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Thread: Archie J. Dixon - Ohio Execution - June 16, 2027

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    Archie J. Dixon - Ohio Execution - June 16, 2027




    Summary of Offense:

    On September 22, 1993, Dixon and his accomplice, Timothy Hoffner, murdered their roommate, 22-year-old Christopher Hammer in a park in Toledo. Hoffner and Dixon planned to kill Mr. Hammer to assume his identity and collect the anticipated insurance proceeds that Mr. Hammer would receive from an automobile accident. Hoffner and Dixon repeatedly beat Mr. Hammer, tied him up, took him into the woods and buried him alive. Hoffner and Dixon stole $11 in cash from Mr. Hammer's wallet, his driver's license, his Social Security card, his birth certificate and his car. Hoffner and Dixon confessed to police, and Hoffner showed police where they buried Mr. Hammer alive. Hoffner also received a death sentence.

    For more on Hoffner, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...hlight=hoffner

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    December 10, 2010

    Conviction overturned in 'buried alive' case

    A federal court Thursday overturned the conviction and death sentence of Archie J. Dixon in the 1993 "buried alive" murder of Christopher Hammer and gave prosecutors six months to retry him or set him free.

    In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that police waited until after Dixon confessed before informing him of his Miranda rights and by dangled the offer of a deal that never materialized.

    Investigators began questioning Dixon, then of Toledo, when he was facing a forgery charge. They later got a confession from Dixon during a second interview at the Toledo police station when the focus shifted to murder. They then advised him of his rights before recording that confession.

    The court found that police intentionally did not advise Dixon of his rights to remain silent and consult with an attorney because they knew from past experience with him that the conversation would end if they did.

    "A confession obtained by this kind of police pressure is inadmissible under Miranda and coerced and involuntary under the Due Process Clause [of the U.S. Constitution]," Judge Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr., wrote. "If the consequences of this kind of deliberate, unlawful conduct specifically designed to violate Miranda and get a confession is allowed to prevail, as our dissenting colleague contends, the time has come to simply overrule Miranda."

    The ruling agrees with the original decision of the late Lucas County Common Pleas Judge William Skow, who found that the second interview was essentially a continuation of the tainted first interview. The conviction and sentence were reinstated by the Toledo-based 6th District Court of Appeals. That decision was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court.

    Lucas County Assistant Prosecutor J. Christopher Anderson spoke Thursday with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which handles death penalty appeals once they reach the federal level.

    "They're analyzing various options, but it's my hope and [county Prosecutor Julia Bates'] hope that we will appeal this…," he said. "We don't think this was a coerced confession. The district court and the Ohio Supreme Court got it right."

    The state could ask the entire 6th Circuit bench to review the decision by three of its judges as well as petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal. In either case, the state would ask the court to stop the six-month clock for a new trial.

    Dixon was initially arrested and questioned on a change of forgery, not murder. At the time police were aware of Mr. Hammer's disappearance but hadn't found his body. Dixon denied knowledge of the disappearance, but he admitted forging Hammer's automobile title.

    After Hammer's body was found in a shallow grave in Sylvania Township, police questioned Dixon again. This time he asked police if Timothy Hoffner, the man later convicted as his accomplice, was in custody. He learned Hoffner had led police to the body, and, after being read his rights, Dixon's confession was recorded.

    "They knew that if they were going to read him his rights again, he would ask for his lawyer and they would not be able to interview him," said Michael Benza, Dixon's court-appointed attorney from Chagrin Falls. "The court said police cannot intentionally refuse to give Miranda warnings because they're afraid the person will invoke those rights …That's not technical. The police officer got on the stand and admitted that they did this intentionally."

    The state, however, contended that this could be fixed by reading Dixon his rights before his confession was formally recorded. "What we know today, in a case decided shortly after the Dixon case was decided by the Ohio Supreme Court, is that you can't do that …," Mr. Benza said. "The U.S. Supreme Court, when presented with exactly the same tactics, said that is not constitutional."

    The 6th Circuit Thursday also found that the suggestion of police that Dixon should cut a deal before Hoffner could cut his own also invalidates the confession.

    "Holding out the promise of a 'deal' to avoid the death penalty in return for a confession, as the trial judge found, is a high-pressure tactic designed to override Dixon's previous five-day stand against talking," Judge Merritt wrote. "A confession given in response to such tactics is not voluntary."

    Dixon and Hoffner were convicted of aggravated murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and forgery. The jury believed that the pair severely beat Mr. Hammer, 22, took him to a wooded area, allowed him to smoke a cigarette and say a prayer, and then buried him alive.

    Judge Eugene E. Siler, Jr., the dissenting vote, said he believed that the amount of time that had passed between the two interviews, the shift in focus of the investigation from forgery to murder, and the fact that Dixon purportedly told police during the second interview that he'd talked to an attorney lifted the taint from the confession.

    He also wrote that the loss of the confession at trial would not have changed the jury's verdict.

