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Thread: Robert Keith Ray - Colorado

  1. #11
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Ray's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Court of Appeals of Colorado
    Case Nos.: (12CA0263)
    Decision Date: July 16, 2016
    Rehearing Denied: October 15, 2016
    Discretionary Court
    Decision Date: August 22, 2016

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....es/16-7215.htm

  2. #12
    Senior Member Member Big Jon's Avatar
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    Seems like Ray's case is moving along...perhaps Sir Mario Owens' will be as well soon. From what I understand, Colorado's Death Row inmates are to do their state Habeas Corpus first before the direct appeal. If that is the case, Ray's direct appeal will be coming up then his appeal will reach the Federal stage.

  3. #13
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    Colorado Mennonite investigator jailed after refusing to testify in death penalty case

    "Instead of looking at all of the options, the court has chosen the most punitive action to try to break her will," said Newman, who noted Lindecrantz could have been allowed to remain free while she works on an appeal of the contempt order

    By Colleen Slevin
    The Aurora Sentinel

    DENVER - A defense investigator in a Colorado death penalty case is behind bars after refusing to testify for prosecutors, saying that helping their effort to execute a defendant would violate her religious beliefs.

    A judge ordered the jailing of Greta Lindecrantz, a Mennonite who opposes capital punishment, on Monday after she repeatedly refused to answer questions about her work on the defense team of Robert Ray, one of three men on Colorado’s death row.

    Lindecrantz, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, refused to answer questions again in court Tuesday and was returned to jail. She has been ordered to return to court on Wednesday, her attorney Mari Newman said.

    “Instead of looking at all of the options, the court has chosen the most punitive action to try to break her will,” said Newman, who noted Lindecrantz could have been allowed to remain free while she works on an appeal of the contempt order.

    Ray’s defense team is challenging his death sentence partly by arguing that he did not have an effective legal team.

    Prosecutors apparently subpoenaed Lindecrantz to testify to back up their case that he did have good representation. They previously questioned Ray’s original lawyers as part of the appeal proceedings.

    Newman said Lindecrantz worked for those lawyers and noted that prosecutors already also have access to Lindecrantz’s report and other documents on her work.

    The lawyer said Lindecrantz would testify if not for the possibility that her testimony could be used to put Ray to death. She said Lindecrantz compared her predicament to being asked to shoot a gun at Ray, not knowing if it was loaded.

    “She cannot be a cog in the machinery of death,” Newman said.

    Ray and co-defendant Sir Mario Owens were sentenced to death for the 2005 killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields had witnessed an earlier shooting that Owens was convicted of.

    Vikki Migoya, a spokeswoman for District Attorney George Brauchler, said the office would not comment on Lindecrantz because it usually does not talk outside court about proceedings, especially when many of the filings have been sealed.

    One of Ray’s defense lawyers, Greg Greer, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.

    Closing arguments in the appeal had been expected Wednesday. However, the Colorado Independent, which was the first to report Lindecrantz’s jailing, reported that the prosecution and defense said they cannot present their arguments because Ray’s claims about having ineffective counsel are linked with claims that prosecutors withheld key evidence from Ray’s original defense team during his trial.

    https://www.aurorasentinel.com/news/...-penalty-case/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Mennonite investigator remains jailed after court ruling

    By KATHLEEN FOODY
    ABC News

    A Colorado criminal defense investigator who refused to testify for the prosecution in a death penalty case because she says it's against her Mennonite faith will remain jailed after an appeals court on Friday ruled against her request to testify under alternative conditions.

    Greta Lindecrantz, who opposes capital punishment, requested to be called as a witness by the court instead of in response to the prosecutors' subpoena.

    District Court Judge Michelle Amico ruled against her Friday, and the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the decision.

    The appellate court ruled that any burden to Lindecrantz's rights "must give way to the state's paramount interests in ascertaining the truth and rendering justice."

    "Ms. Lindecrantz is in a tough spot — caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. We take no pleasure in declining to extricate her. But the state of the law being what it is, decline we must," the appeals court judges wrote in their 3-0 decision.

    Lindecrantz was jailed Monday after she repeatedly refused to testify about her work on the defense team representing Robert Ray, who is on death row.

    Ray and co-defendant Sir Mario Owens were sentenced to death for the 2005 killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee Vivian Wolfe as they drove on a suburban Denver street. Javad Marshall-Fields was scheduled to testify against Ray and Owens in another case.

    Mari Newman, Lindecrantz's attorney, said her client feared that her refusal to testify would be used against Ray and she wanted to suggest an alternative to Amico. Newman told the appeals court that her client's religious beliefs prevent her from being used "as a tool of those seeking to execute a fellow human being," but she was willing to testify through another path.

    Matthew Grove, an assistant solicitor general representing Amico, argued that the request would make the judge a participant in the case rather than a "neutral arbiter" and "upend" normal court procedure.

    "What we can't have, just from a systemic standpoint, are witnesses who decide they can start dictating terms" when responding to a subpoena, he said.

    Ray's current defense team is challenging his death sentence, partly by arguing that his legal team wasn't effective during trial in 2009. Prosecutors seeking to have the sentence upheld have argued that his representation was good and subpoenaed Lindecrantz, along with questioning Ray's original defense team.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/j...-case-53477456
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  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Remember The Mennonite Investigator Jailed Over Views On Death Penalty? There Are A Lot Of Bishops Coming Out To Support Her

    BY JOSHUA GILL
    The Daily Caller

    Colorado bishops lambasted a judge’s decision to jail a Mennonite investigator for refusing to testify in a death penalty case and defended her religious rights.

