[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----DEL., MISS., OHIO, OKLA., COLO., CALIF., ORE.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 13



DELAWARE:

Md. court orders Burton to Del. for murder trial


The suspect in the killing of Nicole Bennett of Millsboro, last seen alive at 
the Sussex County church where she was a day care provider, must be moved from 
Maryland to Delaware to face trial, a Maryland appellate court has ruled.

Matthew Burton, 30, had fought his extradition to Delaware from a jail cell in 
Snow Hill, Maryland. After a county court denied his request to bar 
extradition, he appealed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, which heard 
his case earlier this year.

Burton has already been shuttled between the 2 states since his arrest in July 
2012, several days after Bennett's body was found in a ditch beside a rural 
road. Bennett, a married mother of three children, worked and worshipped at Bay 
Shore Community Church in Gumboro, where Burton was a maintenance worker. She 
was reported missing by her husband when she didn't return home from work the 
night of June 14, and her body was discovered June 15 in Worcester County, 
Maryland, a few miles from the Delaware border and not far from the church.

Weeks later, investigators narrowed their focus to Burton who had been 
considered a low-risk sex offender following a 2004 conviction in Delaware - 
and apprehended him as he was driving with his family near Rehoboth Beach. 
Detectives found a ski mask, nylon rope and gloves under a seat in his pickup 
truck, according to court documents.

Until August 2012, Burton was detained in Sussex Correctional Institution. But 
Maryland authorities got Delaware prosecutors to agree to an extradition, which 
Burton unsuccessfully opposed. He was sent to the Snow Hill jail that August, 
all the while maintaining his innocence with not-guilty pleas.

Maryland prosecutors obtained an indictment of Burton on murder, rape and 
kidnapping charges and set about seeking the death penalty if he was convicted. 
Maryland, however, repealed the death penalty with a law Gov. Martin O'Malley 
signed on May 2, 2013, before Burton's trial began.

Later that month, according to the Oct. 8 Court of Special Appeals ruling, the 
Worcester County, Maryland, prosecutor, Beau Oglesby, informed Burton he would 
be tried in Delaware, not Maryland, and Delaware authorities had told him 
they'd press it as a capital case. Only if Burton pleaded guilty to 1st-degree 
murder and 1st-degree rape, accepting 2 life sentences without a chance of 
parole, would he avoid extradition to Delaware.

Burton declined the plea offer and opposed the move to send him back to 
Delaware. He lost in Worcester County Circuit Court, but appealed to the 
next-highest court and remained in Maryland during that appeal.

The Court of Special Appeals, in its new ruling, said the governors of Maryland 
and Delaware filled out the proper paperwork to make the extradition happen, 
with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signing a "warrant of rendition" and O'Malley 
complying with it. Burton had objected because some extradition papers said he 
was in Wicomico County, Maryland, a neighboring county to Worcester, but the 
court said those were merely typos that didn't invalidate the warrant.

The court also denied Burton's assertion that since he was taken to Maryland in 
custody in the first place, he shouldn't count as a "fugitive" subject to 
extradition.

It is possible, the court ruled, that Delaware's delay in starting Burton's 
prosecution denied him a constitutional right to a speedy trial, but the 
Maryland court ruled that question must be settled in Delaware courts after 
Burton is sent here. That claim "would not materialize until after he has gone 
to trial and been sentenced," the court said.

Finally, the court said, the fact that Burton's trial venue shifted only after 
Maryland abandoned the death penalty "is a significant backdrop to his 
vindictive prosecution argument." But, the court said, Burton failed to prove 
"actual vindictiveness" on the part of Maryland prosecutors.

(source: delawareonline.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

AG's office wants rape conviction appeal of Mississippi death row inmate thrown 
out


The attorney general's office is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to throw 
out Charles Ray Crawford's appeal of his 1994 rape conviction.

Crawford, now 48, is currently on Mississippi's death row for the 1992 slaying 
of Kristy Ray in the Chalybeate community in Tippah County.

In his appeal, Crawford claims he received ineffective counsel to defend 
himself against the rape charges, which were used by prosecutors to seek in the 
death penalty in Ray's death.

The attorney general argues in documents filed Monday that Crawford got a fair 
trial.

