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Thread: Andrew Ward Sentenced to Two Life Sentences in 2013 AZ Slaying of Austin Tapia

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    Andrew Ward Sentenced to Two Life Sentences in 2013 AZ Slaying of Austin Tapia


    Austin Tapia


    Andrew Ward


    Death penalty sought against man in boy's death

    Maricopa County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man charged with fatally stabbing his 12-year-old half-brother.

    Prosecutors say 27-year-old Andrew Ward should face the death penalty in the March 12 killing of Austin Tapia because Ward killed a child in an especially cruel manner.

    Investigators say Ward explained his motive by saying, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

    Ward has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in Tapia's death.

    While in jail, Ward was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder in the April 2 death of his cellmate at the Lower Buckeye Jail.

    Investigators say Ward used a golf pencil to stab 33-year-old Douglas Walker in the eyes, beat him and forced a plastic bag and peanut butter sandwich down Walker's throat.

    http://www.sandiego6.com/news/state-news/255013131.html
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    Douglas Walker


    Arizona inmate gouges cellmate’s eyes with golf pencil, kills him, while jailed for murder of 12-year-old brother: police

    A Phoenix man who told police he killed his 12-year-old half brother last month because he “just felt like killing” is now accused of fatally stabbing a cellmate, authorities said Thursday.

    Andrew Ward, 27, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the Wednesday night killing of cellmate Douglas Walker, 33, in a Maricopa County jail in Phoenix, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

    Walker was stabbed in the eyes with a golf pencil, the statement said. His throat was cut with a plastic playing card, he was beaten, and his head was smeared with peanut butter. Paramedics later discovered that his breathing passages were obstructed by a plastic bag and a peanut butter sandwich that was forced down Walker’s throat, the Sheriff’s Office said.

    Sheriff Joe Arpaio said at a news conference Thursday that despite Ward’s reported indifference in the killing of his half brother, psychiatric experts had evaluated him when he was brought to jail and cleared him.

    “We have about 400 alleged murderers in our jails,” the sheriff said. “Do you think I have room to give every alleged murderer a private room? No.”

    Officers discovered Walker’s injuries when they went to the locked cell after inmates said there was a fight, the Sheriff’s Office said.

    Ward immediately admitted to detectives that he had choked and beaten Walker, the statement said. “Ward told sheriff’s detectives that he had no regrets for the attack,” it said.

    Ward previously pleaded not guilty in the March 12 killing of his half brother, Austin Tapio. Ward was arrested after calling 911 from a convenience store near his family’s home. The boy had multiple stab wounds.

    Police said when asked why he killed the boy, Ward said, “Honestly, I just felt like killing.”

    It wasn’t clear why Ward had a cellmate given his recent history of violence. When he was arrested in the sibling killing, police said Ward asked to go to a mental hospital and not jail.

    “That is the million-dollar question,” said Walker’s attorney, Diego Rodriguez, adding that he had yet to hear from the Sheriff’s Office about his client’s death.

    “He certainly didn’t deserve an end like this. I am shocked and saddened by it,” Rodriguez said.

    Marci Kratter, Ward’s defense lawyer in the March killing, declined to comment on the new allegations. “I have very little information at this time,” she said.

    The Sheriff’s Office said Ward and Walker had been housed together the past three weeks in the Lower Buckeye Jail.

    “Prior to the March arrest, Ward had been in jail on 11 different occasions since 2006 with no major disciplinary problems or notable institutional history,” the office’s statement said.

    According to court records, Walker had been in custody since November and was awaiting an April 11 sentencing after he pleaded guilty last month to armed robbery.

    Walker and an accomplice were accused of robbing a man in a fast-food restaurant’s parking lot last September, threatening him with a knife and an air rifle. They demanded money from the victim and took his iPhone, which they later tried to sell, court documents show.

    Rodriguez said his client was looking at a presumptive prison sentence of 3 1/2 years.

    “He was anxious to get that behind him and move on,” Rodriguez said.

    In mid-January, an inmate at the same jail was fatally beaten and stabbed with a small pencil by his cellmate.

    The Sheriff’s Office said Nike Black is charged with killing John Klatt and that the two had no known previous conflicts.

    Klatt, 50, was awaiting trial on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, while Black, 20, faced charges of domestic violence, assault and criminal trespassing. Black now also faces a murder charge.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...#ixzz2ygRfXmNS
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    2016 trial set for Phoenix man in boy's death

    A March 2016 trial date has been set for a Phoenix man charged with fatally stabbing his 12-year-old half-brother.

    Authorities say 27-year-old Andrew Ward killed Austin Tapia on March 12 and explained his motive by saying, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Ward pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in Tapia's death.

    While in a Maricopa County jail, Ward was charged with first-degree murder in the April 2 death of his cellmate.

    Investigators say Ward used a golf pencil to stab 33-year-old Douglas Walker in the eyes, beat him and forced a plastic bag and peanut butter sandwich down Walker's throat.

    Ward has pleaded not guilty in Walker's death.

