[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

TEXAS:

Execution delayed for inmate convicted of Dallas-area murders


Texas prison officials have temporarily delayed the scheduled execution of a 
43-year-old convicted killer while the U.S. Supreme Court considers multiple 
appeals intended to keep him from lethal injection.

Attorneys for inmate Terry Edwards are arguing his case should be reopened so 
they can show that poor legal help at his trial resulted in an unjust 
conviction and that he had deficient legal assistance during earlier stages of 
appeals.

Another appeal before the high court Thursday night raises questions about 
whether the pentobarbital Texas uses in lethal injections should be tested for 
its potency before Edwards is put to death.

State attorneys are opposing any delay. The court order setting Edwards' 
execution gives the state a six-hour window, ending at midnight, to carry out 
the punishment. Edwards was convicted of a 2002 robbery at a Balch Springs 
Subway sandwich shop where two employees were killed.

He was sentenced to die in 2003 for the shooting deaths of Tommy Walker, 34, 
and Mickell Goodwin, 26. Edwards had been fired from the Subway where they 
worked weeks earlier, and prosecutors said he killed the two before fleeing. 
Witnesses said Edwards later was seen dumping a .38-caliber handgun in a trash 
can across the street from the store. He was arrested the same day and found 
with $3,000 from the store.

But Edwards' lawyers say he wasn't the triggerman in the deadly robbery. They 
allege that the lead prosecutor in the trial elicited false testimony from a 
forensic expert and unconstitutionally cherry-picked jurors so that the black 
defendant faced an all-white jury. They also contend that the prosecutor 
withheld statements from witnesses who said they saw Edwards' cousin inside the 
restaurant at the time of the murders and fleeing out the front door. They say 
Edwards' cousin, who committed the robbery with him and is eligible for parole, 
was the gunman.

The lawyers sought to delay Edwards' execution and allow the county to assign 
Dallas County's Conviction Integrity Unit to the case, citing "grave concerns" 
about the validity of the conviction.

State lawyers, however, argue in court documents that Edwards planned and 
participated in the robbery, knowing that the victims would be shot. They also 
contend that multiple witnesses identified Edwards and that he made 
incriminating statements while he was in a police car after his arrest. In a 
recording of his statements, Edwards was heard to say that he had "messed up" 
and got two murders.

"None of applicant's allegations exculpate him as a party to the capital 
murder, nor undermine confidence in the jury's verdict," Jaclyn O'Connor 
Lambert, an assistant Dallas County district attorney, wrote in a court 
pleading.

(source: Dallas Morning News)