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Thread: William Jennings Choyce - California Death Row

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    William Jennings Choyce - California Death Row


    William Jennings Choyce


    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death in San Joaquin County on December 15, 2008 in the 1997 rapes and murders of Stockton women Lawanda Beck and Gwendolyn Lee, as well as the 1988 murder of Victoria Bell of Oakland.

  2. #2
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    December 15, 2008

    Death for Choyce

    Stockton man headed to San Quentin for S.J., Bay Area killings

    By Scott Smith
    The Stockton Record

    STOCKTON - A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge on Monday affirmed a jury's decision to send convicted serial killer William Jennings Choyce to California's crowded death row.

    The words condemning 54-year-old Choyce to die seemed hard for Judge Linda L. Lofthus to utter. She paused on each critical word as if struggling to maintain her composure.

    "Mr. Choyce shall be put to death," she said, "within the walls of California State Prison San Quentin in the manner prescribed by law upon a date to be fixed by this court in a warrant of execution." This was the first capital case for Lofthus.

    Lofthus repeated the sentence for each of the three women Choyce - a family man and trash hauler from Stockton - raped and murdered more than a decade ago. A DNA hit linked Choyce to the crimes while he was in prison for a previous rape conviction.

    At San Quentin, Choyce will live alone in a 4-by-9-foot cell alongside about a dozen other condemned inmates from San Joaquin County. A total of 677 inmates there await execution in California.

    It is possible Choyce will live out his life on death row. The average length of stay for inmates is about 17 years. More inmates die from suicide and natural causes than executions. The appellate process takes years.

    All California executions have been on hold for nearly two years since condemned Stockton man Michael Angelo Morales argued that the state's use of lethal injection may violate his protection from cruel and unusual punishment.

    On Monday, Choyce was sentenced for killing Victoria Bell of Oakland and two Stockton women, Gwendolyn Lee and Lawanda Beck. Choyce was raised in Oakland.

    According to trial testimony, the three victims were working as prostitutes when Choyce picked them up.

    He bound their hands and feet and raped them at gunpoint before shooting them execution style in the head and dumping their bodies.

    Lofthus also sentenced Choyce to 81 years and four months to life for kidnapping and raping another Stockton woman at gunpoint before setting her free. She testified against him, saying he was going to kill her.

    During the sentencing hearing, Choyce sat quietly between his two attorneys and made no statements. He wore red jailhouse garb, and a gray beard he had grown since his trial.

    His attorneys made one last pitch to save Choyce's life, telling the judge there was also a good side to his personality as a father and that executing him would be yet another killing, amounting to a sin.

    In trial, the defense had argued that Choyce grew up under an abusive mother, who warped Choyce into a grown man with sexual disorders that he took out on the women.

    "It's just got to stop somewhere," San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender William Fattarsi told Lofthus, who denied all arguments for a new trial or lesser sentence.

    Courtroom bailiffs outnumbered those attending the hearing. Nobody spoke on Choyce's behalf aside from his attorneys. San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said the death penalty was too good for Choyce.

    "I wish there were something beyond it," Testa said.

    Valerie Lee, the sister of victim Gwendolyn Lee, said in court that she felt no happiness or sadness, but she continues to wonder why Choyce chose to kill her sister.

    "I think you are getting what you deserve - death," Valerie Lee said.

    After the judge left the stand, a bailiff took Choyce's fingerprints. Attorney Lorna Patton Brown exchanged a few hushed words with him. She put her business card in the breast pocket of his shirt and hugged him before bailiffs escorted him out.

    http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...60312/-1/rss02

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Counsel was appointed to represent Choyce on direct appeal on February 3, 2012.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S169090

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    On March 28, 2016, Choyce filed his initial brief on direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...NTMCAgCg%3D%3D

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    The prosecution filed its response on the 26th of April 2019.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....NTMCAgCg%3D%3D

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    Choyce's direct appeal has been fully briefed before the California Supreme Court since October 15, 2019.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....NTMCAgCg%3D%3D

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