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Thread: Robert Simon, Jr. - Mississippi Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    "Victims' families have not arrived yet. Epps said they were understandably upset at the news"

  2. #22
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    Fifth Circuit Issues Stay of Execution of Robert Simon, Jr.

    Robert Simon Stay Order

  3. #23
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    Another tweet

    Execution will not happen today. Court reviewing case and Robert Simon is being moved back to the general death row population.

  4. #24
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    Court grants stay of execution for Miss. death row inmate

    A federal appeal court has stopped the scheduled execution of Mississippi death row inmate Robert Simon Jr.

    The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans gave no immediate reason for its decision, which came hours before Simon was to be put to death by lethal injection. The execution had been set for 6 p.m. CDT.

    Simon was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1990 slayings of Carl Parker; Parker's wife, Bobbie Jo; and their 12-year-old son, Gregory. The killings occurred a few hours after the family had returned to their rural Quitman County home from church services.

    Simon also was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of 9-year-old Charlotte Parker, daughter of the slain couple.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...news|text|Home

  5. #25
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    Judge: Questions exist about Simon's mental state

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A member of a federal appeals court panel that stopped Mississippi's execution of Robert Simon Jr. says the action was taken to give Simon a chance to prove claims of mental incompetency.

    Judge Grady Jolly of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans says the three-judge panel determined that medical records and sworn affidavits of Simon's lawyers and a sworn affidavit of a clinical neuropsychologist raised substantial questions about whether the death row inmate suffered a neurological injury when he fell in prison in January.

    His attorneys claimed the fall left Simon unable to recognize them or to discuss his case.

    Simon was sentenced to death for the 1990 slaying of members of a Quitman County family. The execution was blocked hours before its scheduled time Tuesday.

    http://www.newstimes.com/default/art...#ixzz1NOEzEtYC

  6. #26
    Yes, because we bump our head we all of a sudden become mentally retarded or mentally incompetent. Jeez I remember when I jumped off a diving board head first into a pool and hit my head on the bottom of the pool and had to go to an emergency room. I didn't turn mentally retarded or become incompetent.

  7. #27
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    Killer's reprieve: How long will it last?

    Questions over convicted killer Robert Simon Jr.'s mental state have stopped the clock on his execution, but it's debatable how long the reprieve will last.

    Just hours before Simon was to be executed Tuesday for killing a Quitman County farm family in 1990, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay to review a claim that Simon suffered a head injury in January that has made him incompetent for the death penalty.

    Judge Grady Jolly, in stating why he concurred with the two other judges, said medical records and other documents "raise substantial questions" as to whether he understands he committed a crime and is about to be executed.

    "Although this evidence has been presented, this panel has no basis to consider whether his claim has any merit, whether it is believable or unbelievable," wrote Jolly, who granted the temporary stay along with judges James Dennis and Edward Prado.

    Simon's attorney, Tom Freeland of Oxford, had petitioned the state and federal courts for a neurological exam. "I have believed that Robert Simon was entitled to a hearing and it appears that the 5th Circuit has agreed."

    But the federal panel has not yet indicated what its next step will be, whether Simon will be examined or when a hearing could be held.

    "It could be a day or it could be three months," Attorney General Jim Hood said. "We hope it doesn't come to that, but you just never know."

    Simon, 47, was sentenced to death for the killings of Carl "Bubba" Parker, his wife, Bobbie Jo, and their 12-year-old son Gregory. He received a life sentence for the killing of Charlotte Parker, the slain couple's 9-year-old daughter, after a lone juror could not agree to a death sentence.

    The family had returned from a church service on Feb. 2, 1990, to find Simon and his accomplice, Anthony Carr, burglarizing their home. Carr, 45, also is on death row.

    Many, including the prosecutor who tried Simon and Carr, were surprised by the court's decision.

    "I believe the execution will occur, but it's a shame to put it off like this," said Laurence Mellen, who retired as district attorney in 2009. "My hopes are that the 5th Circuit just didn't have the time to review the case."

    After shooting Bubba, Bobbie Jo, Gregory and Charlotte Parker multiple times, raping the little girl and chopping the father's finger off to steal his wedding ring, the killers set the home on fire and left the bodies to burn.

    Charlotte Parker died of smoke inhalation, while the others died of gunshot wounds. "It was devastating," Mellen said. "He should have been executed 15 years ago."

    Members of the Parker family said they are devastated by the delay.

    "We were so close," said Scott Parker, Bubba Parker's son from a previous marriage. "We're ready for closure."

    At this point, the Court of Appeals could determine that the evidence doesn't merit a full neurological exam or it could return the case to a lower court for additional review.

    "The way we read it is that the court said it just didn't have time," Hood said. "We'll just have to wait and see."

    If the court decides to order a full exam, experts will be hired for the defense and the state - at taxpayers' expense - to evaluate Simon.

    Simon suffered a head injury Jan. 7, medical records show. His attorney alleges it has caused memory loss and impaired Simon's cognitive skills. Freeland, in an affidavit, said Simon did not recognize him in a meeting in March and had trouble carrying on a conversation.

    "He was unable to understand what was occurring in his case," Freeland wrote.

