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Thread: Stephen Marc Stone Sentenced to LWOP in 2013 AL Slaying of Krista and Zachary Stone

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Suspect in Huntsville slayings of wife, son wants death penalty ruled unconstitutional

    A man pursuing an insanity defense in the fatal strangling his wife and young son is asking a Madison County judge to dismiss two capital murder charges.

    Stephen Marc Stone is asking Circuit Judge Donna Pate to dismiss the capital indictments and rule Alabama's death penalty unconstitutional.

    Stone is set to go on trial March 6 in the deaths of 7-year-old Zachary and 32-year-old Krista Stone. The victims were found dead Feb. 24, 2013, at their home on Chicamauga Trail in south Huntsville.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Stone and his attorneys are arguing the state's death penalty sentencing procedures violate the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as well as Supreme Court decisions.

    The defense argues that when the Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty system in Hurst v. Florida, it also made Alabama's system unconstitutional, according to court records.

    "Florida's capital structure contained a fatal flaw: it allowed the Judge to find the facts determinative of a life or death sentence," attorneys Brian Clark and Larry Marsili wrote in a motion.

    Because a judge ultimately decides whether to sentence a convict to death or prison, the attorneys argue the law is unconstitutional.

    In a capital trial when a guilty verdict is handed down, the jury votes on whether a person should be sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole. However, the judge makes the final decision.

    There has been much debate about Alabama's system since the Hurst decision.

    A hearing on pending motions in Stone's case is set for Friday at 11 a.m.

    The judge also is expected to rule on a defense request for a mental evaluation of Stone, who is seeking to prove himself not guilty by reason of mental disease of defect.

    An independent expert hired by the defense found Stone, 37, is not competent to stand trial, court records show.

    http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/in..._slayings.html
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  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    ... and rule Alabama's death penalty unconstitutional.
    Hasn't this already been done about 502093849 times and proved all good?

    Why are they allowed to play this delay tactic everytime (or it appears this way)? Sorry if this is a nuffy question, but I cant get my head around it appearing as though every case this is Step 1.
    I think I need a drink.

  3. #13
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge to grant mental evaluation of Stephen Marc Stone in Huntsville death penalty case

    A Madison County judge announced today that she will grant a mental evaluation for a man pursuing an insanity defense in the fatal strangling of his wife and young son.

    Circuit Judge Donna Pate told Stephen Marc Stone during a hearing this afternoon that she will issue an order within the next week granting his request for an evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.

    Stone is charged with two counts of capital murder in the slayings of 7-year-old Zachary and 32-year-old Krista Stone, whose bodies were found Feb. 24, 2013 at their home on Chicamauga Trail in south Huntsville. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Other issues addressed during the hearing include the defense's request to toss out the indictment against Stone based on an argument that Alabama's death penalty scheme is unconstitutional.

    Defense Attorney Larry Marsili argued the charges should be dropped because the sentencing portion of Alabama's capital statute is unconstitutional. The sentencing scheme, he argued, can't be separated from the portion of the law that lays out charges, so the indictment should be dismissed.

    District Attorney Rob Broussard countered those claims, saying Alabama's death penalty has been upheld by higher courts as constitutional.

    "That issue has already been decided in Alabama a long time ago," Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann told reporters after the hearing. "(It) is constitutional and has already been ruled on."

    Pate said she will review the arguments and issue a written ruling.

    Prosecutors also handed over to the defense a preliminary report on a forensic review of an iPad that was seized around the time of Stone's 2013 arrest.

    During the hearing, prosecutors said materials found on the device include pornography, though they didn't provide details of how it relates to the case.

    Stone's trial is set to begin March 6, though Marsili told reporters it's "extremely unlikely" that will happen.

    Prosecutors said it could take up to a month to get a full report on the findings from the iPad.

    http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/in..._evaluati.html
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  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge rejects request to toss indictment of man charged in south Huntsville double murder

    A judge has made two major rulings in the death penalty case of Stephen Marc Stone, allowing his indictment to stand and naming a doctor to assess if Stone is competent to stand trial.

    Stephen Marc Stone’s lawyers had asked Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate to throw out his capital murder indictment on the grounds that Alabama’s system of letting a judge have the last word in death penalty cases is unconstitutional.

    Stone is charged with fatally strangling his wife, Krista Stone, and drowning their 7-year-old son, Zachary, in February 2013 at their home off Chicamauga Trail in south Huntsville.

