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Post by SmalltownInjustice on Jan 6, 2007 22:50:19 GMT -5
Lawyers for Anthony Graves on Dec. 21 fired back at Burleson Co. District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett, who, in an apparent screw-you to the federal bench, had the day before set a $1 million bond for Graves to be released from jail. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – which had overturned Graves' 1994 capital murder conviction and death sentence in March, ruling that prosecutors withheld crucial exculpatory witness statements from Graves' defenders – on Dec. 18 handed down a second ruling, denying a state motion that sought to keep Graves in jail without bond pending any retrial. The court ordered the state to hold a bond hearing or to set Graves free by Jan. 4 on a $50,000 bond previously set by U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent. In the habeas writ filed in state district court on Dec. 21, Graves' attorneys – Jeff Blackburn, David Mullin, and Nicole Casarez – argue that Towslee-Corbett thumbed her nose at the federal bench by setting the $1 million bond on her own without notifying the defense or holding an evidentiary hearing. The bond order "contains no facts, reasons, or conclusions about why the bond should be set at this amount," reads the petition. "It stands in flagrant defiance of the decisions of the federal courts." Graves' attorneys argue that the bond is excessive – under no conceivable scenario would Graves be able to contemplate posting that high of a bond – and unlawful, set as a means to keep him behind bars and "to make it appear as if he is guilty of the crime he is charged with, thus depriving him of the right to a fair trial." Moreover, while Towslee-Corbett has instituted a sweeping gag order in the case – denying herself, the attorneys, and even Graves the right to speak out about the case (possibly in violation of state law) – Graves' lawyers contend that her bond decision was, in essence, a way to speak publicly about the case and, as such, is a violation of the gag order. "For the court to gag [Graves] and his advocates on the one hand, and to speak to the public by setting an outrageous bond on the other, violates Mr. Graves' right to be judged fairly according to real evidence," Graves' attorneys wrote. A hearing on the defense motion is set for Jan. 22. www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A432114
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Post by SmalltownInjustice on Jan 6, 2007 23:00:22 GMT -5
Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett is just trying to cover up her daddy's mistakes. Like daughter like father, they are both as dirty as they come. It's going to come crashing down real soon.
Shame on you Charles Sebesta, you are as dirty as the rest of them and a liar. Oh by the way, I would be glad to take a polygraph on that statement. I bet I would pass like you did.
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Post by STI on Jan 6, 2007 23:10:43 GMT -5
"Burleson County District Attorney Renee Mueller filed a motion voluntarily recusing her entire office from handling the retrial of Anthony Graves."
It's a good thing because Renee Mueller couldn't win in traffic court. Now if they decide to plea bargain with Mr. Graves, Renee Mueller could handle that.
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Post by STI on Jan 6, 2007 23:29:25 GMT -5
All Things Considered, September 4, 2002 · Janet Heimlich reports that the case of Anthony Graves is raising new questions about the fairness of capital punishment in Texas. Graves was convicted of a gruesome murder primarily on the basis of "SNITCH" testimony. It came from someone also involved in the case who made a deal with authorities in exchange for legal considerations. Later the "SNITCH" recanted. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1149452
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Post by STI on Jan 6, 2007 23:30:11 GMT -5
(CBS) Governor George W. Bush recently commented that he believes Texas has never executed an innocent man during his tenure. CBS News Correspondent Bob McNamara reports that there is a man now on death row who could possibly become the first.
The crime was horrific. Two women and four children were shot, stabbed and burned to death seven years ago in Somerville, Texas.
Sentenced to die for the killings were Robert Earl Carter and the man Carter testified was his accomplice, Anthony Graves.
Carter was executed by lethal injection on May 31. For years leading up to his death, Carter said, as he did on a defense attorney's videotape in 1997, that he lied, and that Anthony Graves was innocent of the killings.
"Anthony Graves did not have any part in the murders and was not present before, during or after I committed the multiple murders at the Davis home," said Carter.
