Robert Holsey Case Roundup: New York Times, Associated Press, and more
Stefanie Faucher
- New York Times - Editorial: Georgia’s Merciless Push to Kill
- New York Times - After Delay, Inmate Is Executed in Georgia
- Associated Press - Robert Wayne Holsey Executed In Georgia For 1995 Killing Of Sheriff's Deputy After Store Robbery
- Associated Press (Jackson, GA) - Georgia, Missouri execute prisoners despite mental disability claims
- Reuters - Georgia executes convicted murderer
- Los Angeles Times - Georgia inmate refused sedatives before lethal injection, officials say
- Washington Post Morning Mix - Missouri and Georgia execute inmates with low IQs
- USA Today - Georgia executes man for 1995 killing of deputy
- NBC News - Georgia Executes Robert Holsey After Supreme Court Denies IQ Appeal
- TIME - Execution Set for Man Whose Drunk Lawyer Botched His Defense
- The Guardian - Georgia man executed despite lawyer being impaired by alcohol at trial
- Reason (Blog) - Georgia Set to Execute Mentally Disabled Man Whose Lawyer was Drinking Heavily Throughout His Trial
- Buzzfeed - Georgia Executes Man With Claimed Intellectual Disability
- Agence France Presse - US executes inmates in Georgia, Missouri
- CBS News - Missouri, Georgia execute murderers, one a cop killer
- Christian Post - Robert Wayne Holsey Executed After Appeals Exhausted; Inmate Asked for Forgiveness Before Dying
- WABE 90.1 FM - High Court Denies Georgia Inmate's Mental Disability Claim, Execution Proceeds
- Macon (GA) Telegraph - Holsey executed for killing Baldwin deputy
- Creative Loafing Atlanta (mention) - Georgia executes Robert Wayne Holsey despite concerns about alcoholic lawyer who bungled his trial
- 41 NBC News (Macon, GA) - State carries out execution of Robert Wayne Holsey
- WMAZ (Macon, GA) - Robert Wayne Holsey executed by lethal injection
- International Business Times - Missouri, Georgia Execute Convicts Claimed To Have Mental Disability, Taking US Executions To 35
- Daily Mail UK - Cop killer dined on last meal of fried chicken and declined sedatives before receiving lethal injection in controversial execution
- Sputnik International - US Executes Mentally Incompetent Man Despite Protests: Reports
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/us/georgia-supreme-court-refuses-to-delay-execution.html?_r=0
After Delay, Inmate Is Executed in Georgia
By ERIK ECKHOLM, DEC. 9, 2014
After a three-hour delay as Georgia prison officials waited for the United States Supreme Court to rule on last-ditch appeals, Robert Wayne Holsey was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday night.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the argument by Mr. Holsey’s lawyers that the state’s unusually strict standard for judging mental disability violated the Constitution.
The lawyers immediately appealed to the Supreme Court in Washington for a stay. But in a terse note issued some 45 minutes later than the originally scheduled execution time of 7 p.m., the court said the petition, based on the claim about Georgia’s disability standard, had been denied. Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor would have granted the request, the notice said.
The defense lawyers then filed an unusual second request for a delay, which the Supreme Court turned down around 10 p.m., allowing the lethal injection procedure to commence.
Mr. Holsey, 49, who killed a deputy sheriff, William Robinson, in Baldwin County after robbing a convenience store in 1995, died at 10:51 p.m., according to state officials.
On his final day, Mr. Holsey prayed and was visited by several relatives, his lawyers said. He had fried chicken for his last meal, according to the Department of Corrections.
In a statement on Tuesday, members of the slain deputy sheriff’s family said they were relieved that the legal process had ended after 19 years and expressed appreciation for public support, The Associated Press reported. “William was a leader and true hero, evidenced by the years of outpouring of support to our family by all who loved and respected him,” the Robinson family said.
Mr. Holsey’s case received wide attention in part because his chief lawyer at his 1997 trial later admitted to drinking up to a quart of vodka a day at the time. He had also been preoccupied with pending theft charges that sent him to prison.
An appeals court found that the defense had been deeply inept during the penalty phase of Mr. Holsey’s trial. His lawyers failed to present potentially mitigating details about Mr. Holsey’s history of abuse as a child and did not press arguments that he was intellectually disabled.
Mr. Holsey had an I.Q. of around 70, his lawyers said, on the borderline of a disability that could have made his execution illegal.
But state officials maintained that Mr. Holsey had been properly represented and was not severely disabled, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could stand.
At issue in the new appeal to the state court on Tuesday was Georgia’s requirement that intellectual disability be proved “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The rule is stiffer than that in any other state and makes it nearly impossible, legal experts said, to declare as disabled a person who is near the borderline and only partly able to manage daily life.
Mr. Holsey’s lawyers argued in a motion on Monday that the Georgia standard violated United States Supreme Court rulings, especially one in May that held that states could not create “an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disability will be executed.” The State Supreme Court rejected that appeal, with two of seven members dissenting.
“By making it virtually impossible to prove intellectual disability, the Georgia standard reduces the Eighth Amendment’s ban on executing people with intellectual disabilities to a nullity,” Brian Kammer of the nonprofit Georgia Resource Center, one of Mr. Holsey’s lawyers, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Many legal experts predict that the United States Supreme Court will at some point accept a case resembling Mr. Holsey’s and declare the state’s tough standard unconstitutional.
In Missouri, an inmate was put to death early Wednesday for fatally beating a woman with a hammer in 1998. It was the state’s 10th lethal injection of 2014, matching Texas for the most executions in the country this year, The Associated Press reported.
The inmate, Paul Goodwin, 48, was executed after an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a clemency appeal both claimed that he was mentally disabled, making him ineligible for the death penalty, The AP said.
But the Supreme Court declined to halt the execution, without comment, and Gov. Jay Nixon decided against clemency
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Robert Wayne Holsey Executed In Georgia For 1995 Killing Of Sheriff's Deputy After Store Robbery
By KATE BRUMBACK, 12/09/2014
JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — A man convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy moments after robbing a convenience store in central Georgia was executed Tuesday.
Robert Wayne Holsey, 49, was declared dead at 10:51 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson, authorities said.
Holsey was sentenced to die for the Dec. 17, 1995, killing of Baldwin County sheriff's deputy Will Robinson. A jury convicted Holsey in February 1997.
Holsey robbed a convenience store in the town of Milledgeville early on Dec. 17, and the store clerk immediately called police, describing the suspect and his car, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, Robinson stopped a car at a nearby hotel minutes later and radioed in the license plate number. As Robinson approached the vehicle, Holsey fired at him, prosecutors said. The deputy suffered a fatal head wound.
Holsey fled but was arrested a short time later at his sister's house.
Holsey's lawyers filed a number of last-minute appeals to stop the execution but they were all rejected. Holsey was executed nearly an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay.
Moments before he was put to death, Holsey addressed the victim's father.
"Mr. Robinson, I'm sorry for taking your son's life that night," he said. "He didn't deserve to die like that."
Holsey added, "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and my family."
He seemed to be addressing three men in the front row who sat with their arms around each other's shoulders. The front row is reserved for state witnesses and family members of the victim, but prison officials could not immediately say whether the men were relatives.
He also seemed to be addressing a woman in the second row when he said "Take care of mama." Relatives of the condemned inmate are allowed to sit in that row.
