Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/27857795/Motion-to-Hold-that-Texas-Code-of-Criminal-Procedure-Article-37-01-is-Unconstitutional
Timestamp: 2017-08-18 16:36:25
Document Index: 346499232

Matched Legal Cases: ['ART. 37', 'art. 2', 'art. 37', 'art. 2', 'art. 38', 'art.\n37', 'ART. 37']

Motion to Hold that Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.01 is Unconstitutional | Eighth Amendment To The United States Constitution | Burden Of Proof (Law)
Description: Texas judge holds statute defining procedure in Texas capital cases unconstitutional.
Texas judge holds statute defining procedure in Texas capital cases unconstitutional.
CAUSE NO. 1170853 THE STATE OF TEXAS Vs. JOHN E.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF HARJUSCOUNTY,TEXAS 177TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
MOTION TO HOLD THAT TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ART. 37.01 IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
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COMES NOW, John E. Green, the Accused, by and through his attorneys pursuant to the 5th , 6th , 8th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, sections 3,10,13,15 & 19 of the Texas Constitution and TEX. CODE. CRIM. PROC. art. 2.03 and 38.03 (Vernon) and makes this his motion to hold that TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 37.071 is unconstitutional and as grounds therefore would show the Court as follows:
I. The Defendant has been indicted by the county grand jury for capital murder. 2. The State is seeking the death penalty. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires a greater degree of accuracy and fact-finding than would be true in a noncapital case. Gilmore v. Taylor,_508 U.S. 333, 113 S. Ct. 2112, 124 L. Ed. 2d 306 (1993) and Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 305 (1976). 3. The Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment" must be interpreted in light of "evolving standards of decency." Atkins v. Virginia, 122 S. Ct. 2242 (2002). It is settled law that the 5th Amendment's broad guarantee of "due process" must be interpreted in light of evolving standards of fairness and ordered liberty. See,
e.g. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 846-851 (1992); Rochin v. California,
342 U.S. 165, 171-172 (I 952)(overruled on other grounds). 4. More than 100 inmates from the country's death rows have been exonerated. That a citizen of this country can be exonerated by the "system" is not comforting when one realizes that it is the same "system" that decided that this person was not only guilty of the charged offense, but deserved to die. The unfairness of this alarming scenario is magnified by the lack of protections that are afforded to defendants in capital trials in Texas and the extent to which the state will go to "win." Tactics that are customarily
used include the offering to the court and jury "predictions" by witnesses whose own "scientific community virtually unanimously agree that psychiatric testimony on future dangerousness is, to put it bluntly, unreliable and unscientific." Flores v. Johnson, 210 F.3d 456, 463 (5th Cir.Tex. 2000). If protection of innocent people from state-sponsored execution is a protected liberty, and if such protected liberty includes the right of an innocent person not to be deprived, by execution, of the opportunity to demonstrate his innocence, then Congress may not override such liberty absent a far more clear and compelling need than any presented here. United States v. Quinones, 205 F. Supp. 2d 256 (S.D.N.Y. 2002). This Court can no longer have a high degree of confidence in any verdict because of the fallible nature of the manner in which evidence has been collected by the state, the length of time between the date of the offense and the time of arrest, the intentional misrepresentation to the jury of the effect of its inability to reach a verdict in the punishment phase of a capital trial and the many other inequities that plague the system, which include:
Failure of the state to codify a Juror Bill of rights that would insure
that a juror that wanted to vote for life would be free from harassment from pro-death jurors; • The "death qualification" process of the venire in a capital case results in a jury that is more conservative, is more inclined to view death as the appropriate "default" option, more inclined to shift the burden to the defendant that life is the appropriate sentence and is less receptive of to merits phase issues that are raised by the defense. A rule that says that 10 jurors must agree to return a verdict of life when the law requires only one (1) juror for a life vote.. The law says that an inability to agree on any of the issues then the result is a life sentence, not a hung jury. Jurors are not told this, in fact they are intentionally misled;
• The state continues to sponsor testimony (and state judges continue to allow such testimony) from supposed professionals who provide clinical opinions as to the probability that the defendant will commit criminal acts of violence that will constitute a continuing threat to society. There is no science that supports a psychiatrist's ability to make long term clinical predictions of violent conduct in a prison setting.
• In this regard, judges have completely abandoned their role as gate keepers in keeping out evidence that is scientifically unreliable;
• Failure of the state to ban the execution of juveniles while at the same time prohibiting someone of the same age from consuming alcohol or smoking cigarettes on the basis that they are not wise enough to make the proper decision about their lives; • Failure of the state to ban the execution ofjuveniles when the pre-frontal cortex of the brain of a juvenile may be no better developed than one who suffers from mental retardation; • Failure to require that prior to execution, there be some finding that defendant has, in fact, been a continuing threat to prison society and that unless executed he will continue to be a continuing threat to society and that no mitigating circumstances have arisen. Even if an individual is guilty of a heinous crime, that person may have been redeemed and no longer be the "same person" when he is killed by the state; • Fails to adequately provide definitions for terms: probability, society, future, continuing threat;
• Allows the state to introduce evidence of extraneous, unadjudicated offenses during the penalty phase of a capital trial--even offenses for which the accused has been found not guilty; • Fails to require that the state prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements of the alleged unadjudicated offenses • Fails to allege unadjudicated offenses in the indictment returned against the accused; • Fails to allege in the indictment returned against the accused that there is a probability that he will commit criminal acts of violence that will constitute a continuing threat to society. • Fails to allege in the indictment returned against the accused that there is an absence of a circumstance that would justify a sentence of life. • Failure to require prior notice of all prior unadjudicated offenses that the state will offer during the penalty phase of the trial; • Allowing introduction of victim impact evidence during the penalty phase of a capital trial. This evidence severely prejudices the defendant and encourages the jurors to seek revenge in their sentencing. • Failure to allow an accused in a capital case to have the same right of discovery that is allowed a litigant in a civil case; • Failure to require in a capital case that the any extraneous defense be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and by special issue as to each alleged offense.; • Failure to require proportionality review in death sentences; • makes one who attempts to aid another in the commission of a capital crime eligible for the death penalty and does not require the state to allege the actual role of the accused in the offense. • requiring that a jury consider the defendant's moral culpability along with mitigating circumstances after the jury has already found the defendant legally culpable of capital murder; • Failure to place burden on state that they must negate existence of any mitigating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt; • Failure to provide that a Defendant in a capital case is entitled to every benefit that a defendant in a non- capital case would;
• Failure to insure that the jury and grand jury that hears evidence properly reflects the cross section of the community in which the defendant is tried; • Failure of this county to adequately compensate jurors so that a fair cross section of jurors can afford to sit and hear evidence for the length of time that is required to decided if this accused lives or dies; 5. The Accused is presumed innocent. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 2.03 and art. 38.03 The execution of a legally and factually innocent person would be a constitutionally intolerable event. Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993). Because of the number of exonerations due to DNA and non-DNA evidence and numerous unconstitutional and unfair of the Death Penalty Scheme in Texas, this Court can no longer have confidence in the verdicts in the culpability stage of this trial which is much less than a decision by a jury to kill the Defendant. See Joseph S. Liebman, et al., A Broken system, Part II: Why There Is So Much Error in Capital Cases, And What Can Be Done About it. (2002), at 25. 6. The system that determines who should die in Texas is truly "broken." The execution of a legally and factually innocent person would be a constitutionally intolerable event.
Herrera v. Collins, supra.
The Court should find that TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art.
37.071 violates the protections afforded to the Accused by the 8th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution and that the option to sentence the Accused to die for a crime that he did not commit should be precluded as a sentencing option.
WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Defendant prays this Court will hold this
statute unconstitutional, and for such other relief as Defendant may be entitled.
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SBN: 12562300 I I I West 15th Street Houston, Tx 77008 713-880-9000(office) 713-869-9912 (fax)
N P. KEIRNAN N: 11184700 917 Franklin, Ste. 550 Houston, Tx 77002 713-236-9700 (office) 713-236-1802 (fax)
ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and fore oing instrument has been furnished to counsel for the State by hand-delivery of a copy of on .L-_-+,-+
J ROBERT K. LOPER
CAUSE NO. 1170853 THE STATE OF TEXAS
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF HARIUSCOUNTY,TEXAS 177TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
ORDER BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the + d ay of
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came to be considered the defendant's MOTION TO HOLD THAT TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ART. 37.01 IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The court is of the opinion the motion should be in all things:
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