    Pate denied the request to toss the indictment Tuesday, citing two Alabama Supreme Court decisions from 2016 that rejected appeals based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst vs. Florida. The high court had found Florida’s death penalty system, which is similar to Alabama’s, unconstitutional.

    Alabama officials have said Alabama’s system is slightly different in key ways and is constitutional.

    But Alabama’s method of deciding death penalty sentences may be changing. The Alabama Senate has voted to end so-called judicial override in death penalty cases and the Alabama House could vote on a similar bill this week.

    Alabama is the last state that allows a judge to overrule a jury recommendation on a capital murder sentence of life in prison or death. If the bills passes, basic procedures in Alabama’s death penalty cases will change.

    Pate also ordered Tuesday that Stone undergo a mental evaluation by Birmingham-based psychologist Alan Blocky, to assess if he is competent stand trial.

    The defense has asked for a competency hearing to determine if Stone understands the charges against him and can assist the defense in his capital murder.

    The defense has also notified the court that it intends to argue that Stone is not guilty by reason of insanity. Under Alabama law, the defense has to show that the defendant’s mental disease or defect was so severe at the time of the crime that he didn’t understand nature or wrongfulness of his actions. Basically, that he didn’t know right from wrong.

    Stone’s trial was set for March, but that has been continued with no new date set. The prosecution and defense must now wait for the doctor’s report on Stone’s competence.

    The bill that passed the Alabama Senate on judicial override is different from the bill waiting for a vote in the Alabama House. The Senate bill requires a unanimous jury verdict, 12-0, after a sentencing hearing in order to sentence a defendant to death.

    The current House version requires 10 jurors – the same as the present system – to approve a death sentence. In the current system, if three jurors vote against a death sentence, the jury has to recommend life without parole. But, the judge could override that.

    In both bills in the legislature, the judge would lose that power and would have to abide by the jury’s decision.

    http://whnt.com/2017/03/01/judge-rej...double-murder/
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  5. #15
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    Judge: Stephen Stone mentally incompetent to stand trial in strangling deaths of wife, son

    By Ashley Remus
    AL.com

    A Madison County Circuit Judge has committed Stephen Stone to the Alabama Department of Mental Health to regain competency to stand trial for killing his wife and young son.

    Based on written reports by doctors, psychologists and a forensic examiner, Judge Donna Pate ruled Stone, 37, of Huntsville, is mentally incompetent to assist in his defense during his death penalty trial, court records show.

    "The court ... hereby finds that the defendant is incompetent, and that there is substantial probability that the defendant will become competent within a reasonable period of time," Pate wrote in court records

    Stone is pursuing an insanity defense
    on two counts of capital murder. He is charged in the slayings of 7-year-old Zachary and 32-year-old Krista Stone, whose bodies were found Feb. 24, 2013 at their home on Chicamauga Trail in south Huntsville. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Because of Stone's mental illness or defect, he "poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to himself or others," Pate wrote in her order.

    Pate is committing Stone to the Department of mental health for further evaluation and treatment, court records show.

    "If treatment is indicated to restore his competency, it should be able to be accomplished within 90 days after his commitment and initiation of treatment," Pate wrote in the order.

    Pate said she will schedule a hearing six months after Stone's commitment.

    Stone was scheduled for trial this past March, but the proceedings were halted pending completion of the mental evaluation, which was requested by the defense team. It's not clear when the case may go to trial.

    http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/in...rt_river_index
    "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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  6. #16
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    March 30, 2018

    Man charged in 2013 killings of wife and son in South Huntsville returned to Madison County from state mental hospital

    BY BRIAN LAWSON
    whnt.com

    HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- More than five years after Stephen Marc Stone was charged with killing his wife and their 7-year-old son in south Huntsville, he could be approaching a trial date.

    The killings of Krista Stone and Zachary Stone shocked neighbors and friends.

    The mystery wasn’t in who killed them – Stone told police he strangled his wife and son at the family’s home after he returned from a long day of driving around the state of Alabama.

    How does a father of three kill his wife and son, spare his two daughters and then turn himself in?

    Stone’s court appearances and his legal team suggested he was suffering from mental illness.

    Last May, Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate ruled Stone – at that point – was not competent to stand trial. She ordered him to the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility in Tuscaloosa for treatment, aimed at making him competent.

    Now, Stone’s back in Madison County. Pate issued orders this week directing that he be transported from the hospital to the Madison County Jail.

    His return means it’s likely that he will soon face a competency hearing. A date has not been set as of Friday afternoon to determine if he understands the court proceedings and can assist in his own defense.

