AUSTIN – A Central Texas man got a 30-day jail sentence for contempt of court after criticizing a judge in a Caldwell County Courthouse men's room.
State District Judge Jack Robison ordered Don Bandelman, 69, released after two days in jail after a state appeals court in Austin made inquiries into the matter. Officials said Robison had granted temporary custody of Bandleman's granddaughter to his son's ex-wife instead of his son. Bandleman then followed the judge into the men's room and berated him as "a fool," officials said.
Officer shoots, kills holdup suspect
SAN ANTONIO – A rookie San Antonio police officer fatally shot a suspect in a predawn gas station holdup Tuesday.
Police said Julio Molinar, 19, died at Brooke Army Medical Center shortly after the shooting in northeast San Antonio. They said Officer Michael Ruiz, who graduated from the police academy five months ago, drove into the parking lot of the gas station and shot Molinar after the suspect pointed a shotgun at him. He has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the police investigation.
Prison guard fired after inmate's death
McALESTER, Okla. – A prison guard was fired and his supervisor suspended after an inmate was beaten to death after being placed in the same cell with a co-defendant he testified against.
Paul Duran, 23, was killed March 11 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and Jesse Dalton, 33, remains a suspect in the case, officials said. The two had been charged in an Oklahoma City murder case.
Judge accused of sex offer is suspended
HOUSTON – The State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Tuesday suspended a Harris County criminal court-at-law judge under indictment for allegedly offering to help a defendant in exchange for sex.
Judge Donald Jackson, 59, is accused of propositioning a young female drunken-driving defendant. His attorney has said his client is not guilty.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Austin officer's killer files new claim Petition about union ad is filed as judge was to consider execution date.
The day before a judge was to begin considering the execution date of a man convicted of killing an Austin police officer, his lawyer filed new court documents with information he said could have swayed jurors in separate trials.
According to the petition, a newspaper advertisement last year paid for by the Austin police union set forth a sequence of events in the 1978 shooting of officer Ralph Ablanedo that differed from what investigators and prosecutors previously presented.
The full-page ad, published in the Austin American-Statesman to mark the 30th anniversary of Ablanedo's death, said Ablanedo fired nine rounds at David Lee Powell. Powell was convicted of murder and remains on Texas death row in the shooting.
Val Escobar, executive director of the Austin Police Association, said Wednesday that she pulled a narrative of the shooting used in the ad from the Internet and that it wasn't based on official documents or interviews.
Defense attorney Richard Burr said in the court documents: "Had the evidence that Officer Ablanedo returned fire nine times been available, the picture of the crime would have changed dramatically. This evidence would have cast other strands of evidence in a different light."
Burr said that had Ablanedo fired, the incident would have been considered a gunfight instead of an "ambush or execution."
The petition asks that a trial court determine whether the claim has a basis.
Bruce Mills, who was Ablanedo's patrol partner, said Ablanedo's gun was still in its holster when he arrived at the scene.
"No shots were fired from his gun," Mills said. He said the petition is "a feeble attempt to draw a distraction."
The petition said it is possible that Ablanedo had a second gun.
Travis County prosecutors last month asked state District Judge Mike Lynch to set an execution date for Powell in October. The defense requested more time to file a petition about the new information with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Lynch signed an order saying that he would wait until after Wednesday to allow Burr more time.
The court must decide if the petition can be considered under state law. Burr must show that he has found new evidence not previously available or that state law or court precedent has changed in a way favorable to Powell.
Powell was found guilty and sentenced to death soon after the shooting in the 900 block of East Live Oak Street in South Austin. According to court documents, he shot Ablanedo 10 times with an AK-47 during a traffic stop before trying to kill other officers as they closed in.
Powell appealed his conviction, saying that he had talked to a psychiatrist without being warned of his rights, and got a new trial in 1991. Powell also appealed that guilty verdict and, after he said he had been improperly sentenced, was given a new sentencing trial in 1999. He was again given the death penalty.
Powell's lawyers appealed that decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and lost.
During a hearing last year, attorneys said prosecutors did not disclose information in a timely manner that could have helped Powell's defense, including documents from the parole file of Powell's girlfriend, Sheila Meinert. They said the records showed Meinert fired shots at Ablanedo and that she had thrown a grenade at officers.
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According to the petition, a newspaper advertisement last year paid for by the Austin police union set forth a sequence of events in the 1978 shooting of officer Ralph Ablanedo that differed from what investigators and prosecutors previously presented.
The full-page ad, published in the Austin American-Statesman to mark the 30th anniversary of Ablanedo's death, said Ablanedo fired nine rounds at David Lee Powell. Powell was convicted of murder and remains on Texas death row in the shooting.
Val Escobar, executive director of the Austin Police Association, said Wednesday that she pulled a narrative of the shooting used in the ad from the Internet and that it wasn't based on official documents or interviews.
Defense attorney Richard Burr said in the court documents: "Had the evidence that Officer Ablanedo returned fire nine times been available, the picture of the crime would have changed dramatically. This evidence would have cast other strands of evidence in a different light."
Burr said that had Ablanedo fired, the incident would have been considered a gunfight instead of an "ambush or execution."
The petition asks that a trial court determine whether the claim has a basis.
Bruce Mills, who was Ablanedo's patrol partner, said Ablanedo's gun was still in its holster when he arrived at the scene.
"No shots were fired from his gun," Mills said. He said the petition is "a feeble attempt to draw a distraction."
The petition said it is possible that Ablanedo had a second gun.
Travis County prosecutors last month asked state District Judge Mike Lynch to set an execution date for Powell in October. The defense requested more time to file a petition about the new information with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Lynch signed an order saying that he would wait until after Wednesday to allow Burr more time.
The court must decide if the petition can be considered under state law. Burr must show that he has found new evidence not previously available or that state law or court precedent has changed in a way favorable to Powell.
Powell was found guilty and sentenced to death soon after the shooting in the 900 block of East Live Oak Street in South Austin. According to court documents, he shot Ablanedo 10 times with an AK-47 during a traffic stop before trying to kill other officers as they closed in.
Powell appealed his conviction, saying that he had talked to a psychiatrist without being warned of his rights, and got a new trial in 1991. Powell also appealed that guilty verdict and, after he said he had been improperly sentenced, was given a new sentencing trial in 1999. He was again given the death penalty.
Powell's lawyers appealed that decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and lost.
During a hearing last year, attorneys said prosecutors did not disclose information in a timely manner that could have helped Powell's defense, including documents from the parole file of Powell's girlfriend, Sheila Meinert. They said the records showed Meinert fired shots at Ablanedo and that she had thrown a grenade at officers.
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