ALABAMA----3rd Stay of Execution for Thomas Arthur

[London Lass]

ALABAMA----impending execution

Inmate claims guilt in 1982 killing


Attorneys attempting to delay Thomas Arthur's execution sent Gov. Bob Riley and court officials an affidavit Tuesday signed by another inmate who said he killed Troy Wicker Jr. in 1982, the crime that put Arthur on death row.

But Attorney General Troy King and the victim's wife both dismissed the affidavit as untrue.

The inmate's affidavit surfaced Tuesday within hours after the Alabama Supreme Court refused on a 6-2 vote to delay Arthur's execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday. The delay was sought so that DNA testing of evidence could be conducted.

Bobby Ray Gilbert, who is serving life without parole in an unrelated murder, said in his handwritten affidavit, signed Monday, that he was a 17-year-old having a sexual relationship with Wicker's wife when she hired him to kill her husband for $2,000 because he was abusive.

Prosecutors contend Judy Wicker hired Arthur for the killing in an insurance scheme. She was given a life sentence for her part in the crime and paroled after 10 years behind bars.

In his affidavit, Gilbert, now 43, said he first admitted the killing to a friend only last year and attempted to contact Arthur's lawyers without immediate success.

In response, Judy Wicker, in a 3-page sworn statement to King's office, said "none of Gilbert's allegations are true." She said she didn't know Gilbert and never had a relationship with him.

"I hired and paid money to Thomas Arthur, not Bobby Gilbert, to kill Troy Wicker," she stated.

King dismissed Gilbert's statement, calling it a "smokescreen" and "simply another attempt" by Arthur to delay his execution. King said he has advised Riley not to delay the execution.

Arthur's attorneys, urging Riley to grant a stay, also filed for an emergency hearing in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Birmingham, where he was convicted, citing the affidavit as new evidence.

"Because someone else has confessed to committing the crime for which Mr. Arthur is about to be executed, there is simply no legitimate reason to deny Mr. Arthur's request for DNA testing or to execute Mr. Arthur before such testing has been completed," Arthur attorney Suhana S. Han wrote Riley.

Arthur has twice come within a day of execution before obtaining court delays. His attorney is still expected to pursue a U.S. Supreme Court stay of execution.

Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to delay the execution for DNA testing. His appeal last year challenging lethal injection as a form of execution was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court after granting a stay on the eve of his Dec. 6 execution date.

Arthur's execution would be the first in Alabama since the high court, in April, upheld the use of lethal injection.

Prosecutors point out that every court that has reviewed Arthur's case concluded that favorable DNA test results will not establish his innocence. "Every court that has addressed this case has stated that DNA testing would not shed any further light on Arthur's guilt and that Arthur was convicted on the basis of overwhelming evidence," said Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw, who handles death penalty cases for the state prosecutor.

Riley last year refused to order DNA testing in Arthur's case.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the inmate claim DNA could clear Arthur and test Gilbert's claims in his affidavit, which includes details from the crime scene. He describes shooting Wicker with a ".22 sawed-off rifle" that he later threw into a lagoon and added he was paid by Judy Wicker in a Huntsville bar.

The New York-based Innocence Project, an international organization that specializes in DNA exonerations, also has supported Arthur's DNA request.

Arthur was tried 3 times for the Wicker killing, and the first 2 convictions were overturned on technicalities.

His appeal was marked by missed court filing deadlines. Arthur's attorneys contend he faces execution "without ever having received any state or federal substantive collateral review of his trial and death sentence." However, prosecutors say that's a false assertion, saying he delayed his filings until the last minute when an execution date was near.

Judy Wicker initially told police a burglar had raped her and killed Wicker, but later recanted, saying she had sex with Arthur and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

Prosecutors alleged that Arthur, a work-release inmate at the time, fatally shot Wicker while he slept so Judy Wicker could get $90,000 in life insurance. Arthur's lawyer, in a court filing, described her as an "admitted perjurer."

(source: Associated Press)

http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html

[London Lass]

Convicted murderer serving life says he, not Thomas Arthur, killed Troy Wicker Jr. in 1982


A convicted murderer serving life without parole for stabbing another inmate to death over a carton of cigarettes claims Alabama is about to execute an innocent man.

Bobby Ray Gilbert, who is serving a life sentence at St. Clair Correctional Facility, claims in documents filed in court Tuesday that it was he, not Death Row inmate Thomas D. Arthur, who murdered Troy Wicker Jr. in Muscle Shoals in 1982. Arthur is scheduled to be executed for the crime at 6 p.m. Thursday.