    If so, a trial date will be set.

    And prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    The court has said it has received Stone’s mental evaluation from the state’s Taylor Hardin hospital in Tuscaloosa. The judge’s order this week directs that Madison County Jail staff and affiliated mental health personnel continue Stone’s medication.

    http://whnt.com/2018/03/30/man-charg...ntal-hospital/

  7. #17
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Edited:

    Man's death penalty trial set for 2019 in Huntsville strangling deaths of wife, young son


    By Ashley Remkus
    AL.com

    A death penalty trial is scheduled early next year for a south Huntsville man pursuing an insanity defense in the strangling deaths of his wife and 7-year-old son.

    Stephen Marc Stone is charged with capital murder in the February 2013 killings. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if he's convicted.

    Stone, 38, was one of five capital murder suspects who had hearings in Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate's courtroom this afternoon. Pate scheduled the trial for Jan. 28.

    Stone was just recently released from treatment at the Alabama Department of Mental Health. Pate in May 2017 ruled Stone was incompetent to stand trial. She ordered he be treated to regain competency. The judge hasn't held a rehearing on his competency since he was released from treatment.

    The bodies of 7-year-old Zachary Stone and 32-year-old Krista Stone were found at the family's Chicamauga Trail home in south Huntsville on Feb. 24, 2013. Stephen Stone has been in custody without bail since that day.

    Stone is represented by appointed attorneys Brian Clark and Larry Marsili. Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard and Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann are prosecuting.

    https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/i...untsville.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

  8. #18
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Lawyers ask judge to ban herself from overriding jury's sentence in death penalty case

    By Ashley Remkus
    AL.com

    Defense attorneys are asking Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate to prohibit herself from overriding a jury's sentencing decision in the case of Stephen Marc Stone, who could face the death penalty.

    Stone, 38, is charged with capital murder in the February 2013 killings of his wife and 7-year-old son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if he's convicted.

    A change in state law last year prohibits judges from reversing jury decisions in the sentencing of capital murder convicts. But it's unclear whether the judicial override ban applies to people who were charged before the law changed, Stone's attorneys wrote in court papers. The judicial override ban took effect with Gov. Kay Ivey's signature on April 11, 2017.

    The law "fails to directly address the circumstances here: Specifically, a case where a defendant is charged...prior to April 11, 2017, but neither convicted, nor sentenced before April 11, 2017," defense attorneys Brian Clark and Larry Marsili wrote in court records. "Mr. Stone falls into this gap created by the Statute's ambiguity."

    To protect their client's Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Clark and Marsili are asking the judge to rule before trial whether she will allow herself the choice of overriding the jury's sentence.

    "It is our opinion that this case predates the law and we believe that judicial override still applies," Madison County Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann told AL.com in a recent interview.

    Gann wrote in court records that the judicial override question already has been settled in a separate Madison County capital murder case. Circuit Judge Karen Hall reserved the right to override the jury's sentence in the case of Richard Burgin, a man who, like Stone, was initially charged with capital murder before the law changed. After the jury sentenced Burgin to life without parole, Hall upheld its recommendation.

    Other judges around the state also have reserved the right to override jury verdicts in cases like Stone's. In Colbert County, Circuit Judge Hal Houghston Jr. claimed the final say in the sentencing of Benjamin Young, who recently was sentenced to death.

    Competency questioned

    Judge Pate ruled last year that Stone was incompetent to stand trial and ordered he by treated by mental health professionals. He has been released from treatment and a new competency hearing has been scheduled for August 17.

    "He's been deemed competent by the last doctor that saw him and we believe he will be competent for trial," Gann said.

    If he is deemed competent, Stone is scheduled for trial Jan. 28, 2019.

    He's charged with two counts of capital murder for the slayings of 7-year-old Zachary Stone and 32-year-old Krista Stone. Their bodies were found at the family's Chicamauga Trail home in south Huntsville on Feb. 24, 2013.

    Stephen Stone has been in custody without bail since that day.

    https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/i...dicial_ov.html
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  9. #19
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Suspect in bank robbery murders wants confession, evidence excluded from trial

    Attorneys for the man accused of murdering two bank employees in Conway want Brandon Council’s alleged confession and items found in a vehicle he was seen driving before his arrest to not be allowed as evidence at trial.

    Motions to suppress were filed on July 20th and July 23rd.

    Council faces the death penalty for the murders of Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn “Katie” Skeen, 36, during an armed robbery of the CresCom Bank.

