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Thread: Lisa Carpenter Graham - Alabama Death Row

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Testimony in Lisa Graham capital murder trial to start Feb. 23

    Testimony in the capital murder trial of a Russell County woman accused of having her daughter killed won’t start until Feb. 23, attorneys decided Wednesday.

    During a pretrial hearing for Lisa Graham, accused of having a family worker gun down her daughter Stephanie Shea Graham on July 5, 2007, attorneys agreed to begin selecting a jury on Tuesday, but to hold off on calling witnesses until the following Monday.

    Russell County District Attorney Ken Davis said he has three witnesses who will have to take airline flights to be in Phenix City to testify, including one from California, and he needs time to ensure they’ll be on schedule.

    Besides selecting a jury, attorneys next week may have a hearing on suppressing evidence against Graham.

    Graham’s attorney Margaret Young Brown objected to holding another suppression hearing, arguing Russell County Judge George Greene ruled on that evidence during Graham’s first trial in 2012.

    That trial was cut short when Greene declared a mistrial because of his failing health. Greene later retired before he died Jan. 1, 2014.

    Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III came in to preside over Graham’s retrial after other Russell County judges recused themselves. On Wednesday, Brown told Walker that Greene’s evidence ruling should stand.

    Said Davis: “This is a new trial, and all issues are new for this trial.”

    Greene’s ruling was “patently wrong,” he added.

    Walker asked attorneys to file motions on that issue.

    Davis also told the court prosecutors plan to introduce evidence Graham tried to bribe witness Kenneth Walton, the man accused of killing Graham’s daughter at the mother’s behest. Walton has agreed to testify.

    Davis said Graham asked four Russell County jail inmates to slip Walton notes, one of which asked, “Would he take $10,000 to take me out of the equation?”

    The trial could take weeks. Besides the time for selecting a jury and holding an evidence-suppression hearing, Davis said presenting the prosecution’s case could take seven to eight days, with testimony from 30 witnesses.

    Brown said she thought Davis underestimated the time he would need.

    Another trial issue is one over which the court has no control: the weather.

    Brown’s co-counsel Robert Poole asked Walker about bad weather next week.

    “I was hoping it would stay above 32 degrees,” the judge said. He said the court would act according to what local schools do, and delay the proceedings if the schools close because of bad weather.

    According to Weather.com, an 80-percent chance of thunderstorms is expected Tuesday, with a high of 66 degrees and a low of 39. Wednesday’s weather is to be cloudy with a high of 48 degrees and a low of 26.

    The Russell sheriff’s office launched the Graham homicide investigation after a newspaper carrier found 20-year-old Stephanie Shea Graham’s body on Bowden Road, between U.S. 431 and Alabama 165 near Pittsview. She had six bullet wounds in the head and torso, authorities said.

    Investigators said Walton, the last person seen with her, confessed to the homicide, even acting it out for them. After pleading guilty June 14, 2012, Walton was sentenced to life in prison with possible parole.

    Authorities allege Lisa Graham wanted her daughter dead because she was frustrated by Shea Graham’s drug use, and feared the daughter would jump bail on charges she faced in a drive-by shooting in Columbus. Shea Graham was due in court the morning her body was found, investigators said.

    http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/...#storylink=cpy
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  2. #12
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Murder trial for Lisa Graham resumes after recess in jury selection

    Lisa Graham's capital murder trial resumes today in a Russell County court after a recess in the process of selecting a "death qualified" jury.

    "Death qualified" means jurors must not be so morally opposed to the death penalty that they could never impose it, nor so in favor of capital punishment that they would never consider life in prison.

    Another complicating factor is that no potential juror may be closely connected to any of the dozens of witnesses expected to testify in the trial, which likely will last more than a week.

    Attorneys hope to strike a jury on Tuesday, after which a hearing is expected on whether to admit evidence Graham, through jailhouse notes, tried to bribe the man who admitted killing her 20-year-old daughter on July 5, 2007. Kenneth Walton, who got a life sentence after pleading guilty to gunning down Stephanie Shea Graham, told investigators he did so at the mother's behest, and he's to testify against her. District Attorney Ken Davis has filed evidence Graham allegedly offered Walton $10,000 to take her "out of the equation." Defense attorneys object that Judge George Greene, who presided at Graham's 1st trial before declaring a mistrial in 2012, ruled the evidence was not admissible.

    Greene's failing health forced him to retire before he died Jan. 1, 2014. After other Russell County judges recused themselves, the case went to Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III.