An attorney for the state said Gilbert lacks credibility, and the execution should proceed.

In appeals filed to the Jefferson County Circuit Court and to the Alabama Supreme Court, Arthur's lawyers request a stay of execution, access to evidence for DNA testing, an emergency hearing and an order granting Arthur a new trial. Arthur's attorneys also asked Gov. Bob Riley to delay the execution.

The filings include an affidavit from Gilbert, once known as "Snake," in which he claims Wicker's wife, Judy, paid him $2,000 to kill her husband.

"I used a .22 sawed-off rifle and shot him in the face," Gilbert said in the handwritten document. "I was standing less than 20 inches from him."

Gilbert, now 43, claimed he and Judy Wicker were having an affair when he was 17, that they had sex after the crime and that he then beat her, at her request. Judy Wicker was found at the crime scene, bloodied and beaten.

Judy Wicker told authorities at the scene that a burglar raped her and killed her husband. She was convicted of the crime, however, and served 10 years in prison. She won early release after she changed her testimony and claimed she paid Arthur to kill her husband so she could collect $90,000 in life insurance proceeds. Arthur was convicted in 1991 after two earlier convictions were overturned on technicalities.

Assistant Alabama Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said Gilbert simply is not believable. The state will introduce an affidavit from Judy Wicker denying his claims, he said.

"We don't think any of this has any credibility," he said. "I think he was fed information by Arthur's attorneys."

Gilbert was serving a life sentence for a DeKalb County murder when he stabbed another inmate to death with a homemade knife in 1990 at Donaldson Correctional Facility. The other inmate, Andrew "Gump" Brown, claimed to have influence with the guards and promised to arrange to have Gilbert moved to a new cell in return for a carton of cigarettes. Brown didn't deliver on the promise, so Gilbert killed him, he said at his own trial.

Suhana Han, an attorney representing Arthur, said she learned of Gilbert's story from an anonymous tip and interviewed him on Monday. Crenshaw's claims that defense attorneys coached him aren't founded, she said.

"That's a desperate attempt suggesting that the AG is afraid of the truth," she said. "There is a way to confirm whether Gilbert is telling the truth: DNA testing."

Eric Ferrero, spokesman for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit group that advocates DNA testing for the condemned, said he thinks Gilbert's statement should be enough for the defense to win a stay and gain access to evidence.

Defense attorneys want testing done on an afro wig that Gilbert claims to have worn during the murder, and that Judy Wicker testified Arthur wore. They also want testing done on a rape kit that could indicate whether Arthur, Gilbert or another man had sex with Judy Wicker after the murder.

Earlier Tuesday - before the Gilbert affidavit was filed - the Alabama Supreme Court rejected by a 6-2 vote a defense request for a stay and access to the evidence. State and federal courts have repeatedly ruled that DNA testing of the evidence could not exonerate Arthur, and that he missed deadlines in filing appeals requesting testing.

(source: Birmingham News)

http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html

[London Lass]

State can't find rape kit in Thomas Arthur case


An attorney for the state of Alabama in a filing today says he has been unable to locate a rape kit tied to the case of death row inmate Thomas D. Arthur.

Arthur is scheduled to be executed tomorrow night. His attorneys want to conduct DNA tests on the rape kit collected at the scene of the murder of Troy Wicker Jr. in Muscle Shoals in 1982. The victim's wife claimed to have been raped by the killer.

The state of Alabama asked the court to reject an appeal from Arthur. Attorneys for the state argued in Jefferson County Circuit Court that claims by another man that he, and not Arthur, killed Wicker are not credible.

(source: Birmingham News)
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html

[London Lass]

Arthur denied execution delay----Other inmate confesses to killing; widow disputes it


An Alabama inmate serving life in prison has allegedly confessed to a murder for which another man is scheduled to die.

Thomas Douglas Arthur is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday, after the Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a stay of execution.

Arthur's attorney, Suhana Han, filed another motion with the court and Gov. Bob Riley containing the alleged confession.

Han is seeking a stay of execution based on the statement by 43-year-old St. Clair prison inmate Bobby Ray Gilbert, in which he says he killed Troy Wicker Jr. of Muscle Shoals in 1982, when he was 17.

