Posted on 09/13/2005 6:24:11 AM PDT by texianyankee
Frances Newton, condemned for the 1987 murder of her husband and two young children, was a step closer to execution Friday after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed her latest application for writ of habeas corpus, saying she had presented no new evidence to warrant a stay.
In a petition filed Tuesday, Newton's Texas Innocence Network attorneys argued that two, possibly three, pistols were recovered the night that Adrian Newton, 23, and the couple's children, Alton, 7, and Farrah, 21 months, were shot to death at their Harris County apartment.
If multiple weapons were seized as evidence, they contended, it's possible authorities bungled their processing and that a key element of the prosecution's case that the pistol Newton hid after the killings was the murder weapon is false.
"Is it plausible to think that the Houston Police Department ballistics lab mixed up the weapons?"attorney David Dow asked Friday. "Well, in view of what we know now from faulty ballistics evidence in other cases, to dozens of mistakes in DNA analysis, to scores of boxes of lost or missing evidence I would think that only the most stubborn, naive or disingenuous prosecutor would say with any confidence that Newton is guilty."
Newton, who claims she is innocent, is scheduled to die Wednesday for killing her family to gain $100,000 in insurance death benefits. She would be the third woman put to death in Texas since the state resumed executions 23 years ago.
Trial testimony revealed that Newton and her husband, a user and seller of drugs, had a rocky marriage. Adrian Newton engaged in numerous extramarital affairs; Frances Newton spent the night before the murders with her lover, whose pistol was used in the crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Below is the info from the Texas Death Row site which posts the vital info regarding this murderess.
Texas : EEOC approved!
;>)
THAT'S TERRIBLE!!!
Oh wait, she killed three people. Carry on.
Buh bye, Francis.
Good riddance to rancid rubbish.
Jesse ain't on this yet??
TX plans to execute someone, why is this even news?
I havent seen hide nor hair of Jesse....nor have I heard if/when Sarandon will show up in Huntsville.
My first thought was Cindy Sheehan.
No such luck.
And remember, this was the Lee P. Brown Administration.
100s if not 1000s of cases have and will be thrown out or overturned do this Crime Lab incompetence.
A real Black Widow, this one.
Jesse Jackson is too busy making racist slanders against President Bush, in order to cover up Mayor Ray Nagin's Miserable Failure and Governor Kathleen Blanco's Miserable Failure, to trouble himself with the 'little people'.
here comes the tear fest.
Well if you check the link below - data supplied by the TDCJ - you will note a marked decline in executions this year.....only 12 so far.
April 7 - kill husband, kids.
April 21 - file insurance claim.
April 22 - knock, knock, knock.
I miss picking up the America Spectator magazine...
They ususally give a culinary review of the condemned's last meal... kinda funny
She was convicted 23 years ago . She has been waiting 21 years too long.
Lee Brown was police chief then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.