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Killer of gay man gets stay - Texas Death Row Logjam Continues
The Dallas Morning News ^ | May 14, 2002 | By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News

Posted on 05/14/2002 6:36:21 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP


Killer of gay man gets stay

Counsel in appeal calls prior state-appointed attorney incompetent

05/14/2002

By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News

An inmate condemned for the murder of a gay man in Tyler won a reprieve Monday from a federal appeals court a day before he was to be executed. His attorneys argued that a previous state-appointed attorney was incompetent.

Henry Dunn Jr.'s scheduled Tuesday evening lethal injection was put off with an order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, said Mike Viesca, a spokesman for the Texas attorney general's office.

Mr. Dunn, 27, was sentenced to death for abducting, robbing and fatally shooting 23-year-old Nicolas West near Tyler in November 1993 in what authorities said was a hate crime.

*
AP
Henry Dunn Jr.

Mr. Dunn and his attorneys contended that a previous state-appointed attorney was inexperienced, unqualified and incompetent and missed deadlines, making future appeals impossible.

Mr. Dunn's case was featured in a September 2000 story by The Dallas Morning News, as part of a series that studied the competency of court-appointed attorneys. That story revealed that Mr. Dunn's initial appeals attorney was just out of law school and so inexperienced that he asked for and got a delay in the case in order to take a class on how to represent death-penalty defendants.

Mr. Dunn said he was at the scene of the shooting but denied he was responsible for the hate crime. Another man convicted in the case, considered the leader of the group that preyed on homosexual people in the Tyler area, told authorities he didn't like gays because a gay relative raped him as a child. Gays also were easy robbery targets, he said.

Mr. Dunn was among seven death-row inmates who tried to escape from prison Thanksgiving night 1998. Only one, Martin Gurule, cleared a pair of fences that surrounded the Ellis Unit prison northeast of Huntsville. A week later, Mr. Gurule was found to have drowned nearby.

Mr. Dunn and the other five were stopped by gunfire from corrections officers.

Mr. Dunn was the first of two Texas prisoners scheduled to die this week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/texassouthwest/stories/051402dntexstay.63f1b.html


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: deathpenalty; gay; murder; stayofexecution

1 posted on 05/14/2002 6:36:22 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: Squantos; GeronL; Billie; sinkspur; Slyfox; San Jacinto; SpookBrat; COB1; DainBramage; Dallas...
Ping a few Texans.......

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my ping list!. . .don't be shy.
2 posted on 05/14/2002 6:39:20 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
This is a bummer Meek.
3 posted on 05/14/2002 6:48:59 PM PDT by SpookBrat
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To: MeeknMing
This case must put leftists in a quandry. Do they attack the offender in a hate crime or do they oppose the death penalty?
4 posted on 05/14/2002 6:50:16 PM PDT by rmlew
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To: MeeknMing
Mr. Dunn and his attorneys contended that a previous state-appointed attorney was inexperienced, unqualified and incompetent and missed deadlines, making future appeals impossible.

That is a perfect description of my old lawyer in Los Angeles.

5 posted on 05/14/2002 6:50:17 PM PDT by Brownie74
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To: MeeknMing

Yep Gurule, had cardboard wrapped around his body to keep from being cut by the razor wire. Once out he apparently got into a creek and was found drown a week later. It has been speculated the cardboard didn't help him once it became water logged....

6 posted on 05/14/2002 7:05:18 PM PDT by deport
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To: All

On NOW at RadioFR!

7pm/10pm - The "Banana Republican", our own Luis Gonzalez, has a spirited interview with...none other than JACK THOMPSON!

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7 posted on 05/14/2002 7:06:11 PM PDT by Bob J
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To: deport; aculeus; Orual
A week later, Mr. Gurule was found to have drowned nearby.

Too bad his name wasn't Gurgle.

8 posted on 05/14/2002 7:09:45 PM PDT by dighton
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To: SpookBrat
Isn't it? My hunch is that the 8 or 9 in May's schedule will go 0-fer 8 or 9.
The Virginia Supreme Court Case is going to put everything on hold, imho......
9 posted on 05/14/2002 7:11:10 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: Brownie74
Ouch! Sorry to hear that......
10 posted on 05/14/2002 7:12:51 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: deport
Wow. Thanks for that link, FRiend!

11 posted on 05/14/2002 7:18:23 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
No kidding!! We were due in court one day and my lawyer didn't show up. One of the court clerks called his office and my lawyers secretary told the clerk that he messed his schedule up and as a result, he was in Chicago playing golf with some congressman.

I had to ask for a continuance which the judge gladly granted.

I don't know which is worse - lawyers or cab drivers. They both take you for a ride and in either case, you are going to end up paying.

12 posted on 05/14/2002 7:30:07 PM PDT by Brownie74
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To: Brownie74
My Gosh! It's a good thing ya had a judge with some sense.
What a horror story!
Sorry for the long delay in replying. Glad FR's back up!
13 posted on 05/16/2002 3:22:11 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
Glad FR's back up!

So am I. I went over to Yahoo to see what the problem was and saw you there but Yahoo is such a mess these days I didn't post anything. It is an adventure just trying to read post. LOL!!

14 posted on 05/16/2002 3:36:19 AM PDT by Brownie74
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