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Court of appeals upholds 3 death sentencesAssociated PressThe Texas Court of Criminal Appeals returned a capital murder conviction to a lower court Wednesday because of a procedural error and affirmed the death sentences in three other capitalcases.Clyde Smith, 22, was convicted and sentenced to death for the February 1992 killing of Houston cab driver David Jacobs.During his trial, Smith's attorneys tried to prevent his confession from being entered into evidence. The trial court denied the motion but failed to file written findings justifying the decision on time.The appeals court sent the case back to the trial court to refile the findings. The conviction was not reversed.The court also affirmed the death sentence of Eugene Broxton, 40, who was convicted of killingSheila Dockens, a 20-year-old Louisiana resident who was in Houston with her husband, Waylon.In May 1991, BrOxton posed as management tor the Houston hotel where the Dockens were stav-% Jing and gained entry into the couple's room. He tied them up, stole cash and jewelry and pistol-whipped the couple before shooting them both, court records said.Mrs. Dockens was shot in the chest and Mr. Dockens in the head. Mr. Dockens, however, survived and identified Broxton.The appeals court affirmed the conviction and death sentence with a 6-3 vote.Broxton, 37 at the time of his trial, argued that his threat to society w'ould diminish because of his age if he was incarcerated for the minimum 15 years of a life sentence. He said he would be less disposed to commit future crimes, records said. But that testimony was not heard by the jury.In other action, the appeals court also upheld death sentences for 21-year-old Edward Peanut Green III and David Lee Herman.Green was convicted of capital murder in the August 1992 double killing of two Houston senior citizens.Edward Perry Haden, 72, was shot in the head and shoulders and Helen O'Sullivan, 69, was shot in the abdomen, according tot,court records.Green, who has a history of rape, robbery and auto theft, tried to rob the couple as they sat in a car at an intersection. He opened fire on them when Haden began laughing at him, court recordssaid.Herman, 37, was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 1989 killing of Jennifer E. Burns, a 21-year-old employee at an Arlington topless nightclub.Herman, armed with a handgun, forced Bums and two other employees into the office of the nightclub, stole $20,000 from a safe and then shot all three employees, court records said.Convicted killer Harold Joe Lane, whose appeal was denied by the Texas Supreme Court Tuesday and by the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday was put to death Wednesday. He became the 100th Texas inmate to be executed since the state resumed capital punishment. Lane's execution alsowas the first set for after 6 p.m. under a new law.It's good to see my brothers, he said, looking at two brothers who stood a few feet away. I love you.He gasped about three time and he slipped intounconsciousness. Lane, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:28 p.m. CDT, nine minute'- after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arm.He wras executed for the 1982 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old girl during a supermarket robbery in Dallas.
Newspaper Details
Austin Daily Texan
Austin, Texas, US
Thu, Oct 05, 1995
Page 19
Full Page
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Anonymous
CA 18 May 2021
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