    Davis has argued that because the 1st trial had no verdict and a new judge now has the case, such issues may be litigated again.

    "The state would argue that there is a compelling circumstance to re-examine this point of law as there is a new judge hearing this case and this is a new trial," Davis wrote last week. "Additionally there was never a final judgment entered in the first trial of this case."

    Defense attorney Margaret Young Brown contends the prosecution gave notice of its intent too late to pursue charges of witness tampering and bribery, and she says the evidence is more prejudicial than indicative of Graham's guilt.

    Also, the evidence includes a note that Graham allegedly wrote by hand, which the defense needs more time to examine, she said, in part writing, "the defense would desire to have a continuance so that hand writing exemplars could be obtained."

    A newspaper carrier found Shea Graham's body on Bowden Road, between U.S. 431 and Ala. 165 near Pittsview. She had5 bullet wounds in the head and torso, authorities said.

    Earlier reports said she was shot six times, but during jury selection last week Brown's co-counsel, Robert Poole, specified that there were gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, one to the head and one to the right eye.

    Investigators said Walton, the last person seen with her, not only confessed to the homicide, but also acted it out, telling them he stopped to let Shea Graham out to relieve herself, then gunned her down as she squatted beside the road. Walton pleaded guilty June 14, 2012.

    Authorities allege Lisa Graham wanted her daughter dead because she was frustrated by Shea Graham's drug use and feared the daughter would jump bail on charges she faced in a drive-by shooting in Columbus. Shea Graham was due in court the morning her body was found.

    Poole last week told prospective jurors the daughter faced four counts of aggravated assault in Columbus and had been released on a $100,000 bond.

    (Source: The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  3. #13
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Alabama woman convicted of having hitman kill her daughter

    Jurors have found an east Alabama woman guilty of capital murder after prosecutors say she hired a gunman to kill her troubled, 20-year-old daughter.

    The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that the Russell County jury on Thursday returned the guilty verdict for Lisa Leane Graham of Phenix City.

    The bullet-riddled body of her Graham's daughter, Stephanie Shea Graham, was found along a roadside in Cottonton in 2007. Authorities said she had been shot six times.

    Prosecutors say Lisa Graham wanted her daughter killed because she felt that she was destroying her marriage and ruining her life.

    The alleged shooter, Kenneth Walton, also was charged with capital murder. Walton recently testified against Lisa Graham, saying she asked him to kill the daughter, and he did so as "a favor."

    Update: After deliberating for about an hour, the jury has recommended a sentence of death for Lisa Graham. Judge Jacob Walker III set the sentencing for 10 a.m. May 1.

    http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Sentencing for Lisa Graham, Alabama mother convicted of daughter's murder, set for May

    A judge says he will decide May 1 whether to follow a jury's recommendation that an east Alabama woman be sentenced death in the killing of her daughter.

    A Russell County jury on Thursday found Lisa Graham of Phenix City guilty of capital murder. Prosecutors say she hired a gunman to kill her troubled, 20-year-old daughter.

    Russell County District Attorney Ken Davis tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that the judge could follow the jury's recommendation for the death sentence, or he could sentence her to life in prison.

    The bullet-riddled body of her Graham's daughter, Stephanie Shea Graham, was found along a roadside in 2007.

    The gunman, Kenneth Walton, confessed to the killing and is serving a life prison sentence.

    http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Sentencing of Alabama mother convicted of hiring gunman to kill daughter reset

    The sentencing hearing of a Phenix City woman found guilty of hiring a man to kill her 20-year-old daughter in 2007 was rescheduled to May 28.

    Lisa Graham, who was convicted of capital murder-for-hire in March, was originally set to be sentenced today in Russell County Circuit Court, court records show.

    A jury recommended Graham be sentenced to death, but the judge could choose to sentence her to life in prison instead.

    The bullet-riddled body of Graham's daughter, Stephanie Shea Graham, was found dead along a roadside in 2007. The gunman, Kenneth Walton, confessed to the killing and is serving a life prison sentence.

    http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/in...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #16
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Sentencing delayed for Alabama woman convicted of hiring hitman to murder her daughter

    A judge is delaying sentencing for an east Alabama woman convicted of getting a man to kill her daughter eight years ago.

    Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III says records show Lisa Graham of Phenix City is taking medications including one that can be used for schizophrenia. She's also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Walker postponed sentencing indefinitely Thursday to allow time for mental exams.

    Jurors convicted Graham in March on charges that she persuaded a family friend to kill her 20-year-old daughter Shea Graham in July 2007.

