April 20
TEXAS—-federal death penalty trial
Murder trial of federal inmate facing death penalty begins
The trial of a federal inmate accused of assisting with the murder of
another inmate while both were incarcerated at the United States
Penitentiary in Beaumont began this morning.
Joseph Ebron faces a possible death sentence if jurors determine that he
played a role in the May, 7, 2005 murder of Keith Barnes.
Federal prosecutor John Craft told jurors in his opening statements that
he believes testimony will show that Barnes was a marked man the day he
stepped off the bus that transferred him to the Beaumont prison.
Barnes, craft said, had cooperated in the investigation of a prison gang
member and was stabbed 106 times in the chest for being a "snitch."
Ebron is accused of holding Barnes while another inmate killed him.
Katherine Scardino, 1 of Ebron's 2 Houston-based attorneys, countered in
her opening statements that jurors will have to weigh the evidence and
testimony that emerge over the next week or 2 and decide whether there is
any indication that Ebron helped plan or participate in Barnes' murder.
(source: Beaumont Enterprise)