If the state Supreme Court upholds Crawford's conviction in the earlier case, 
Hood could again petition the court to set an execution date. Crawford's 
lawyers argue that the death sentence would be negated if the conviction is 
reversed.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Group opposing death penalty plans Bluffton forum Tuesday


Ohioans to Stop Executions will hold a forum on death penalty reform from 7 to 
9 p.m. Tuesday.

The forum will bring to the First Mennonite Church of Bluffton Terry Collins, 
the former state prison director; Derrick Jamison, who survived nearly 20 years 
on death row before being exonerated and set free in 2005; Charles Keith, whose 
brother was on death row before his sentence was commuted; and Jon Paul Rion, a 
member of the Ohio Supreme Court Joint Task Force to review the administration 
of the death penalty.

The panel will discuss reform recommendations issued by the task force that is 
reviewing the administration of the death penalty in Ohio. The church is at 101 
S. Jackson St., Bluffton.

(source: limaohio.com)






OKLAHOMA:

Family of executed inmate plans to sue governor, executioners


The family of Clayton Derrell Lockett, whose bungled April execution pushed 
Oklahoma to the forefront of a national debate over the death penalty, plans to 
sue Gov. Mary Fallin and various members of the state's execution team, 
claiming Lockett's lethal injection violated his civil rights.

The family of a convicted murderer killed by the state in a controversial 
execution plans to sue Gov. Mary Fallin and members of the execution team, 
claiming the procedure violated the inmate???s civil rights, attorneys for the 
family said.

Attorneys representing the family of Clayton Derrell Lockett have prepared a 
complaint against Fallin, the three executioners involved in his execution, and 
the manufacturers of the drugs used to kill him, among others, claiming they 
violated Lockett's Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual 
punishment.

Attorneys on Monday said they planned to file a lawsuit "imminently" in federal 
court in Oklahoma City.

The complaint, shared Monday be attorneys, also calls his execution "a 
violation of innumerable standards of international law, and a violation of 
elementary concepts of human decency."

"In a spectacle rarely seen in the 'civilized' world, Clayton Lockett writhed 
in agony, convulsed, gasped for breath, moaned repeatedly and took 
approximately 43 minutes to die at the hands of the Defendants," attorneys for 
the estate of Clayton Lockett wrote.

Lockett was put to death by the state in April for the 1999 murder of Stephanie 
Neiman. Lockett and two accomplices kidnapped Neiman, who was 19 at the time of 
her death, and a friend after the pair showed up at a house they were in the 
process of robbing.

The 3 men took Neiman and her friend, as well as the man they were robbing and 
his infant son, to a secluded area outside Perry, where Lockett shot Neiman 
with a shotgun. After refusing to shoot her a 3rd time, Lockett had his 2 
accomplices bury her alive.

Lockett's execution made international headlines after the procedure went awry, 
and state Corrections Department officials closed the blinds in the death 
chamber and escorted media from the room.

(source: The Oklahoman)

**********************

Why Oklahoma wants to delay 3 executions


Oklahoma's attorney general is seeking to delay 3 upcoming executions, 
including 2 set for next month, saying that the state needs more time to obtain 
drugs and train staff on new lethal injection protocols put in place after an 
execution went awry in April.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a notice late Friday seeking to delay the 
executions of Richard Eugene Glossip, John Marion Grant and Charles Warner 
until 2015. Warner had been originally scheduled to die on April 29 - the same 
night that inmate Clayton Lockett writhed and moaned on the gurney, prompting 
the state to put all executions on hold until a review was conducted.

Warner's new execution date is Nov. 13, but Pruitt said in the court filing 
that Oklahoma does not have the necessary drugs or commitments from medical 
personnel to carry out the execution.

"The state does not want to rush implementation of this new training program, 
especially so soon after revision of the execution protocol," Pruitt wrote. 
"The additional requested time for all 3 executions will allow (the Oklahoma 
Department of Corrections) sufficient time in which to obtain the necessary 
drugs and medical personnel and to fully and thoroughly train each member of 
the new execution team."

An attorney representing the death row inmates had no immediate comment Monday 
on the filing.

A review from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety blamed an improperly 
placed intravenous line for the troubles in Lockett's execution.

The botched execution of Clayton Lockett helped reignite debate over the death 
penalty in the US. As The Christian Science Monitor reported:

The death penalty no longer has quite the unassailable support it once had in 
Oklahoma, especially not in the state's courts, as a national battle over the 
legality of lethal injection has washed into the state's courtrooms.