    The Catholic bishops issued their statement Feb. 28 when Judge Michelle Amico jailed Greta Lindecrantz indefinitely after Lindecrantz refused for the third day in a row to give testimony that could be used to sentence convict Robert Ray to death, according to Crux Now. Lindecrantz refused to testify because contributing to the possible death sentence of another human being would violate her religious beliefs as a Mennonite.

    “Religious freedom ensures that all people have the freedom to believe and act according to their faith; it is a fundamental right and constitutionally protected in the United States. This right encompasses the ability to practice one’s faith openly, without undue interference from the government or others,” the bishops’ statement read, according to Crux.

    “Ms. Lindecrantz should not be punished for her religious beliefs and convictions regarding the death penalty and the taking of human life,” they added.

    Ray, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Gregory Vann and his involvement in the murders of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee Vivian Wolfe in 2005, appealed his sentence on the grounds that his defense team was ineffective. Prosecution in the appeals case wanted to question Lindecrantz, looking for her to give testimony that would help prove that Ray’s former defense team was adequate. Lindecrantz refused and continued to refuse since, as a Mennonite, she is opposed to the taking of human life.

    “I feel like I was handed a gun and I was told to point it at Mr. Ray, and the gun might or might not have bullets in it, but I’d have to fire it anyway. I can’t shoot the gun. I can’t shoot the gun,” Lindecrantz told Amico during her initial refusal, according to The Colorado Independent.

    The bishops called on the judiciary to cease their efforts to force Lindecrantz to violate her religious beliefs.

    “It is our hope that Ms. Lindecrantz’s right to religious freedom will be respected and upheld and that she will not continue to be coerced into behaving in ways that are contrary to her faith or into accepting an ideology that is at odds with her beliefs,” the bishops’ statement added.

    Mari Newman, Lindecrantz’s attorney, went a step further and called Amico’s decision to jail Lindecrantz an “abomination.”

    “For the court to imprison her until she is broken, until her will is broken, and she abandons her faith and her view that she cannot participate in state-sanctioned killing is an abomination,” Newman said, according to Crux.

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/05/bi...nite-colorado/
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  6. #16
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Mennonite investigator will testify in death penalty case

    BY COLLEEN SLEVIN
    The Miami Herald

    DENVER - A Colorado criminal defense investigator jailed for refusing to testify in a death penalty case now plans to take the stand because it might help save the defendant's life.

    Greta Lindecrantz, a Mennonite who opposes capital punishment, refused to testify for prosecutors during an appeal of the conviction and death sentence of Robert Ray, fearing her testimony could be used to help execute him.

    But according to a court document filed Saturday on her intent to now testify, Ray's lawyers say her refusal to testify is hurting his appeal and putting his life at risk.

    "Based on this dramatic change in circumstance, she has concluded that her religious principles honoring human life now compel that she must testify," Lindecrantz's lawyer, Mari Newman, wrote in the document.

    Lindecrantz worked on Ray's original legal team, focusing on finding things that might persuade jurors to vote against the death penalty. His current lawyers are challenging his 2009 conviction and death sentence partly by arguing that he did not have an effective defense.

    Prosecutors subpoenaed Lindecrantz to testify to back up their case that he did have good representation from his publicly-funded defense team. They questioned Ray's original lawyers as part of the appeal proceedings.

    One of Ray's current lawyers, Mary Claire Mulligan, declined to comment on the defense's position on Lindecrantz's testimony, citing a gag order in the case and court rules.

    Lindecrantz has been jailed for nearly two weeks. It's not clear how soon she could be released and called to testify.

    Ray and co-defendant Sir Mario Owens were sentenced to death for the 2005 killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields had witnessed an earlier shooting that Owens was convicted of committing.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...204537239.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  7. #17
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Colorado Supreme Court upholds attempted murder conviction of man on death row

    The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the attempted murder conviction of Robert Ray, 1 of the 3 men on death row in the state.

    The ruling was announced in a news release Monday by the District Attorney’s Office for the 18th Judicial District.

    Ray was found guilty of attempted 1st-degree murder and 1st-degree assault of Elvin Bell and Javad Marshall-Fields after an altercation at a music event in July 2004.

    Sir Mario Owens, who was also involved in the altercation, fatally shot Gregory Vann, who helped organize the event with Marshall-Fields. Marshall-Fields and Bell were shot after pursuing Owens, but both survived their wounds.

    A jury also found Ray guilty of accessory to the murder of Vann. Ray was sentenced to 103 years in prison.

    Marshall-Fields, who’s mother is Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Denver, was set to testify against Ray when he and Owens shot and killed Marshall-Fields and his fiancee in June 2005.

    Ray and Owens were later given the death penalty.

    “This Supreme Court ruling affirms what the jury knew 12½ years ago: Ray shot Javad and Elvin that night in Lowry Park. The Court of Appeals ruled Ray got a fair trial, and now so has the highest court in Colorado,” District Attorney George Brauchler said in the statement. “The appellate system moves slowly, but it moves towards justice.”

    This legislative session, lawmakers hotly debated abolishing capital punishment in the state. The bill was strongly opposed by Fields and later defeated.

    “I raised my son to have the values that made him want to participate in the criminal justice system. He was doing what he knew was right, and I encouraged him in that,” Fields said in the statement. “While I wish every day he was still with me, I am proud of the example he set for others who are asked to testify to bring violent criminals to justice.”

    (source: watchdog.org)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #18
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Ray's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Colorado
    Case Numbers: (15SC268)
    Decision Date: April 8, 2019
    Rehearing Denied: May 20, 2019

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-5719.html

  9. #19
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Governor Polis has officially commuted the sentences of all Death Row Inmates. The Death Penalty in Colorado is dead.

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...__btHIn5rHSQil
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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