Powell was a convicted “cop killer”—a conviction that makes execution almost certain in Texas, no matter how long the inmate lives on death row. It didn’t matter that Powell had become a changed man during his three-decade confinement on death row. His attorney, Richard Burr, said he had lived an “exemplary life on death row.” His attitude changed, he graduated from high school as a valedictorian, was enrolled in an honors program at the University of Texas, taught other inmates how to read, and even protected prison guards from attack by other inmates. He wrote a letter to the victim’s family, saying: “The senseless death of Ralph Ablanedo has weighed heavily on my soul always. When I killed Officer Ablanedo, I killed some part of myself. I have known no peace since.”

            The victim’s family was not impressed either by Powell’s remorse or his death row achievements. “It’s been a long time,” Bruce Mills, Ablanedo son’s told the media. “I think the process has been more than fair to him, and I think he’s had an opportunity to make his case.” Ablanedo fellow officers, and in particular the officer who with him the night he was killed, felt the same way. “We’re looking forward to it finally being over, no question,” Ablanedo partner that fatal night told the media. “The word we keep describing is relief.”

            Law enforcement officers uniformly feel that when a “cop killer” is put to death, their jobs are made safer. They cite a study by researchers from Sam Houston University and Duke University—a study reported in the Criminologist—that found the number of murders decreased during the month of an execution and also in the month following an execution. I blogged about that study here. The issue of whether or not actual executions deter murder is still very much a subjected of heated debate, but it clearly satisfies the need of law enforcement to exact revenge against those who kill one of their own—no matter how long it takes to get the job done. 150 current and former Austin police officers traveled to Huntsville to witness the execution.

            In the end David Lee Powell elected not to make a final statement. He simply fixed his eyes on the family of the slain officer until his head turned away as the lethal injection cocktail took effect.  Ablanedo’s widow, Judy Mills, gripped her son’s hand as the drugs accomplished their purpose. The law enforcement officers attending the execution formed seven lines and served as an “honor guard” for the slain officer’s family.

            Death penalty protestors were not impressed. They called the execution an act of “murder” by the State of Texas. Police officers broke rank and cheered the impending execution.

            In the end, nothing was truly accomplished. A convicted murderer was put to death. The slain officer’s family, if honest, did not feel closure, and whatever revenge satisfaction the law enforcement contingent felt was short lived as they returned to the stress and pressure of their daily lives. Powell’s supporters walked away, disgusted no doubt but resigned to the fact that their voices will never be heard in the State of Texas.

            The straw that apparently broke the proverbial camel’s back in Shrode’s case came after the Ohio Parole Board voted 4-3 last week to recommend clemency for a death row inmate because of problems the board found with Shrode’s 1997 testimony in that case.

            Although Esparza has supported Shrode publicly at previous Commissioner Court hearings at which the former medical examiner came under attack, the district attorney said some criminal defendants in the future may call the former medical examiner as a witness to question him about the autopsies he performed in their cases.

            Even though pretty much everyone in the county now want to distance themselves from Shrode who was the highest paid county employee in El Paso ($254,000 a year) and apparently had substantial political clout, most officials, like Esparza, are now trying to minimize any damage he may have done with his testimony in criminal cases. For example, Commissioner Ann Perez said she believes “there was little chance” that defendants were wrongfully convicted.

            Such public comments are absurd, if not irresponsible. If a public official will lie about his professional credentials, he/she will give false testimony in court of law and they will fabricate forensic reports to state prosecutors. For example, in August 2007 Assistant District Attorney Bruce Yetter called Shrode to testify as an “expert” in a child protection case. The prosecutor introduced Shrode’s resume as an exhibit to verify his “expert witness” credentials. The resume stated Shrode had received a “graduate law degree” from Southwest Texas State University. An attorney involved in the case knew that Southwest Texas State had no law school.

            “Do you have a law degree, doctor?” attorney Theresa Caballero asked.

            “Not in the sense of a law degree from a school of law, not like you,” Shrode responded.

            The El Paso Times reported what happened next:

            “[Shrode] then admitted under oath that he had no law degree or diploma…But in the resumes Shrode had submitted to El Paso and Harris counties, he claimed to hold a ‘graduate degree in law.’ Later, after being questioned by Caballero, Shrode produced another resume. That one said he had a degree in law from a school of political science and that he was a member of the State Bar of Texas from 1979 to 1983. A third resume by Shrode said that he had a ‘degree in law’ and that his bar membership was as a paralegal…The State bar of Texas has no record of Shrode being a member, either as an attorney or a paralegal.”

            Shrode resume embellishments are terrible enough, but what it even more terrible is that in November 2007 the County Commissioner’s Court gave Shrode a vote of confidence by refusing to either dismiss or reprimand him on the false resume issue.

            The Shrode case personifies just another in a long list of cases where state “expert witnesses” have turned out to be frauds—and that’s why the death penalty should be done away with. The Ohio Parole Board in a very narrow vote decided to try and save one man from death because of Shrode’s flawed testimony. How many more are there on other death rows waiting to die because of false or fabricated testimony from fraudulent state “experts”?