In recent months, a pitched battle has arisen between opponents and supporters 
of capital punishment over whether states have the right to use lethal 
injection drugs from sources they decline to name. States have been reaching 
out to such pharmacies over the past few months, after the European 
manufacturer of the most common drug used in the procedure cut off supplies to 
death houses.

Death penalty opponents have leveraged the issue of states using secret 
suppliers' drugs - which opponents say could be of poor quality, bringing 
unconstitutional suffering to the condemned - to get bigger questions about the 
legality and ethics of capital punishment back into courtrooms.

(source: Christian Science Monitor)






COLORADO:

Sir Mario Owens: False Evidence in Death-Penalty Case a "New Low," Defense 
Claims


Determined to demonstrate just how far he believed Arapahoe County prosecutors 
had strayed over the line in the effort to obtain the death penalty against his 
client, defense attorney Jim Castle resorted to a visual aid. During a hearing 
late Friday, he presented District Judge Gerald Rafferty with a wheeled cart 
piled with documents that he said prosecutors were obligated to turn over to 
the defense before trial but failed to do so - a transgression of due-process 
rights known as a Brady violation.

"There are so many violations in this case, I can't cover them all," Castle 
said. "How did this happen? This shouldn't happen. If it's allowed, we will 
accept a new low for justice in Colorado."

Castle's plea capped 2 weeks of convoluted - and, at times, disturbing - 
testimony and argument in an evidentiary hearing over whether government 
misconduct tainted the 2008 death sentence imposed on Sir Mario Owens. Along 
with co-defendant Robert Ray, Owens was convicted of the murders of Javad 
Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, in 2005; Marshall-Fields had 
been expected to testify against the 2 men in another homicide investigation.

Both Ray and Owens were tried in an atmosphere of intense security, with highly 
limited defense access to witnesses - measures that prosecutors from the 
Eighteenth Judicial District insisted were necessary to protect witnesses from 
reprisals. But defense attorneys contend that the cloak of secrecy also 
concealed improper "incentives" that prosecutors offered to key witnesses - 
everything from highly favorable plea deals on criminal charges to grocery 
store gift cards, lodging and even a car provided to 1 witness - and failed to 
disclose to the defense.

In addition to being required to turn over discovery materials to the defense, 
the district attorney's office also has a duty to "correct" any testimony 
offered that prosecutors know (or "should have known") to be false or perjury. 
That can be a daunting challenge given the amount of paperwork and potential 
leads developed in a sprawling capital case, especially one in which many 
witnesses are reluctant to testify and deeply involved in criminal activities 
themselves. But it's a challenge that the Owens prosecutors failed miserably, 
Castle argued, failing to turn over relevant impeachment materials that the 
defense didn't receive, in many instances, until years after the trials.

"These kinds of cases are what our community looks at to see if our processes 
are fair," Castle noted. "We have twelve jurors who imposed a death sentence. 
They're going to find out they didn't have all the information they should have 
had."

Several of the government's witnesses at trial were jailhouse informants who 
were trading information for freedom or reduced sentences. Among the key 
contentions of the Owens defense:

--Robert Ray's wife, LaToya Sailor, testified that she wasn't willing to come 
forward about what she knew until after Owens was arrested because she feared 
Owens would harm her son. Despite the fact that police documents indicate 
Sailor was already cooperating with authorities prior to Owens' arrest, 
prosecutors made her supposed need to be protected from Owens "an issue in the 
case" and hammered away at it to the jury. Another document withheld from the 
defense indicated Sailor, the beneficiary of a car from then-District Attorney 
Carol Chambers, had initially offered to assist in an accessory case against 
Ray but didn't want to tie him directly to the Marshall-Fields shooting. (Ray 
was sentenced to death for Marshall-Fields's murder and received a life 
sentence for Wolfe's death.)

--Witness Mark Johnson was facing two counts of conspiracy to commit murder if 
he failed to cooperate in the Ray-Owens prosecution, but defense attorneys 
weren't made aware of that possible motivation or how it might have shaped his 
testimony.

--Greg Strickland, the only witness to identify Owens as the shooter of 
Marshall-Fields and Wolfe, testified that he'd received no assistance in any of 
his own cases in return for his testimony. But records indicate he received a 
plea deal in Adams County in exchange for his cooperation.