The warden left the death chamber at 10:34. Then, for about a minute, Holsey appeared to be mouthing a message to the woman in the second row. Records from past executions show the lethal drug generally begins flowing within a minute or two of the warden's departure.
Robinson's family released a statement earlier Tuesday thanking the people who have supported them over the years.
"William was a leader and true hero, evidenced by the years of outpouring of support to our family by all who loved and respected him," the statement said. "As Georgia's justice system and the federal courts have played, replayed, visited and revisited the evidence ... through its due process these nineteen years, we simply have hoped for the judicial process to unfold and to reach a final conclusion."
Also earlier Tuesday, Holsey received visits in prison from relatives, friends, three clergy members and a lawyer.
Holsey's lawyers had argued in a clemency petition that their client should be spared lethal injection because his 1997 trial was mishandled by an alcoholic lawyer who was distracted by his own problems. The trial lawyer died in 2011.
The original lawyer told the court that intellectual disability would not be a factor in the case, despite records showing Holsey was intellectually disabled, Holsey's lawyers argued. And the jury also didn't hear details about Holsey's childhood, which was characterized by horrifying abuse at the hands of his mother, according to the petition.
In their efforts to halt the execution, Holsey's lawyers argued that he was intellectually disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 barred execution of the intellectually disabled, but left the states to determine who is intellectually disabled.
Georgia requires death-row inmates to prove intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt in order to be spared execution on those grounds. Courts have consistently upheld Georgia's toughest-in-the-nation standard of proof on this issue.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in May knocked down a Florida law that said any inmate who tests above 70 on an IQ test is not intellectually disabled and may be executed. The opinion said IQ tests have a margin of error and inmates whose scores fall within the margin must be allowed to present other evidence of intellectual disability.
The state of Georgia argued in court filings that Holsey is not intellectually disabled. An expert found that Holsey had a learning disability but was not disabled, and his siblings relied on him as a leader, the state's lawyers argued.
The state also disputed the idea that Holsey's trial lawyer was ineffective, saying the prosecutor in the case and the judge both testified that the original lawyer performed very well.
The state also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's May ruling was tailored specifically to Florida and does not apply to Georgia's law.
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Georgia, Missouri execute prisoners despite mental disability claims
Lawyers for Robert Holsey also argued inadequate representation
Dec 10, 2014
Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency early Wednesday morning for inmate Paul Goodwin, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court also turned down two petitions that sought to halt his execution.
The announcement from Nixon's office came several minutes after the 12:01 a.m. Wednesday scheduled time for the lethal injection.
Goodwin, 48, was executed soon after. He was convicted of killing 63-year-old Joan Crotts inside her St. Louis County home in 1998.
An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency petition both claimed that Goodwin is mentally disabled, making him ineligible for the death penalty. The Supreme Court declined to halt the execution, without comment.
The court also denied a second petition that questioned Missouri's use of an execution drug purchased from an undisclosed compounding pharmacy.
Goodwin's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said his IQ has been tested at 73. His sister, Mary Mifflin, wrote in a statement that her brother remains child-like, even in prison. She said the death penalty "is not a just punishment for his crime — an act that occurred out of passion, not premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult."
The Missouri Attorney General's office responded to the Supreme Court petition by citing testimony at Goodwin's trial, where a psychologist testified that Goodwin's IQ is low, but not low enough to be considered mentally disabled.
Alcohol a factor in fatal attack
Goodwin received special education as a child but still failed several grades, Mifflin wrote. He relied on relatives and his girlfriend to help with such tasks as buying groceries or paying bills, she said.
When the girlfriend died, Goodwin wasn't capable of handling the grief and turned to alcohol, which was a factor in his attack on Crotts, Mifflin wrote.
Goodwin is sorry for the crime, Herndon said.
"From the beginning he's said, `This is horrible.' But he's so impaired he doesn't really have the ability to show remorse like a normal adult would show," she said.
But Crotts' daughter, Debbie Decker, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Goodwin deserves no mercy.
"I've been sitting back waiting for this to happen," Decker said. "I'm hoping all these bad memories will go away."
In the mid-1990s, Goodwin lived in a St. Louis County boarding house that was next door to where Crotts, a widow, lived. The two had been involved in several verbal confrontations.
Goodwin was evicted in 1996 after he and friends harassed Crotts, including throwing beer cans into her yard. Court records show that Goodwin blamed Crotts for his eviction, telling her, "I'm going to get you for this," according to trial testimony.
On March 1, 1998, Goodwin, 6-foot-7 and roughly 300 pounds, entered Crotts's home and confronted her. After a sexual assault, he pushed her down the basement stairs before striking her head several times with a hammer. She died at a hospital.
U.S. Supreme Court denies Georgia inmate's appeal
Police found a handwritten note on Crotts's kitchen table that read, "You are next." Fingerprints from the note and a Pepsi can matched Goodwin's, and his hearing aid was also found inside the home. He admitted the crime after his arrest.
The execution is the 10th in Missouri this year — the most ever for the state. It would also tie Texas for the most executions in any state in 2014. Texas, Missouri and Florida have combined for 27 of the 33 executions in the U.S. this year.
Georgia, meanwhile, executed a death-row inmate convicted of murdering a sheriff's deputy after a convenience store robbery in 1995, the state attorney general said in a statement.
Robert Wayne Holsey, 49, was put to death by lethal injection at 10:51 p.m. ET on Tuesday night, state Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement.
Holsey's attorneys had argued his execution should be halted because he was mentally disabled and received inadequate representation from a lawyer who drank heavily at the time of his trial, but the U.S. Supreme Court denied their request for a stay of execution.
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http://www.vagazette.com/news/chi-georgia-execution-20141209,0,4610468.story
Georgia executes convicted murderer
By David Beasley and Carey Gillam, December 10, 2014
A Georgia death row inmate was executed on Tuesday for murdering a sheriff's deputy by shooting him in the head after a convenience store robbery in 1995.
Another execution was due to take place in Missouri early on Wednesday.
Robert Wayne Holsey, 49, was put to death in Georgia by lethal injection at 10:51 p.m. EST, state Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement.
He was convicted of shooting Baldwin County deputy Will Robinson in the head after the officer pulled him over following a robbery.
Holsey's attorneys argued against his execution in part because he was represented at trial by Andrew Prince, who drank large quantities of alcohol each night after the proceedings. They also said Holsey was mentally disabled, but the U.S. Supreme Court denied the stay of execution.
Prince later lost his law license and went to prison for stealing money from clients. Before he died in 2011, he testified that he did not adequately represent Holsey, said attorney Brian Kammer, who handled Holsey's appeals.
Kammer said Holsey is mentally disabled but Prince never raised that issue at trial as a possible mitigating factor.
Missouri inmate Paul Goodwin, who was convicted of murdering a St. Louis-area woman with a hammer in 1998, was due to executed by lethal injection just after midnight local time on Wednesday at a state prison in Bonne Terre.
There will have been 35 executions carried out this year in the United States if Goodwin is put to death, the lowest since 31 inmates were executed in 1994, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors capital punishment.
Goodwin, 48, sexually assaulted his victim, a 63-year-old widow, before he beat her to death in her home in St. Louis County, prosecutors said.
Goodwin is one of several Missouri death row inmates who sued state officials over the state's lethal injection protocols, and his attorneys have argued in appeals that he should be entitled to a stay of execution at least until that lawsuit is resolved.
