attorney didn't do a good job.

    The justices said Bell failed to show that anything his attorney did hindered his defense or how the verdict might have turned out differently.

    Bell then filed appeals in federal court which lead up to the 5th Circuit hearing.

    In court documents, Bell claims he was in Memphis when the killing occurred and told his trial attorney so.

    Bell said that claim was supported by testimony from Bernard Gladney, who, according to court documents, testified that he had driven Bell to Memphis.

    That testimony came in an extradition hearing that returned Bell to Mississippi to face capital murder charges.

    Bell alleges his lawyer never contacted Gladney even though he knew of Gladney's testimony.

    The attorney general's office counters that the decision not to call Gladney was trial strategy. The attorney general's office said Gladney frequently contradicted himself about whether he drove Bell and then there was Gladney's credibility as a convicted murderer.

    "Gladney would have been a witness with no credibility," the attorney general's office said in its brief. "Any decision to leave Gladney aside was clearly an exercise of not merely reasonable but sane trial strategy."

    Bell argues that it is not just Gladney's testimony but another nine affidavits from people who would have supported his alibi had they been contacted by Bell's trial attorney.

    The attorney general's office said the nine affidavits were presented 15 years after the slaying and come from close relatives of Bell.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...-blames-lawyer

  3. #3
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    On September 28, 2009, Bell was denied a Certificate of Appealability by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit..

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0031.0.wpd.pdf

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Death penalty on hold in Mississippi

    The expected fourth execution this year of an inmate on Mississippi's death row appears unlikely to occur.

    The Mississippi Supreme Court has not acted on a request to schedule an execution next week and is on a holiday schedule, leaving the fate of death row inmate Frederick "Freddie" Bell in question for now.

    Attorney General Jim Hood had petitioned the court for a Dec. 29 execution for Bell, who was convicted in the 1991 robbery and murder of a Grenada County store clerk.

    State Supreme Court spokeswoman Beverly Kraft said the petition to set an execution date is pending.

    "I do not know when the court will rule on the petition," she said.

    "We have no comment other than we will await the court's order," Hood's spokeswoman Jan Schaefer said.

    Had the execution been scheduled, Bell, 38, would have been the fourth death sentence carried out in Mississippi in 2010. There were no executions in 2009.

    According to Mississippi Department of Corrections records, the last time the state executed more than two inmates in one year was 1961, when five men were put to death.

    But while Mississippi saw a spike in executions this year, a recent report from the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center shows the nation as a whole saw a decline.

    Twelve states carried out a combined 46 executions this year - down from 52 last year.

    "Sometimes cases coincidentally come forward," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "There are times when states experience anomalies. Two years from now there may be no executions in a year."

    Nationally, there has been a steady decline in executions for the past decade, Dieter said.

    "I think that's the real trend to look at," he said.

    Texas - the country's perennial leader in executions - had 17 this year, compared to 24 in 2009. There were 48 in 1999.

    At one point, Mississippi officials had anticipated as many as five executions could be carried out this year.

    After inmates Paul Everette Woodward, 62, and Gerald James Holland, 72, were put to death in May, Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps speculated there could be up to three more by the end of the year

    A month later, the state appeared to be on track to meet that estimate when Joseph Daniel "JoJo" Burns, 42, became the third inmate executed.

    Unless a court or Gov. Haley Barbour intervenes, Bell, who was convicted of killing Bert Bell, no relation, could become the first African American to die by lethal injection in Mississippi.

    Executions through 1989 were carried out via gas chamber, and the state performed no executions from 1989 to 2002.

    The U.S. Supreme Court last month declined, without comment, to hear an appeal from Bell, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his petition for a rehearing in May.

    It's unclear why the state Supreme Court has not acted on the attorney general's request since it upheld his conviction last summer.

    According to court testimony, Bell, Anthony Doss, Robert James and Frank Coffey bought chips and beer at Sparks' Stop-and-Go the afternoon of Bert Bell's murder.

    The four men were drinking and eating on a picnic table outside the store, when Freddie Bell said he needed some money for a trip to Memphis and decided to rob the store.

    James and Coffey testified they refused to take part in the robbery and left as Bell and Doss went into the store. A minute or so later, James and Coffey said they heard gunshots and yelling.

    Both James and Coffey testified Bell said he shot the clerk, and authorities recovered a .38-caliber pistol that had been taken from the store, a box of bullets and a money bag from Freddie Bell's father's home in Memphis.

    Bell has maintained at trial and in statements to investigators that he was in Memphis on the day Bert Bell was killed.

    His public defender called no witnesses to corroborate, which has become one of the points of contention brought up in Bell's appeals.

    The Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, which is defending Bell, filed a petition for post-conviction relief to the state court on Nov. 23.

