Results 1 to 10 of 37

Thread: Todd Kelvin Wessinger - Louisiana

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Todd Kelvin Wessinger - Louisiana



    Stephanie Guzzardo





    Facts of the Crime:

    "Please, please, I won't tell on you. I promise. I won't. I promise. I promise. I promise. I swear." Those were the last words — captured on a 911 tape, along with the gunshot that silenced her — of Stephanie Guzzardo, 27. The manager at Calendar's Restaurant & Bar in Baton Rouge was shot in the chest after begging for her life, and her final words were played at trial. She and another employee were killed in 1995 by Todd Wessinger, a former dishwasher who is now on death row.

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On September 7, 2004, Wessinger filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/lou...4cv00637/7638/

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Prosecutors ask judge to set execution date

    Prosecutors asked a state judge Monday to set an execution date for Todd Wessinger after a federal judge denied his bid for a new trial or sentencing in the 1995 slaying of two employees at the now-closed Calendar’s Restaurant.

    East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III noted that the victims’ families have endured “17 years of heartache.’’

    “I can only imagine the pain and suffering the families are going through,’’ he said. “Hopefully we’ll eventually come to a successful conclusion in the near future.’’

    Wessinger’s appellate attorneys are expected to appeal U.S. District Judge James Brady’s Feb. 22 ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

    “There’s still a lot of hurdles to overcome,’’ said John Sinquefield, who prosecuted Wessinger. He called Brady’s decision a “big step.’’

    Brady rejected a dozen claims raised by Wessinger, including an allegation that his trial attorneys provided ineffective assistance during jury selection and the guilt and penalty phases of his 1997 trial in Baton Rouge.

    Brady, who called the state’s evidence against Wessinger in the guilt phase “overwhelming,’’ said Wessinger faults his attorneys’ penalty phase preparation for not investigating further into his childhood and upbringing.

    Wessinger contends such a probe would have led to evidence of a physically and mentally abusive childhood, possible mental defects and an alienation from society that led him to feel he did not belong.

    Brady said Wessinger’s contentions were contradicted by the defense’s own witnesses.

    “In short, it is not the quality or thoroughness of the investigation Wessinger is attacking. He essentially does not like the way his story was spun for the jury,’’ the judge wrote in a 77-page decision. “This is not ineffective assistance.’’

    Wessinger, a former dishwasher, was convicted and sentenced to die by lethal injection for fatally shooting Stephanie Guzzardo, 27, and David Breakwell, 46, at the Perkins Road restaurant on Nov. 19, 1995.

    Wessinger is now 44.

    http://theadvocate.com/home/2175368-...ge-to-set.html

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Almost 8 years, a federal judge sat on this appeal. I hope an execution date is set to force the filing before the 5th Circuit!

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    May 9 execution date set in 1995 killings

    A Baton Rouge judge set a May 9 execution date for Todd Wessinger, who was convicted in 1997 and condemned to die in the 1995 slaying of two Calendar’s Restaurant employees.

    State District Judge Richard Anderson set the execution date on Friday, nine days after U.S. District Judge James Brady denied Wessinger’s bid for a new trial or sentencing.

    Wessinger, a former dishwasher, was found guilty and sentenced to die by lethal injection for fatally shooting Stephanie Guzzardo, 27, and David Breakwell, 46, at the now-closed Perkins Road restaurant on Nov. 19, 1995.

    Wessinger’s appellate attorneys are expected to appeal Brady’s Feb. 22 ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

    The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office filed a motion Feb. 27 asking Anderson to set an execution date for the 44-year-old Wessinger.

    “I thought it was important to have the matter moved along,’’ District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Monday.

    Moore acknowledged that the federal appellate court likely will stay the execution date if Wessinger’s attorneys make such a request.

    Brady rejected a dozen claims raised by Wessinger, including an allegation that his trial attorneys provided ineffective assistance during jury selection and the guilt and penalty phases of his 1997 trial in Baton Rouge.