"I used a .22 sawed-off rifle and shot him in the face," Gilbert’s alleged confession says. In his affidavit, Gilbert said he first admitted the killing to a friend only last year and attempted to contact Arthur's lawyers without immediate success.

Arthur asked Riley to stay his execution to give him time for DNA testing. Riley spokeswoman Tara Hutchison had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Arthur's attorneys also filed for an emergency hearing in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Birmingham, where he was convicted, citing the affidavit as new evidence.

Wicker's widow, Judy Wicker, who spent 10 years in prison for her husband's death, testified she had sex with Arthur and then hired him for $10,000 to kill her husband. Judy Wicker said the confession was false and maintains that Arthur is guilty.

Attorney General Troy King released a 3-page affidavit by Judy Wicker stating she doesn’t know Gilbert and that Arthur killed her husband for money.

"I was at home when Troy Wicker was shot to death, and saw the individual who shot him," her affidavit said. "That individual was Thomas Arthur, not Bobby Gilbert."

In 2 trials, Judy Wicker said a black male assaulted and raped her and killed her husband. In her 3rd trial, she said she hired Arthur to kill her husband. Judy Wicker could not be reached for comment. King spokesman Chris Bence declined to release contact information for her, saying he was prohibited from releasing such information from victim's files.

Judy Wicker also said in her statement that Arthur's daughter, Sherrie Stone, "had visited me and pressured me to falsely" accuse another man of "committing Troy's murder," in exchange for money from any lawsuit Arthur would file for wrongful conviction.

Stone disputes that characterization, saying Judy Wicker either lied at the 1st 2 trials or lied at the 3rd. "How can we believe anything she said?" she said Tuesday. "What I told her was, if she would just tell the truth, if it's money she wanted we'd try to help her. She said it would jeopardize her freedom. She got out of prison on a deal."

Arthur was tried 3 times for the Wicker killing, and the first two convictions were overturned on technicalities. He confessed to killing Wicker but later recanted, saying he confessed to get a quicker appeal. Through his attorney, he maintains his innocence.

Han said that, with Gilbert's confession, DNA testing of crime scene material is imperative.

"Whether or not you believe the sworn affidavit provided by Bobby Gilbert, the pressing question right now is whether the state has done everything it can to ensure the guilty person is being put to death," she said. "And without DNA testing, the answer is no."

Han said there is DNA evidence from a rape kit taken from Judy Wicker.

"There is a way that we can confirm whether Gilbert is telling the truth when he confessed to murdering Troy Wicker, and that is DNA testing," Han said. “I don’t have an opinion of him beyond this is somebody who has confessed to a crime."

In the statement, Gilbert indicated where he disposed of the sawed-off .22 rifle. His statement said he met Judy Wicker in a bar and had sex with her at least a dozen times over a month or so, and she then hired him to kill her husband.

King said Arthur is “making a full-court press to defeat justice and deny Troy Wicker’s family."

"I don't see any reason to believe this," King said. "What I know is, there is a signed affidavit that she's never met this guy, there never was any kind of relationship with him, she paid Tommy Arthur to kill her husband and Tommy Arthur's daughter has offered money to recant the testimony and change her testimony."

Arthur's scheduled execution would be the 1st in Alabama since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld lethal injection as a method of execution.

(source: Tuscaloosa News)
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html

[London Lass]

Dueling affidavits on eve of Arthur execution


On the eve of Thomas Arthur's scheduled execution, attorneys were in court with dueling affidavits — one from a convicted murderer who claims he’s guilty of the killing that sent Arthur to death row, and another disputing that claim.

The legal crossfire came as the 66-year-old Arthur faces lethal injection at 6 p.m. (CDT) Thursday at Holman Prison. Convicted of the Feb. 1, 1982, killing of Troy Wicker Jr. of Muscle Shoals, Arthur has twice come within a day of execution before winning court delays.

Arthur’s attorneys, who claim DNA testing could exonerate Arthur, sought a stay of execution from Gov. Bob Riley and the courts by using an affidavit from convicted murderer Bobby Ray Gilbert, who is serving a life sentence at St. Clair Correctional Facility.

In a sworn statement Monday to Arthur’s attorneys, Gilbert claimed he killed Wicker when he was 17. But Wicker’s widow, Judy Wicker, who served a prison sentence for hiring the killer, said in an affidavit to the attorney general’s investigators that she never met Gilbert. She once again accused Arthur of the killing.