    "The petition raises several complex legal claims, including a very serious claim regarding Mr. Bell's innocence," said Glenn Swartzfager, director of the post-conviction office.

    Swartzfager said he has not received a response on the petition and that it would be improper for him to speculate on when the court will rule.

    Much of the petition focuses on the competency of Bell's public defender. It also alleges Bell may be mentally retarded and was abused as a child.

    A report from psychologist Marc Zimmermann concludes Bell may suffer from mental illness as the result of abuse and family history.

    Additional information filed with the court includes an affidavit from Bell's ex-girlfriend Tammy Armstrong. In it, Armstrong states one of the witnesses told her he lied when he said Bell was at the store during the shooting.

    "He apologized for testifying against Frederick at the trial," she writes.

    According to court records, Bell and Armstrong have a 20-year-old son.

    Bell's sister, Tonja Bell-Glaspie of Ecru, has created websites devoted to her brother's case, claiming his innocence. Attempts to reach her last week were unsuccessful.

  5. #5
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    September 28, 2009

    Mississippi death-row inmate appeal denied

    A federal appeals court panel has denied a new trial for death row inmate Frederick Bell, who had claimed his attorney should have done a better job of investigating his alleged alibi.

    Prosecutors had argued the evidence was overwhelming against Bell.

    A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case in July. On Monday, the panel ruled against Bell on the issues of ineffective assistance of counsel.

    A federal judge in Mississippi in 2008 ruled against Bell, now 37, but allowed him to take his arguments to the 5th Circuit.

    Bell was convicted in 1993 in Grenada County for killing a grocery store clerk. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in 1998. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal in 1999.

    Bell and Anthony Doss, who is also on death row, were convicted for the 1991 killing of grocery store clerk Bert Bell. The Bells were not related. Bert Bell was killed during the armed robbery of Sparks Stop-N-Shop.

    In 2004, the Mississippi court rejected Frederick Bell's post conviction claim that his attorney didn't do a good job. The justices said Bell failed to show that anything his attorney did hindered his defense or how the verdict might have turned out differently.

    In court documents, Bell claimed he was in Tennessee when the killing occurred and that he told his trial attorney so. Bell said the claim was supported by testimony from Bernard Gladney, who, according to court documents, testified that he had driven Bell to Memphis.

    That testimony came in an extradition hearing which resulted in Bell returning to Mississippi to face capital murder charges.

    Bell alleges his lawyer never contacted Gladney even though he knew of Gladney's testimony. Bell said there were another nine affidavits from people who would have supported his alibi had they been contacted by his attorney.

    Prosecutors argued the decision not to call Gladney was trial strategy. They said Gladney frequently contradicted himself about whether he drove Bell and then there was Gladney's credibility as a convicted murderer.

    Prosecutors said the nine affidavits were presented 15 years after the slaying and came from close relatives of Bell.

    The 5th Circuit panel said Monday that Bell did not raise the alibi issue in the Mississippi courts and did not introduce witness statements to support the alibi claim. Therefore, the panel said Bell could not argue the issue in the federal courts.

    "In the state courts, he never mentioned those witnesses or their likely testimony and so deprived those courts of any opportunity to consider them. Bell could not have established prejudice resulting from either failure to investigate or failure to present alibi witnesses without bringing live testimony from those witnesses," the 5th Circuit panel said.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...-appeal-denied

  6. #6
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    On April 30, 2010, Bell's application for an expanded Certificate of Appealability was denied by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit:

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0031.0.wpd.pdf

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Bell execution date still pending

    The Mississippi Supreme Court has yet to rule on Attorney General Jim Hood’s motion to set an execution date for Frederick Bell, making it unlikely it will occur this year.

    Bell’s attorneys filed their response to Hood’s motion on Dec. 10. The Supreme Court is on its Christmas-New Year’s holiday break.

    Hood petitioned the Supreme Court earlier this month to set Bell’s execution for Dec. 29. Hood’s motion came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 29 declined to hear appeal from Bell.

    Jan Schaefer, spokeswoman for Hood’s office, said the attorney general is awaiting a court decision.

    Mississippi Department of Corrections officials have repeatedly said they would be ready for any execution on short notice.

    Bell, now 39, was convicted in 1993 and sentenced to death.

    Bell and Anthony Joe Doss were convicted of killing Bert Bell, no relation, on May 6, 1991, during an armed robbery of Sparks Stop-N-Shop in Grenada County.

    Doss also was sentenced to death.

    Three Mississippi death row inmates were executed in 2010. MDOC records show the last time the state executed more than two inmates in one year was 1961, when five men were put to death.

    Paul Everette Woodward and Gerald James Holland were executed in May. Joseph Daniel Burns was executed in June.