Goodwin argued in court filings that the state's use of a compounded drug prepared by an unidentified laboratory and unidentified pharmacist with unidentified ingredients creates a risk of severe pain.
But the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his requests for a stay of execution.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Curtis Skinner and Jeremy Laurence)
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http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-supreme-court-georgia-execution-20141209-story.html
Georgia inmate refused sedatives before lethal injection, officials say
By RYAN PARKER, December 9, 2014
Supreme Court won't stay Georgia execution of man convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy
U.S. Supreme Court votes Tuesday to allow two death penalty cases to go forward
Georgia inmate refuses sedatives before execution, officials say
Robert Wayne Holsey was executed in Georgia on Tuesday night for the 1997 murder of a sheriff's deputy.
Holsey died at 10:51 p.m. after a lethal injection, Gwendolyn Hogan, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, told The Times.
Holsey refused sedatives offered before the execution, which is an option, Hogan said.
"They are to help relax," she said.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the execution of Holsey; making its ruling Tuesday afternoon.
Only Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor voted in favor of staying the execution.
Holsey’s current lawyer argued his client had a mental disability and that his trial lawyer admitted to being an alcoholic who was drunk on vodka during proceedings.
Georgia requires that a mental disability be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The state disputed that Holsey's IQ of 70 constituted a disability under the law.
Holsey apologized for his crime before his sentence was carried out, Hogan said.
Holsey's was the second execution the court chose not to block Tuesday.
Paul Goodwin was executed in Missouri on Wednesday at 1:17 a.m. local time, according to Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Goodwin's attorney also argued that his client has a mental disability that should preclude him from the death penalty.
Goodwin was convicted of beating a woman to death with a hammer inside her home in 1998.
“Paul Goodwin invaded the home of Joan Crotts, a widow, and brutally killed her,” Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statment following the execution. “While her family’s feelings of loss will never end, at least they know her killer has paid the price for his actions.”
Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook.
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
UPDATE
11:39 p.m.: This story has been updated with the information that Paul Goodwin was also executed.
8:23 p.m.: This story has been updated with the information that Holsey has died, and he refused sedatives for the execution.
6:55 p.m.: This story was updated with information on a second death penalty case.
This story was originally published at 6:06 p.m.
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Missouri and Georgia execute inmates with low IQs
By Lindsey Bever December 10 at 5:01 AM
Paul Goodwin, executed early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Missouri Department of Corrections)
Paul Goodwin’s execution was scheduled for 12:01 a.m.
It wasn’t until many minutes later that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) made an announcement: He had denied the death row inmate’s clemency appeal hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected two similar petitions.
His lawyers claimed the 48-year-old was mentally disabled and that death was an unfit punishment for his crime. He was convicted of killing 63-year-old widow Joan Crotts with a ball-peen hammer in 1998.
At 1:17 a.m. Wednesday, Goodwin’s lethal injection began in an execution room inside a prison in Bonne Terre, Mo., less than 60 miles from St. Louis. Eight minutes later, he was pronounced dead. His death marked the 10th execution in Missouri this year — the most in the state’s history.
Both in his Supreme Court appeal and his petition presented to the governor, Goodwin’s attorneys noted his IQ was 73, a score considered well-below average. By most accounts, an average IQ ranges from 90 to 109. His sister, Mary Mifflin, called on Nixon to commute his death sentence to life behind bars.
In an affidavit, Mifflin said it was “not a just punishment for his crime — an act that occurred out of passion, not premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult.”
The Supreme Court has ruled the Constitution forbids the execution of those who are intellectually disabled. Though, it has declined to provide a strict legal definition of disability or specify some single factor, such as IQ, that is conclusive.
The Court denied Goodwin’s appeal as well as a second petition involving lethal injection drugs.
Goodwin’s lawyers did not argue his innocence.
On March 1, 1998, Goodwin was out drinking with a friend. That night, prosecutors said, he broke into Crotts’s house in St. Louis County and hid in the basement. The next morning, Goodwin — 6 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 340 pounds — stood over his petite 4-foot-9 victim, sexually assaulted her, pushed her down the basement stairs and hit her over the head with a ball-peen hammer three times. He left a note on the kitchen table that read, “You are next.” Crotts’s daughter, Debbie Decker, said she believes the message was meant for her, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A few years earlier, Goodwin had lived in a white boardinghouse next door to them. He was evicted in 1996 after he reportedly harassed Crotts, chucking chicken bones and beer cans into her yard. He blamed her for his eviction, according to court records, telling her, “I’m going to get you for this.”
After the attack, Decker found Crotts bloodied in the basement and rushed her to the hospital. Crotts reportedly told her daughter what happened before undergoing brain surgery that night. She died on the operating table.
Goodwin confessed to the killing and was convicted.
For years since, his attorneys and his family have fought the death penalty. Mufflin said in her statement that Goodwin was in special education as a kid and was held back several grades in school. As an adult, she said, he had loved ones help him with everyday tasks such as buying groceries and paying bills. She said his girlfriend, whom he relied on for support, died many years ago and he drowned his pain in alcohol — a factor in the attack that killed Crotts.
At the murder trial, Goodwin claimed insanity. A psychologist for the defense testified that Goodwin had dealt with depression and battled post-traumatic stress disorder. A psychologist for the prosecution noted that his IQ was low, but not enough to categorize him as mentally disabled. He was sentenced to death row.
In 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld that decision, stating he was mentally competent enough to be put to death.
Before Goodwin’s execution, Decker told the Post-Dispatch she planned to make the trip to Bonne Terre to watch him die.
“It will be 16 years, nine months, 10 days,” she said. “I’ve been sitting back waiting for this to happen. I’m hoping all these bad memories will go away.”
Convicted murderer Robert Wayne Holsey, executed Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Georgia Department of Corrections)
Hours before the Missouri execution, Georgia’s death row inmate Robert Wayne Holsey, another prisoner who claimed an intellectual disability, was also executed. In the hours leading up to his death, the Supreme Court denied his appeal, in which he argued he had not been given the opportunity to demonstrate his disability during trial — a violation of his constitutional rights. In his petition, he said the state’s standard “creates an unacceptable risk of wrongful execution of the intellectually disabled,” according to USA Today.
The state said Holsey had been fairly represented and that he was not disabled at the time of his trial, claiming he “understood complicated legal concepts, and had a sophisticated vocabulary.” His IQ has been measured around 70, his lawyers said.
Holsey also argued his original trial attorney was an alcoholic who had admitted chugging a quart of vodka one day during the murder trial. The attorney has since been disbarred.
“Robert Wayne Holsey is an intellectually disabled African-American man who was represented at trial by a chronic alcoholic who was more concerned about avoiding his own criminal prosecution than defending his client against the death penalty,” Brian Kammer, Hosley’s current attorney, said, according to NBC News.
Hosley, 49, was convicted in the 1997 murder of Baldwin County sheriff’s Deputy Will Robinson, whom he shot moments after a convenience store robbery, court documents said.
Before his execution at the state prison in Jackson, Ga., Tuesday night, Holsey addressed the officer’s father.
“Mr. Robinson, I’m sorry for taking your son’s life that night,” he said. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Holsey added: “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and my family.”
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Georgia executes man for 1995 killing of deputy
By Richard Wolf, December 9, 2014
WASHINGTON -- Georgia executed an inmate for the 1995 killing of a sheriff's deputy after a convenience store robbery.