    No trial date has been set in that case.

    http://www.timesunion.com/news/crime...th-5473254.php
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    Death penalty sought in Phoenix jail killing

    PHOENIX (AP) - Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man accused of killing his cellmate in a Maricopa County jail while he was incarcerated on another murder charge.

    The Maricopa County Attorney's Office says Andrew Ward, 27, should face the death penalty in the April 2 death of cellmate Douglas Walker, 33, because Ward carried out the killing with gratuitous violence and in an especially cruel manner.

    Investigators say Ward stabbed Walker, beat him and forced a plastic bag down Walker's throat.

    Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty against Ward in the March 12 fatal stabbing of his 12-year-old half-brother.

    Investigators say Ward explained his motive in his half-brother's death by saying, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

    Ward has pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases.

    http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/25...x-jail-killing
    "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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    Phoenix man pleads not guilty in deaths of half-brother, cellmate

    The Phoenix man accused of murdering his 12-year-old half-brother and then his cellmate pleaded not guilty to three charges on Thursday.

    Andrew Ward, 27, will go through court proceedings to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial in connection with the murders of Austin Tapia, 12, and Douglas William Walker, 33.

    Tapia was stabbed to death in March in his north Phoenix home where he lived with Ward and his family.

    Ward contacted police following the stabbing and said that he had killed someone, a Phoenix police spokesman said on the day of the incident. Police said they found Ward in a convenience store with blood on his clothes.

    When Ward was questioned by police detectives, he said, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

    Three weeks later, Walker, Ward's cellmate, was found dead after being beaten and stabbed with a golf pencil, Maricopa County Sheriff's records show.

    Ward admitted to a play-by-play of the attack in an interview with detectives and told investigators that he had "no regrets," according to a sheriff's statement.

    Ward told detectives that he had cut Walker's throat with a plastic playing card, stabbed him in the eyes and throat with a golf pencil and stuffed a plastic bag down his throat, according to a sheriff's statement.

    Following the attack on Walker, Ward was put into closed custody, where he remains isolated for 23 hours a day and must be transported by two or more detention officers when he is out of his cell, records show.

    If ruled competent, Ward will continue with court proceedings. If ruled incompetent, he will either be treated by medication or transported to a behavioral health center.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty
    , records show.

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...abrk/10883933/
    "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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    Reports: Inmate says he heard voices before attack

    An inmate accused of fatally beating and stabbing his cellmate in a Phoenix-area jail told investigators that he heard voices just before the attack telling him "it's either him or me," according to police reports.

    The reports quote Andrew Ward, who was in jail on charges of killing his 12-year-old half brother. According to the reports, Ward said cellmate Douglas Walker had challenged him to a fight and he heard a voice saying, "It's a death warrant; it's either him or me."

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the 27-year-old in the April 2 death of Walker and the March 12 fatal stabbing of his half brother, Austin Tapio.

    Ward is accused of stabbing Walker's eyes with pencils, trying to cut his throat with a hard plastic card and blocking his breathing passages by jamming a plastic bag containing a peanut butter sandwich down his throat. Investigators said Ward confessed to the killing.

    Ward has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Walker and his young relative. He is undergoing mental health examinations to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

    Ward's attorney, Marci Kratter, declined to comment on the reports, which were released this week in response to a public records request.

    Investigators say Ward explained his motive in his half brother's death by saying, "Honestly, I just felt like killing."

    A review by The Associated Press of more than 700 pages of police reports shows that a few inmates believed Ward had some sort of mental health issue and Walker had been trying to move to another cell. The inmates also believed jailers were putting patients with psychological issues together with patients who didn't have mental health problems.

    The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that health privacy laws prevent it from publicly discussing Ward's mental health but the office has a policy of putting in isolation inmates who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others. The agency said Ward gave no such indications of immediate danger.

    "If he was not actively making statements or physically showing signs of being a danger to himself or others, he would not be placed in isolation as there is no reason to justify it," the agency said in statement.

    A day after Walker's death, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said that despite Ward's alleged indifference in the killing of his half brother, psychiatric experts had evaluated him when he was brought to jail and cleared him.

    "We have about 400 alleged murderers in our jails," the sheriff had said. "Do you think I have room to give every alleged murderer a private room? No."

    Joel Robbins, an attorney representing Walker's family, said the sheriff's office had no business giving Ward a cellmate, considering his recent history of violence.

    "That's a guy who gets his own cell," Robbins said. "You could grouse about him getting special treatment, but that is a guy who needs special treatment."

    Walker, 33, had been in custody since November and was awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to armed robbery.

    In mid-January, an inmate at the same jail was fatally beaten and stabbed with a small pencil.

    (Source: The Bellingham Herald)
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    Family asked for PD one day before boy was killed

    Police and 911 calls show Andrew Ward's family was worried about his actions the day before the Phoenix man allegedly stabbed his 12-year-old brother to death.

    Whoever called the police that day was scared…and young.

    The caller is unidentified in the tape, but It is a girl's voice, asking the dispatcher to send an officer to her house. She was worried about her brother, Andrew Ward, 27.

