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Thread: Gilbert Ray Postelle - Oklahoma Execution - February 17, 2022

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    Gilbert Ray Postelle - Oklahoma Execution - February 17, 2022




    Summary of Offense:

    Gilbert Ray Postelle was sentenced to death plus two terms of life in prison plus 10 years for conspiracy in the slayings of four people at an Oklahoma City trailer house on Memorial Day 2005. Postelle was convicted by a jury of killing James "Donnie" Swindle Jr., Amy Wright, Terry Smith and James Alderson. The Oklahoma County jury that heard evidence in the case decided Postelle should die for killing Wright and Alderson and spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Swindle and Smith.

    Postelle was sentenced to death on October 2, 2008.

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    October 3, 2008

    Gilbert Postelle Sentenced to Death

    An Oklahoma County judge has sentenced a man to death for the deaths of two people on Memorial Day 2005.

    Gilbert Ray Postelle also was sentenced Thursday to two terms of life in prison plus 10 years for conspiracy in the slayings of four people at an Oklahoma City trailer house.

    Postelle, who said nothing during his sentencing hearing, showed no emotion when the judge set a December execution date. That date is essentially meaningless because all death penalty cases are appealed automatically.

    Postelle, 22, was convicted by a jury on Sept. 9 of killing James "Donnie" Swindle Jr., Amy Wright, Terry Smith and James Alderson.

    Two days later, the Oklahoma County jury that heard evidence in the case decided Postelle should die for killing Wright and Alderson and spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Swindle and Smith.

    He did not react to either verdict, remaining as stone-faced as he had throughout the three-week trial.

    Postelle's trial marked the end of prolonged legal proceedings in the case, which included charges against nine other people.

    "It's a sad case that's affected many, many, many people," District Attorney David Prater said. "This has been a long, dark road for the surviving families of the victims."

    Defendants in the case drove to the trailer park to scare Swindle, whom they blamed for a motorcycle accident involving Earl Bradford Postelle, Gilbert Postelle's father, according to court papers.

    Prosecutors claim Swindle, Wright, Smith and Alderson were herded out of a mobile home and then someone emptied a 30-shot magazine of an AK-47 assault rifle into them. Another six shots were fired into Swindle's head with a rifle, court papers state.

    (Source: KOCO Oklahoma City)

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    Oral arguments before the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals have been scheduled for 4th of October.

    http://www.oscn.net/applications/osc...5&db=Appellate

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    Oklahoma death row inmate asks court for new trial

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma death row inmate convicted in the machine-gun slayings of four people on Memorial Day 2005 should have his convictions and sentences reversed, a defense attorney told an Oklahoma appeals court Tuesday.

    Gilbert Ray Postelle, 25, was found guilty by an Oklahoma County jury of four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of James Alderson, Terry Smith, James "Donnie" Swindle Jr. and Amy Wright on May 30, 2005. Their bodies were found outside a south Oklahoma City mobile home and each had been shot multiple times.

    Postelle received two death sentences and two sentences of life in prison without parole. But defense attorney Andrea Miller of the Oklahoma County Public Defender's Office told the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that Postelle should get a new trial because of legal errors at his first trial, a troubled childhood that included early exposure to drugs and the fact that others prosecuted in the case were not sentenced to death.

    "It is not the appropriate sentence," Miller said during oral arguments in the case.

    Assistant Attorney General Seth Branham urged the court to uphold Postelle's convictions and sentences, arguing that any errors during his trial were harmless and that Postelle told two witnesses following the shootings that he was responsible.

    "Those admissions directly connect the defendant to these murders," Branham said.

    The five-judge court took the case under advisement and did not indicate when it may hand down a ruling.

    Prosecutors accused Postelle of plotting with his father, brother and a family friend to kill the victims. Prosecutors said they believed Swindle was responsible for a motorcycle accident that crippled Postelle's father, Earl Bradford Postelle, in February 2004.

    Prosecutors claim the victims were herded out of the mobile home and that someone emptied a 30-shot magazine of an AK-47 assault rifle into them. Another six shots were fired into Swindle's head with a rifle.

    In 2007, Earl Postelle was declared incompetent to stand trial because of brain injuries suffered in the motorcycle accident. Gilbert Postelle's older brother, David Postelle, was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

    The family friend, Randall Wade Byus, also was charged with murder in the case but those charges were dropped after he reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and testified against Gilbert Postelle.

    Miller told the appeals court that Byus' testimony is the reason Postelle got the death penalty. She said Byus testified that Postelle committed the shootings, but that no other evidence puts the assault rifle in his hands.

    "The crime scene evidence contradicts Randall Byus' testimony," said Miller, arguing that Postelle's jury should have received a legal instruction that accomplice testimony cannot alone support a conviction and must be corroborated. She said that instruction was not given by the trial judge, District Judge Ray Elliott.

    "The jury should have had the opportunity to decide that," she said.

    Branham said the jury in David Postelle's trial did not receive the accomplice corroboration instruction following the testimony of a different witness and the appeals court ruled it was harmless error. But several judges, including Presiding Judge Arlene Johnson of Oklahoma City, indicated the court might be less inclined to rule that way in a death penalty case.

    Miller said Postelle has an IQ of only 76 and suffers from neurological issues because he has used methamphetamine since he was 11 years old. She also complained that Elliott did not instruct jurors that Postelle's brother received life sentences in the case although prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

    "This jury should have been allowed to consider that nobody else was sentenced to death," she said.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...0_OKLAHO260425

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    Oklahoma court upholds conviction, death penalty

    An Oklahoma appeals court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of first-degree murder in the machine-gun slayings of 4 people in 2005.

    The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals handed down the decision Thursday in the case of 25-yearold Gilbert Ray Postelle.

    Postelle was found guilty by an Oklahoma County jury of 4 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of James Alderson, Terry Smith, James "Donnie" Swindle Jr. and Amy Wright on May 30, 2005. Their bodies were found outside a south Oklahoma City mobile home and each had been shot multiple times.

    Postelle received two death sentences and two sentences of life in prison without parole. In its 61-page decision, the appeals court says evidence in the case supports the jury's imposition of the death penalties.

    http://www.kswo.com/story/16414231/o...-death-penalty

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    His post-conviction petition has been denied by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

    http://www.oscn.net/applications/osc...2&db=Appellate

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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Postelle's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On October 9, 2012, Postelle filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/okl...cv01110/85035/

    [Wow! For a case where the death sentence was handed down in October 2008, this case is moving along remarkably quickly]

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    On September 2, 2016, Postelle's habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    https://docs.justia.com/cases/federa...01110/85035/74
    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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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    On October 6, 2016, Postelle filed an appeal before the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca10/16-6290
    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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