Donald Moeller - South Dakota Execution - October 30, 2012

[Guest]

Summary of Offense:

Donald Moeller was originally convicted in 1992 of the brutal 1990 rape and murder of nine-year-old Becky O'Connell, who was abducted in Sioux Falls and raped and murdered in Lincoln County. After this first conviction, which included a sentence of death, his conviction was reversed by the South Dakota Supreme Court in 1996, and Moeller was re-tried, re-convicted and re-sentenced to death in 1997 by a Pennington County jury. The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed that conviction.

Moeller is now challenging his conviction in State habeas corpus proceedings. The habeas corpus hearing was held on February 27 through March 1, 2002, in Sioux Falls. After the hearing, the parties briefed the matter, and the habeas trial court denied all relief, thus upholding Moeller's conviction. The habeas trial court also denied a certificate of probable cause on all except one issue, and Moeller requested a certificate of probable cause from the South Dakota Supreme Court. The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed this denial of Habeas corpus relief on March 22, 2004.

Thereafter, Moeller filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, Southern Division. There is a petition on file, and the State has responded. It is anticipated that the Court will hold either an oral argument or other hearing before making a ruling. There is no deadline for the Court to rule on this petition. After that Court rules, further appeals within the federal system can be pursued.

[Guest]

Article 11/29/07


Federal judge allows inmate to challenge execution method


Donald Moeller can add a challenge to South Dakota's execution method to his ongoing legal fight against his convictions and death sentence for the 1990 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, a federal judge ruled today.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol's ruling means Moeller can add arguments that challenge the constitutionality of the South Dakota's method of execution, which uses lethal injection.

Piersol noted that the South Dakota Legislature has changed the state law on executions and the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to review whether the method of lethal injection used by three dozen states amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

After Moeller, 55, was convicted in his 2nd trial for the 1990 killing of Becky O’Connell of Sioux Falls, the state Supreme Court denied his direct appeal and secondary appeal, called a habeas corpus proceeding. He is now in federal court pursuing a habeas corpus action, a legal proceeding that argues constitutional violations have led to a convict's illegal incarceration.

The federal appeal contends that a number of mistakes were made in Moeller's trial.

Wednesday's ruling allows Moeller to amend his federal appeal to add arguments against the method of lethal injection used by South Dakota.

Part of Moeller's new arguments involve events related to the execution of Elijah Page in July.

Page, who ended his appeals and asked to be executed for the March 2000 torture murder of Chester Allan Poage, 19, near Spearfish, was originally scheduled to be executed in August 2006. But Gov. Mike Rounds postponed Page's execution because the state law mandating the use of 2 drugs conflicted with the Department of Correction's plan to use the 3-drug mix that is standard in states that use lethal injections for executions.

The Legislature this year changed the law, removing the reference to the two drugs and instead giving the department authority to determine which drugs are used. The new law took effect July 1 and was used in Page's execution.

Moeller’s federal appeal now argues that the law in effect when he was convicted calls for unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment because it provided for the use of only 2 drugs, which could lead to suffocation and excruciating pain during an execution. Moeller's sentence should be changed to life in prison, the appeal contends.

The new state law gives death-row inmates a choice of using the 2-drug mix in effect at the time they were convicted or the standard mix now set in prison policy. Moeller argues the new law cannot be applied to him because it would be an unconstitutional passage of a law that applies retroactively.

The judge’s order gives the state 20 days to file a response to Moeller’s amended appeal.

[Guest]

Article 5/5/08

A federal judge says convicted murderer Donald Moeller can continue to seek information about South Dakota's method of execution as part of his fight against the death penalty. Federal Judge Lawrence Piersol says Moeller can seek information to determine whether South Dakota's method of lethal injection is similar to the one recently approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 55-year-old Moeller was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1990 killing of Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls. The state Supreme Court has upheld his conviction and sentence, and Moeller is now appealing in federal court. Moeller argues the lethal injection law in effect when he was convicted is unconstitutional because it could lead to excruciating pain. He contends a new law passed last year cannot be applied to him retroactively, so his death sentence should be converted to life in prison.


{Source: AP)

[Guest]

Article 2/26/09


Lawyers argue South Dakota death row case




SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A federal judge heard arguments Monday for a death row inmate's ongoing legal fight against his conviction and death sentence for the 1990 rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell near Sioux Falls.

Donald Moeller is pursuing a habeas corpus action, a legal proceeding that argues constitutional violations led to an illegal incarceration.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol held the hearing to take oral arguments on three of the issues: DNA and soil evidence and a jury question.

Moeller's attorney, Mark Marshall, argued his client is entitled to habeas relief because defense lawyers didn't adequately defend him at a hearing on the admissibility of DNA, and that evidence was questionable.

Also, soil evidence linking Moeller's pickup to the crime scene was later destroyed by a state expert, and the geologist who analyzed the soil prepared a misleading report that indicated the presence of gahnite, an extremely rare mineral, Marshall said.

"This conviction was obtained on the basis of false testimony. I think it is utterly preposterous to suggest there was gahnite in that wheel well and at that site," he said.

Marshall also argued that it should have been made more clear to jurors that Moeller would not have been eligible for parole had they sentenced him to life instead of death.

Deputy Attorney General Sherri Sundem Wald countered that none of the issues rose to the level of constitutional violation.

The state Supreme Court cited nine factors that supported the guilty verdict, one of which was the DNA evidence, she argued.

Other elements included witness accounts tying Moeller and his pickup to the crime, the fact he took off the day after investigators talked to him and assumed a new name, and newspaper clippings of the crime with him in Washington state, Sundem Wald said.

"This is a much stronger case that what petitioner's counsel would present to the court," she told Piersol.

