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Thread: Joshua Wayne Andrews - Virginia

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    Joshua Wayne Andrews - Virginia




    Summary of Offense:

    Born in February 1982, convicted in Prince William County and sentenced to death on October 19, 2009. His victims were Robert Morrison, Romanno Head and Rutherford Berry. On January 2, 2002, Andrews and another man, Jamel Crawford, went to the Dumfries area apartment looking for marijuana, they planned a robbery but did not plan to hurt anyone. Crawford said he waited outside of the apartment while Andrews went inside and told the three men in the apartment to go into the bathroom, take off their clothes and kneel in the bathtub. Then Andrews shot the men, killing Morrison and Head, both 22, and injuring Berry, who survived.

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    Va. Supreme Court hears death row appeal

    RICHMOND, Va. — Lawyers for a death row inmate asked the Virginia Supreme Court Tuesday to overturn his sentence because a juror's co-workers urged her to give him death.

    Joshua Andrews, 27, was convicted in a 2002 shooting spree that left two dead and three others injured in Virginia and New York.

    Prosecutors said Andrews forced three men to undress and get into a bathtub in a Dumfries-area apartment during a robbery on Jan. 2, 2002, before shooting them. Two of them died and another survived. After that shooting, Andrews and another man fled to New York, where they robbed and shot a convenience store clerk in Queens and shot another man in the Bronx. They were convicted of attempted murder in those shootings.

    Andrews was acquitted in three other deaths.

    "The bottom line here is that some very troubling things happened during this trial, and it's going to be very hard for any objective observer to look at what happened in this trial and conclude that something didn't go very badly awry," said Matthew Engle, one of Andrews' attorneys, after Tuesday's hearing.

    During a break in the sentencing phase of Andrews' 2007 trial, a juror returned to her job at a Washington, D.C., law firm, where her boss and a co-worker urged her to sentence Andrews to death. One co-worker asked "Why don't you just fry him?"

    Lawyers didn't find out about the contact until after the jury recommended death, and a judge later held a hearing to question the juror about the remarks.

    Engle said the trial judge wrongly focused on whether the juror did anything wrong, rather than whether the comments swayed her judgment.

    "This was her livelihood. She had to go back to her office day after day and work in this case directly under someone" who urged her to sentence Andrews to death, Engle said.

    Steven Witmer, senior assistant attorney general, acknowledged the contact was inappropriate, but said the juror's testimony that her boss was abusive and belittling shows that she had such a poor opinion of him that she would not take his advice.

    "This juror testified that she placed no value on the opinion of this person in matters unrelated to her employment," Witmer said.

    The justices asked whether the juror would have feared for her job if she didn't take his advice.

    Andrews' attorneys also argued that the trial judge erred by not allowing a poem Andrews wrote to be introduced as mitigating evidence during his sentencing, while allowing prosecutors to dehumanize him to the jury.

    At age 8, Andrews was pushed into a shed by some kids who set it on fire. He was horribly burned and disfigured, and kids taunted him by calling him "crispy critter" and "mummy." Also as a child, Andrews went to visit his father on death row in Texas. Before his father could be executed, another inmate stabbed him to death.

    Police seized a poem written by Andrews describing his struggles as a child and how the events had hardened him, but the judge would not allow it as evidence. Meanwhile, the judge allowed prosecutors to refer to Andrews as a "killing machine," leaving the jury with the instructions to, "Turn this machine off."

    "There is no greater evidence that Josh Andrews is not a machine," Engle said of the poem.

    Witmer called the poem "nothing more than self-serving hearsay" and said it was rightfully omitted.

    Witmer did agree with Andrews' attorneys that the judge improperly allowed the daughter of a victim from an unrelated shooting to testify during the sentencing phase of the trial. The woman testified about the impact of her father's shooting, for which Andrews wasn't convicted until later.

    But Witmer said the testimony was harmless because of all the other evidence relating to the vileness of Andrews' crimes and his future dangerousness--considerations that must be made in death penalty cases.

    Andrews' attorneys also questioned whether two of his convictions constituted double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime.

    Jurors convicted Andrews of both killing more than one person as part of the same act and of killing more than one person within a three-year period.

    The justices could rule on the case by the fall.

    http://www.dailypress.com/news/virgi...,4222216.story

  3. #3
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    September 16, 2010

    Va. high court overturns man's death sentence

    The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the death sentence of a man convicted in a shooting spree that left two dead and three others injured in Virginia and New York.

    While his convictions will stand, the court ordered a new sentencing for Joshua Andrews, 27, who was convicted in 2007 of four counts of capital murder, robbery, malicious wounding, abduction and various firearms charges.

    Justices ruled that two of his capital murder convictions constituted double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime. Jurors convicted Andrews of both killing more than one person as part of the same act and of killing more than one person within a three-year period.

    The state argued in June that the convictions don't constitute double jeopardy because each offense required different proof. Under one count, prosecutors had to prove Andrews committed multiple murders as part of one event, whereas the other requires proof only that he committed two or more murders over three years.

    The court directed the state to choose which conviction it would use for the new sentencing hearing before the Circuit Court.

    "We're pleased and we're considering all of our options," said Matthew Engle, one of Andrews' attorneys.

    Prince William County prosecutor James A. Willett did not immediately return a call regarding whether he would again seek the death penalty.

    A spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said only that he was disappointed with the ruling.