    Lower courts have ruled there was not enough evidence to show Simon is not mentally competent.

    Corrections officials, relatives of the Parkers and others have said they are skeptical of the claims.

    "He's sharp. He knows what he's doing," Mellen said.

    Simon already had told corrections officials what he wanted for his last meal - fried chicken legs, pinto beans and watermelon - and was preparing his final statement when the court issued its order.

    Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said Simon yelled, "They said I was a monster," and laid down on his cell bed when told of the delay.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...ll|text|Home|p

  8. #28
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    Hood: Expect more 'knot heads' on death row

    If Robert Simon Jr. receives a new mental evaluation with his claim that falling on his head made him mentally incompetent, Mississippi can expect a flood of similar claims from other death row inmates, says Attorney General Jim Hood.

    "We're going to see a rash of knot heads at Parchman," Hood told The Associated Press on Thursday. "We'll have to put cameras into every cell on death row because they are all going to claim they fell and bumped their head."

    Simon's injury, which records show occurred at Parchman in January, was the basis for his attorneys' claim that he is incompetent to be executed.

    Simon was sentenced to death for the 1990 slaying of members of a Quitman County family. The execution was blocked by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans hours before its scheduled time Tuesday.

    "The court recognized that the medical records show an accident that lead to neuropsychological effects and it is so stated in the medical records. What the court is saying is there should be a hearing and evaluations based on this evidence," said Tom Freeland of Oxford, who is representing Simon.

    Freeland declined to respond to Hood's allegations.

    On Wednesday, the federal panel gave both sides until June 6 file briefs on the issues raised by Simon.

    The attorney general's office contends the issue of Simon's mental health was exhausted in appeals rejected by both Mississippi and federal courts.

    The 5th Circuit panel said it was concerned the deficiencies in Simon's petition were created by the state's refusal to allow an evaluation of Simon by a doctor hired by the defense.

    "In such a situation, a holding that Simon's evidence does not amount to a 'substantial threshold showing' might be tantamount to holding that a state can always prevent a petitioner from making such a showing by simply forbidding his experts from examining him," the panel said.

    Hood said Thursday that two doctors at Parchman interviewed Simon and that was contained in the state's argument that the execution should not be stopped.

    Hood said it appeared the 5th Circuit was given more information that it could digest in a short time, and that is partly the fault of defense attorneys who wanted until the last minute to file Simon's petition.

    "We have seen this stuff time and time again, and the judges — they hesitate because of a little mud in the water," Hood said.

    Hood said he expects the 5th Circuit will send case back to federal court for a hearing or with an order for a mental evaluation of Simon. He said that would mean extra costs to the state to hire its own experts plus pay for Simon's.

    "It's going to mean a lot of expense to the state to make sure all our consciences are clear," Hood said.

    The panel also said the Mississippi court's decision that the Simon's medical records showed nothing neurologically abnormal was contradicted by the prison medical records.

    "On the basis of the record before us, we find that Simon has met his burden of showing a substantial likelihood that he will be able to prove that the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision was objectively unreasonable. The evidence submitted by Simon could rationally support an inference by a reasonable trier of fact that Simon lacks a factual awareness of his impending execution, any memory of the crime he committed, a factual awareness of the State's reasons for executing him, and a rational understanding of the connection between his crime and his impending execution," the panel said.

    Simon, now 47, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1990 slayings of Carl Parker; Parker's wife, Bobbie Jo; and their 12-year-old son, Gregory. The killings occurred a few hours after the family had returned to their rural Quitman County home from church services.

    Simon also was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of 9-year-old Charlotte Parker, daughter of the slain couple.

    Simon and Anthony Carr, now 45, were both convicted of the killings. Carr is also on death row.

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/art...#ixzz1NTmjzEXb

  9. #29
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    Execution delay hard on family

    Our family has endured another emotional upheaval as yet another execution date was set last month for Robert Simon Jr. and again delayed ("Court grants stay of execution for Miss. death row inmate," May 25).

    I feel compelled to acknowledge and thank all those who offered prayers, concerns, and compassion with your comments via the Internet and newspaper. You will never know how much this meant to me personally. I feel I can speak for the rest of the Parker family, as well.

    Some do not have access to computers nor the paper, so I have relayed the comments.

    In all of this, I have decided that no amount of horrific evidence in our tragedy; no amount of venting, ranting, cursing; no amount of arguing, debating, preaching will ever change the beliefs and opinions of some people.

    I still believe God is a just God and "justice" (judgment) will "roll down like the waters." We may not see it carried out according to the law on this earth, but it will come - God will not be mocked, a man reaps what he sows.

    Annette Parker Caffey

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article...ll|text|Home|s

  10. #30
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    Itīs a shame that he got a stay. It doesnīt matter what happened after Simon Jr. had been sentenced. Itīs the crime that matters and a long way to the execution canīt have an impact on the punishment of a criminal.

    And BTW we - if he were too dumb to be executed he would be in a hospital or mental facitlity but not in gen pop. If he can stay alive in gen pop, heīs smart enough to be executed.

    Iīm really sorry for the victims' families. They must feel harrassed by the justice system.

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