Post by Anja on Jun 9, 2006 15:31:48 GMT -5
Appeals panel dismisses request for execution stay
An appeals court panel on Thursday dismissed efforts by 2 attorneys trying
to keep convicted murderer David Dawson alive.
A three judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
attorneys Kathryn Ross and Bill Hooks - whom Dawson has sought to fire -
lack standing to appeal on his behalf.
Dawson currently faces an execution date of Aug. 11. For nearly two years,
he has sought to end his appeals in state and federal courts and move on
to having the death sentence imposed on him in 1987 carried out.
Dawson was convicted of killing three members of a family he took captive
at a Billings motel. Police rescued a fourth member of that family, a
daughter.
Ross and Hooks had argued, among other things, that Dawson's decision was
influenced in part by his time on death row and the suicides of other
inmates. Dawson, in a hearing last December in state court, told District
Judge Gregory Todd the suicides ''didn't affect me in any sense."
Both Todd and a federal judge in Billings have determined that Dawson made
his requests knowing the consequences. The state Supreme Court has agreed.
Ross and Hooks asked the appeals court to stay Dawson's execution and hear
an appeal in the case related to such issues as the way competency was
determined.
In its order, the appeals court panel wrote there's "not a shred of
evidence" in state or federal courts to indicate Dawson is not competent
to fire the lawyers.
Because he has competently fired them, the order stated, Ross and Hooks
lack the standing to appeal on his behalf.
Telephone messages left for Hooks and Ross Thursday evening were not
immediately returned. Pam Collins, an assistant attorney general, said she
hadn't seen the order but said it sounded like a "significant step."
The panel said any motions for reconsideration must be filed by June 19.
(source: Associated Press)
An appeals court panel on Thursday dismissed efforts by 2 attorneys trying
to keep convicted murderer David Dawson alive.
A three judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
attorneys Kathryn Ross and Bill Hooks - whom Dawson has sought to fire -
lack standing to appeal on his behalf.
Dawson currently faces an execution date of Aug. 11. For nearly two years,
he has sought to end his appeals in state and federal courts and move on
to having the death sentence imposed on him in 1987 carried out.
Dawson was convicted of killing three members of a family he took captive
at a Billings motel. Police rescued a fourth member of that family, a
daughter.
Ross and Hooks had argued, among other things, that Dawson's decision was
influenced in part by his time on death row and the suicides of other
inmates. Dawson, in a hearing last December in state court, told District
Judge Gregory Todd the suicides ''didn't affect me in any sense."
Both Todd and a federal judge in Billings have determined that Dawson made
his requests knowing the consequences. The state Supreme Court has agreed.
Ross and Hooks asked the appeals court to stay Dawson's execution and hear
an appeal in the case related to such issues as the way competency was
determined.
In its order, the appeals court panel wrote there's "not a shred of
evidence" in state or federal courts to indicate Dawson is not competent
to fire the lawyers.
Because he has competently fired them, the order stated, Ross and Hooks
lack the standing to appeal on his behalf.
Telephone messages left for Hooks and Ross Thursday evening were not
immediately returned. Pam Collins, an assistant attorney general, said she
hadn't seen the order but said it sounded like a "significant step."
The panel said any motions for reconsideration must be filed by June 19.
(source: Associated Press)