            More to the point, how many more Paul Shrodes are there infecting the nation’s criminal justice system false or fabricated testimony in criminal cases? We just don’t know. What we do know is that a wrongful conviction can be corrected in most of those cases, but there is always the ugly risk that false or fabricated evidence/testimony will be discovered too late in a death penalty case. The fact that we don’t know how many Shrodes there are is precisely why the states and federal government cannot guarantee the integrity of the death penalty system.

            Since 2001, there have been 20 DNA exonerations in Dallas County—most of whom involved faulty identification procedures. Police and prosecutorial misconduct, withholding of evidence, were involved in the other cases. Watkins told the Morning News that the experiences of his integrity unit have changed his perspective in the way he sees cases of potential innocence.

            “At the time, I started out looking at legitimate claims of innocence, and obviously we still do,” the District Attorney told the Morning News. “But now, it’s how we improve prosecutor and police techniques. It’s about the ability to argue for changes in the law.”

            Watkins’ office identified a total of 502 cases for potential DNA cases. His prosecutors tested 50 of those cases. Seven men were exonerated and 28 were confirmed to be guilty. DNA results in some of the other tests proved inconclusive. Watkins said they may be investigated further.

            The 400 cases not tested proved to be a stickler. Watkins’ office decided not to test them either because there was no genetic evidence to test or the DNA evidence available would not have established either guilt or innocence.

            Although the number of DNA exonerations has sharply dropped off the last couple of years, Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore, the former president of the Innocence Project of Texas, believes there will be more DNA exonerations. “I think when it’s all said and done …there could be another DNA exoneration,” she told the Morning News.

            The decision by Watkins to move from DNA cases to non-DNA cases has not been embraced by everyone. Watkins’ Republican challenger, Danny Clancy, in the next election favors a more cautious, conservative approach. “We have to be very careful, especially in the non-DNA cases,” Clancy told the Morning News. “It becomes a slippery slope when we start second-guessing jury verdicts, but we have to be prepared to do that when new, credible evidence is presented that point to an individual’s innocence.”

            Clancy said a district attorney takes an “oath” to “seek justice, even if it’s delayed.”

            If district attorneys would honor their oath at the outset of a criminal prosecution, the issue of wrongful convictions would not be the significant criminal justice “issue” it is today. The fact that more than 75 percent of the nation’s 254 DNA exonerations involved mistaken identification means that prosecutors are not doing their jobs at the front end of a criminal justice system. They know the difference between a “good” identification and one that is just “good enough” to pass constitutional mustard on appeal.

            But Clancy does make a legitimate point with the “slippery slope” argument. It is hard to dispute DNA exonerations. But if a jury verdict is reversed and a judicial determination of actual innocence made in a case where later evidence emerges that absolutely establishes the guilt of a released offender, particularly one convicted of murder and who had a death sentence, the political backlash will be tremendous. It can only be hoped that other district attorneys across the country, like the one in New York, who have established in-house “integrity units” will, like Watkins, focus as much on improved prosecutorial and police investigative techniques as establishing the innocence of those wrongfully convicted.

            That will ultimately prove to be the only safety net in those non-DNA cases.

• Incarcerated in the Louisiana prison system for 40 years from December 11. 1965 to April 21, 2006. Convicted of felony murder in East Baton Rouge Parish in June 1966. Paroled to the State of Texas on April 21, 2006. Married since June 1982 to Jodie Sinclair.

Law:

• Jailhouse lawyer for 34 years. Prepared legal pleadings/briefs through all the state courts (trial/intermediate appellate/supreme court) and the federal courts (district/appeals court/U.S. Supreme Court). Experience includes criminal law, constitutional law, 42 U.S. Sec. 1983 litigation, civil law, family law (divorce proceedings), discovery proceedings in state/federal courts, exceptions of no cause/right of actions in state court, and Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) motions to dismiss/Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 summary judgment motions. With the assistance of civil rights attorney Richard C. Hand, won first prisoner rights lawsuit in Louisiana in Sinclair v. Henderson, 331 F.Supp. 1123 (E.D.La. 1971).

• Legal writings published in Louisiana Law Review, Vol. 45, No. 5, p.1061 (May 1985); Journal of Prison & Jail Health, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 100 (Fall/Winter 1983); New England Journal on Prison Law, Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 556 (Summer 1981).

• Worked as “inmate counsel-substitute” in Louisiana prison system in 1973 and from 1988 through 1994 representing inmates before institutional disciplinary boards and in the administrative appeals process.

Journalist:

• Prison journalist with the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s newsmagazine, THE ANGOLITE, from 1977 to 1986. During nine-year tenure with prison publication, the magazine was a finalist in the 1978 National Magazine Awards competition; a recipient of the 1979 Robert F. Kennedy Special Journalism Award; a recipient of the 1981 Sidney Hillman Award; and recipient of the 1981 and 1982 American Bar Association’s Certificate of Merit. Was an individual recipient of the 1980 George Polk Award and the 1980 American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.