    "Here, several witnesses established that Dixon stole Hammer's car about the time of his disappearance," Judge Siler wrote. "Even more damaging, however, was the testimony of Kristen Wilkerson, Dixon's girlfriend, who described in great detail the efforts of both Dixon and Hoffner, as well as her own participation, to kill Hammer and transport him to the burial site. Thus, the admission of Dixon's statement to the police did not have a substantial and injurious effect upon the jury's verdict."

    Dixon, 36, and Hoffner, 38, are on death row at Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. Thursday's decision does not affect Hoffner's case. Wilkerson was convicted of kidnapping but later released from prison.

    Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., who joined Judge Merritt in the majority, wrote a separate opinion indicating he would also have overturned the conviction based on Dixon's claim that he had ineffective counsel.

    http://toledoblade.com/article/20101210/NEWS02/12100302

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    March 17, 2011

    Appeals court to hear local buried-alive case

    The full U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has agreed to review a decision that overturned the conviction and death sentence of Archie Dixon in the 1993 "buried-alive" murder of Christopher Hammer.

    A majority of the judges voted to rehear Dixon's case and vacated the previous opinion released in December by a panel of three of its judges. No date has been scheduled for oral arguments before the entire appellate court.

    In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court initially found police waited until after Dixon confessed before informing him of his Miranda rights.

    On death row for almost 18 years when his case was overturned, Dixon and co-defendant Timothy Hoffner were convicted of aggravated murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and forgery for severely beating Mr. Hammer, 22, before burying him alive.

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...live-case.html

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    ‘Buried alive' case to get retrial in Lucas County

    The federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati this week reversed its prior decision to rehear the case of Archie Dixon, whose 1993 conviction and sentence in the "buried alive" murder of Christopher Hammer had previously been overturned.

    The decision means that the case is remanded to Lucas County Common Pleas Court for a retrial.

    In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court initially found that police waited until after Dixon confessed before informing him of his Miranda rights. The court found that police intentionally did not advise Dixon of his rights to remain silent and consult with an attorney because they knew from past experience with him that the conversation would end if they did.

    On death row nearly 18 years when his case was overturned, Dixon and co-defendant Timothy Hoffner were convicted of aggravated murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and forgery for severely beating Mr. Hammer, 22, and taking him to a wooded area where they let him smoke a cigarette and say a prayer before burying him alive.

    The appellate court initially voted to rehear their colleagues' decision but because one judgepreviously served on the Ohio Supreme Court when Dixon's case was heard there, the appellate court decided against hearing the case.

    The decision can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/20...as-County.html

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Bobby v. Dixon

    US Supreme Court Docket: 10-1540

    Issue: (1) Whether the Sixth Circuit contravened the directives of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) when it abandoned the “in custody” requirement of Miranda v. Arizona and Edwards v. Arizona; (2) whether the interviewer’s state of mind has any bearing on whether a suspect’s statement is voluntary under the established law of Oregon v. Elstad; and (3) whether the Sixth Circuit exceeded its authority under AEDPA when it condemned the use of the “prisoner’s dilemma” where the police indicate that favorable treatment will go to the first suspect who cooperates as an unconstitutionally coercive interrogation tactic.

    Certiorari-stage documents



  6. #6
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    Warden Bobby was granted Cert, and the case has been remanded back to the 6th.

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    Court Throws out Decision Reversing Death Sentence

    The Supreme Court says a lower court was wrong when it threw out the death penalty and conviction of a man accused of beating his roommate and burying him alive.

    The court on Monday issued an unsigned opinion that reverses the dismissal of Archie Dixon's death sentence.

    The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said Dixon's confession was coerced by police.

    Dixon was to be executed by the state of Ohio for the 1993 slaying of Christopher Hammer. Hammer was beaten and robbed on Sept. 22, 1993, and then was driven to a remote area, where he was buried alive in a shallow grave.

    The Ohio Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence, a decision the Supreme Court said must be respected.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/c...4#.Trf6tHLO1S0

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    Please find following the US Supreme Court 10-page opinion.

    DAVID BOBBY, WARDEN v. ARCHIE DIXON

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    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    While I would normally find reading such documents totally boring, this one was actually quite interesting. A good read I'd recommend, especially all the "dope-slaps" the USSC gives to the 6th CCA.

  10. #10
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    Archie Dixon v. Marc Houk

    A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man accused of beating his roommate and burying him alive in 1993.

    A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 today against Archie Dixon’s appeal in the slaying of Christopher Hammer in Lucas County. Dixon claimed ineffective counsel, improper jury instructions and exclusion of some evidence in the trial’s penalty phase.

    Dixon’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

    The appeals court in Cincinnati in 2010 overturned Dixon’s death penalty and conviction on charges of aggravated robbery, murder, kidnapping and forgery. The court said then that his confession was coerced by police.

    But the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that dismissal.

    The 6th Circuit ruled on the remaining claims in Dixon’s appeal.

    http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/1...alive-case/?nw
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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