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Robert Pruett Texas

Abolitionists, Yesterday there were news reports that Robert Pruett, the man who had been scheduled for Texas' 499th execution on May 21, had received a 60-day set off. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's web page still has Pruett listed for execution on May 21. I just spoke with the District Clerk in Bee County where the McConnell Unit is located and where Pruett was housed when convicted of murdering a correctional officer, which landed him on death row. The District Clerk told me that Mr. Pruett's attorney, David Dow, made two unopposed motions yesterday, Thursday, May 9, 2013: (1) to put off the executions for 60 days and (2) to have DNA testing done on a palm print found on a piece of paper at the scene of the guard's murder. She said that the judge will have to have a hearing before the May 21st execution date in order to rule on those two motions. This is why there is not yet another execution date set. They are waiting for the judge to set a hearing and then rule. This judge ruled against extending the execution date just back in March when it was requested by another attorney representing Pruett Rihard Riogers III, of Corpus Christi. When I looked on the Bee County web page, I could find no judge named Ronald Yeager. It turns out that he is a retired judge and was brought in on this case. Senior District Judge Ronald Yeager sat on the bench, presiding over the 156th District Court, and gave Pruett the May 21 executions date after Pruett asked him to postpone it until August as there was new evidence in his case. His attorney couldn't specify what the new evidence was as it was being looked into by another attorney, presumably David Dow from the University of Houston Law Center. The clerk thought Judge Jeager was used in all cases involving the prison system. There are three state prisons in Bee County: the McConnell Unit (2984 prisoners), the Garza West Unit (2278 prisoners plus 400 at a work Camp) and the Garza East Unit (1978 prisoners). (Some background: Pruett was 15 years old when, on Aug. 9, 1995, he and his brother allegedly held down a resident of the trailer park where they lived in Houston while their father stabbed a man to death. All three of them were sentenced to life in prison. He was tried and convicted under the law of parties after he and his older brother were told to hold down the man his father murdered. Robert Pruett began serving his life sentence in October 1995, only weeks after the murder. He had just turned 16. At the time, TDCJ officials said he was the youngest prisoner in Texas’ adult prison system. At age 20, Pruett was charged with killing a guard at the McConnell Unit in Bee County in 1919 and got the death penalty. Robert Pruett's case is being handled by special prosecutors from the prison system and is in the court of Senior Judge Ronald Yeager.) Gloria Rubac (cell) 713-503-2633 (home) 713-225-0211

Howland woman asks top court to vacate her death sentence

The only woman on Ohio's death row asked the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday to vacate her death sentence, citing errors made during an earlier resentencing. Donna Marie Roberts argues that the trial judge should have considered head injuries, her history of depression and other mitigating factors before again issuing the ultimate penalty for her role in the 2001 murder of her former husband. "What happened here is the court got reversed, got [its] hand slapped ... and did the bare minimum to just get it out of there as quickly as possible, and everything we requested to support [Roberts' case] was denied," attorney David Doughten said. But prosecutors, during oral arguments that lasted more than an hour, countered that Roberts had her days in court, evidence was presented, and the judge properly weighed and resentenced her to death. "Even though she stood before the court and talked for 18 pages worth of transcript, she never said to the court, 'Don't sentence me to death, I've changed my mind on this, I thought this was a good idea 5 or 6 years ago, I've changed my mind,'" said Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor LuWayne Annos. "That was never stated to the court, not by Ms. Roberts and not by her counsel. At no point was there ever a plea for Donna Roberts' life at that second sentencing." According to documents, Roberts and her then-boyfriend Nathaniel Jackson planned the murder of 57-year-old Robert Fingerhut for months. Roberts provided Jackson with access to the Howland home she and Fingerhut shared, where Jackson shot the victim multiple times. Both Roberts and Jackson received death penalties and were resentenced on an earlier ruling from the Supreme Court, after it was determined that the prosecutor's office assisted in writing the original opinion in the case. Roberts also was not allowed to make an oral statement to the judge before her original death sentence was announced. Legal counsel for Roberts argued Tuesday that the trial court judge should have allowed additional mitigating evidence after the case was remanded. Among other arguments, Roberts contends the court should have considered that she was sexually abused as a child, spent time in a psychiatric ward, suffered severe head injuries from car accidents and received government assistance due to a mental disability. Justices voiced concern Tuesday that the trial judge did not make direct reference to Roberts' statement in his final decision, and they questioned prosecutors about whether that was grounds to reconsider the case. "This is a capital offense," said Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor. "The judge is required to create a sentencing entry, and there's certain things that have to be in it that indicate that the judge has met their responsibility when it comes to the weighing and balancing of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. ... That's not here." Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger added, "What is concerning me... it seems as though the judge went back and just reviewed what had been done at the trial and specifically talked about the waiver at the trial ... and then prepared an entry talking about the mitigating and aggravating factors ... It seems as though the judge missed the remand." (source: Youngstown Vindicator)

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