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Thread: Westley Devone Harris - Alabama Death Row

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    Westley Devone Harris - Alabama Death Row


    Westley Devone Harris


    Facts of the Crime:

    Sentenced to death in 2005 for gunning down his girlfriend's three teenage brothers along with her mother, father and grandmother in 2002.

    Victims: Mila Ruth Ball, 62, her daughter, JoAnn Ball, 35, JoAnn's common-law husband, Willie Hasley, 40, who also went by the name Willie Haslip, and their sons, Jerry Ball, 19, Tony Ball, 17, and John Ball, 14.

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    August 16, 2008

    Court nixes motions to review 4 Ala. death penalty cases

    The Alabama Supreme Court has turned back motions to review 4 Alabama death penalty cases, including the appeal of Westley Devone Harris, convicted of killing 6 members of a Crenshaw County family.

    The court on Friday also refused to hear the appeals of death row inmates Vernon Madison, Geoffrey Todd West and Ulysses Charles Sneed. The court issued no written opinions.

    All 4 condemned men have further appeals available.

    Harris was sentenced to die for the 2002 murders of 6 members of his girlfriend's family at their farm in Rutledge.

    Madison was convicted in the 1985 murder of a Mobile police officer. West was sentenced to die for the killing of an Etowah County store clerk in 1997. And Sneed received a death sentence for the killing of a store clerk in Decatur in 1993.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On January 26, 2009, the US Supreme Court denied Harris' certiorari petition.

    Lower Ct: Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
    Case Nos.: (CR-04-2363)
    Decision Date: December 21, 2007
    Rehearing Denied: March 21, 2008
    Discretionary Court
    Decision Date: August 15, 2008

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/08-7310.htm

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    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Judge rules AL's death penalty scheme unconstitutional

    JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - A Jefferson County circuit judge has ruled Alabama's death penalty scheme unconstitutional in a landmark decision for the state.

    Four Jefferson County capital murder defendants asked Judge Tracie Todd to rule Alabama’s death penalty unconstitutional on Thursday.

    Florida and Alabama were the only two states in the nation where a judge could override a jury's recommendation and sentence someone to death.

    In January, the Supreme Court struck down Florida's law as unconstitutional in their decision in the Hurst vs. Florida case.

    Now, defense attorneys in Alabama are filing motions and using that example to try to make that happen here.

    There are four big cases in the Montgomery area where a judge overrode a jury’s recommendation and imposed the death penalty.

    In Montgomery County, Mario Woodward was convicted of killing MPD Officer Keith Houts in 2006. The jury recommended life in prison, but the judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Woodward to death.

    In Crenshaw County, Wesley Harris was convicted of killing six members of his girlfriend's family in 2002: a mom, dad, grandmother and three children. All were shot to death. The jury recommended life in prison without parole but the judge sentenced Harris to die by lethal injection.

    In Lee County, Courtney Lockhart was convicted of killing Auburn University student Lauren Burk. The jury recommended life in prison without parole, but Judge Jacob Walker overrode and sentenced Lockhart to death. Judge Walker said he based the decision on evidence that was never brought before the jury.

    In Elmore County, Calvin McMillan was convicted in the shooting death of Bryan Martin. It happened in 2007 in the Millbrook Walmart parking lot so McMillan could steal his truck. In this case, the jury recommended life without parole, but the judge overrode and sentenced McMillian to death.

    http://www.wbtv.com/story/31377781/j...l?sf21922861=1

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Appeal denied by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama...r-19-0231.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Writ of certiorari denied by the Alabama Supreme Court.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama...2/1210179.html
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    So this man murders SIX people, and somehow a jury didn't see fit to recommend death. Amazing. But I suppose it makes more sense when one considers the recent study that half of the American population had their IQ blunted by lead from gasoline.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    His first trial was declared a mistrial after it was found that he had a female friend who lured one of the jurors to her home and with the aid of that juror tracked down other jurors around the town the trial was being held in. This woman and the juror both got charged but seeing he got 7-5 for LWOP tells me he did this again. But as we know since he's of a certain race this stuff will never get properly investigated as it would if he was the right race.

    The fact that Harris impregnated then married a girl before she even turned 15 is a righteous DP case in itself in the first place.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    I am speechless...

  10. #10
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    On August 22, 2022, Harris filed a habeas petition in federal district court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/al...2cv00505/78578
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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