Wudge
New Member
"To be frank, we are
accusing the State of having deliberately manipulated the justice system
in order to get a second death sentence," reads Gunter's petition. "Executing Nichols would in effect condone" that manipulation, he continued. "When does it end?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"That is all there is to it. It is scientific. It is consistent. It is complete. It is final, and it is in evidence," they argued evidence they offered again during Nichols' first trial. At Nichols' second trial, however, prosecutors abandoned all that evidence and argued that Nichols was the shooter; this strategy was possible only because the state continued to conceal eyewitness Ishman from the defense, argues Gunter. Instead, prosecutors offered only the testimony of another deli employee, Cindy Johnson, who claimed Nichols fired the fatal shot. (According to Ishman, Gunter later discovered, there was no way Johnson could've seen anything because she hid in the bathroom once the robbery began.) By hiding Ishman, the prosecution was able to convince jurors Nichols was the shooter: "And I'll tell you that it was [Nichols'] hand that did the killing," declared the prosecutor. "How do you know that? [Johnson] saw it. She told you."
From a March 1st article. [execution is still set]
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=451599
Update: Appeal denied; Nichols executed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"That is all there is to it. It is scientific. It is consistent. It is complete. It is final, and it is in evidence," they argued evidence they offered again during Nichols' first trial. At Nichols' second trial, however, prosecutors abandoned all that evidence and argued that Nichols was the shooter; this strategy was possible only because the state continued to conceal eyewitness Ishman from the defense, argues Gunter. Instead, prosecutors offered only the testimony of another deli employee, Cindy Johnson, who claimed Nichols fired the fatal shot. (According to Ishman, Gunter later discovered, there was no way Johnson could've seen anything because she hid in the bathroom once the robbery began.) By hiding Ishman, the prosecution was able to convince jurors Nichols was the shooter: "And I'll tell you that it was [Nichols'] hand that did the killing," declared the prosecutor. "How do you know that? [Johnson] saw it. She told you."
From a March 1st article. [execution is still set]
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=451599
Update: Appeal denied; Nichols executed.