Deputy District Attorney Ann Tomsic denied any misconduct by her office, saying 
that the defense had failed to demonstrate that any of the witnesses had 
actually offered false testimony. That people in jail want to cut deals to get 
out "goes without saying," she added, and it was the jury's duty to weigh the 
credibility of those witnesses. Tomsic also pointed out that court rulings 
restricted the prosecution's ability to elicit information from witnesses about 
the arrangements made for them out of concern for their safety.

But Castle described the prosecution's approach to the high-stakes, 
high-profile case as a win-at-all-costs strategy that ignored constitutional 
requirements. "It's 'I'm not going to look, and I'm not going to find, so I 
don't have to turn information over to the defense,'" he said. While the 
procedural violations the defense focused on had little to do with the actual 
guilt or innocence of Ray and Owens, Castle cited extensive case law stressing 
that the "how" of due process matters as much in the American legal system as 
the "why."

He blasted the Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney's Office for failing to 
have imposed standard protocols for turning over discovery and for prosecutors 
to inspect police files in a capital case; one ongoing issue in the case has to 
do with evidence in the possession of the Aurora Police Department that wasn't 
turned over to prosecutors in a timely manner. (As we've previously reported, 
the Owens-Ray case isn't the only death-penalty case pursued by former DA 
Chambers that has been dogged by claims of prosecutorial misconduct and 
withheld evidence.)

"The vast majority of prosecutors in this state take their disclosure 
obligations seriously," Castle said. "The Owens case is rare."

Although the government-misconduct phase of the hearing is now over, additional 
hearings are scheduled on the issue of whether Owens received effective 
assistance of counsel, with no rulings expected for months. Ray is also 
appealing his conviction.

(source: Denver Westword)






CALIFORNIA:

Death for all 3 of them?----Alleged murderers and torturers of Brittany 
Killgore face ultimate penalty


Louis Ray Perez, 48, Dorothy Gracemarie Maraglino, 39, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 
27, were all in court on Friday, October 10. The defendants deny all 
accusations pertaining to the kidnapping, torturing, and murder of a Marine's 
wife in San Diego County more than 2 years ago.

A judge said he hoped to know in 2 months if the district attorney's office 
intends to pursue the death penalty against any of 3 defendants.

Judge K. Michael Kirkman noted on the record again that this is a "special 
circumstances" case in which the prosecutor has alleged crimes that make the 
defendants eligible for the ultimate penalty.

The body of Brittany Dawn Killgore, 22, was found dumped on the side of a road 
in a neighboring county 4 days after she went missing in 2012. On April 13 of 
that year, the young woman reportedly got into a car with defendant Perez; 13 
minutes later she texted the word "HELP" to a friend, according to evidence 
presented at a preliminary hearing more than a year ago.

The apartment where Killgore lived was 1 mile from the home in downtown 
Fallbrook where horrific acts of torture allegedly occurred, according to 
prosecutor Patrick Espinoza.

Perez was an active-duty Marine based at Camp Pendleton when he was arrested in 
connection with this case.

Also during the hearing, an attorney for Lopez requested the court to release 
records obtained from a pregnancy clinic where Maraglino had received care. And 
an attorney for Perez requested copies of the psychiatric records of Lopez. The 
judge made a private assessment of those subpoenaed records and then released 
some records and delayed the release of others.

Each defendant is held in lieu of $3 million bail, pleads not guilty to all 
charges, and is next expected in court on December 12.

(source: San Diego Reader)






OREGON:

Oregon State Police detective's 'egregious misconduct' in Pedersen case 
triggers review of more cases


2 months after a federal judge slammed Oregon State Police and Detective Dave 
Steele for "egregious misconduct" in investigating white supremacist killer 
David "Joey" Pedersen, the law enforcement agency has yet to say how it plans 
to respond.

State police officials said they are "unable to communicate with the 
transparency necessary" about Senior U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty's 
censure because they need to finish their personnel investigation of Steele and 
wait for the FBI and a Seattle-based federal prosecutor to complete a criminal 
inquiry.

But they said last week they are working with state justice officials to review 
policies that may "directly or indirectly" relate to the problems identified by 
Haggerty.

The judge in a 63-page supervisory opinion lambasted both Steele's misconduct 
and federal prosecutors' "laissez-faire" approach to their legal obligations in 
the Pedersen case.

