August 17
TEXAS—-new execution date//volunteer
Date set for Simpson execution
Condemned killer Danielle Simpson is scheduled to die in November after a
local state district judge set his execution date late last week.
On Thursday, 87th State District Judge Deborah Oakes Evans signed an order
setting Simpson's execution date for Nov. 18 in Huntsville, according to
Anderson County District Attorney Doug Lowe.
The door was opened for the setting of Simpson's execution date after the
New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he had the legal
right to waive further review of his case.
Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Simpson expressed a desire to expedite
his execution rather than exhaust his entire range of appeals.
In June, Dr. Randall Price, a psychiatrist who examined the Palestine
native, testified during a hearing in Beaumont that Simpson had reported
to him that he looked "forward to a life after death" and wanted to "drop
his appeals", describing conditions on death row as pitiful.
Following that hearing, U.S. District Judge Ron Clark ruled that Simpson
was mentally competent to waive further review of his case.
Simpson was 1 of 4 local youths found guilty of murdering 84-year-old
Geraldine Davidson, a retired Palestine school teacher and organist at
Grace United Methodist Church, in January 2000.
Davidson's body was found floating face down in the Neches River on U.S.
79 between Palestine and Jacksonville by a passing motorist on Jan. 27,
2000. She had been tossed into the frigid river with her hands tied behind
her back and a cinder block attached to her ankles, according to
authorities. Testimony during the defendants' trials indicated that
Simpson and the others were burglarizing Davidson's residence on South
Sycamore Street when she returned home and discovered them.
Other testimony showed that Simpson and his co-defendants paraded Davidson
around in the trunk of a vehicle, displaying her to multiple persons,
before murdering her on the night of Jan. 26, 2000. Simpson's trial was
held in Henderson County in December 2000 after a motion was granted for a
change of venue.
(source: The Palestine Herald)
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Killer sentenced to death again
It took 6 hours for a Randall County jury to sentence a convicted killer
to death for the 2nd time.
Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren said after a 5-day
trial, Brent Ray Brewer, 39, was given the death penalty for the April 26,
1990, slaying of Robert Laminack, 66.
"I'm sure it was a very difficult decision," Farren said. "There was a lot
of emotion. It was obvious they gave it a lot of thought."
Brewer and a companion, Kristie Lynn Nystrom, approached Laminack, the
owner of Amarillo Floor Co., outside his South Western Street business and
asked for a ride to the Salvation Army. Brewer stabbed Laminack to death
on the way and stole his wallet, containing $140. Nystrom, 41, is serving
a life sentence.
A different Randall County jury in 1991 convicted Brewer of capital murder
and sentenced him to death. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Brewer's
sentence in April 2007, finding that the lower court didn't instruct the
jury to consider his mental history.
(source: Amarillo Globe-News)