    The Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, which is defending Bell, also filed a petition for post-conviction relief to the Mississippi court in November. Hood’s office replied on Dec. 14.

    “The petition raises several complex legal claims, including a very serious claim regarding Mr. Bell’s innocence,” Glenn Swartzfager, director of the post-conviction office, told The Clarion-Ledger.

    Bell’s petition focuses on the competency of his public defender. It also alleges Bell may be mentally retarded and was abused as a child.

    http://picayuneitem.com/statenews/x6...-still-pending

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Opinion here

    Supreme Court orders hearing for condemned inmate

    The Mississippi Supreme Court says death row inmate Frederick Bell is entitled to a hearing to determine if he is mentally retarded.

    Attorney General Jim Hood had sought to have Bell executed Dec. 29.

    With the court’s opinion today, it means Bell fate awaits a decision in Grenada County Circuit Court on whether he is mentally retarded.

    The state high court denied other issues raised in his appeal.

    Bell, now 39, was convicted in 1993 and sentenced to death.

    Bell and Anthony Joe Doss were convicted of killing Bert Bell, no relation, on May 6, 1991, during an armed robbery of Sparks Stop-N-Shop in Grenada County.

    Doss also was sentenced to death.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...ranted-hearing

    and....

    Court denies execution date, orders hearing

    A Calhoun County man on death row has won the right to argue if he suffers from mental retardation.

    On Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered Frederick Bell should be granted a post-conviction relief hearing.

    Bell is on death row after being convicted of capital murder in the death of Robert C. "Bert" Bell during a robbery at the Stop-N-Go store in Grenada County on May 6, 1991.

    In his appeals, he claims he received ineffective counsel and is in fact innocent of the crime for which he is accused.

    In a split decision, the court denied those claims, but did grant him permission to request the circuit court hearing.

    Justices also denied a request by Attorney General Jim Hood to set an execution date for Bell.

    http://www.wtva.com/news/local/story...V8kzTdBpQ.cspx

  9. #9
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    June 1, 2010

    A death row inmate from Grenada County could run out of appeals soon and be executed as early as July, according to the state Attorney General.

    Frederick Bell, 38, was sentenced to death on Jan. 27, 1993, for the murder of convenience store clerk Robert “Bert” Bell at Sparks Stop-and-Go in Gore Springs in 1991. The two are not related.

    If Bell’s rehearing petition before the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is denied, it will be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide his fate.

    If the court declines, the state will immediately ask the Mississippi Supreme Court to set an execution date, according to Attorney General Jim Hood.

    When asked, members of Bert Bell’s family declined to be interviewed.

    With two executions on consecutive days just over a week ago, 2010 could be the busiest year for the Mississippi death penalty since 1961 when five inmates were put to death.

    According to Hood, the executions show evidence of the U.S. Supreme Courts 2008 decision in the Kentucky case Baze v. Rees, that upholds lethal injection procedures that paved the way for increased execution in several states.

    Grenada County has two more inmates, Anthony Doss and Terry Pitchford, on death row going through the appeals process.

    Doss was 18 when he was also convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Bert Bell.

    Doss, 37, filed for an application for leave to file a motion to vacate judgment in sentencing in 2004 in connection with the case.

    In 2006, he tried for a sentence reduction based on mental handicap, but as of yet, no decision has been handed down.

    In the Terry Pitchford case, the Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments in February to see if Pitchford, 24, deserved a new trial based on racial discrimination by the prosecution in picking the jury. No decision has been made.

    Under a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Batson v. Kentucky, lawyers are not allowed to exclude people from a jury because of their race.

    Pitchford, who was 18 when he was convicted in 2006, was put on death row for capital murder in the 2004 shooting death of Crossroads Grocery store owner, Ruben Britt, 67. Pitchford is the youngest inmate on death row.

    http://www.eclassifiedsnetwork.com/v...&MemberID=1218

  10. #10
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Court denies request to rehear ruling

    JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) - The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied a request by the Mississippi Attorney General to rehear the decision in a Grenada County capital murder case.

    Earlier this year, justices refused to set an execution date for Frederick Bell, 39, and ordered a circuit court judge to hold a post-conviction relief hearing.

    Bell is on Mississippi's death row after being convicted of capital murder in the death of Robert C. "Bert" Bell during a robbery at the Stop-N-Go store in Grenada County on May 6, 1991.

    Frederick Bell appealed the conviction claiming he is innocent of the charges and his attorney provided ineffective counsel.

    In a split decision in February, justices denied his claims, but did order a Grenada County Circuit Court judge to hold a post-conviction relief hearing.

    The Mississippi Attorney General's office appealed the decision and asked for a rehearing.

    On Thursday, The state's highest court denied the request.

    http://www.wtva.com/news/local/story...Ba4YdB3IA.cspx

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •