Aug. 11
TEXAS—-impending execution
Leon David Dorsey Scheduled For Execution Tuesday Night
From July 31st through August 21st, 7 men have either been executed or are
scheduled to be executed in the State of Texas.
On Tuesday night, August 12, 2008, Leon David Dorsey is scheduled to be
executed after 6 p.m. In May 2000, Dorsey was convicted of capital murder
and sentenced to death for the robbery and slaying of James Lloyd
Armstrong at a video store in Dallas.
Two employees at a Blockbuster Video store in Dallas were robbed and
murdered around midnight on April 4, 1994. Employee James Armstrong was
shot twice and employee Brad Lindsey was shot once in the back. The robber
took several hundred dollars from the business.
The in-store video camera recorded the crime and shows that the killer was
a black male with short hair.
Later that day, Dorsey admitted committing the robbery and murders to his
girlfriend and to an acquaintance. Later that week, the girlfriend
reported Dorseys admissions to the police.
At the time, police erroneously believed that Dorsey was too tall to be
the killer, and he was not charged with the crime, which remained unsolved
until the case was reopened in 1998.
During the 1998 investigation, police sent the videotape of the
robbery-murder to the F.B.I. for an analysis of the robbers height. Based
on the new estimate of the perpetrator's height and accurate information
about Dorseys height, police questioned Dorsey again, and he confessed.
5 months after committing the Blockbuster killings, Dorsey killed a
convenience store clerk during a robbery in Ennis, Texas. Dorsey pled
guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
While in prison, Dorsey attempted to stab another inmate.
During an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Dorsey admitted to
"possibly" killing as many as 9 people, "more or less."
At fourteen, Dorsey took a gun to school and discharged it in a classroom.
At fifteen, Dorsey lived on an Air Force base and committed several
property crimes, including a residential robbery, a theft from a vehicle,
and a theft of some items from lockers at the base gymnasium. When police
investigated and found the stolen items at Dorsey's home, they also
discovered 20 to 25 bullet holes in the basement wall of his house and
numerous spent shells.
At sixteen, Dorsey fired a gun at a young couple in another car and
verbally threatened to kill them.
At eighteen, five months after the double slaying at the Blockbuster
store, Dorsey was arrested for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was
convicted, and his sentence was probated.
(source: Forney Post)
**************
Fort Worth man accused of killing Bedford store clerk faces death penalty
if convicted
Jeff and Theodis Dodson entered D&S Food Mart in Bedford last year, walked
around the store, then strolled up to the counter, one of the brothers
carrying a can of beer, according to arrest warrant affidavits and store
surveillance video.
One minute, clerk Gaurab Rajbanshi stood behind the counter, facing a cash
register.
An image from the store surveillance camera then shows Rajbanshi gone.
Those were the last few minutes before Rajbanshi was shot in the face.
Prosecutors say Jeff Dodson fatally shot the 28-year-old college student
from Nepal just after 4:30 p.m. on June 11, 2007.
Today, Jeff Dodson goes on trial for his life.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the 39-year-old Fort
Worth man.
Testimony is scheduled to begin today in Criminal District Court No. 1.
The clerk: Rajbanshi had worked at the store for 2 years. He had a
bachelor's degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The robbery: After Rajbanshi was shot, one of the Dodson brothers stood
behind the counter and was either stomping Rajbanshi or kicking at the
cash register, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The other brother tugged on a cash register cord, trying to pull it away
from the counter, the affidavit states. The images were captured on the
store surveillance camera.
The arrests: Several people identified the brothers in the video
surveillance footage that was released to the news media.
The brothers were arrested a few days after the holdup. A cousin, Fredrick
Hughes, 39, who waited in a Suburban outside of the store, was also
arrested and charged.
What's happened to others arrested: Theodis Dodson, 41, pleaded guilty to
capital murder in March and was sentenced to life in prison.
In July, a Tarrant County jury found Hughes not guilty of capital murder.
Hughes' attorneys had argued that he was in a Suburban outside of the
store, but that he didn't know his cousins plans.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)