    Brady said the state’s evidence against Wessinger in the guilt phase was “overwhelming.’’

    http://theadvocate.com/news/2241423-...-date-set.html

  6. #6
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Great Britain
    Posts
    119
    That is the first execution date Louisiana has set in over two years, it must be said. As I said earlier in a different thread, the US state of Louisiana has not set any execution dates since it executed 'volunteer' Gerald Bordelon on 7 January 2010, precisely 26 months ago at this time of writing.

  7. #7
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Capital Region NY
    Posts
    865
    And your point is......?

  8. #8
    Senior Member Frequent Poster PATRICK5's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    329
    That Lousiana has gone too long without an execution and he really really wants this one to go forward ???
    Last edited by PATRICK5; 03-06-2012 at 02:52 PM.

  9. #9
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Great Britain
    Posts
    119
    I do not want this execution, or indeed any execution to go forward, as I am anti-capital punishment. I only mentioned it because Louisiana used to execute criminals (I am just stating a fact here) at a relatively rapid rate (before it abandoned the electric chair in 1991, it executed 20 people since it resumed them in 1983). Even Texas is not as trigger-happy as it once was in the 1990s and early 2000s, which in my opinion is good news.

  10. #10
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Killer seeks stay of execution in death of Baton Rouge restaurant workers, execution May 9

    Attorneys for convicted killer Todd Wessinger, who is scheduled to be executed May 9 for the 1995 slaying of two workers at a now-closed Baton Rouge restaurant, has asked a federal judge to reconsider his recent denial of a new trial or sentencing.

    The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/HDLBlg) Todd Wessinger's attorneys also asked that his execution be stayed.

    Wessinger's attorneys want U.S. District Judge James Brady to hold an evidentiary hearing on Wessinger's federal constitutional claims. The attorneys argued that Brady issued his ruling Feb. 22 without ever holding such a hearing.

    Wessinger, a former dishwasher at the restaurant, was found guilty and sentenced to die by lethal injection for fatally shooting 27-year-old Stephanie Guzzardo and 46-year-old David Breakwel on Nov. 19, 1995.

    "This Court's actions throughout these proceedings led Mr. Wessinger to believe that evidentiary hearings would take place," Wessinger's current attorneys — Danalynn Recer, of The Gulf Region Advocacy Center in Houston; Soren Gisleson, of New Orleans; and federal public defender Rebecca Hudsmith, of Lafayette — contend in court filings.

    Those attorneys electronically filed a motion Tuesday in federal court in Baton Rouge to alter or amend Brady's judgment. A supporting memorandum was electronically filed Wednesday.

    In February, Brady rejected a dozen claims raised by the Wessinger, 44, including allegation that his trial attorneys provided ineffective assistance during jury selection and the guilt and penalty phases of his 1997 trial in Baton Rouge.

    East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Wednesday he believes the judge's decision "was sound and based on the facts presented by the record."

    "It seems that the defense is arguing that everyone involved in this case did something wrong, including the defense lawyers, experts and the court — that is everyone but the defendant, who committed a particularly brutal murder," Moore stated.

    "I hope that the execution date will remain intact although I anticipate more filings on behalf of the defendant to upset the carrying out of the jury's verdict," he added.

    Brady, who described the state's evidence against Wessinger in the guilt phase as "overwhelming," said in his ruling that Wessinger faults his attorneys' penalty phase preparation for not probing further into his childhood and upbringing.

    Wessinger contends such an investigation would have led to evidence of a physically and mentally abusive childhood, possible mental defects and an alienation from society that led him to believe he did not belong.

    Brady ruled that Wessinger is not attacking the quality or thoroughness of the investigation but "does not like the way his story was spun for the jury."

    "This is a clear factual error inconsistent with the record which must be revisited," Wessinger's attorneys argue in their memorandum.

    "At penalty phase, trial counsel generally painted a rosy picture of Mr. Wessinger as 'a caring and present father, a brother who cared for his handicapped sister growing up, and a hard worker from a stable family.' Because trial counsel had not hired a mitigation specialist nor conducted any independent life history investigation, the presentation was an incomplete and inaccurate view of Mr. Wessinger," his current attorneys maintain.

    "It is not the case, as this court suggests, that trial counsel conducted the investigation and made strategic choices about what to present," Wessinger's attorneys add.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...rant-Killings/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •