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Thread: Jason Manuel Reeves - Louisiana Death Row

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    Jason Manuel Reeves - Louisiana Death Row


    Mary Jean Thigpen, 4




    Summary of Offense:

    On November 12, 2001, Reeves kidnapped, raped and stabbed four-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen 16 times and left her in the woods. Reeves confessed to molesting the girl but did not remember killing her. In mitigation, Reeves was essentially raised by his sister until he was ten and saw an 18-wheeler crush and kill her. As a child, Reeves also was raped by a neighbor and never received any counseling. In aggravation, Reeves has a child molestation case pending. Reeves was tried previously, but the trial ended in a mistrial after a juror would not vote to convict Reeves of murder.

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    May 5, 2009

    NEW ORLEANS -- A man sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and killing a 4-year-old girl in 2001 will not get a new trial, the Lousiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

    The court unanimously rejected Jason Reeves' argument that he should get a new trial because he was denied his first choice of lawyers for his retrial in the Calcasieu Parish case.

    After Reeves' first trial ended with a mistrial, a jury convicted him in 2004 of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Mary Jean Thigpen. The child had disappeared from the Moss Bluff trailer park where her family lived. Her body was found in a wooded area near a cemetery three days later.

    Reeves confessed to abducting the girl and molesting her but claimed he "blacked out and does not remember doing anything else to the girl" before he came to alone in his car, with his pants unzipped and his pocket knife missing, the Supreme Court said in its 90-page opinion.

    Thigpen was stabbed 16 times. DNA tests linked Reeves to the crime, and investigators found fibers consistent with the girl's clothing in Reeves' car, the court noted.

    "A comparison of this case with other, similar first-degree murder cases in the state as a whole convinces this court that the death sentence imposed in this case is not a disproportionately harsh sentence, considering the offense and the offender," Justice Chet Traylor wrote.

    "We're quite disappointed," Jelpi Picou, one of Reeves' lawyers, said of the ruling.

    Picou, executive director of the Capital Appeals Project, said the group will weigh Reeves' legal options. In death penalty cases, the group's lawyers typically ask for a rehearing by the state Supreme Court before seeking a review by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said.

    Calcasieu Parish District Attorney John DeRosier didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

    Reeves argued he had a right to be represented at his retrial by lawyers from the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana instead of a public defender, who was appointed by the judge overseeing the case.

    But the Supreme Court ruled he only had the right to "effective representation of counsel" and wasn't "constitutionally entitled to counsel of his choice."

    http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=10309234

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    Judge orders Aug. 15 execution date for Jason Reeves; convicted of murder, rape of girl, 4

    A Ragley man convicted of murdering and raping a 4-year-old Moss Bluff girl has an execution date.

    The American Press reports (http://bit.ly/cseYHv) state District Judge Mike Canaday signed the order Wednesday for Jason Reeves to be executed by lethal injection on Aug. 15 for the Nov. 12, 2001, abduction, rape and murder of Mary Jean Thigpen.

    Thigpen's body was found two days later at LeBleu Cemetery off La. Highway 397.

    Although it was in 2004 that Reeves was found guilty of capital murder, District Attorney John DeRosier said a date had not been set as Reeves appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, both of which upheld his conviction and sentence.

    "This case warrants the death penalty," DeRosier said. "This was a young, 4-year-old girl who was brutally assaulted and murdered and left out in LeBleu Cemetery."

    Louisiana has executed 28 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979, but only two in the past decade, according to the Death Penalty Information Center website.

    Although a date has been set, DeRosier and Canaday said it could be extended if attorneys for Reeves file for any post-conviction relief, which are challenges to the conviction, although they are not direct appeals.

    DeRosier was adamant that "if any case ever warranted the death penalty in Calcasieu Parish, this case did. This defendant deserves to be put to death for what he did to this 4-year-old girl."

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...Execution-Date
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    Reeves' execution won't take place Wednesday

    By Elona Weston
    KPLC

    LAKE CHARLES, LA - Convicted child killer Jason Manuel Reeves will not die on Wednesday as planned.

    In May, Judge Michael Canaday signed the execution warrant for Jason Reeves to be put to death on Aug. 15.

    Reeves was sentenced to death in late 2004 for the brutal murder of 4-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen of Moss Bluff.

    However, Reeves' execution was reportedly stayed to allow more time for appeals.

    A new execution date has not been set.

    http://www.kplctv.com/story/19278675...lace-wednesday

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    Reeves' death warrant was signed on May 31 and any post-conviction relief was to be filed within 30 days. Judge Mike Canaday said there was a change in Reeves' counsel, and the state received a call in June from his attorneys requesting more time to file.

    The American Press reports (http://bit.ly/cseYHv) the stay of execution was signed on June 18.

    Reeves now has until Sept. 11 to file for post-conviction relief.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Supreme Court denies Reeves' request

    LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) - The state Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that public funds cannot be used to hire outside counsel for Jason Reeves.

    Reeves, convicted of first-degree murder in 2004 for raping and killing 4-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen in 2001, is to be put to death by lethal injection.

    Reeves is represented by the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana.

    The American Press reports (http://bit.ly/cseYHv) attorneys for Reeves attempted to hire Alan M. Freedman, an attorney with the Midwest Center for Justice in Evanston, Ill., in June to serve as outside counsel.

    State District Court Judge Mike Canaday would not allow Freedman to enroll as counsel, saying Reeves does not have a constitutional right to choose his own counsel, thus Freedman should not be paid with public funds.

    Reeves' attorneys took a writ to the Supreme Court, which denied the writ on Friday.

    In June, Gary Clements, head of the Capital Post-Conviction Project, said Freedman was hired because the group was short of attorneys.

    Canaday said there were "inside mechanisms" to remedy the problem rather than using public funds to hire an outside attorney.

    Prosecutor Carla Sigler said the Louisiana Supreme Court had ruled that defendants do not have a constitutional right to two post-conviction attorneys.

    Reeves, incarcerated at Angola State Penitentiary, was scheduled to be put to death Aug. 15, 2012, but was granted a stay of execution as his attorneys sought post-conviction relief.

    Reeves' attorneys have requested a hearing to determine whether he is mentally disabled, which would prohibit the state from executing him.

    A date for the hearing has not been set.

    http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20...Reeves-request

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    Today, the US Supreme Court DENIED Reeves' certiorari petition.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Louisiana
    Case Nos.: (2013-KD-1884)
    Decision Date: September 13, 2013

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/13-7205.htm

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    Jason Reeves to be evaluated for intellectual disability

    By Theresa Schmidt
    KPLC-TV

    Jason Reeves, the man sentenced to die for the murder of Mary Jean Thigpen, is fighting to stay alive.

    Some people are automatically protected from being executed. Juveniles and those who suffer from an intellectual disability are included in that group. That's why attorneys for Reeves say he should not die by lethal injection:

    The attorney for Reeves asked the court to have him examined by a panel of experts and Judge Mike Canaday has granted that motion. The experts will evaluate Reeves and his records to decide if he should be protected from the death penalty because of intellectual disability.

    In his second trial in 2004, Reeves was convicted of the first degree murder of four year old Mary Jean Thigpen in 2001. The little girl's body was found in a graveyard not far from her home in Moss Bluff.

    "Her life was taken and she can't be here. I'm her mother and I want to, I want to be here for her," said Mary Jean's mother, Carin Thigpen Howell.

    Howell came to court with her mother, Mary Jean's grandmother, and one of murdered daughter's brothers. Howell admits Reeves' execution would accomplish this:

    "Justice has been served," she said, is what she would say upon his death.

    But she says it's not for her to say if he should be put to death.

    "I believe that God will see that he gets what he deserves. And it's not for me to say what he gets, what he deserves. It's only for God to say," said Howell.

    Generally, an IQ around 70 is considered intellectually disabled.

    Six months after the murder, Reeves tested 85 on an IQ test but more recently scored 75. Still, Howell doesn't think her daughter's killer has an intellectual disability.

    "When he took my Mary's life, I believe he knew full well what he was doing. He knew he was wrong and he's trying to run and hide from that," said Howell. "I think it's a desperate attempt to save his life."

    A psychiatrist and a psychologist have been appointed to examine Reeves and a third expert may be added. The judge ordered Reeves be kept in the Calcasieu jail so the doctors don't have to travel to Angola State Penitentiary to examine him. The defense plans to appeal that.

    A hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, to determine the status of Reeves' claim of intellectual disability.

    http://www.kplctv.com/story/26027652...ual-disability

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    Judge: Man convicted in child's death not mentally disabled

    A man convicted in 2004 of raping and murdering a 4-year-old girl does not have an intellectual disability that would bar his execution, a Calcasieu Parish judge has ruled.

    State District Judge Michael Canady ruled Friday that 40-year-old Jason Manuel Reeves is not mentally disabled, The American Press (http://bit.ly/1DQfKa6) reports.

    Canaday signed a death warrant for Reeves in 2012, after he was convicted of raping and killing Mary Jean Thigpen in November 2001.

    A scheduled execution date was postponed after attorneys filed an appeal claiming Reeves had an intellectual disability, which would have barred execution under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. A person whose intelligence quotient is lower than 70 is considered disabled, but the high court has ruled that it's not a hard and fast number, and a range around 70 should be considered.

    Reeves reportedly has scored between 74 and 85 on intelligence tests.

    During a week-long hearing in March, three mental health experts hired by the defense testified that Reeves does have an intellectual disability, while two hired by the court and one by the prosecution testified that he does not.

    "While (Reeves) is of low to average intelligence, he does not show significant limitations of intellectual function," Canaday wrote.

    The ruling is likely to be appealed, the newspaper reported.

    Reeves' attorney, Kathleen Kelly of the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana, did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' emailed request for comment Sunday.

    http://www.bnd.com/news/article20145...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Louisiana Supreme Court upholds death sentence of convict

    LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted in the rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl.

    The state Supreme Court announced Monday that it upheld a 14th Judicial District Court ruling that determined that Jason M. Reeves does not suffer from an intellectual disability. The condition would have prevented his execution.

    The Lake Charles American Press reports that Reeves was convicted in 2004 of abducting, raping and killing 4-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen in 2001. Then-District Attorney Rick Bryant said DNA from the semen taken from Thigpen's body matched Reeves' DNA.

    Reeves was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2010. A judge signed a death warrant in 2012.

    http://www.godanriver.com/news/natio...ed216731b.html
    "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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