Steele has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and 
has not commented about the case or the judge's findings. He has been on paid 
administrative leave since December and continues to collect his $5,695 monthly 
salary.

The lack of a public response from state police has fueled concern that the 
alleged misconduct in the Pedersen case could extend to other cases. District 
attorneys are checking past cases ??? including the 2008 Woodburn bank bombing 
- for the role that Steele played in those prosecutions. And defense attorneys 
are similarly leafing through cases, looking for signs of tainted 
investigations.

The judge's opinion is "a confirmation of what many of us have suspected for a 
long time," said Russell Barnett, a well-known criminal defense attorney in 
Portland.

Barnett said state police are perceived at times to be withholding information 
- one of the criticisms that the judge levied. "It's hard to imagine (Steele) 
was one rogue," Barnett said. "There had to be other people aware of it."

Pedersen case nearly unraveled

Haggerty issued the nonbinding opinion on the same day he sentenced Pedersen to 
2 life terms for the October 2011 carjacking deaths of Cody Faye Myers, 19, of 
Lafayette and Reginald Alan Clark, 53, of Eureka, Calif. The men were both 
killed after agreeing to give Pedersen and accomplice Holly Grigsby a ride. The 
2 had already killed Pedersen's father and stepmother in Washington state, as 
they embarked on what they called their white supremacist "revolution."

OSP statement

In response to the supervisory opinion received from U.S. District Court Judge 
Ancer Haggerty, the Department of Oregon State Police is developing a course of 
action to assertively respond to the concerns raised. On account of the pending 
investigations and the related findings raised by both the U.S. Attorney???s 
Office and U.S. District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty, the Department is at this 
time unable to communicate with the transparency necessary to provide clear 
understanding of the questions raised. The Department will provide additional 
information to the public at the appropriate time upon completion of the 
pending investigations. We anticipate this response will be available to the 
public upon its completion and delivery to Judge Haggerty.

Detective Steele was removed from his police officer duties and has remained on 
paid administrative leave since December 16, 2013. He will remain on paid 
administrative leave status until the conclusion of the investigations and is 
receiving his current monthly salary of $5695.38.

The Department is working with the Oregon Department of Justice as we closely 
evaluate Judge Haggerty???s findings. The Department conducts routine review of 
policy and training to meet public safety standards and best practices. In this 
circumstance, the Department is reviewing policies and training that may 
directly or indirectly be related to this matter. The Department is committed 
to making necessary changes, in addition to providing essential training.

The Oregon State Police appreciates the assistance provided by the Department 
of Justice and will continue to work closely with them as this matter 
progresses. The Department is committed to ensuring our employees understand 
the legal parameters required when working with our federal, state and local 
prosecutors in all phases of the judiciary process.

Despite the couple's open admission of guilt, the case nearly unraveled.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon brought federal racketeering and violent 
offense charges against the 2 with the death penalty on the table. Steele, a 
trooper in the Oregon State Police major crimes division since 2006, became the 
lead investigator.

Then 44, Steele was recognized by his supervisors that year for his 
professionalism, work ethic and investigative skills. "I refer to his work 
ethic as akin to that of a draft horse, constantly pulling its load to the 
end," a supervisor wrote in his performance review.

But as Pedersen and Grigsby's cases progressed, defense attorneys were finding 
large gaps in evidence that the government was supposed to turn over. Over a 
series of months, Pedersen's attorneys pressed the prosecutors for photos from 
crime scenes and other evidence they knew existed but could not locate.

Reports of interviews that Steele conducted with Pedersen's family were not 
turned over to prosecutors for 2 years - who then belatedly turned them over to 
defense attorneys. Steele claimed state police policy called for keeping family 
interviews - which include information relevant to death-penalty proceedings - 
separate from investigative reports that relate to guilt or innocence. In state 
cases, defendants are tried 1st and then undergo a death-penalty proceeding, 
while in federal cases, the decision whether to seek the death penalty precedes 
trial.

Finally, in December 2013, a staffer with the U.S. Attorney's Office went to 
visit Steele at his office in Salem. She discovered dozens of boxes worth of 
evidence - some of which had never been logged - as well as recordings of 
confidential legal calls between Pedersen and his defense team members.