The Supreme Court refused to block Robert Wayne Holsey's Tuesday night after his attorneys argued that the state's strict standards for determining intellectual disability violated his constitutional rights.
The high court's action denied Holsey a reprieve so that the justices could determine whether to send his case back to Georgia for additional fact-finding. The state Supreme Court had cleared the way for his execution earlier in the day.
The refusal to block the execution was unsigned. Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have granted it.
Holsey was convicted in 1997 for killing a deputy sheriff, Will Robinson, following a convenience store robbery. His lawyer, who admitted drinking vodka heavily during the trial, was later disbarred and given a 10-year sentence for stealing client funds.
The issue in the case was whether Holsey was given sufficient opportunity to demonstrate an intellectual disability -- a subject the justices addressed in a Florida case in May and will take up again in a Louisiana case next spring.
In the Florida case, the court ruled 5-4 that Freddie Lee Hall could not be executed because the state adhered to an overly rigid IQ test score of 70 to determine intellectual disability. Holsey's lawyers argued that the justices' new rule -- applying a margin of error to the IQ tests -- should have spared their client's life.
The Louisiana case that the justices have agreed to hear next year focuses on Kevan Brumfield's inability to get a separate hearing on his mental disability claim, which was considered only at sentencing.
Holsey's petition contended that Georgia's "beyond reasonable doubt" standard for determining intellectual disability "creates an unacceptable risk of wrongful execution of the intellectually disabled."
"Clearly, a less onerous standard of proof would have meant the difference between life and death for Mr. Holsey," his lawyers said.
The state responded that Holsey was not disabled at the time of his trial. Its brief said he had an IQ of 79, "understood complicated legal concepts, and had a sophisticated vocabulary."
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Georgia Executes Robert Holsey After Supreme Court Denies IQ Appeal
By Tracy Connor and Shamar Walters
A death-row inmate in Georgia was killed by lethal injection Tuesday night after a last minute plea to the the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay was rejected.
Lower courts had already rejected Robert Wayne Holsey's legal team's arguments that an intellectual disability and the fact that his trial lawyer was an alcoholic meant he should get a reprieve. And Georgia's high court had denied Holsey's request for a stay on Tuesday afternoon as the clock ticked down to his execution for the 1995 murder of sheriff's deputy Will Robinson.
"Robert Wayne Holsey is an intellectually disabled African-American man who was represented at trial by a chronic alcoholic who was more concerned about avoiding his own criminal prosecution than defending his client against the death penalty," his current lawyer, Brian Kammer, had said before the execution, which was carried out at 10:51 p.m. ET — an hour after the court rejected the plea.
Kammer had argued that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that found Florida's standard for proving intellectual disability was too strict also applied to Georgia's rules. "We will keep challenging the burden of proof that Georgia requires. It is too heavy," Kammer said late Tuesday night. "It's the heaviest burden of proof in the law and guarantees that the mentally ill will be executed." Holsey's appeals had also argued that he did not have effective legal counsel because his lawyer admittedly was drinking up to a quart of vodka a day.
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http://time.com/3624396/robert-wayne-holsey-execution-alcoholic-lawyer-georgia/
Execution Set for Man Whose Drunk Lawyer Botched His Defense
December 9, 2014
His attorney drank a quart of vodka a night
Missouri Execution Taylor
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In 1997, Andy Prince’s life was in a downward spiral. The Georgia attorney was drinking a quart of vodka a night. He stole $100,000 from a client. He was arrested for disorderly conduct after threatening to shoot his neighbors. But none of that prevented him from representing Robert Wayne Holsey, a Georgia man convicted of shooting a deputy sheriff and scheduled to die this week thanks to what Holsey’s current lawyers describe as unthinkable and almost criminally poor legal representation.
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On Dec. 17, 1995, Holsey shot and killed Baldwin County Sheriff’s Deputy Will Robinson in Milledgeville, Ga., after the officer pulled Holsey over for a suspected robbery. At the time, Georgia had no public defender office, leaving it up to judges to appoint a lawyer, often resorting to attorneys they knew personally. In this case, Prince was chosen to defend Holsey.
MORE: Ohio looks to shield lethal injection drugmakers
“When [Prince] took on Holsey’s case, he was in a lot of trouble,” said attorney Brian Kammer, the director of the Georgia Resource Center who is currently representing Holsey. “He was barely able to represent him. He was a chronic heavy drinker, an alcoholic. And it impacted his performance.”
Kammer says that in Holsey’s sentencing phase, Prince barely prepared the basis for why his client should be spared the death sentence. At the time, Holsey’s IQ was about 70, meaning by some standards he was intellectually disabled. Prince provided little evidence in court to bolster that defense and largely failed to provide the jury with information about Holsey’s childhood, which was rife with abuse and could have persuaded jurors to spare his life. A jury sentenced Holsey to death in 1997.
In the months and years following the trial, Prince was disbarred, sentenced to 10 years for stealing client money and later testified that he shouldn’t have been representing Holsey in the first place.
MORE: Missouri just tied its lethal injection record)
Yet the death sentence remains. While Holsey is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, his lawyers are working to halt his execution. On Monday, Kammer presented Holsey’s case to Georgia’s five-member clemency board, arguing that Georgia’s standard for determining intellectual disability is unconstitutional, a strict standard that requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled in Hall v. Florida that it was unconstitutional to automatically prohibit anyone with an IQ of 70 or above from being considered mentally disabled. The Florida law initially had a strict cutoff that made those with an IQ of 70 or above eligible for the death penalty.
The parole panel, however, denied clemency on Monday, and the Georgia Supreme Court decided against a stay of execution in a 5-2 vote on Tuesday. Holsey’s lawyers have presented a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court to halt the execution, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/georgia-inmate-lawyer-alcohol-execute
Georgia man executed despite lawyer being impaired by alcohol at trial
Robert Holsey, who was intellectually disabled, put to death by lethal injection for 1995 murder of police officer
Ed Pilkington, Wednesday 10 December 2014 02.14 EST
A Georgia man has been executed for the 1995 killing of a sheriff’s deputy, who was slain minutes after a convenience store robbery.
Authorities said 49-year-old Robert Wayne Holsey was declared dead at 10.51pm on Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson.
Holsey was represented at his murder trial by an alcoholic lawyer who was under investigation at the time for stealing from a client and who drank a quart of vodka every night of the trial.
He was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a police officer. The Georgia supreme court refused to stay the execution and the US supreme court also declined to intervene.
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Even in a capital system that has seen its fair share of incompetent and negligent legal representation, the story of Holsey’s 1997 trial stands out as particularly egregious. His attorney, Andy Prince, had a history of heavy drinking since the age of 14.
Every night during the trial he drank the equivalent of more than 20 shots of vodka. He was also under police investigation at the time for having stolen more than $100,000 from a client – a theft for which he was convicted soon after Holsey’s trial ended, sentenced to 10 years in prison and disbarred from practising the law.
As a further indication of his mind not being entirely focused on Holsey’s life-and-death legal struggle, shortly before trial Price was arrested for disorderly conduct and accused of threatening to shoot three black neighbours to whom he was shouting racial slurs. Price was white and his capital client defendant black.
A while after Holsey was put on death row, Price, who died in 2011, was himself released from prison. By then sober, he told a 2006 court hearing that he “shouldn’t have been representing anybody in any case” at the time of the Holsey proceedings.