    Testimony showed the woman was lured to rural Russell County from Columbus, Georgia, and shot to death on a road.

    Evidence showed Graham repeatedly had remarked that her daughter was ruining her life, and she wanted her dead.

    http://www.al.com/news/montgomery/in...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Lisa Graham sentenced to death for hiring man to kill her daughter

    By Tim Chitwood
    The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

    Convicted of capital murder for persuading a family friend to gun her daughter down on a remote dirt road in Russell County on July 5, 2007, Lisa Leanne Graham was sentenced to death Wednesday.

    Judge Jacob Walker III imposed that sentence after hearing testimony from psychologist and attorney Glen King, who was hired to conduct a presentencing psychological evaluation on Graham, and from psychiatrist Heather Rowe of East Alabama Mental Health, who said she has been treating Graham since February 2013.

    The evaluation was to determine whether Graham had any mental illness or other condition that would make her ineligible for the death penalty.

    King testified his evaluation showed Graham is not mentally deficient and has no defect that would keep her from understanding the consequences of her actions. He added, though, that his tests showed Graham had an IQ of 77, indicating she likely would not in advance think through her actions like someone who scored higher.

    He said his evaluation revealed Graham scored low in “leisure and social activities,” meaning game-playing, travel and establishing friendships beyond immediate family. In that regard, she was “well below average,” King said.

    When Russell County District Attorney Ken Davis asked whether Graham had been “malingering” or faking symptoms, King replied that he did not believe Graham tried to fake test responses. But he thought she had exaggerated her mental issues, embellishing psychiatric symptoms.

    Also under Davis’ questioning, King acknowledged Graham was functional, having kept accounts balanced for her family business, having been literate and computer literate, and having pursued genealogical research as a hobby.

    Rowe testified she found Graham suffered from recurring and severe depression and had “borderline personality disorder.” She did not elaborate on the latter.

    Online, the National Institute of Mental Health posts that borderline personality disorder is “a serious mental illness marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships,” and involves “problems with regulating emotions and thoughts; impulsive and reckless behavior; unstable relationships with other people.”

    As testimony concluded, Davis argued nothing precluded Walker’s giving Graham the death penalty.

    Graham’s lead attorney Margaret Young Brown countered that King’s evaluation showed Graham had “borderline intellectual functioning” that casts doubt on her capacity to take reasonable actions.

    She also called Walker’s attention to previous testimony by Graham’s son Kevin “Boo” Graham Jr., who told the judge that since his sister’s death, the only immediate family he has left are his mother, father and grandmother.

    His mother’s execution would leave only the father and grandmother: “It wouldn’t be long for the rest of them to be gone, and then I’d have nobody,” he said.

    A jury convicted Lisa Graham March 5, and Walker III initially set a sentencing date of May 1, but then postponed it so Graham could be evaluated. Walker noted then that Graham had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was taking medications prescribed for schizophrenia.

    Wednesday’s sentencing is not the end of the story, as Graham already has asked for a new trial and will appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. That process will add new chapters to what even veterans of the criminal justice system found to be a sordid and surreal story of a mother whose jealousy and disdain for her daughter led to a cold-blooded murder late at night on Bowden Road near Pittsview.

    Graham was convicted of persuading longtime family worker Kenneth Walton to kill her 20-year-old daughter Stephanie Shea Graham, who went by Shea. Walton said the mother met him at the Columbus Public Library on the evening of July 7, 2007, and loaned him her pistol for the job.

    He later caught up with Shea at a Victory Drive gas station, where she left her car with friends and rode off in Walton’s pickup truck. He took her on a long, night drive down Alabama Highway 165 before pulling off on Bowden Road so they could relieve themselves.

    When she got out to squat beside the truck’s open passenger door, he pulled out the pistol and shot her in the head from the driver’s seat, then got out, walked around the truck and shot her again and again.

    He left her half-nude, bullet-riddled body where it lay, and drove away. Asked in court how his deadly betrayal of a young woman who trusted him made him feel, he replied, “I felt normal.”

    Because witnesses saw Shea leave the gas station with Walton, investigators focused on him immediately. He confessed, and told them of the mother’s involvement, particularly of the pistol he had returned to her the day after the shooting.

    Lisa Graham then incriminated herself when authorities came looking for the gun. She had given it to an elderly neighbor she knew as “Papa” to clean, but told sheriff’s investigators she didn’t know where it was, and allowed them futilely to search her house before her husband told them “Papa” might have it.

    Finding ample evidence of her involvement, investigators charged her with murder, and Davis announced he would seek the death penalty.

