Jan. 5
TEXAS—-impending execution
Garland officer's killer set to be executed Thursday
Kenneth Mosley, a 51-year-old Mesquite man who killed a Garland police
officer in 1997, is scheduled to be the 1st person executed in Texas this
year.
The state Department of Criminal Justice said Monday that Mosley will be
executed Thursday for the capital murder of Officer Michael "David" Moore.
Mosley shot the 32-year-old officer 5 times during an attempted bank
robbery on Feb. 15, 1997.
"It has been a long-awaited event for this Police Department to see
justice done in the murder of David Moore," said Officer Joe Harn, the
department's spokesman.
Mosley's execution was postponed twice in 2009, during which 24 people
were killed by lethal injection.
First, he won a reprieve when the governor and lieutenant governor were
both scheduled to be out of the state on his 1st execution date in July.
One of the state's top 2 officials must be available for last-minute court
actions related to any execution.
In September, the U.S. Supreme Court delayed Mosley's execution again but
declined to review his case the following month.
Mosley's lawyers were hoping for a new trial in which to introduce
extenuating circumstances, including Mosley's supposed childhood exposure
to pesticides, which could have won him a life sentence.
Mosley never denied killing the officer but maintained he was
ineffectively represented during his weeklong trial 12 years ago.
"Ken Mosley will be executed on Thursday without a full, fair and
impartial consideration of his legal claims," Meg Penrose, a member of his
legal team, said Monday. "This is not justice."
Lauri Saathoff, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office, said
there were no appeals or pending litigation in Mosley's case that might
delay this week's execution.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
************************
Garland Cop Killer To Be Executed
Former Dallas County Prosecutor, Jason January, says he never hesitated
when seeking the death penalty for then suspected cop killer, Kenneth
Mosley more than a decade ago. "From day one, this was the kind of case
with severe violence and inhumanity that the death penalty applied to".
Mosley was convicted of killing Garland Police Officer, Michael Moore and
is set to be executed in Huntsville, Thursday. January says Mosley already
had a long record when he tried to hold up a Garland bank in 1997. Officer
Moore, who was having lunch down the street, responded to the 911 call.
Witnesses say he shot Moore who was trying to resolve the incident
peacefully. One bullet struck Moore just above his protective vest.
January, who led the prosecution on the case, says one of Moore's three
young daughters was attending a birthday party just around the block and
heard the chaos unfolding. "She saw the commotion and she told her friends
that her Dad would know what happened. She didn't know that her father had
been killed", said January who is now in private practice in Dallas.
Since that day, Mosley who was convicted and sentenced to die has come
within hours of death. In September, the US Supreme Court halted his
execution a day before he was set to die by lethal injection, after Mosley
claimed his trial attorneys made mistakes. January calls the claim without
merit. "If you know the attorneys who were there you know it simply is not
true".
January says Moore's murder stuck with him, so much so that he plans to
make the trip to Huntsville this week, possibly to see Mosley take his
last breath. The former prosecutor says he wants to support Moore's
family, who may also attend the execution. "It is just closure that most
families need to know that person can't get out and hurt someone else".
(source: KDAF-TV News)
***********************
Call for 'brain-damaged' man's execution to be stopped
Amnesty International is calling for the execution of a man in the US
state of Texas who may be brain-damaged to be stopped.
Kenneth Mosley, 51, faces execution by lethal injection in 3 days' time
(Thursday 7 January) unless Texas governor Rick Perry intervenes. Amnesty
supporters are sending 'urgent action' appeals to Governor Perry and to
the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Mosley was sentenced to death in 1997 after being found guilty of the
murder of a police officer called David Moore in an attempted bank robbery
in the city of Garland, Texas.
At his trial Mosley testified that he had not intended to shoot Moore and
there were conflicting eyewitness accounts as to whether the shooting
appeared intentional. Meanwhile, the trial jury was told nothing about
Mosley's upbringing, which was marked by violent abuse from his father and
exposure to toxic pesticides that may have seriously damaged his brain.
Neither did the jury hear of his severe depression and a long history of
cocaine and alcohol abuse as 'self-medication'.
After his trial 2 psychologists concluded that Mosley suffered from
frontal lobe dysfunction. Another psychologist said he had "generalised
brain impairment as well as damage to specific areas in both the right and
left sides of his brain." The third expert said that the "primary cause"
of his "neuro-cognitive deficits" was "his lengthy and varied exposures to
toxic chemicals at a vulnerable developmental stage."
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
'Executions are always cruel and unnecessary, but for Texas to put to
death a man who might be brain-damaged would be utterly unforgivable.
'Our thoughts are with the family of Officer Moore at this time but even
those that support the death penalty ought to admit it's totally wrong to
execute a man like Kenneth Mosley.'
'As with many other US capital cases, a jury has made a decision over
Mosley's fate without hearing the full story. Governor Rick Perry should,
in all conscience, stop this execution.'
Death row in the USA: some key facts
Texas is one of 35 US states to retain the death penalty
The USA has seen a fall in the number of executions in recent years, but
it still executes dozens of people every year – in 2009 there were 52
executions
Kenneth Mosely is one of 342 inmates (332 men, 10 women) on death row in
Texas
Since 1976 the USA has executed 1,188 people
From 1973 to the present 139 people have been released from death row in
the USA on the grounds of innocence (an average of approximately 3
exonerations per year)
Some 3,300 prisoners remain on death row in the USA.
(source: Amnesty International UK)