Deanna's Daydreamer
09-16-2009, 01:23 AM
Condemned Miss. murderer to argue claims
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford will argue to a federal appeals court in Louisiana on Oct. 8 that he didn't like the way his attorney defended him on capital murder charges.
However, in documents filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in advance of the hearing in New Orleans, prosecutors argued Crawford will present no new information that would show how his Mississippi trial would have turned out differently.
Crawford argues his trial attorney didn't like him and they were unable to work together. He said that led to his attorney failing to adequately present an insanity defense or to prepare witnesses to support his claims of mental disability.
Crawford said the attorney also allowed him to take drugs and pain medication during the trial, so the jury interpreted his "stoned appearance to be a lack of remorse and evilness."
Crawford, now 43, was sentenced to death in 1994 for the 1993 murder and rape of a Northeast Mississippi Community College student.
Prosecutors contend Crawford handcuffed 20-year-old Kristy Ray and stuffed one of his socks in her mouth before he sexually assaulted and stabbed her to death in rural Tippah County.
Crawford claimed he did not remember the attack, but led authorities to the body buried in leaves in a wooded area, according to court documents.
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 1998. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case that year. The Mississippi court turned down Crawford's post conviction petition in 2003.
Now, Crawford is asking the 5th Circuit to grant him a certificate of appealability. The certificate is similar to a post-conviction petition, in which an inmate argues he has found new evidence - or a possible constitutional issue - that could persuade a court to order a new trial.
A federal judge in Mississippi turned down his petition in 2008.
In the latest documents filed with the 5th Circuit, Crawford said he wants a hearing on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The state attorney general's office countered that Crawford argued many of the same issues in the Mississippi courts and lost. Prosecutors said Crawford failed to show how anything his attorney did was prejudicial to the outcome of his trial.
Prosecutors said beginning at the state court level, Crawford failed "to show any facts that would have changed the determination that he was competent made at the trial." They said Crawford also offered no evidence from a doctor about how much medication he was taking at trial or how it would have affected him.
"His only assertion of prejudice is he was convicted and sentenced to death therefore he was prejudiced," prosecutors said in court documents.
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford will argue to a federal appeals court in Louisiana on Oct. 8 that he didn't like the way his attorney defended him on capital murder charges.
However, in documents filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in advance of the hearing in New Orleans, prosecutors argued Crawford will present no new information that would show how his Mississippi trial would have turned out differently.
Crawford argues his trial attorney didn't like him and they were unable to work together. He said that led to his attorney failing to adequately present an insanity defense or to prepare witnesses to support his claims of mental disability.
Crawford said the attorney also allowed him to take drugs and pain medication during the trial, so the jury interpreted his "stoned appearance to be a lack of remorse and evilness."
Crawford, now 43, was sentenced to death in 1994 for the 1993 murder and rape of a Northeast Mississippi Community College student.
Prosecutors contend Crawford handcuffed 20-year-old Kristy Ray and stuffed one of his socks in her mouth before he sexually assaulted and stabbed her to death in rural Tippah County.
Crawford claimed he did not remember the attack, but led authorities to the body buried in leaves in a wooded area, according to court documents.
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 1998. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case that year. The Mississippi court turned down Crawford's post conviction petition in 2003.
Now, Crawford is asking the 5th Circuit to grant him a certificate of appealability. The certificate is similar to a post-conviction petition, in which an inmate argues he has found new evidence - or a possible constitutional issue - that could persuade a court to order a new trial.
A federal judge in Mississippi turned down his petition in 2008.
In the latest documents filed with the 5th Circuit, Crawford said he wants a hearing on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The state attorney general's office countered that Crawford argued many of the same issues in the Mississippi courts and lost. Prosecutors said Crawford failed to show how anything his attorney did was prejudicial to the outcome of his trial.
Prosecutors said beginning at the state court level, Crawford failed "to show any facts that would have changed the determination that he was competent made at the trial." They said Crawford also offered no evidence from a doctor about how much medication he was taking at trial or how it would have affected him.
"His only assertion of prejudice is he was convicted and sentenced to death therefore he was prejudiced," prosecutors said in court documents.