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Thread: Thomas Edwin Loden, Jr. - Mississippi Execution - December 14, 2022

  1. #11
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    ABA joins Miss. inmate in appeal of death sentence

    By JACK ELLIOTT, JR.
    The Associated Press

    JACKSON – The American Bar Association is joining a Mississippi death row inmate’s quest for a new trial, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the failure of Thomas Loden Jr.’s lawyer to search the record for evidence that could have persuaded a judge to spare Loden’s life.

    The ABA argues in briefs that the trial lawyer’s work fell below minimum constitutional standards for the effective assistance of counsel. The ABA urged the Supreme Court to hear Loden’s appeal to determine “whether a defendant’s decision to waive the right to present sentencing evidence should foreclose a finding that he was prejudiced by a deficient sentencing investigation. “

    Loden, now 50, pleaded guilty in 2001 to the slaying of 16-year-old Leesa Gray. He was sentenced to death by a judge for capital murder plus 30 years for kidnapping and rape.

    Gray disappeared June 22, 2000, while on her way home from work as a waitress at her family’s restaurant in the Dorsey community. She was found dead of strangulation the next day in Loden’s minivan, authorities said.

    Loden argued his attorneys gave him poor legal advice during his Lee County trial. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument in March.

    Loden filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29. A response from the Mississippi attorney general’s office is due Aug. 31.

    Loden has previously argued his original defense attorney failed to fully investigate his mental condition and background and gave him poor advice that led him to plead guilty and waive jury sentencing.

    In 2013, U.S. District Judge Neal B. Biggers in Oxford, Mississippi, ruled Loden failed to prove his trial attorneys were inadequate.

    Biggers sided with the Mississippi Supreme Court’s findings that Loden was given “the basic tools of an adequate defense,” including funding to hire an investigator, a full evaluation by the forensic staff at the Mississippi State Hospital and the services of an independent psychologist.

    Prosecutors said Loden was aware of the proceedings that were taking place in the state court and actively participated in a question-and-answer session during his guilty plea.

    The 5th Circuit held that Loden’s arguments were countered by his decision that his trial lawyers not question prosecution witnesses or put any evidence at a sentencing hearing to help him avoid the death penalty.

    But American Bar Association attorneys said in briefs that if the 5th Circuit decision is upheld it would tend “to predetermine no-prejudice findings precisely when counsel has been the least diligent.

    “The more deficient the investigation, the less mitigating evidence will be available, and the more likely it is that the defendant will have no viable options other than waiver,” the ABA said.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/story/n...ence/31832339/

  2. #12
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Loden's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    Case Nos.: (13-70033)
    Decision Date: March 4, 2015
    Rehearing Denied: March 31, 2015

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/search.a...iles/15-10.htm

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Supreme Court turns away appeal from death row inmate who says lawyers gave him bad advice

    WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from a Mississippi death row inmate who pleaded guilty in the rape and killing of a waitress in 2000.

    The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that denied Thomas Loden Jr.’s request for a new court hearing to determine whether his lawyers gave him poor legal advice.

    Loden argued that his original defence attorneys failed to fully investigate his mental condition and gave him bad advice that led him to plead guilty and waive jury sentencing.

    A federal appeals court said Loden himself told his lawyers not to question prosecution witnesses or present evidence at a sentencing hearing to help him avoid the death penalty.

    The American Bar Association had filed a brief urging the justices to take the case.

    http://medicinehatnews.com/news/worl...im-bad-advice/

  4. #14
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Apparently now out of appeals??

  5. #15
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    That's right, Mr. Bam. Normally, when the US Supreme Court denies the certiorari petition of a state inmate appealing from a federal appeals court habeas denial, then said inmate is at the end of the road.

  6. #16
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    State plans to seek execution date for Loden

    Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he plans to seek an execution date for Eddie Loden as soon as executions are allowed again in the Magnolia State.

    On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the former marine sentenced to die for the 2001 killing of teenager Leesa Gray in Itawamba County.

    According to Hood, that decision by the nation's highest court represented Loden's final appeal in the case.

    However, lethal injections in Mississippi have been on hold since a federal judge issued an injunction in August because two Death Row inmates say the state's lethal injection protocol is torture.

    The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments December 2 about Mississippi executions.

    http://www.wtva.com/news/State_plans....sglvJoed.dpuf
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  7. #17
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Throwback yellow-dog Democrat Jim Hood is always Johnny on the spot when it comes to requesting execution dates. I wish there were more Democrats like him--the only ones left that spring to mind are Missouri's governor and attorney general as well as the Commonwealth's Attorney in Prince William County, Virginia, Paul Ebert.

  8. #18
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Appeals Court Opens Way for Mississippi to Resume Executions

    Mississippi could be able to resume executions early next month after an appeals court denied to rehear a case challenging a drug the state plans to use in lethal injections.

    The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday denied the motion by Ricky Chase, Richard Jordan and Thomas Loden Jr. to have the entire court reconsider a February ruling by a three-judge appeals panel. Jordan and Loden have exhausted their appeals, meaning Attorney General Jim Hood could ask the state Supreme Court to set execution dates.

    The lawsuit is one of a series of continuing legal skirmishes nationwide over lethal injection drugs.

    Hood's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Jim Craig, a lawyer for Chase and Jordan, said it would be Hood's "usual practice" to immediately seek an execution date. However, he noted that the court hadn't acted on a request for an execution date for Jordan for nearly a month when the federal suit was filed.