Holsey’s current lawyer, Brian Kammer, has argued that Price’s alcohol-sodden incompetence was not merely academic – it effectively put Holsey on death row. A key piece of information about Holsey, that should have been emphasised at the sentencing phase of his trial, was that he was intellectually disabled with a level of functioning equivalent to a nine-year-old.
His intellectual difficulties were well recorded through his school career and in his record of youth detention and adult custody. Yet Price told the trial jury that intellectual disability, or mental retardation as it was then known, was not a factor in the case.
Instead of pressing the jury at the sentencing stage of the trial – at which the 12 members of the public decided whether or not to sentence Holsey to death – to take into account the defendant’s brutal childhood and history of intellectual disabilities, the lawyer in fact handed over the case to a junior attorney who had never tried a death penalty case. The new lawyer was thrown into the deep end, entirely unprepared to argue that Holsey’s life should be spared.
The US supreme court has previously ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute a prisoner with what is still called mental retardation in legal circles. It has also ruled separately that any defendant is constitutionally entitled to effective assistance of legal counsel.
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http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/09/georgia-set-to-execute-mentally-disabled
Georgia Set to Execute Mentally Disabled Man Whose Lawyer was Drinking Heavily Throughout His Trial
Lauren Galik |Dec. 9, 2014 3:36 pm
Tonight at 7 p.m. EST, Georgia is scheduled to execute Robert Wayne Holsey, a man whose I.Q. is around 70. Hosley was represented by a lawyer who admitted to drinking heavily throughout Hosley's trial.
In 1996, Holsey robbed a convenience store, then shot and killed a pursuing police officer. He was convicted of armed robbery and murder and sentenced to death in 1997.
His attorney, Andy Prince, later testified that during Holsey’s trial, he would go back to his hotel room in the evenings and drink until he “couldn’t drink anymore.” According to Prince, he was consuming roughly a quart of vodka every night—the equivalent of 21 shots. “What I considered doing fine at the time was just barely getting by. I shouldn’t have been representing anybody in that case,” Prince has said.
Prince later voluntarily forfeited his law license and was sentenced to serve three years in prison for stealing over $100,000 from one of his clients.
Eventually, a Georgia Superior Court judge would rule that Holsey’s lawyer failed to present mitigating evidence that may have led to a different outcome, including facts about Holsey’s intellectual disability and his violent family history. Georgia requires a unanimous jury vote to impose the death penalty; if this evidence had been presented, perhaps one or more jurors may have voted otherwise. The judge vacated Holsey’s death sentence and ordered him to be resentenced.
However, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed that decision and ruled Holsey had failed to show that the outcome would have been different if his lawyer had presented this additional evidence. In 2012, a federal appeals court ruled Holsey had not proved the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision was “unreasonable.”
In 2002, the United States Supreme Court barred the execution of inmates with mental disabilities, but left the states to determine who qualifies as mentally sound. This year, the United States Supreme Court invalidated a Florida statute that allowed inmates with an I.Q. of 71 or higher to be executed. In their Hall v. Florida ruling, the court argued Florida’s rigid cutoff excluded the state from considering other evidence that may prove an inmate’s disability.
Lawyers for Holsey argue his I.Q. is around 70, and say he never rose above a fourth grade level of intellectual functioning. His prison records, they argue, further document his mental disability.
But in Georgia, state law requires Holsey to prove he’s mentally disabled “beyond a reasonable doubt.” That’s the strictest standard in the nation and extremely difficult to meet. Holsey filed an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court that argued Georgia’s standard is unconstitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Hall v. Florida. This afternoon, however, the Georgia Supreme Court denied that appeal along with a motion for a stay of execution, thus clearing the way for Holsey to be executed this evening unless the United States Supreme Court intervenes.
All inmates should have the right to be represented by lawyers not completely inebriated during trial. Even those who support the death penalty should be able to concede that allowing a mentally disabled man to be executed is a barbaric act that flies in the face of justice.
Update: The United States Supreme Court denied Holsey's application for a stay of execution as well as his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He was executed by the state of Georgia at 10:51 p.m. Tuesday night.
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Georgia Executes Man With Claimed Intellectual Disability
Updated: Robert Wayne Holsey was executed at 10:51 p.m. Tuesday after the Supreme Court refused to intervene. His attorneys were fighting to stop his execution because they said his original trial was mishandled by a soon-to-be disbarred and imprisoned alcoholic lawyer.
By Tasneem Nashrulla, Dec. 9, 2014
Update — 11:05 p.m. ET: Georgia executed Robert Wayne Holsey for the 1995 murder of a sheriff’s deputy.
Holsey was executed at 10:51 p.m. after the Supreme Court refused to stop the execution. He reportedly refused sedatives before his execution, the Department of Corrections said.
Update — 10:06 p.m. ET: Supreme Court denied Holsey’s habeas petition and stay of execution.
Update — 9:24 p.m. ET: Supreme Court has yet to rule on Holsey’s original habeas petition and stay application.
Update — 7:52 p.m. ET: Supreme Court denies the stay of execution request, meaning the execution of Robert Holsey will proceed tonight.
Robert Wayne Holsey, who is scheduled to be executed in Georgia Tuesday night for the 1995 murder of a sheriff’s deputy, was represented in his original trial by an alcoholic lawyer who was consumed with his own criminal prosecution, Holsey’s current attorneys said.
Holsey’s lawyers want to stop his execution because they say his original lawyer, who was later disbarred and imprisoned for theft of clients’ funds, did not present evidence showing Holsey’s intellectual disabilities that could have persuaded the jury to spare his life.
In a 5-to-2 ruling Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Holsey.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles also declined a clemency request from his lawyers Monday. “We will petition the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari immediately,” his lawyers said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
His lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday evening to review the state court ruling and to issue a stay of execution in the meantime. Georgia has since responded, opposing the request.
Holsey’s state Supreme Court appeal asked the court to address whether the state’s high standard for determining intellectual disability — which requires proof beyond reasonable doubt — is unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Hall v. Florida. Holsey’s lawyers assert that Georgia’s strict standard denies people like Holsey a fair chance to prove their intellectual disability.
“By making it virtually impossible to prove intellectual disability, the Georgia standard reduces the Eighth Amendment’s ban on executing people with intellectual disabilities to a nullity,” Holsey’s attorney, Brian Kammer, said in a statement.
Holsey’s lawyers say there is ample evidence that he is intellectually disabled and therefore should not be executed under the Eighth Amendment. According to records, Holsey was socially promoted through school and had an IQ of 70 at the age of 15. His prison records further documented his low intellectual functioning, his lawyers said.
Holsey’s attorneys contend that he was poorly represented during his capital trial by a drunk, racist lawyer.
Holsey’s attorneys described the extent to which his 1997 trial was mishandled by his then-lawyer Andy Prince. His attorneys said Prince was a chronic alcoholic who drank a quart of vodka (21 shots) every night during the trial and failed to show his client’s intellectual disability which could have spared his life.
While he was representing Holsey, Prince himself was facing a criminal investigation for stealing more than $100,000 in client funds.
Prince was also arrested for disorderly conduct after threatening to shoot his three black neighbors with a gun and yelling racial slurs at them during the time he had to prepare a defense for his African American client.
After Holsey was convicted and sentenced to death, Prince was disbarred and sentenced to 10 years for stealing client funds. Once out of prison, a sober Prince testified, “I shouldn’t have been representing anybody in any case.”