She also found a letter from Pedersen's sister referring to photos she had sent 
Steele. Although a shredded evidence receipt for the pictures was later found, 
the photos - which Haggerty said could have been favorable to Pedersen in a 
death-penalty proceeding ??? have never been located.

Steele was removed from duty and placed on administrative leave. Shortly after, 
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declined to seek the death penalty for 
Pedersen and Grigsby. Salem Police began investigating possible misconduct by 
Steele. Although the Marion County District Attorney's Office decided against 
bringing charges, federal authorities opted to launch their own investigation.

Haggerty noted Steele's failures in his opinion, finding that he lied to 
prosecutors, backdated evidence receipts, listened in to confidential legal 
calls and destroyed evidence. The judge also devoted a large section to 
failures by the federal prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jane Shoemaker, 
Hannah Horsley and Kelly Zusman, in fulfilling their legal obligations to check 
the evidence being shared and disclose the receipt of confidential 
communications between defendant and legal teams.

But he also targeted state police for their policy of withholding so-called 
death-penalty interviews, calling it "unlawful under any reasonable 
interpretation of Oregon law." He urged the state Justice Department to train 
state police on attorney-client privilege and to conduct an audit of past cases 
handled by Steele to ensure those cases were "based upon sound and complete 
evidence."

The Justice Department has said it will conduct a review, although spokeswoman 
Kristina Edmunson would not say if it has started.

"DOJ was not a party in the case, however, we have taken the Judge's concerns 
very seriously," Edmunson said. She said the department will offer training on 
attorney-client privilege issues and has tentatively planned 2 sessions in 
December.

In a recent phone interview, Haggerty said he was "hopeful certain things would 
be done," saying his concerns about the conduct prompted the extensive opinion. 
But he acknowledged the criminal investigation as a reason the agencies are not 
moving more quickly. He said Oregon State Police has not sent him any letter or 
email acknowledging his opinion.

Case reviews underway

Some in the legal community are pressing forward with their own reviews of 
previous cases.

Paul Frasier, the Coos County district attorney and president of the Oregon 
District Attorneys Association, emailed a copy of the judge's opinion to his 
members the morning after it came out. A few days later, he forwarded them a 
state police list of Steele-related cases and the counties where they occurred.

The vast majority of the cases that Steele contributed to - at least 150 since 
2008 - were handled by the Marion County District Attorney's Office, according 
to the list.

Those cases are being pulled and assigned to the original prosecutor to review 
for irregularities, said Paige Clarkson, a Marion County deputy district 
attorney. Prosecutors will get to them as they have time, she said.

Among the cases Steele worked was the 2008 Woodburn bank bombing, considered 
the state's most expensive death-penalty case with defendants, 4 
court-appointed attorneys, 3 prosecutors and several expert witnesses flown in 
from as far away as Iraq for the nearly 3-month-long trial.

Steele's role included interviewing friends and family members of the two 
defendants, father and son Bruce and Joshua Turnidge, according to documents 
obtained by The Oregonian. Those interviews were particularly key as jurors 
weighed whether to support the death penalty for the 2 men for the bank bombing 
that killed 2 police officers and critically wounded a 3rd. The Turnidges have 
been sentenced to death.

Katie Suver, one of the deputy district attorneys who prosecuted the Turnidge 
case, said she has not yet reviewed the files to determine the full extent of 
Steele's involvement. But she said she is confident that his contributions did 
not affect how the case was prosecuted.

She noted that Steele was not one of the dozens of trial witnesses and was not 
one of the detectives collecting evidence from the bank or the defendants' 
property. He wasn't tied to a suspect piece of evidence or to a disputed 
interview for example, she said.

The Turnidges' cases are before the Oregon Supreme Court for direct review of 
the conviction and sentence.

Defense attorneys are similarly combing through their cases.

The state Office of Public Defense Services, which provides counsel for 
indigent defendants, issued a request to its lawyers to go through previous 
cases that Steele may have worked on, said executive director Nancy Cozine. The 
defense office had to file a public records request to get a version of the 
case list that state police had already provided to the district attorneys 
association weeks earlier.

Barnett, the criminal defense attorney, said he worries if Steele's bias - or 
anyone else's at Oregon State Police - led to selective investigation and an 
unfair conviction throughout the years.

"When you start building a case against someone then instead of being a neutral 
investigator you have an agenda," he said. "That agenda affects people's 
liberty, and that's appalling."

(source: The Oregonian)