    But five years passed before the case finally came to trial — the first time. Davis said Wednesday that the first delay resulted from courthouse renovation that made the building unsafe for holding a death-penalty trial.

    Walton pleaded guilty June 14, 2012, and was sentenced to life in prison. Graham’s trial was set for the following fall.

    But after jury selection and some initial testimony, then-Circuit Judge George Greene abruptly declared a mistrial on Sept. 25, 2012, saying he could no longer preside because of his failing health.

    When prosecutors pursued a second trial, Graham’s defense team appealed, claiming Greene could have continued the trial, and to try Graham again would constitute double-jeopardy. During testimony in that appeal, witnesses said Greene had multiple health issues, and had been falling asleep in court, even snoring.

    Greene retired in December 2013, and died Jan. 1, 2014.

    After the Alabama Court of Appeals rejected the defense double-jeopardy arguments on Oct. 17, 2013, Graham’s attorneys appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court. It turned them down on Aug. 8, 2014.

    Meanwhile other Russell County judges recused themselves from presiding at Graham’s next trial. Walker, a Lee County Circuit Court judge, was appointed to fill in.

    Jury selection in the second trial began Feb. 17, with witness testimony starting the following week.

    That testimony showed Graham repeatedly had remarked to witnesses that Shea was ruining her life, and she would kill her daughter if she could. The daughter was facing aggravated assault charges related to a drive-by shooting in Columbus, and Graham feared she would flee town and leave her parents responsible for her $100,000 bond.

    Walton testified he lured Shea into his pickup the night she died with the promise of providing her a vehicle in which to run away.

    Graham’s attorneys would not comment after Wednesday’s sentencing, but Davis did.

    “This is a case in which the death penalty was called for,” the prosecutor said, adding, “This was a woman who opportuned, cajoled, threatened another individual over the course of months to murder her biological child, to take her down into the darkness of Russell County, Alabama, on a dirt road and shoot her five times.”

    With Graham’s appeals pending, much work remains to be done, he said.

    “This is really the beginning of a capital case,” Davis said. “A capital case calls for automatic appeals. Those appeals will go up on both levels, both the federal level and the state level. No one can say what will happen on appeal. It’s a process the attorney general of Alabama will be involved in, and we will certainly be current with it.”

    http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/...e45356997.html

  8. #18
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Lisa Carpenter Graham entered Alabama's death row on February 26, 2016.

    http://www.doc.alabama.gov/DeathRow.aspx

  9. #19
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    Good.

    The older I get the less I understand things or people... killing your own kid???

  10. #20
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Court rules on death-sentence appeal of Phenix City woman who hired man to kill daughter


    By Tim Chitwood
    Ledger-Enquirer

    An Alabama appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of Lisa Leanne Graham, the Phenix City woman found guilty of hiring a family friend to kill her own daughter.

    Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the court’s decision in a news release Friday.

    Graham, 51, was convicted of murder in Russell County Circuit Court in March 2015. The evidence showed she arranged for Kenneth Walton, who worked for the family’s construction business, to kill her daughter Stephanie “Shea” Graham, 20.

    Authorities said the mother feared Shea Graham would skip out on a $100,000 bond that Lisa Graham had secured for her release from jail on charges stemming from a drive-by shooting in Columbus.

    Walton testified the mother met him at the Columbus Public Library on the evening of July 7, 2007, and loaned him her 9-millimeter pistol for the job.

    Walton later caught up with the daughter at a Victory Drive gas station, where she left the friends she’d been out with that night and rode off in Walton’s pickup truck. Claiming he would help her find a car in which she could leave town, he took her on a long drive down Alabama Highway 165 before pulling off on Bowden Road so they could relieve themselves.

    When she got out to squat beside the truck’s open passenger door, he pulled out the pistol and shot her in the head from the driver’s seat. Then he got out, walked around the truck and shot her again and again.

    He left her half-nude, bullet-riddled body where it lay, and drove away. Asked in court how his betraying the young woman made him feel, he replied, “I felt normal.”

    Because witnesses saw Shea Graham leave the gas station with Walton, investigators focused on him immediately. He confessed, and told them of the mother’s involvement.

    Walton pleaded guilty June 14, 2012, and was sentenced to life in prison.

    Other witnesses testifying during Lisa Graham’s 2015 trial said the mother repeatedly had remarked that Shea Graham was ruining her life, and she would kill her daughter if she could.

    The bizarre murder case gained national attention, and in 2017 was featured on the Oxygen channel TV show "Snapped".

    https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news...232887697.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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