[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 26


TEXAS:

Supreme Court rejects appeal for inmate convicted of Dallas-area murders


The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the execution of a Texas prisoner 
condemned for committing a fatal robbery at a Balch Springs sandwich shop weeks 
after he was fired from his job there.

Terry Edwards is set for lethal injection Thursday evening for the $3,000 
holdup at a Subway restaurant where two employees were gunned down in 2002.

Multiple appeals before the high court temporarily delayed the punishment for 
more than three hours. Edwards' attorneys asked the justices to reopen his case 
to investigate claims that a court-appointed lawyer earlier in the appeals 
process provided deficient help by abandoning him. The court two weeks ago 
agreed to review the case of another Texas death row inmate who raised claims 
about poor legal help.

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.


The court order setting Edwards' execution gave 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)