The gahnite evidence did not change the outcome of the trial and was properly admitted so jurors could determine what weight to give it, Sundem Wald said.

Nor was there a constitutional violation in how the judge handled a jury question about whether Moeller would ever be eligible for parole, she said.

There are other issues in the habeas request that Piersol will consider before ruling, including evidence on South Dakota's method of execution.

After Elijah Page was executed in 2007 for the 2000 torture murder of 19-year-old Chester Allan Poage of Spearfish, Piersol granted Moeller's request to add arguments that challenge the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Page, who ended his appeals and asked to be put to death, was originally scheduled to be executed in 2006. But Gov. Mike Rounds postponed it because the state law mandating the use of two drugs conflicted with the Department of Correction's plan to use the three-drug mix that is now standard.

South Dakota has two other men on death row.

Briley Piper of Anchorage, Alaska, is appealing his death sentence after pleading guilty to killing Poage. And Charles Russell Rhines is appealing his conviction for killing Donnivan Schaeffer, 22, during the 1992 burglary of the Rapid City doughnut shop where Schaeffer worked.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/ap/i...w&id=D96HGVRO0

[Guest]

Article 4/10/09

Judge Rejects Death Row Inmate Donald Moeller's Appeal

By Associated Press

Story Created: Apr 9, 2009 at 7:32 AM CDT
Story Updated: Apr 9, 2009 at 9:33 AM CDT

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol has denied death row inmate Donald Moeller's claim that his trial and conviction violated the U.S. Constitution.
Moeller had argued DNA and soil evidence used in his conviction should not have been admitted at his trial and that his lawyers were ineffective.
Moeller was convicted of the 1990 rape and murder of 9-year-old Rebecca O'Connell of Sioux Falls. He was convicted of first-degree rape and first-degree murder and sentenced to die. The state
Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 1996, but Moeller was retried the next year, was found guilty and again sentenced to death.
Moeller was pursuing a habeas corpus action, a legal proceeding that argues constitutional violations led to an illegal incarceration.

http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/42733387.html

[Guest]

Article 4/13/10


SD death row inmate Moeller loses another appeal


PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says death row inmate Donald Moeller has lost another attempt to have his conviction overturned.

Moeller was pursuing a federal habeas corpus action, a legal proceeding that argues constitutional violations led to an illegal incarceration. He had already been denied once, in March 2009, and U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled late last week that that decision will stand.

Moeller has 30 days to file a further appeal.

Moeller was convicted of the 1990 rape and murder of 9-year-old Rebecca O'Connell of Sioux Falls and sentenced to die. The state Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 1996, but Moeller was retried the next year, found guilty and again sentenced to death.

http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12300558

[Heidi]

Inmate Personal Information

DOB: 03/21/1981
Race: White
Gender: Male


Crime and Trial Information

* County of conviction: Lincoln
* Number of counts: One
* Race of Victims: White
* Gender of Victims: Female
* Date of crime: 05/08/1990
* Date of Sentencing: 06/05/1997


Legal Status

Current Proceedings:
on appeal to the 8th Circuit


Attorney

Julie Pitt
Deborah Czuba


Court Opinions

State v. Moeller, 548 N.W.2d 465 (S.D. 1996) (vacating
conviction and sentence and remanding); State v.
Moeller, 616 N.W.2d 424 (S.D. 2000) (affirming sentence
and conviction); Moeller v. Weber, 689 N.W.2d 1 (S.D.
2004) (affirming denial of habeas corpus); Moeller v.
Weber, 635 F.Supp.2d 1036 (D.S.D. 2009) (denying
habeas corpus); Moeller v. Weber, 2009 WL 1286305
(D.S.D. May 07, 2009) (denying motion to amend
judgment).


Legal Issues

1. whether the state's "soil expert" testimony was admissible
under Daubert, and state's undisclosed destruction of the soil
itself, which questionably linked Mr. Moeller to the crime scene
2. whether the proportionality review conducted by South
Dakota Supreme Court, which ignores death‐eligible cases in
which the death penalty is not imposed, is valid
3. whether the APO‐B DNA evidence was admissible
4. whether trial counsel's refusal to participate in pretrial
proceedings regarding DNA evidence, citing lack of time to
prepare, constituted ineffective assistance
5. whether the trial judge's refusal to answer jurors' question on
the meaning of "life without parole" violated due process

[Heidi]

Court to consider appeal of SD death row inmate Moeller

A federal appeals court will hear arguments June 16 in an appeal by South Dakota death row inmate Donald Moeller.

He argues there were constitutional violations at the 1997 trial where he was convicted of raping and murdering a 9-year-old Sioux Falls girl. He was sentenced to death.

Moeller's attorneys and the state attorney general's office will argue the case before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when it hears cases in St. Paul, Minn.

The 58-year-old Moeller is challenging South Dakota's death penalty in a separate court case.

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/vi...oeller-Appeal/

[Heidi]

Death penalty case in SD goes before 8th Circuit

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A South Dakota man on death row for the 1990 rape and murder of a 9-year-old Sioux Falls girl will have his appeal heard by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Attorneys for 58-year-old Donald Moeller will appear in St. Paul Thursday to argue his case.

They say Moeller's rights were violated during his trial. Specifically, they say he had ineffective counsel and a mistake was made when jurors weren't told that life in prison meant no chance for parole.

Moeller was convicted in 1992 of killing Becky O'Connell and sentenced to death. The South Dakota Supreme Court overturned that conviction. During a second trial in 1997, he was again convicted and sentenced to death.

Moeller is challenging South Dakota's death penalty law in a separate appeal.

http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14913142

[JLR]

What's the 8th Circuit's reputation? Is it closer to the 9th or 5th when it comes to the likelihood of death penalty appeals succeeding?