Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 15, 2006 10:38:43 GMT -5
Longest-serving death row inmate gets sentence overturned
LISA LEFF
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - California's longest-serving death row inmate had his sentence overturned for the third time Thursday after a federal appeals court ruled a defense lawyer failed to present evidence that could have kept his client from being condemned.
Reversing a lower court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said lawyer Arnold Lieman "rendered constitutionally defective assistance" by failing to tell jurors that Lavell Frierson had a history of mental retardation, child abuse, brain damage and drug use.
"There is a reasonable probability that, had the jury been able to consider this evidence, the outcome of the penalty proceedings would have been different," Judge Richard A. Paez wrote for a three-judge panel.
Frierson, 49, has been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since he was convicted of murdering Edgardo Kramer, 29, a Peruvian airline employee, in 1978.
Frierson kidnapped, robbed and shot Kramer and a colleague in the head when the two men went to a motel near Los Angeles International Airport allegedly looking for a prostitute, according to court documents.
The 9th Circuit ordered the district court to commute Frierson's sentence to life in prison without parole unless California prosecutors decide to retry him on the penalty phase with hopes of securing another death sentence.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, confirmed that the 27 years and one month Frierson has been on death row was a record among the state's 653 condemned prisoners.
The death sentence reversed Thursday was the third one Frierson had overturned after arguing he received inadequate counsel. In 1979, the California Supreme Court reversed his capital punishment conviction because another defense lawyer did not present a diminished capacity defense.
After a second jury found Frierson guilty and recommended the death penalty, the state's high court upheld the conviction, but threw out the sentence because lawyers only presented testimony about Frierson's mental capacity during the penalty phase of the trial.
The Supreme Court upheld Frierson's third death sentence. But in Thursday's ruling, the 9th Circuit said that while Lieman presented evidence of Frierson's drug use, he did not give the jury information about Frierson's low IQ, emotional problems and childhood brain injuries.
The panel said Lieman was inadequately prepared because the lawyer did not read the transcripts of Frierson's second trial.
A telephone call to Lieman was not immediately returned.
Gwen Freeman, Frierson's current lawyer, reacted jubilantly to the news of Thursday's ruling, saying capital punishment was supposed to be reserved for the most horrific crimes.
"If he had the trial that I think any competent attorney would have been able to provide for him, there is no question in my mind he never would have gotten the death penalty," Freeman said.
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15519942.htm
LISA LEFF
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - California's longest-serving death row inmate had his sentence overturned for the third time Thursday after a federal appeals court ruled a defense lawyer failed to present evidence that could have kept his client from being condemned.
Reversing a lower court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said lawyer Arnold Lieman "rendered constitutionally defective assistance" by failing to tell jurors that Lavell Frierson had a history of mental retardation, child abuse, brain damage and drug use.
"There is a reasonable probability that, had the jury been able to consider this evidence, the outcome of the penalty proceedings would have been different," Judge Richard A. Paez wrote for a three-judge panel.
Frierson, 49, has been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since he was convicted of murdering Edgardo Kramer, 29, a Peruvian airline employee, in 1978.
Frierson kidnapped, robbed and shot Kramer and a colleague in the head when the two men went to a motel near Los Angeles International Airport allegedly looking for a prostitute, according to court documents.
The 9th Circuit ordered the district court to commute Frierson's sentence to life in prison without parole unless California prosecutors decide to retry him on the penalty phase with hopes of securing another death sentence.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, confirmed that the 27 years and one month Frierson has been on death row was a record among the state's 653 condemned prisoners.
The death sentence reversed Thursday was the third one Frierson had overturned after arguing he received inadequate counsel. In 1979, the California Supreme Court reversed his capital punishment conviction because another defense lawyer did not present a diminished capacity defense.
After a second jury found Frierson guilty and recommended the death penalty, the state's high court upheld the conviction, but threw out the sentence because lawyers only presented testimony about Frierson's mental capacity during the penalty phase of the trial.
The Supreme Court upheld Frierson's third death sentence. But in Thursday's ruling, the 9th Circuit said that while Lieman presented evidence of Frierson's drug use, he did not give the jury information about Frierson's low IQ, emotional problems and childhood brain injuries.
The panel said Lieman was inadequately prepared because the lawyer did not read the transcripts of Frierson's second trial.
A telephone call to Lieman was not immediately returned.
Gwen Freeman, Frierson's current lawyer, reacted jubilantly to the news of Thursday's ruling, saying capital punishment was supposed to be reserved for the most horrific crimes.
"If he had the trial that I think any competent attorney would have been able to provide for him, there is no question in my mind he never would have gotten the death penalty," Freeman said.
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15519942.htm