Re: Confused -- Betty Lucas Murder Case
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> Google was no hep, but I'm sure if anyone can help me, it's the peeps
> who read this NG.
>
> On "The New Detectives" this morning, they had a bit about the Betty
> Lucas murder case. I know I saw the trial on Court TV a long time ago
> (it was back in 1994), but I thought Nancy Grace was the prosecutor.
> So I was really surprised to see the murder happened in Tyler, Texas.
> If it wasn't this case, which one did I see her on? And if it *was*
> this one, how is it Nancy Grace prosecuted a Texas case? I thought
> she was in Georgia? It wasn't long after this trial that I first saw
> Nancy Grace -- with a makeover -- on CourtTV and had assumed she
> caught their eye when she was prosecuting the Lucas case. Now? I'm
> thinking I have two or maybe even three things mixed up into one
> thing.
>
> As I remember it:
>
> Steven Lucas was convicted (at the second trial -- first one was hung
> jury) of murdering his mother, Betty Lucas. He and his daughter said
> Betty fell down the stairs when she and Steven were fighting over a
> VCR. But it turned out he killed her. It was alleged by the
> prosecution that she was hit repeatedly in the head with a
> candlestick, though the show today said no murder weapon was ever
> found or identified. I remember seeing the photos of Betty Lucas's
> shaved head. It was a little hard to believe that she sustained those
> injuries in a fall down the stairs. I also remember a creepy animation
> -- can't remember which side presented it -- showing how the fall
> would have occurred.
From wiki:
Career as prosecutor
Grace worked for nearly a decade in the Atlanta-Fulton County, Georgia
District Attorney's office as Special Prosecutor. Her work focused on
felony cases involving serial murder, serial rape, serial child
molestation, and arson.[10]
Grace left the prosecutors' office after the District Attorney she had
been working under decided not to run for reelection.[11]
Prosecutorial misconduct
The Supreme Court of Georgia has twice commented on Grace's conduct as
a prosecutor. First, in a 1994 heroin drug trafficking case, Bell v.
State, the Court declared a mistrial, saying that Grace had "exceeded
the wide latitude of closing argument" by drawing comparisons to
unrelated murder and rape cases.[12]
In 1997, the court was more severe. Although its unanimous decision
overturning the murder-arson conviction of businessman W. W. Carr in
the death of his wife was caused primarily by other issues, the court
made note of Grace's court actions, citing "inappropriate and illegal
conduct in the course of the trial."[citation needed]
Her opening statement in the case promised the jury evidence of
physical abuse that she had to know would never be admissible because
that entire aspect of the case had already been excluded by the judge.
[citation needed]
Subpoenas that contained hearing dates Grace knew to be false.
[citation needed]
Failure to disclose a full witness list to the defense in a timely
fashion.[citation needed]
Showing a chart during closing arguments that falsely stated a defense
expert had not contradicted the state's case on a key issue.[citation
needed]
Also, during closing argument, "vouching" for the case by telling the
jury she herself believed Carr to be guilty.[citation needed]
And finally, performing two illegal searches of Carr's house,
including one during which she was accompanied by a CNN camera crew.
[citation needed]
While the court said its reversal was not due to these transgressions,
since the case had turned primarily on circumstantial evidence, it
nevertheless concluded "the conduct of the prosecuting attorney in
this case demonstrated her disregard of the notions of due process and
fairness, and was inexcusable."[13] Carr was freed in 2004 when The
Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Fulton County had waited
too long to retry him.
Other courts have criticized Grace's conduct even while upholding
convictions in her cases. In a 2005 opinion, a panel of the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals said Grace "played fast and loose"[14] with
her ethical duties and failed to "fulfill her responsibilities"[14] as
a prosecutor in the 1990 triple murder trial of Herbert Connell
Stephens. She failed to turn evidence over to his defense team that
pointed to other suspects. The court noted that it was "difficult to
conclude that Grace did not knowingly" elicit false testimony from a
police investigator that there were no other suspects despite strong
evidence to the contrary.[14]
Career as broadcaster
After leaving the Fulton County prosecutors' office, Grace was
approached by and accepted an offer from Court TV founder Steven Brill
to do a legal commentary show alongside Johnnie Cochran. When Cochran
left the show, Grace was moved to a solo trial coverage show on
CourtTV.[11]
In 2005, she began hosting a regular primetime legal analysis show on
CNN Headline News (now HLN) in addition to her CourtTV show.[10] On
May 9, 2007, Grace announced that she would be leaving Court TV to
focus more on her CNN Headline News Program and charity work.[15] She
did her last show on Court TV on June 19, 2007.
