Post by Anja on Jun 21, 2006 1:04:07 GMT -5
Timothy Allen resentencing begins with jury selection
Jury selection began in the Timothy Lanier Allen resentencing case Monday.
By late in the day, 12 potential jurors had been dismissed and the last of
the first pool of 25 was being questioned.
Allen was convicted of killing a state Highway Patrol trooper in 1985, but
must be resentenced because of a trial error.
At the beginning of the proceedings, two jurors were immediately
dismissed. One, Norma Jean Smith, was dismissed because she is the mother
of Kermit Smith, a Roanoke Rapids man who was executed in 1995 for killing
a woman. The other dismissed was Willie Mack Shearin, who was charged with
a felony over the weekend.
Most of the jurors were dismissed because of their views on the death
penalty, one of the options the jury may choose at the end of the
proceedings, which Superior Court Judge Richard Parker of Manteo said
could take between 5 and 6 weeks.
One was dismissed because she was 6 months pregnant, one because she was
in the process of moving her family to Raleigh and one because she was
taking a microbiology class for her nursing degree which conflicted with
court.
One potential juror who is a death penalty foe said standing before the
judge and reading a death sentence would be wrong. "How can I say I took
his life? I would have done just as much as that person," the he said,
referring to Allen.
Another, recounting his military experience, said, "I've seen and I've
smelled death and I don't want to do it."
The death penalty didn't bother one potential juror who was dismissed. He
had his own approach to the resentencing. "The only problem I have is it's
taken 21 years to get to this step," he said, adding later, "I feel like
it was a major injustice to the man who was killed. I feel like the legal
system drug this out."
Halifax County District Attorney Bill Graham, who used two peremptory
challenges to have two people dismissed, explained to the potential jurors
that Allen's guilt was established when a jury in 1985 agreed he murdered
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Worley on May 14, 1985, and he was
sentenced to death.
In 1997, however, just as he received his final meal, an appeals court
upheld a federal judge's order stopping the execution. A Supreme Court
ruling in 1990 found that jury instructions telling jurors to unanimously
find mitigating factors were unconstitutional, therefore prompting the
resentencing hearing.
"The function of the jury will be to make a sentencing recommendation to
the judge," Graham said.
The DA told the jury pool, "No one is going to dictate what your opinion
of the death penalty should be. There are no right or wrong answers to
questions we are going to ask you."
Once a jury is selected, it will not hear all the evidence in the case,
Graham said. "You will hear the facts and circumstances leading up to the
death of Trooper Worley."
Graham said he and Ike Avery, a former prosecutor with the Attorney
General's Office, will argue for the death penalty while Henderson Hill of
Charlotte and Gretchen Engel of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation
will argue in favor of a life sentence for Allen.
Allen sat with his team of defense attorneys wearing a gray suit and black
boots, his hair cropped short.
Worley's widow, Jackie, who will testify in the hearing, sat with her
daughter. Two state Highway Patrol troopers sat behind her and several
came in for a few minutes to show their support. Because she is one of
several witnesses in the case, Mrs. Worley declined to immediately comment
on the proceedings.
The image of Allen being led into court in leg shackles while Mrs. Worley
is escorted by troopers led Hill to ask the judge for news cameras to only
capture Allen while seated, the same view the jurors will see of him in
the coming weeks.
After the lunch break, Hill argued out of the jury's presence, "We come
back and we see the TV camera making arrangements for a perp (perpetrator)
walk. What we're talking about is choreography and theatrics by the TV
cameras to prejudice the jurors. It's clear the effect intended is to
provide local coverage."
He said viewers would see Allen "artificially shuffling" into the
courtroom while Mrs. Worley would be seen escorted by troopers.
"You took care of that," WRAL channel 5 reporter Fred Taylor told Hill.
"You blocked our only shot." "My effort to block him is not newsworthy,"
Hill retorted.
(source: Roanoke Daily Herald)
Jury selection began in the Timothy Lanier Allen resentencing case Monday.
By late in the day, 12 potential jurors had been dismissed and the last of
the first pool of 25 was being questioned.
Allen was convicted of killing a state Highway Patrol trooper in 1985, but
must be resentenced because of a trial error.
At the beginning of the proceedings, two jurors were immediately
dismissed. One, Norma Jean Smith, was dismissed because she is the mother
of Kermit Smith, a Roanoke Rapids man who was executed in 1995 for killing
a woman. The other dismissed was Willie Mack Shearin, who was charged with
a felony over the weekend.
Most of the jurors were dismissed because of their views on the death
penalty, one of the options the jury may choose at the end of the
proceedings, which Superior Court Judge Richard Parker of Manteo said
could take between 5 and 6 weeks.
One was dismissed because she was 6 months pregnant, one because she was
in the process of moving her family to Raleigh and one because she was
taking a microbiology class for her nursing degree which conflicted with
court.
One potential juror who is a death penalty foe said standing before the
judge and reading a death sentence would be wrong. "How can I say I took
his life? I would have done just as much as that person," the he said,
referring to Allen.
Another, recounting his military experience, said, "I've seen and I've
smelled death and I don't want to do it."
The death penalty didn't bother one potential juror who was dismissed. He
had his own approach to the resentencing. "The only problem I have is it's
taken 21 years to get to this step," he said, adding later, "I feel like
it was a major injustice to the man who was killed. I feel like the legal
system drug this out."
Halifax County District Attorney Bill Graham, who used two peremptory
challenges to have two people dismissed, explained to the potential jurors
that Allen's guilt was established when a jury in 1985 agreed he murdered
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Worley on May 14, 1985, and he was
sentenced to death.
In 1997, however, just as he received his final meal, an appeals court
upheld a federal judge's order stopping the execution. A Supreme Court
ruling in 1990 found that jury instructions telling jurors to unanimously
find mitigating factors were unconstitutional, therefore prompting the
resentencing hearing.
"The function of the jury will be to make a sentencing recommendation to
the judge," Graham said.
The DA told the jury pool, "No one is going to dictate what your opinion
of the death penalty should be. There are no right or wrong answers to
questions we are going to ask you."
Once a jury is selected, it will not hear all the evidence in the case,
Graham said. "You will hear the facts and circumstances leading up to the
death of Trooper Worley."
Graham said he and Ike Avery, a former prosecutor with the Attorney
General's Office, will argue for the death penalty while Henderson Hill of
Charlotte and Gretchen Engel of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation
will argue in favor of a life sentence for Allen.
Allen sat with his team of defense attorneys wearing a gray suit and black
boots, his hair cropped short.
Worley's widow, Jackie, who will testify in the hearing, sat with her
daughter. Two state Highway Patrol troopers sat behind her and several
came in for a few minutes to show their support. Because she is one of
several witnesses in the case, Mrs. Worley declined to immediately comment
on the proceedings.
The image of Allen being led into court in leg shackles while Mrs. Worley
is escorted by troopers led Hill to ask the judge for news cameras to only
capture Allen while seated, the same view the jurors will see of him in
the coming weeks.
After the lunch break, Hill argued out of the jury's presence, "We come
back and we see the TV camera making arrangements for a perp (perpetrator)
walk. What we're talking about is choreography and theatrics by the TV
cameras to prejudice the jurors. It's clear the effect intended is to
provide local coverage."
He said viewers would see Allen "artificially shuffling" into the
courtroom while Mrs. Worley would be seen escorted by troopers.
"You took care of that," WRAL channel 5 reporter Fred Taylor told Hill.
"You blocked our only shot." "My effort to block him is not newsworthy,"
Hill retorted.
(source: Roanoke Daily Herald)
