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Thread: William Lewis Wright III - Pennsylvania Death Row

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    William Lewis Wright III - Pennsylvania Death Row





    Facts of the Crime:

    Convicted of killing James Mowery on Thanksgiving Day 1998.

    Wright was sentenced to death in Carpenter County on September 5, 2000.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    William Wright hearing begins

    HOLLIDAYSBURG - A psychologist with the Norristown State Hospital testified Thursday that William L. Wright III, on death row for the murder of an Altoona man in 1998, is mentally competent even though his desire to fire his attorneys and drop the appeals case could lead to his execution.

    Gail Vant Zelfde, who also has a private practice in Plymouth Meeting, was part of a team of experts appointed by Blair County Judge Hiram A. Carpenter to evaluate Wright, 47, formerly of Altoona. She spent most of Thursday on the witness stand.

    Zelfde said Wright was not being driven by any outside force in his attempts to make decisions about his own case.

    "He seemed very much driven by his own thought processes," she said on the first day of Wright's competency hearing, which continued through the evening hours and was expected to go through most of today.

    The competency hearing was requested by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals before deciding whether Wright can dismiss his public defenders, Anna Ahronheim and Kirk Henderson.

    For the past three years, Wright has attempted to fire attorneys from the Federal Public Defenders' Office in Pittsburgh and drop his appeals, which would mean there would be no legal barriers to prevent his execution.

    Wright was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2000 for killing James Mowery on Thanksgiving morning 1998. He shot his way into Mowery's Beale Avenue home and killed him in an upstairs bedroom.

    Wright maintains his innocence, but just over two years ago he decided to end his appeals after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected his request for a new trial.

    Frustrated because the Supreme Court took so long to decide his appeal, Wright had filed a petition with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown asking the federal court to order the state court to make a decision.

    The determination of competency fell to Blair County Judge Carpenter, who was the trial judge in Wright's case and the person who sentenced him to death.

    Under questioning from Carpenter, Zelfde said Wright understands that he was convicted of first-degree murder and that a jury sentenced him to death. He also understands the implications of dismissing his attorneys and dropping his appeals, she said.

    Zelfde said Wright told her he did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison. Zelfde quoted Wright as saying, "I cannot sit in jail and rot while my lawyers mess things up."

    Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio asked Zelfde a series of questions, and Zelfde agreed with him that Wright displays "rational and consistent thinking and appropriate thinking."

    Attorney Billy Nolas of the Defenders Association of Philadelphia, who has entered the case on behalf of several of Wright's siblings who contend their brother is incompetent, pointed out in his questioning that Zelfde did not delve into Wright's mental health history or the background of his murder case. Nolas contended that Wright does not understand what his attorneys are attempting to do.

    Wright was brought to the courthouse from the State Correctional Institution at Graterford for the hearing. He also questioned Zelfde, who confirmed for him that he was not acting in an irrational manner by attempting to take control of his case.

    The relationship between Wright and Nolas and Wright and the Pittsburgh attorneys remained strained on Thursday.

    Wright complained to Carpenter that during a break in the testimony, Nolas leaned over to him and asked, "Anything you want to talk about?"

    Wright said the defense attorneys were attempting to provoke him.

    "I made it clear I don't want anything to do with these lawyers. ... It's a form of harassment," he said.

    http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/co...s.html?nav=742

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Pa. man on death row incompetent to drop appeals

    A central Pennsylvania judge says a man on death row for killing his ex-lover's husband in 1998 isn't competent to fire his attorneys or to withdraw his appeals.

    48-year-old William Wright III three years ago urged then Gov. Ed Rendell to sign his death warrant because he was tired of sentencing delays prompted by previous appeals. A federal judge stayed Wright's execution anyway, and Wright had been fighting to represent himself.

    The Altoona Mirror (http://bit.ly/KVZN5x) reports Tuesday's ruling by a Blair County judge means Wright will now be represented by federal public defenders in Pittsburgh and the Defenders Association of Philadelphia, an anti-death penalty group.

    Wright argues defense attorneys have wrongly focused on getting courts to find him mentally incompetent instead of arguing that he's innocent of killing James Mowery in Altoona on Thanksgiving Day 1998.

    http://www.wtrf.com/story/18654064/p...o-drop-appeals
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  4. #4
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    April 24, 2015

    Wright asks for execution again


    Convicted killer wants to end wait, but Gov. Wolf has halted death penalty


    By Phil Ray
    The Altoona Mirror

    HOLLIDAYSBURG - A death row inmate from Blair County is asking that a nearly six-year-old stay of execution be lifted "so (he) can commence the death-penalty execution without further delay."

    That request was filed in the Blair County Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts Office Thursday by William L. Wright III, 53, who was convicted almost 15 years ago of killing the husband of an estranged girlfriend.

    Wright was found guilty of killing James Mowery early on Thanksgiving morning 1998.

    Wright fled the Mowery home but was chased by an Altoona police officer who cornered him. Wright surrendered after telling the officer, "I just toasted someone," according to testimony at his 2000 trial.

    He appealed his first-degree murder conviction and the death sentenced imposed by Blair County Judge Hiram A. Carpenter.

    But Wright became frustrated with delays in the appeal process and in 2007 filed papers with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown challenging the delay in getting a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

    When the Supreme Court eventually upheld his conviction and death sentence, Wright challenged his representation by the federal public defender and several assistants in Pittsburgh and said he wanted to be executed.

    On July 14, 2009, U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone granted the stay of execution that Wright is now challenging.

    More court battles lasted several years until a federal judge asked Carpenter to determine if Wright was competent to represent himself.

    On May 29, 2012, Carpenter, citing testimony by several psychologists, concluded Wright was not competent to handle his own case.

    Wright's latest petition stated that he informed Gov. Tom Corbett in an April 21, 2014, letter that he was terminating all post-conviction legal action. He asked Corbett to sign a new death warrant. That was not done.

    Gov. Tom Wolf assumed office in January, and among his first actions was to place a moratorium on executions.

    Carpenter's ruling may make Wright's latest petition moot.

    In dismissing Wright's appeal to Carpenter's order, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals pointed out the Blair County judge "has held that petitioner, William L. Wright, lacks competence to act as a pro se litigant (his own attorney)."

    The federal appeals court pointed out that under Pennsylvania law when a person is determined to be incompetent, he is "deemed incompetent for all purposes until, by court order, the status of incompetency is lifted."

    For that reason, the 3rd Circuit panel denied Wright's appeal.

    http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/co...n.html?nav=742

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