Nancy Grace has a distinctive interviewing style mixing vocal
questions with multimedia stats displays. The Foundation of American
Women in Radio & Television has presented Nancy Grace with two Gracie
Awards for her Court TV show.[10]
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 06:49:59 -0700 (PDT), "Smokie Darling (Annie)"
> there to help -- nothing about the Lucas case. Nothing about Texas.
> Or was that your point? Or did I miss it?
She wasn't involved with a Texas case. Unless she 'covered' it for
the Lucas trial (when she and Cochrane worked together) on CourTV. I
suspect it was the Carr case that first brought her to the attention
of CNN, at least according to what I found, though as I recall, she
more or less "gained her fame" during the OJ Simpson trial where she
was working for CourTV.
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 08:41:32 -0700 (PDT), "Smokie Darling (Annie)"
>
> Looking at the timeline, the Lucas case was before the OJ Simpson case
> -- so I don't think she would have been working with Cochrane on that
> one.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. She worked with Cochrane after the OJ case on
Courttv (in the predecessor to her "On the Case" or whatever it was
called, before her CNN gig). Then when he left, she was given her own
case. I just remember starting to hear about "Nancy Grace" during
OJ's trial. So, if she covered Lucas it was as an "on the scene"
person before she had her own show.
> Does anyone know which case, broadcast on CourtTV, Nancy Grace
> prosecuted? I'm positive I saw her prosecuting a case before she
> became one of the talking heads.
I haven't been able to find when she started on that channel, or even
when she left the DAs office. I know the more well known case she was
"called on the carpet" for was tried in 1990 (the GA Supreme Court
didn't write up their "opinion" until 2004 or 2005). That was the one
where she went with a CNN camera crew and did an unlawful search
(according the court's opinion document).
Mick
wrote:
> ."[citation needed]
>
> [citation needed]
>
> [citation needed]
>
> .[citation needed]
>
> [citation needed]
>
Here's the citations:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12683252919236338275
http://www.lawskills.com/case/ga/id/1919/
The "discusion" page pointed them out. I'm not sure why the "Citation
needed" notes are still in teh main text, but I'm not going to get
into a kerfuffle about DisGrace that could involve some of her more
mentally ill fans.
(The flaws int eh Wiki page are not fault of Smoky Darling, of
course. Thanks for posting)
> And finally, performing two illegal searches of Carr's house,
> including one during which she was accompanied by a CNN camera crew.
I am utterly astonished that this didn't get her dismissed and her
department sued. But I guess maybe Carr did sue - I imagine an out -
of -court settlement in a case like this would have a LOT of zeros
tacked on to the end of the check for it to have a non-publicity
clause.
Just amazing the kind of person that is on TV.
I
earthage
>
> Looking at the timeline, the Lucas case was before the OJ Simpson case
> -- so I don't think she would have been working with Cochrane on that
> one.
She starting working with Cochrane in late 1996. The Bette Baker
Lucas murder
occurred in 1988, was first tried in 1991 resulting in a hung jury,
retried in 1994 and
son Steve Lucas was sentenced to 35 years. Perhaps Nancy Grace was
just one
of many talking heads asked about the case in 1994.
Smokie Darling (Annie)
> On Sep 2, 9:49 am, "Smokie Darling (Annie)" <Barnabus1...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> Here's the citations:
>
> http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12683252919236338275
>
> http://www.lawskills.com/case/ga/id/1919/
>
> The "discusion" page pointed them out. I'm not sure why the "Citation
> needed" notes are still in teh main text, but I'm not going to get
> into a kerfuffle about DisGrace that could involve some of her more
> mentally ill fans.
>
> (The flaws int eh Wiki page are not fault of Smoky Darling, of
> course. Thanks for posting)
Yeah, I'm not wild about wiki, but for quick info it isn't bad. I
don't much care for NG either, but that's just me <shrug>.
> > And finally, performing two illegal searches of Carr's house,
> > including one during which she was accompanied by a CNN camera crew.
>
> I am utterly astonished that this didn't get her dismissed and her
> department sued. But I guess maybe Carr did sue - I imagine an out -
> of -court settlement in a case like this would have a LOT of zeros
> tacked on to the end of the check for it to have a non-publicity
> clause.
She was already gone by the time the SC heard the case, I believe, but
could be mistaken, that she doesn't have a license to practice law
anymore. I never heard if the guy sued Georgia or not.