    "He, like, is really mentally unstable," the girl told the dispatcher. "We're afraid he bought something that could possibly harm us."

    The caller said the family was worried Ward might have a gun and wouldn't let anyone in his room. She wanted an officer to come search Ward's room. But the dispatcher seems to argue with the girl over whether an officer is needed.

    "I can put an officer to you," the dispatcher, identified only as Nicole, tells the caller, 'but I can't guarantee they're just going to go in and search his room because he's not doing anything. He hasn't committed a crime, he's not threatening you guys, he's not doing anything. He's just sitting in his room."

    "Ok," the girl replies, "I guess I'll have to wait till he does something."

    The next day Andrew Ward called 911, telling the dispatcher he had stabbed his little brother in the neck, chest and head.

    "Honestly I just felt like killing," he told a different dispatcher.

    Pierce Murphy is the former president of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. He listened to the calls and said the dispatcher seemed to be screening the call instead of just gathering information for officers.

    "I would say it's not a best practice to have dispatchers talking people out of wanting to have an officer come to their home," Murphy said.

    But 12 News security consultant Paul Penzone, a former Phoenix police officer, said the dispatcher was technically correct. Based on the description she was given, Ward had done nothing wrong.

    "You're asking a dispatcher and an officer to see into the future," Penzone said. "Could it have been prevented? I don't know, I don't know if an officer had gone out there if it would have even prevented what occurred. This was a mentally ill issue and it's a shame that it happened."

    Andrew Ward is charged with murder in the death of Austin Tapia.

    Days after he was arrested sheriff's deputies say Ward stabbed his cellmate to death with a golf pencil.

    Phoenix police refused multiple requests for interviews about the call, but sent a statement.

    "Our operators 'screen' several million calls per year and follow our policies, directives, and their experience to dispatch officers when they believe it is necessary. If we all had the benefit of hindsight, of course we would have liked to seen a different outcome in this case."

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...lice/22075437/
    "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. #8
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    Phoenix man pleads guilty to killing brother and cellmate

    By Jacques Billeaud
    Associated Press

    PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona man has pleaded guilty to murder charges in the fatal stabbing of his 12-year-old half brother and in a deadly attack weeks later on his cellmate in metro Phoenix's jail system.
    The plea spares Andrew Ward, 30, the death penalty in a case that raised questions about whether the inmate who was killed should have been paired with a dangerous roommate.

    Ward, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder charges in the 2014 deaths of his half brother, Austin Tapio, and cellmate, 33-year-old Douglas Walker. His plea deal calls for consecutive natural life sentence on each murder conviction, meaning he won't get a chance at parole.

    Authorities say Ward called a 911 operator from a convenience store near the family's Phoenix home in March 2014 to say that he had stabbed his half brother and told the operator, when asked why he stabbed the child, "Honestly I just felt like killing." Police later found the boy's body in a bedroom at the home.

    Three weeks later, investigators say Ward stabbed Walker's eyes with golf pencils, tried to cut his throat with a hard plastic card and blocked his breathing passages by jamming a plastic bag containing a peanut butter sandwich down his throat. Ward later told investigators that he heard voices just before the attack telling him, "It's a death warrant; it's either him or me," according to police reports.

    In the criminal cases, Ward underwent mental health evaluations to determine if he was psychologically fit to help in his defense. Lawyers on both sides of the murder cases eventually agreed Ward was mentally competent, and judge concluded Ward needed medication to remain psychologically fit.

    A wrongful-death lawsuit by Walker's family raises questions about whether he should have been sharing a cell at Maricopa County's Lower Buckeye Jail with an inmate who had mental health issues and a propensity for violence.

    Walker's death occurred as then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio was operating jails in metro Phoenix. Arpaio, who was ousted in last year's election, had been criticized for enacting harsh policies within his jails. Over the years, Arpaio's office has been accused of not properly evaluating the danger level of inmates.

    Marci Kratter, one of Ward's attorneys, said the case reflects the tragedy of how society treats people with mental health issues. "If Maricopa County was doing what is was supposed to do when they took him into custody and put him in a psychiatric unit, then Mr. Walker wouldn't have died," Kratter said.

    Parts of the lawsuit were dismissed in a ruling last month, but other legal claims - including a wrongful death allegation - made by Walker's family can move forward in court.

    After Walker's death, Arpaio said psychiatric experts had evaluated Ward when he was brought to jail and cleared him, despite Ward's actions in the death of his half brother. "We have about 400 alleged murderers in our jails," Arpaio said in 2014. "Do you think

    I have room to give every alleged murderer a private room? No."

    At the time of the deadly jail attack, Walker was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to armed robbery.

    ruling last month said Walker and Ward were both classified as maximum-security inmates because of the nature of their crimes and were put into protective custody at the jail.
    Ward is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.

    http://www.azfamily.com/story/362217...r-and-cellmate
    "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

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Ward got two life sentences on 9/29/2017.

    https://corrections.az.gov/public-re...ate-datasearch

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