    The judgment will be published July 5, dissolving a freeze on executions by U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate. The three-judge panel overruled Wingate in February, saying questions about whether Mississippi is using drugs that don't meet state legal requirements belong in state court.

    "Plaintiffs face a challenge here," Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in a revised opinion released Monday. "Mississippi's sovereign immunity prevents a federal court from issuing an injunction against state officials solely to require them to adhere to state law."

    Mississippi law requires a three-drug process, with an "ultra-short-acting barbiturate" followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate's heart. But Mississippi and other states have increasing struggled to obtain such drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.

    Now, Mississippi says it intends to use another sedative, midazolam, which doesn't render someone unconscious as quickly. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 upheld as constitutional Oklahoma's use of midazolam.

    Craig said he'll seek a fresh block on executions.

    "I suspect we'll be going back to Judge Wingate to ask him to consider our injunction on the other parts of the lawsuit," he said.

    Midazolam leaves an inmate at risk of severe pain during execution, Craig argues, violating the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's bar on cruel and unusual punishment.

    Craig continues to question why Mississippi doesn't adopt a one-drug method of execution, as Texas, Missouri and Georgia have done. Inmates represented by Craig are pursuing legal actions against Texas, Missouri and Georgia trying to find out where those states get pentobarbital.

    Since the court overruled only a preliminary injunction, Wingate could also still decide the case in favor of the prisoners. A trial is set for October.

    Mississippi lawmakers earlier this year passed a law saying names of prison employees at an execution and in-state providers of lethal drugs must remain secret. The bill also makes secret the names of execution witnesses who are members of a victim's or condemned inmate's family. Lawmakers dropped a proposal to allow executions by firing squad.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/a...tions-40173308
    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

  9. #19
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    Inmates take lethal injection drug challenge to Mississippi Supreme Court

    JACKSON - Two Mississippi death row inmates have filed fresh challenges to the state’s lethal injection procedures with the Mississippi Supreme Court.

    The move came after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told them a state court should determine whether Mississippi was breaking state law by using a new drug.

    Richard Jordan and Gerald Loden filed their appeals Wednesday, saying the court should rule illegal Mississippi’s plan to use midazolam as a sedative because it’s not the kind of drug called for by state law.

    Jordan, now 70, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Edwina Marta in Harrison County on Jan. 13, 1976.

    Rachael Ring, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood, said his office is reviewing the appeals.

    The court actions are part of a series of continuing legal skirmishes nationwide over lethal injection drugs.

    In August, U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate had issued a preliminary injunction blocking Mississippi from putting anyone to death. The appeals court overruled Wingate in February, but Wingate’s injunction remained in place until Tuesday, when the appeals court published its ruling. Since then, Hood’s office has been free to ask the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for inmates who have exhausted their other appeals. Hood hasn’t yet done so.

    Jordan’s attorney, Jim Craig, predicted state Supreme Court justices wouldn’t approve execution dates while challenges to midazolam were pending. He said Hood has been ducking the issue since 2014.

    “All AG Hood has done is file motions and briefs to evade a court hearing where we can prove that the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ procedure will torture prisoners in the death chamber,” Craig said. “If he really thinks we can’t prove our case, General Hood needs to come out from his hiding place and meet us in court.”

    Mississippi law requires a three-drug process, specifying an “ultra-short-acting barbiturate” followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate’s heart. But Mississippi and other states have increasingly struggled to obtain such drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.

    “Not only is midazolam not an ultra short-acting barbiturate, it is not a barbiturate at all,” say both appeals. Lawyers for both men argue that the Mississippi Department of Corrections can’t unilaterally change a punishment that the Legislature wrote into law without usurping lawmakers’ power.

    Midazolam doesn’t render someone unconscious as quickly as a barbiturate. Craig argues midazolam leaves an inmate at risk of severe pain during execution, violating the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s bar on cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 upheld as constitutional Oklahoma’s use of midazolam.

    Jordan’s appeal raises an additional argument, arguing that his 40-yearlong wait between a death sentence and execution equals cruel and unusual punishment.

    Jordan had agreed to serve life without parole after successfully challenging his sentence three times, but got the state Supreme Court to rule that Jordan could have only been sentenced to death or life with possibility of parole. A prosecutor then won a death penalty for the fourth time in a 1998 sentencing trial.

    “These extraordinary circumstances make his execution excessive and disproportionate to the crime and thus in violation of both the federal and state constitutions,” the appeal states.

    Loden pleaded guilty in 2001 to kidnapping, raping and murdering Leesa Marie Gray in Itawamba County.

    http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/...e88691072.html
    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. #20
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    New Mississippi Law Blocks 1 Appeal Over Death Penalty Drug

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has blocked a death row inmate's appeal over the state's planned use of a lethal-injection drug.

    In an order Thursday, justices said Thomas Loden's 2016 appeal over the sedative midazolam is moot because legislators this year rewrote a state law on death penalty drugs.

    The old law required an "ultra-short acting barbiturate or other similar drug" as part of a three-drug lethal injection mix. Loden said midazolam didn't fit that definition.

    The new law requires "an appropriate anesthetic or sedative."

    Several states have struggled to obtain certain drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.

    Loden was sentenced to death in 2001 for killing 16-year-old Leesa Gray in north Mississippi's Itawamba County in 2000. His execution date has not been set.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...h-penalty-drug
    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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