[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MO.

[Rick Halperin]

May 20



TEXAS:

Death penalty appeal denied ---- Court rejects arguments from Balch Springs 
Subway killer



A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied the appeal of a man facing the death 
penalty for his role in the 2002 killings of 2 workers at a Balch Springs 
sandwich shop.

Terry Darnell Edwards, 41, was convicted in November 2003 of capital murder in 
the July 2002 deaths of Subway manager Tommy Walker and store employee Mickell 
Goodwin. No execution date has been set.

Edwards had been fired from his job at the Subway less than a month before the 
killings. He and co-defendant Kirk Edwards - his then-32-year-old cousin - went 
to the Subway on the morning of July 8, 2002 as it was opening and robbed the 
store of about $3,000.

Police were able to arrest him the same day after he was spotted dumping a .38 
caliber handgun into a trash bin outside a nearby cafeteria on Lake June Road.

Edwards - 30 years old at the time and a Lancaster resident - had already 
served a stretch in state prison before the robbery and murders. He was 
sentenced in 1997 to concurrent 5-year terms for theft and for possession of 
cocaine with intent to distribute. He was paroled in 1999.

He had argued that he was denied a fair trial because of the judge gave 
improper instructions during jury selection. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals rejected the argument.

Defense attorneys said during the trial that Kirk Edwards was the shooter.

(source: ionmesquite.com)








MISSOURI----new execution date

Man who killed southwest Missouri woman in 2001 gets execution date



The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date of July 14 for David Zink, 
convicted of abducted and killing a southwest Missouri woman in 2001.

The court set the date Wednesday for Zink, who is 56. Missouri has executed 3 
men so far this year, and Richard Strong is scheduled to die June 9.

Zink killed 19-year-old Amanda Morton after rear-ending her car on Interstate 
44 near her hometown of Stafford.

He defended himself at his own murder trial, then appealed on grounds that the 
judge shouldn't have allowed him to do so.

At trial, he tried unsuccessfully to win a voluntary manslaughter verdict by 
claiming that he didn't deliberate before killing Morton.

(source: Associated Press)