Writer:

• Writings have been published in Baton Rouge MORNING ADVOCATE MAGAZINE (1980); FORUM Magazine (1980); Des Moines SUNDAY REGISTER (1980); ASSOCIATED PRESS (1981); Los Angeles TIMES SYNDICATE (1981); DALLAS MORNING NEWS (1981); FORTUNE Magazine (1981-84); NEW ORLEANS Magazine (1982); BATON ROUGE Magazine 1982); ESSENCE Magazine (1982); LOUISIANA LIFE Magazine (1983); CHICAGO TRIBUNE (1983); CRIMINAL JUSTICE Magazine (1984); WITNESS Magazine (1987); CHIEF OF POLICE Magazine; and POLICE Magazine (1990-91).

Author:

• “A Life in the Balance: The Billy Wayne Sinclair Story,” Billy and Jodie Sinclair (Arcade 2000); essay entitled “Road to Redemption” published in “The Impossible Will Take A Little While,” Paul R. Loeb (Basic Books 2004); and “Capital Punishment: An Indictment by a Death Row Survivor,” Billy and Jodie Sinclair (Arcade Publishing: March 11, 2009.)

Educational Background:

• 2007-2006: Legal Assistant Technology Program, Houston Community College. 4.0 GPA and Dean’s List.

• 2006 - Westlaw’s Paralegal 3 course, Houston Information Center, One Allen Center, December 18, 2006.

• 2006 - Westlaw’s Paralegal 1 & 2 courses, Houston Information Center, One Allen Center, December 12, 2006.

• 2006 – Beginning and Intermediate Westlaw legal research, Houston Information Center, One Allen Center, December 8, 2006

• 2006 – Westlaw Citation Checking course, Houston Information Center, One Allen Center, November 17, 2006

• 2006 – Advanced Westlaw legal research course, Houston Information Center, One Allen Center, November 13, 2006.

• 2006 – Introduction To Computer (Windows XP), Houston Community College, June 24, 2006.

• 1988 – Criminology correspondence course from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

• 1987 – Introduction to Criminal Justice correspondence course from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

• 1986 – Successful Investing and Money Management correspondence course from Hume Publishing Co., Atlanta, Georgia.

• 1984 – Legal Research Training Seminar sponsored by the West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota.

• 1983 – Paralegal/Legal Assistant correspondence course from the Southern Career Institute, Boca Raton, Florida.

• 1976 – Legal Investigation correspondence course from Universal Schools, Little Falls, New Jersey.

• 1975 – GED through the St. Francisville High School, St. Francisville, Louisiana.

• 1969 – English 101 correspondence course from the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

]]> http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?feed=rss2&p=79 7 http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?p=84 http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?p=84#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:38:46 +0000 davida http://www.capitalpunishmentbook.com/?p=84 Jodie Sinclair has spent more than two decades in public relations and broadcast news in Texas and Louisiana. She has also lived in California, Mexico, Italy and Switzerland where she attended school as a child.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Jim S. Adler & Associates 2007 – 2009
  Houston, Dallas, San Antonio
  Director of Public Relations

• Houston Downtown YMCA 2006
  Communications Director

• Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force, Houston 2005

Member: Communications Team, Office of the Mayor

• Houston Downtown Management District 1998-2005
  Director of Public Relations and Communications

• KBMT-TV Beaumont, Texas 1996-1998
  Chief Assignments Editor /General Assignment Reporter

• khtv-tv Houston, Texas 1987-1996
  Public Affairs Director

• KPRC Radio Houston, Texas 1987-1988
  Weekend News Anchor-Producer Reporter

• kjac-tv Beaumont, Texas 1985-1987
  Morning Anchor/General Assignment Reporter

• ut-tv Houston, Texas 1983-1984
  University of Texas Medical School
  Medical Reporter/Producer

• Retina Research Foundation
  Texas Medical Center, Houston, 1982-1983
  Public Affairs Assistant

  wafb-tv Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1980-1982
  Legislative Reporter/General Assignment Reporter

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

• Public Relations Society of America, Award of Excellence,
  Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force, 2006

• Texas Association of Broadcasters
  Bonner McLane Award for Public Service, 1992-1995

• Anson Jones Award for Medical Reporting
  Texas Medical Center, 1994

• Texas Classroom Teacher Association Award
  Education Reporting, 1993

• Houston Mental Health Association Media Award
  Mental health Reporting 1991

• Honorable Mention ITVA Award, Houston Chapter
  Medical Reporting 1984

EDUCATION

• Columbia University in the City of New York

M.S., Journalism, 1985

• Loyola University of The South, New Orleans, LA
  B.A., Journalism and Public Affairs, 1979
  Magna cum Laude

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Houston ISD, Jack Yates High School, Magnet School of Communications

• Safe Kids Greater Houston

• Safe Kids San Antonio

• Partners in Education, Spring Branch ISD and Houston ISD

• Joint City County Commission on Children, Houston/Harris County

Member, Board of Directors

• Child Abuse Prevention Network

• Houston Crackdown