Even as late as two weeks ago, in an 85-page deposition obtained by CBS News, Carter told state and federal prosecutors at least eight times that Anthony Graves did not have a role in the murders.
When Carter was asked if that meant his testimony at Graves' trial that resulted in his conviction and death sentence was false, Carter answered: true. When asked if he lied, Carter said, "I lied."
Charles Sebesta was the prosecutor in the case. "I think he was there. I think he participated. I think the physical evidence proves it," says Sebesta.
Neither a murder weapon nor Graves' fingerprints were found. But Sebesta says he's satisfied Graves deserves execution. "I'm convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Anthony Graves is guilty," he says.
Roy Greenwood, Graves' defense attorney, rebuts Sebesta's statement. "They don't have any testimony putting him there. They have no physical evidence. They don't have a confession; they don't have anything," says Greenwood. "This case is unreliable. Every bit of it."
Graves' brother, Arthur Curry Jr., has always insisted that Graves was home with him the night of the murders. "There is no justice, especially here in Texas. Had he done that and I knew it, I could not have hid the truth knowing that someone's family was in torture," says Curry.
Graves has not been given an execution date. His lawyer is seeking a new trial.
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Post by STI on Jan 6, 2007 23:33:30 GMT -5
Temporary Freedom for Anthony Graves? BY JORDAN SMITH U.S. Magistrate Judge John Froeschner recommended on Oct. 4 that Texas death row inmate Anthony Graves be released on $50,000 bail while awaiting retrial, reports the Houston Chronicle. The recommendation will go to U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent in Galveston for a final decision. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March overturned Graves' 1994 capital murder conviction, ruling that Burleson Co. District Attorney Charles Sebesta withheld from the defense two key witness statements that could very well have changed the outcome of Graves' original trial. Graves and co-defendant Robert Carter (who was executed in May 2000) were sentenced to die for the murders of six family members – including four children less than 10 years old – who were bludgeoned and shot, and their home was set on fire in an apparent attempt to cover the crime. Graves has maintained his innocence but was fingered for the crime by Carter; Carter later recanted, saying Graves played no part in the murders or arson. The fight to free Graves has been waged in part by a group of journalism students at the University of St. Thomas who, working with the University of Houston's Texas Innocence Network, investigated the case for three years and say they've uncovered evidence that proves Graves' innocence. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's appeal of the 5th Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied Oct. 2, but Assistant AG Edward Marshall continued to try to block Graves' release from prison during a bail hearing before Froeschner, arguing that the federal judge had no jurisdiction to consider bail since the federal appeals process has run its course. Instead, the state argued that Burleson Co. Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett, who will preside over Graves' retrial, should have the authority to decide whether Graves should be released. But Froeschner wasn't buying: "If a federal court issues an order that a man is being held unconstitutionally, it makes no sense that the state can just thumb its nose," he said. No retrial date has been set, though it seems likely that Graves' attorneys – including Amarillo's Jeff Blackburn, who heads up the innocence project at Texas Tech – may fight to have Towslee-Corbett recused from presiding over any future proceedings involving Graves – her father, former District Judge Harold Towslee, presided over Graves' original trial. It wouldn't be the first time that Towslee-Corbett has presided over a case originally heard by her father – nor the first time that attorneys and other court watchers have been skeptical of her decision not to recuse herself. Harold Towslee presided over the 1998 Bastrop Co. capital murder trial of Rodney Reed; earlier this year his daughter presided over an evidentiary hearing in that case – ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeals, in part over a question of whether the Bastrop DA withheld evidence from Reed's defense. During that hearing, Towslee-Corbett consistently ruled against the defense, and in June signed off on a prosecutor-drafted findings of fact to declare that Reed has no basis on which to receive a new trial.www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A410274
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Post by STI on Jan 8, 2007 14:41:59 GMT -5
Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett Anthony Graves
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