Nov. 18
TEXAS—-new execution date
Kenneth Mosley has been given a Jan. 7 execution date; it should be
considered serious.
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
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Houston man loses death row appeal in 1980 case
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction of a man on
death row for a Houston shooting rampage almost 30 years ago that killed 3
people and maimed another.
Max Alexander Soffar, now 53, spent 23 years on death row before a federal
appeals court threw out his conviction in 2004 because of inadequate
counsel. He was retried in 2006 and convicted again for killing
17-year-old Arden Alane Felsher.
She was shot to death July 1980 when Soffar was robbing 25-year-old
Stephen Allen Sims, an assistant manager at the Fair Lanes Windfern
Bowling Center in Houston. Sims and Felsher's 17-year-old boyfriend, Tommy
Lee Temple, also were killed.
18-year-old Gregory George Garner was shot in the head, lost his left eye,
but survived to testify against Soffar.
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No more DNA tests for Mexican on Texas death row
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to allow additional DNA
testing requested by a Mexican national condemned for the gruesome killing
of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio.
Thirty-six-year-old Humberto Leal, from Monterrey, Mexico, wanted more
testing to try to clear him of the May 1994 bludgeoning death of Adria
Sauceda. Her body was found on a dirt road not far from a party they both
attended.
The girl had been sexually assaulted with a large stick, was beaten with a
rock and strangled. Bite marks on her body were matched to Leal's teeth.
Her bloody blouse was found at his home.
The appeals court ruled Wednesday that because of evidence and extensive
DNA testing done for Leal's trial, additional testing wasn't likely to
change the outcome.
(source for both: Associated Press)