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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