Holsey’s attorneys have argued that if Prince had persuasively shown that Holsey was intellectually disabled, he would likely not be facing execution today.
Holsey was sentenced to death for killing Deputy Sheriff Will Robinson in 1995. Holsey, who robbed a convenience store, shot the deputy in his head after Robison tried to apprehend him.
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http://www.southcarolinasc.com/2014/12/us-executes-inmates-in-georgia-missouri/
US executes inmates in Georgia, Missouri
December 10, 2014
Washington (AFP) - Two death row inmates were executed overnight Tuesday in Georgia and Missouri after the US Supreme Court gave the go-ahead.
Lawyers for the two pleaded for stays of execution up to the last minute. The deaths by lethal injection were the last scheduled for this year.
They took the total to 35, compared to 39 last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The first of them, Robert Wayne Holsey, 49, was declared dead at 10:51 (0351 GMT Wednesday), said Susan Megahee, spokeswoman for the prison system in Georgia.
Holsey was a black man executed for the death of a white policeman in 1995 amid racial protests over police brutality against young blacks.
The second man, Paul Goodwin, 48, was declared dead at 1:25 am Wednesday (0725 GMT) in Bonne Terre, said Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the prison system in Missouri.
Missouri governor Jay Nixon refused to commute his sentence. Goodwin was convicted of killing a 63-year-old widow in 1998 with a hammer after trying to assault her sexually.
It was the 10th execution this year in Missouri, which tied Texas for the most in 2014.
It was Georgia's second this year. Defense lawyers had pointed in vain to their client's mental incapacity and his troubled childhood, during which he was severely beaten and humiliated by his mother.
Lawyer Brian Kammer said Holsey had been misrepresented during his trial because his attorney then, he said, was a chronic alcoholic who insulted blacks and had been jailed for fraud. This lawyer had never cited his client's attenuating circumstances to try to save him from capital punishment.
These last executions of 2014 came as a new campaign against the death penalty was launched on grounds it smacked of racism.
The campaign was launched by organizations including Amnesty International.
"The practice of government-sponsored execution has no place in any civilized criminal justice system," said the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
"No one knows better than defense lawyers that the criminal justice system is fallible. It is rife with human error at every stage, and it perpetuates racial and ethnic disparity," said its director Norman Reimer.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-georgia-execute-murderers-one-a-cop-killer/
Missouri, Georgia execute murderers, one a cop killer
December 10, 2014
BONNE TERRE, Mo. -- A Missouri inmate was put to death early Wednesday for fatally beating a 63-year-old woman with a hammer in 1998, the state's record 10th lethal injection of 2014, matching Texas for the most executions in the country this year.
In Georgia, a man convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy moments after robbing a convenience store in central Georgia was executed Tuesday night.
The Missouri case involved Paul Goodwin, 48, who sexually assaulted Joan Crotts in St. Louis County, pushed her down a flight of stairs and beat her in the head with a hammer. Goodwin was a former neighbor who felt Crotts played a role in getting him kicked out of a boarding house.
Goodwin admitted committing the crime after his arrest.
Goodwin's execution began at 1:17 a.m., more than an hour after it was scheduled, and he was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m.
Efforts to spare Goodwin's life centered on his low IQ and claims that executing him would violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the death penalty for the mentally disabled. Attorney Jennifer Herndon said Goodwin had an IQ of 73, and some tests suggested it was even lower.
Goodwin's sister, Mary Mifflin, wrote in a statement that the death penalty "is not a just punishment for his crime - an act that occurred out of passion, not premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult."
Crotts' daughter, Debbie Decker, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Goodwin deserved no mercy.
"I've been sitting back waiting for this to happen," Decker said of the execution. "I'm hoping all these bad memories will go away."
Goodwin's fate was sealed when Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down two appeals - one on the mental competency question and one concerning Missouri's use of an execution drug purchased from an unidentified compounding pharmacy.
Missouri's 10th execution of 2014 matches the state's previous high of nine in 1999. Neither Missouri nor Texas has another execution scheduled this year. Texas, Missouri and Florida have combined for 28 of the 34 executions in the U.S. this year.
Missouri has scheduled one execution each month since November 2013. Two were halted by court action, but 12 were carried out over the past 14 months.
In Georgia, Robert Wayne Holsey, 49, was declared dead at 10:51 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson, authorities said.
Holsey was sentenced to die for the Dec. 17, 1995, killing of Baldwin County sheriff's deputy Will Robinson. A jury convicted Holsey in February 1997.
Holsey robbed a convenience store in the town of Milledgeville early on Dec. 17, and the store clerk immediately called police, describing the suspect and his car, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, Robinson stopped a car at a nearby hotel minutes later and radioed in the license plate number. As Robinson approached the vehicle, Holsey fired at him, prosecutors said. The deputy suffered a fatal head wound.
Holsey fled but was arrested a short time later at his sister's house.
Holsey's lawyers filed a number of last-minute appeals to stop the execution but they were all rejected.
Holsey was executed nearly an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay.
Moments before he was put to death, Holsey addressed the victim's father.
"Mr. Robinson, I'm sorry for taking your son's life that night," he said. "He didn't deserve to die like that."
Holsey added, "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and my family."
He seemed to be addressing three men in the front row who sat with their arms around each other's shoulders. The front row is reserved for state witnesses and family members of the victim, but prison officials could not immediately say whether the men were relatives.
He also seemed to be addressing a woman in the second row when he said "Take care of mama." Relatives of the condemned inmate are allowed to sit in that row.
Robinson's family released a statement earlier Tuesday thanking the people who have supported them over the years.
Holsey's lawyers had argued in a clemency petition that their client should be spared lethal injection because his 1997 trial was mishandled by an alcoholic lawyer who was distracted by his own problems. The trial lawyer died in 2011.
The original lawyer told the court that intellectual disability would not be a factor in the case, despite records showing Holsey was intellectually disabled, Holsey's lawyers argued. And the jury also didn't hear details about Holsey's childhood, which was characterized by horrifying abuse at the hands of his mother, according to the petition.
In their efforts to halt the execution, Holsey's lawyers argued that he was intellectually disabled. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 barred execution of the intellectually disabled, but left the states to determine who is intellectually disabled.
Georgia requires death-row inmates to prove intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt in order to be spared execution on those grounds. Courts have consistently upheld Georgia's toughest-in-the-nation standard of proof on this issue.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in May knocked down a Florida law that said any inmate who tests above 70 on an IQ test is not intellectually disabled and may be executed. The opinion said IQ tests have a margin of error and inmates whose scores fall within the margin must be allowed to present other evidence of intellectual disability.
The state of Georgia argued in court filings that Holsey is not intellectually disabled. An expert found that Holsey had a learning disability but was not disabled, and his siblings relied on him as a leader, the state's lawyers argued.
The state also disputed the idea that Holsey's trial lawyer was ineffective, saying the prosecutor in the case and the judge both testified that the original lawyer performed very well.
The state also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's May ruling was tailored specifically to Florida and does not apply to Georgia's law.
© 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Robert Wayne Holsey Executed After Appeals Exhausted; Inmate Asked for Forgiveness Before Dying
By Sami K. Martin, December 10, 2014
Robert Wayne Holsey was executed on Dec. 2, 2014.