    Prosecutors said Andrews forced three men to undress and get into a bathtub in a Dumfries-area apartment during a robbery on Jan. 2, 2002, before shooting them. Two of them died and another survived. After that shooting, Andrews and another man fled to New York, where they robbed and shot a convenience store clerk in Queens and shot another man in the Bronx. They were convicted of attempted murder in those shootings.

    Andrews was acquitted in three other deaths.

    The high court said that the trial court erred by excluded a poem Andrews wrote from mitigating evidence and that it improperly excluded the testimony of a social work expert on how Andrews' horrific childhood diminished his moral culpability..

    At age 8, Andrews was pushed into a shed by some kids who set it on fire. He was horribly burned and disfigured, and kids taunted him by calling him "crispy critter" and "mummy." Also as a child, Andrews went to visit his father on death row in Texas. Before his father could be executed, another inmate stabbed him to death.

    Police seized a poem written by Andrews describing his struggles as a child and how the events had hardened him, but the judge would not allow it as evidence. Meanwhile, the judge allowed prosecutors to refer to Andrews as a "killing machine," leaving the jury with the instructions to, "Turn this machine off."

    Andrews' poem read: "I've been struggling in this smokeless fire for 19 years, over my lifetime I shed my pain through unwanted tears, been through hell back burning since adalescence (sic), will I enter heaven or return for final destination, born into a world filled with complete darkness, didn't understand love so my hears hardened, forereal forreal (sic)"

    During oral arguments, senior assistant attorney general Steven Witmer argued the poem was "nothing more than self-serving hearsay," but justices disagreed, saying it provided evidence of his character.

    The court did not rule on several other issues, including whether a juror whose boss and co-workers encouraged her to "fry" Andrews during a break in the sentencing phase tainted the outcome, because they were unlikely to occur again during the new sentencing.

    http://hamptonroads.com/node/569257

  4. #4
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    Update

    Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said he’s “very likely” to seek the death penalty again.
    “This guy had a long history of violence before he shot five people,” Ebert said.

    http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2010...nce-ar-509205/

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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Andrews' petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis DENIED.

    This petition was challenging Andrews' conviction that was affirmed by the Virginia Supreme Court.

  6. #6
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    A new sentencing hearing has been set for June 4, 2012 in Prince William County Circuit Court.

    http://wasdmz2.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/CaseDetail.do

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    Virginia inmate escapes death sentence by admitting to another killing

    An inmate whose death sentence was overturned will avoid the possibility of another one after brokering a deal in which he gets life in prison in exchange for admitting guilt in another killing.

    A Prince William Circuit Court judge on Thursday approved the deal to spare Joshua Andrews, 30, who was sentenced to death in 2007 for a shooting spree that left two dead and three injured in Virginia and New York.

    The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that sentence in 2010 because it said two of his four capital murder convictions constituted double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime. Jurors convicted Andrews of killing more than one person as part of the same act and of killing more than one person within a three-year period.

    In the deal, Andrews pleaded guilty to the 2001 murder of Clayton Kendall Breeding at a Woodbridge middle school parking lot. A jury had acquitted Andrews of that murder in 2007, but he agreed to switch his plea to guilty in exchange for a guarantee that he would be sentenced to life instead of receiving the death penalty.

    "From the commonwealth's perspective, they can do something fairly remarkable, which is to undo a jury acquittal in a capital murder case and obtain a conviction in a case that would otherwise remain unsolved," said University of Virginia law professor Matthew Engle, one of Andrews' attorneys. "And the deal is, they take the death penalty off the table. That's what makes it possible for Josh to admit his guilt."

    Prosecutors said Andrews forced three men to undress and get into a bathtub in a Dumfries-area apartment during a robbery on Jan. 2, 2002, before shooting them. Two of them died and another survived. After that shooting, Andrews and another man fled to New York, where they robbed and shot a convenience store clerk in Queens and shot another man in the Bronx. They were convicted of attempted murder in those shootings.

    Andrews was acquitted in three other deaths, including Breeding's killing.

    The Virginia Supreme Court said that the trial court erred by excluding from mitigating evidence a poem Andrews wrote and that it improperly excluded the testimony of a social work expert on how Andrews' horrific childhood diminished his moral culpability.

    At age 8, Andrews was pushed into a shed by some kids who set it on fire. He was horribly burned and disfigured, and kids taunted him by calling him "crispy critter" and "mummy." Also as a child, Andrews went to visit his father on death row in Texas. Before his father could be executed, another inmate stabbed him to death.

    Police seized a poem written by Andrews describing his struggles as a child and how the events had hardened him, but the judge would not allow it as evidence. Meanwhile, the judge allowed prosecutors to refer to Andrews as a "killing machine," leaving the jury with the instructions to, "Turn this machine off."

    Andrews' poem read: "I've been struggling in this smokeless fire for 19 years, over my lifetime I shed my pain through unwanted tears, been through hell back burning since adalescence (sic), will I enter heaven or return for final destination, born into a world filled with complete darkness, didn't understand love so my heart hardened, forereal forreal (sic)"

    An attorney for the state argued the poem was "nothing more than self-serving hearsay," but justices disagreed, saying it provided evidence of his character.

    "Josh had — and I've been doing capital defense work for about a decade now — probably the most horrific upbringing of any that I've seen," Engle said. "He suffered some of the worst trauma and abuse and poverty and neglect of any of the clients that I've ever represented."

    The court upheld Andrews' convictions, but sent his case back to Prince William for a new sentencing, which was scheduled for June.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...th-Row-Appeal/
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