"None of Gilbert's allegations are true. I do not know anyone named Bobby Gilbert," she said in a sworn statement Monday. "I hired and paid money to Thomas Arthur, not Bobby Gilbert, to kill Troy Wicker."

Attorney General Troy King also dismissed Gilbert's statement and recommended to Riley that the execution not be delayed.

Arthur's attorneys on Tuesday turned to the Jefferson County Circuit Court, offering the Gilbert affidavit as new evidence in a bid for a hearing. The court did not immediately rule. King’s office urged the court to dismiss it.

"The presentation of Gilbert’s affidavit is yet another example of Arthur presenting information that is fabricated and incredible," Assistant Attorney General Jasper Roberts told the court in a filing Wednesday.

Challenging Gilbert's credibility, Roberts noted that of the 23 years Gilbert has been in prison, he has spent about 20 in administrative segregation for violating prison rules and regulations. He said Gilbert has convictions for 2 murders, an escape, an assault on another inmate with the intent to commit murder.

In trial testimony, Judy Wicker said she paid Arthur $10,000 to kill her husband in an insurance scheme. She served 10 years before her early release from a life sentence.

The Alabama Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier denied Arthur's bid to delay the execution so that DNA testing of evidence could be done. A final request for a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court is expected by Thursday.

Prosecutors point out that every court that has reviewed Arthur's case concluded that favorable DNA test results will not establish his innocence. Arthur was tried 3 times for the Wicker killing, and the first 2 convictions were overturned on technicalities.

The New York-based Innocence Project, an international organization that specializes in DNA exonerations, also has supported Arthur's DNA request.

Arthur's execution would be the 1st in Alabama since the high court, in April, upheld the use of lethal injection.

(source: Associated Press)
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html

[annalyzer]

Can't believe the widow only had to serve ten years. Now that is an injustice if I ever heard one!

[London Lass]

UPDATE...

Alabama Supreme Court stays man's execution for 3rd time;

The justices in a 5-4 vote late Wednesday stopped the execution by injection of Thomas Arthur "pending further orders of this Court." Arthur, 66, was scheduled to die Thursday, more than 26 years after he was convicted of killing Troy Wicker Jr. of Muscle Shoals.

It was the third time Arthur received a stay on the eve of his execution.

"My reaction is we finally look forward to the opportunity to examine fully Mr. Arthur's claim of innocence by assessing witness testimony and DNA evidence," said defense attorney Suhana S. Han. "That is the right result."

State Attorney General Troy King called the stay a serious setback for the prosecution.

"The crimes against Troy Wicker's family continue to compound," he said. "There is a good chance he is going to escape his sentence before all is said and done."

Han said Arthur "was absolutely ecstatic."

"Having to face execution is something that most of us can never really imagine," she said.

Arthur's attorneys sought a stay from the governor and the courts by using Monday's sworn statement by Bobby Ray Gilbert, who claimed he killed Wicker. Gilbert is serving a life sentence for a different murder.

But Wicker's widow, who served 10 years of a life sentence for hiring the killer, told attorney general investigators that she never met Gilbert.

"I hired and paid money to Thomas Arthur, not Bobby Gilbert, to kill Troy Wicker," Judy Wicker said in a statement Monday.

Han said a hearing was needed to assess the credibility of Gilbert and Wicker.

Arthur's daughter, Sherri Stone, said she was in shock after spending most of what she thought was one of her last days with her father at the prison.

"I hope to finally end this; hope to finally prove the innocence that he's claimed for 26 years," she said.

The Alabama Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier denied Arthur's bid to delay the execution so that DNA testing could be done. Arthur's execution would have been the first in Alabama since the U.S. Supreme Court, in April, upheld the use of lethal injection.


___

Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Birmingham contributed to this report.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/26137464.html

[London Lass]

AG to judge: Deny DNA testing of Arthur evidence


Attorney General Troy King has asked a Jefferson County judge to deny DNA testing of evidence for death row inmate Tommy Arthur.

The 66-year-old Arthur has been tried and convicted three times for the Feb. 1, 1982 contract murder of Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals.

Prosecutors say DNA testing would not have changed the result of his trials.

The judge asked for briefs on DNA testing after a state prisoner, Bobby Ray Gilbert, earlier this year claimed he killed Wicker.

In his filing Monday, King described Gilbert's claim as "incredible on its face" and says it's not a good cause to order DNA testing.

(source: Associated Press)
http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html