    According to an affidavit written by an FBI special agent, Council confessed to the robbery and told agents “he was desperate, he needed money, and he knew that he was going to hurt somebody that day.”

    Prosecutors have said Council “displayed particular cruelty and callous disregard for human life by shooting both victims, who were unknown to him, multiple times at close range without warning and without provocation or resistance from the victims, in spite of the fact that such violence was not necessary to successfully complete the robbery of the CresCom bank.”

    According to federal court documents filed by Council’s defense, Council’s statements were unconstitutionally obtained in violation of his Miranda rights.

    However, Council was advised of his Miranda rights, according to FBI officials and the recent court documents, and he signed a waiver of those rights.

    Council’s attorneys though are asking a judge to determine if their client fully understood what he was doing when he confessed to the crimes and abandoned his right to not incriminate himself.

    “The prosecution has the burden of proof and must, at a minimum, prove the following: (1) that the defendant relinquished a known right –that is, Mr. Council “fully understood” his rights; and (2) that he was not only aware of the nature of the right being abandoned, but also that he understood the consequences of the decision to abandon it,” court documents said.

    Part of the defense’s motion outlines possible issues of government coercion.

    “A statement is coerced or involuntary if the action of the ‘law enforcement officials was such as to overcome the will to resist and bring about a confession not freely self-determined,’” court documents said.

    Council’s attorneys are also arguing a search warrant used to search a white Mercedes he was believed to be driving when he was arrested in North Carolina was not supported by probable cause because of the issues stemming from the constitutionality of his confession.

    Court documents say numerous items were found in the vehicle, including the gun allegedly used in the deadly bank robbery.

    Council’s attorneys want this evidence suppressed from trial, maintaining that any statements taken from Council and used as probable cause for the search warrant were taken in violation of Council’s Miranda rights and were involuntary.

    http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/387179...ded-from-trail
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  10. #20
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    Man competent for death penalty trial in slayings of wife and 7-year-old son, judge rules

    Stephen Marc Stone has regained mental competency to stand trial in the slayings of his wife and 7-year-old son, a Madison County judge ruled.

    In two orders issued Tuesday, Circuit Judge Donna Pate ruled Stone is competent to stand trial and denied a defense motion to ban judicial override.

    "Neither ruling was a surprise," said Madison County Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann. "We felt confident he would be found competent."

    Pate previously deemed Stone incompetent and ordered he be treated and re-evaluated by mental health professions.

    To again rule on Stone's competency, Pate reviewed reports written by four doctors. The most recent report came in March from Dr. Amber H. Simpler, a clinical psychologist at Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility. Taylor Hardin is part of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, where Stone was treated.

    "Upon consideration of said reports, the court finds that defendant's competency has been restored to him and he is now competent to stand trial," Pate wrote in an order on Tuesday.

    Defense Attorney Larry Marsili said he expected the judge would deem Stone competent for trial. But "because of the previous ruling deeming Mr. Stone incompetent, it was a necessary step of the process," Marsili said in a statement to AL.com. "We will now simply continue on with what we have been doing -- which is preparing to represent Mr. Stone at his trial."

    Stone's trial is set for Jan. 28, 2019 -- nearly six years after his wife and son were killed.

    He is charged with two counts of capital murder for the strangling deaths of 7-year-old Zachary Stone and 32-year-old Krista Stone. Their bodies were found at the family's Chicamauga Trail home in south Huntsville on Feb. 24, 2013.

    The death penalty

    If Stone is convicted, prosecutors will seek the death penalty. The jury will vote on whether he should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Defense attorneys Marsili and Brian Clark filed a motion asking Pate to prohibit herself from exercising judicial override in the case. Judicial override allows judges to reverse juries' sentencing recommendations.

    In a written order on Tuesday, Pate denied the defense motion.

    ..."the Court finds that there is no prohibition against judicial override in this case," Pate wrote.

    The Alabama legislature last year passed a law banning judicial override. But prosecutors say that change doesn't apply to Stone, who was charged before the ban took effect with Gov. Kay Ivey's signature on April 11, 2017.

    The defense attorneys said in court records that the law "fails to directly address the circumstances here: Specifically, a case where a defendant is charged...prior to April 11, 2017, but neither convicted, nor sentenced before April 11, 2017. Mr. Stone falls into this gap created by the Statute's ambiguity."

    Marsili told AL.com the defense was seeking clarification on the judge's position on judicial override.

    https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/i...tsville_1.html
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