The state of Georgia executed Robert Wayne Holsey on Tuesday night after all appeals were exhausted, but before dying, Holsey apologized for his crime and asked the family of his homicide victim for forgiveness.
"Mr. Robinson, I'm sorry for taking your son's life that night," Holsey told the father of Deputy Will Robinson, according to witness and WMAZ reporter Randall Savage. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and my family."
Holsey murdered Deputy Robinson in 1995 after robbing a convenience store. Just two years later, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. However, there were several appeals for his life to be spared, especially after his lawyer admitted to drinking nearly a quart of vodka per day during Holsey's trial. That lawyer was disbarred and sentenced to 10 years in jail for stealing client funds.
The state parole board denied his request for clemency but offered no explanation. Other lawyers argued that Holsey was not adequately represented during his trial, which should have been reason enough for a retrial or a stay of execution in order to present new evidence. His team also argued that Holsey was in the midst of a personal crisis and coping with alcoholism when he murdered Deputy Robinson.
His lawyers also argued that Holsey should not be executed because he had an intellectual disability that was not presented to the trial judge. They took their argument to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay but lost.
"Robert Wayne Holsey is an intellectually disabled African-American man who was represented at trial by a chronic alcoholic who was more concerned about avoiding his own criminal prosecution than defending his client against the death penalty," attorney Brian Kammer said before the execution was carried out. "We will keep challenging the burden of proof that Georgia requires. It is too heavy. It is the heaviest burden of proof in the law and guarantees that the mentally ill will be executed."
Lately, the law has been concerned with the execution of mentally ill persons. In Texas, inmate Scott Panetti was granted a last-minute stay in order to allow his attorneys to obtain a mental evaluation; they contend Panetti suffers from schizophrenia and should not be executed. His case has garnered national attention and could set a new standard if Panetti is granted clemency.
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http://www.macon.com/2014/12/09/3470656/state-supreme-court-denies-stay.html
Holsey executed for killing Baldwin deputy
BY LIZ FABIAN, lfa...@macon.com, December 9, 2014
JACKSON -- The killer of a Baldwin County deputy asked for forgiveness in his final minutes.
At about 10:51 p.m., Robert Wayne Holsey was executed by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.
Continually mouthing “I love you” to a woman believed to be his sister, Holsey slowly sank into unconsciousness with a nurse at his right arm and both hands strapped down.
As the execution was carried out, Deputy Will Robinson’s father and two younger brothers sat on the front row where Holsey could see them through the window.
They had their arms on each others’ shoulders as Holsey spoke directly to them when he was given the opportunity to speak.
“I’m sorry for taking their son’s life. He didn’t deserve to die that night and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me,” Holsey said.
Attorneys for the 49-year-old condemned killer scrambled with last minute measures to spare his life, but the execution began shortly after 10:30 p.m.
Holsey’s attorney had petitioned the Georgia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, and both denied a stay of execution.
Holsey was convicted in 1997 of fatally shooting the 26-year-old deputy who was responding to a convenience store holdup outside of Milledgeville in December 1995.
After hearing the lookout for the car, Robinson stopped Holsey who had held up the store minutes before.
A gun battle ensued and Robinson was fatally wounded in the head.
Holsey had 15 visitors Tuesday: seven family members, four friends, three members of the clergy and an attorney. He requested a last meal of eight pieces of fried chicken.
His friend, Michael Hightower, was the first protestor allowed inside the prison gate at 5 p.m.
Hightower was here in 2007 when his father, John Hightower, was executed for killing his wife and two stepdaughters in 1987.
“I’m against the death penalty. Why kill to show killing is wrong?” Hightower asked. “There’s a victim on both sides of the family. It’s not going to bring anybody back. Who has the right to do the killing? God didn’t give nobody that right to administer the execution.”
The anti-death penalty camp grew to about a dozen people through the evening, but no one came to demonstrate in support of the death penalty.
Holsey’s attorney earlier argued that Holsey’s trial lawyer mishandled the case, omitting key information including evidence of childhood abuse and alleged intellectual disabilities.
Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee and Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who was the chief deputy for Baldwin County when Robinson was killed, were in Jackson to witness the execution, along with Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright.
All three were sitting on the front row with the Robinsons and other Baldwin deputies also watched as the death sentence was carried out.
Massee, who went to school with Robinson’s mother and has been close to the Robinson family for generations, remembers when Will, the first of three sons, was born.
“I watched him grow up and proudly hired him as a deputy sheriff,” Massee said. “When he got killed, we literally did not know how many people he touched in his 26 years of living.”
Both Massee and Sills emotionally testified against clemency Monday.
“It was kinda draining,” said Sills, who was witnessing his first execution. “His death was personal not just for the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office but for all the Middle Georgia law enforcement officers.”
In the nearly 19 years since Robinson’s death, there hasn’t been a week that’s gone by that Massee hasn’t been asked about the case and the status of Holsey on death row.
“(The execution) is a finality for the family as well as literally hundreds of supporters that have followed this case and supported his family,” Massee said.
Just before the drugs were administered, Holsey spoke to his sister: “I love you. Take care of Momma. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I love you, Regina.”
He requested a final prayer and a minister asked God to give Holsey peace and comfort.
With the drugs already starting to work, Holsey continued to look straight at his sister, mouthing the words “I love you” until he drifted off.
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First Slice 12/10/14: Georgia executes Robert Wayne Holsey despite concerns about alcoholic lawyer who bungled his trial
By Max Blau, December 10, 2014
The Georgia Department of Corrections last night executed Robert Wayne Holsey, a man convicted of killing a Baldwin County sheriff in 1995, by lethal execution after a three hour delay. His lawyers had argued that his life should be spared due to his IQ level of about 70, which hovers near the level that would make his killing illegal. The case also received attention because Hosley's lawyer later admitted to being a heavy drinker, consuming roughly a quart of vodka per day, during the time of the trial.
Republican state lawmakers talk transportation, transportation tax, and a little bit of transit.
Atlanta Police officers have learned that the same gun was used to kill two homeless men in their sleep last month. They hope the new information will generate more leads in their search for the gunman.
What's the total cost to equip all Georgia police officers with body and dashboard cameras? $125 million.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, wants Georgia to formally say sorry for slavery.
Why did Cobb County Chairman Tim Lee vote to give the nonprofit where his wife works $85,000?
The U.S. Senate released its long-delayed torture report that shows the Central Intelligence Agency misled elected officials about the inhumane measures used in detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects. Congressman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said it was "pretty clear" to him that the report was simply intended as an attack against former President Georgia W. Bush.
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http://wabe.org/post/high-court-denies-georgia-inmates-mental-disability-claim-execution-proceeds
High Court Denies Georgia Inmate's Mental Disability Claim, Execution Proceeds
By ROSE SCOTT, December 10, 2014
Tuesday night, Georgia death row inmate Robert W. Holsey was put to death.
As WABE’s Rose Scott reports, attorneys unsuccessfully tried to use a high court’s recent decision to stay the execution.
Attorneys for Holsey say he has always been intellectually disabled and under federal law that should have been enough to keep him from being executed.
But in Georgia, death row inmates must prove intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt.
Brian Kammer is one of Holsey’s lawyers.
“The basic idea was to try and convince the courts to apply this new decision Hall vs. Florida to Georgia’s beyond a reasonable doubt standard, because it certainly would have a difference in Mr. Holsey’s case.”
Florida required that defendants show an IQ of 70 or below before challenging the state law.
The Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional.
According to the justice’s that threshold “creates an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disabilities will be executed.”
Court documents show Robert Holsey also had an IQ of 70.
But as to why the Georgia courts won’t adopt the same logic, Holsey’s long time attorney says he baffled.
“Because our courts are not focused on delivering the justice that is promised in these decisions like Hall vs. Florida and that’s a terrible shame and a tragedy for Georgia,” said Kammer.
Sentence to death for the 1995 murder of a Milledgeville Deputy Sheriff, Holsey is the 32nd inmate executed by lethal injection and Georgia’s 55th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973.
According to GA attorney General Sam Olen’s office, Holsey was lawfully executed at 10:51 pm.
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UPDATE: State carries out execution of Robert Wayne Holsey
By, Amanda Castro Alexa Rodriguez
UPDATE 11:08PM 12/9/14
The Georgia Department of Corrections says the lawfully ordered execution of Robert Wayne Holsey was carried out at approximately 10:51 p.m. Tuesday, almost four hours after it was scheduled. Officials say Holsey accepted a prayer and made a final statement. He apologized, asked for forgiveness, and took full responsibility for his actions.
UPDATE 10:40PM 12/9/14
According to a Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman, the execution of Robert Wayne Holsey is underway.
UPDATES 9:15PM 12/9/14
According to a Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman, Holsey's execution is still on stand-by. Holsey denied to take a sedative.
UPDATED 8:45PM 12/9/14
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to stay the execution of Robert Wayne Holsey.
UPDATED 7:30PM 12/9/14
According to a Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman, Holsey's execution is on stand-by. Officials are waiting on a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
A crowd of demonstrators gathered in front of the Macon-Bibb Government Center to protest Holsey's execution.
ATLANTA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Georgia’s highest court denied the request to stop the execution of a man convicted of killing a Baldwin County sheriff’s deputy.
In a five to two ruling, the Supreme Court of Georgia denied a stay of execution for Robert Wayne Holsey. Holsey is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright said there was a flurry of last minute appeals happening before the execution was scheduled to begin.
"They're filing in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, that's a federal court," Bright said. He adds Holsey's attorneys also asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the request around 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
"This case has been litigated thoroughly throughout every court in the land. It's been thoroughly vetted in all the courts. It's time for justice to be carried out," Bright said.
Holsey’s lawyers argued that he was intellectually disabled and shouldn't be executed. They say his trial lawyer failed to tell the jury about that disability and other evidence that could have spared him the death penalty.
Holsey was convicted for killing Baldwin County Sheriff Deputy Will Robinson in December 1995 shortly after Holsey held up a convenience store in Milledgeville.
Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee said the sheriff's office has been following the case since the beginning. He adds both he and Deputy Robinson's family are ready to receive closure.
"19 years...[it's] been a long time. We've had hundreds of people that have supported the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and the family of Will Robinson, so we just hope that everything takes it's course," Sheriff Massee said.
Protesters gathered outside of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classifications Prison Tuesday night to voice their opinions against the death penalty.
"I'm a good friend of the Holsey family and the mother's a praying mother. I know right now they're asking God to give them strength to get through this. I will pray that this execution be stopped," protester Michael Hightower said.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his request for clemency Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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http://www.11alive.com/story/news/crime/2014/12/09/baldwin-death-penalty-case/20152755/
Robert Wayne Holsey executed by lethal injection
WMAZ, , Macon 11:16 p.m. EST December 9, 2014
JACKSON, GA (WMAZ) -- Robert Wayne Holsey died by lethal injection Tuesday night for the killing of a Baldwin County deputy in 1995.
He was executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison near Jackson.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Holsey Tuesday evening.
That decision came after the Supreme Court of Georgia refused to block the execution in a 5-to-2 ruling Tuesday even though Holsey's attorney argued that the state's strict standards for determining intellectual disability violated his constitutional rights.
Holsey,49, was convicted in 1997 for killing Baldwin County Deputy Sheriff Will Robinson following a convenience store robbery in 1995.
His lawyer, who admitted drinking vodka heavily during the trial, was later disbarred and given a 10-year sentence for stealing client funds.
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Missouri, Georgia Execute Convicts Claimed To Have Mental Disability, Taking US Executions To 35
By Sneha Shankar@SnehaShankar30 on December 10 2014
Authorities in Georgia and Missouri executed an inmate each on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, taking the total number of executions in the country this year to 35. Missouri inmate Paul Goodwin, 48, was given lethal injection early Wednesday, while Robert Wayne Hosley, 49, of Georgia, was executed Tuesday night.
Goodwin was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in St. Louis County and then beating her to death with a hammer in 1998, according to The Associated Press (AP). Goodwin was a former neighbor of the woman and suspected her of being responsible for his eviction from a boarding house. Lawyers defending Goodwin based their arguments on his low IQ of 73 to ask the court to spare his life. They had argued that executing him would lead to a violation of a Supreme Court law that bans giving a death sentence to mentally disabled people.
Mary Mifflin, Goodwin’s sister, wrote in a statement, according to AP, that the death penalty "is not a just punishment for his crime — an act that occurred out of passion, not premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult."
Hosley, who was put on death row for killing a sheriff's deputy in 1995 after robbing a convenience store, was declared dead by lethal injection by authorities late Tuesday in the state prison in Jackson. Holsey had reportedly refused the sedatives offered to him before the execution, according to reports.
The U.S. Supreme Court had on Tuesday refused to block Hosley’s execution after his lawyers argued that the previous lawyer, Andrew Prince, was an alcoholic who also drank large quantities of vodka during Hosley's trial. They also claimed that Hosley was intellectually disabled but the court refused to accept the arguments.
"Robert Wayne Holsey is an intellectually disabled African-American man who was represented at trial by a chronic alcoholic who was more concerned about avoiding his own criminal prosecution than defending his client against the death penalty," Brian Kammer, his current lawyer, said during the trial, according to NBC News, an hour after which Hosley was executed.
Prince, who died in 2011, had lost his license and had been jailed for stealing money from his clients. He had also reportedly testified that he did not properly represent Hosley in court, Reuters reported. Kammer had also argued that Prince never presented to the court the issue of Hosley’s mental disability as a possible factor for the deputy's killing.
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Cop killer dined on last meal of fried chicken and declined sedatives before receiving lethal injection in controversial execution
Robert Wayne Holsey was executed just after 10:51pm Tuesday
Sentenced to die for fatally shooting George sheriff's deputy Will Robinson in 1995
The killer had appealed for clemency after his defense attorney admitted drinking a quart of vodka a day during his trial
The jury did not hear about Holsey's intellectual disability or his horrific childhood, his new legal team said
By ASHLEY COLLMAN and LOUISE BOYLE, December 10, 2014
A man who killed a cop nearly two decades ago was executed Tuesday night, in a highly controversial death penalty case.
Robert Wayne Holsey was sentenced to death for shooting dead a sheriff's deputy, Will Robinson, in 1995 while he robbed a store in Milledgeville, Georgia.
He died just after 10:51pm local time, after having a last meal of eight pieces of fried chicken.
When a corrections official offered him sedatives to help him 'relax', Holsey declined, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Just before his death, Holsey said a prayer and made a final statement, apologizing for killing Robinson and taking full responsibility for the crime.
Holsey's death was controversial since it later emerged that his original defense attorney had been drinking a quart of vodka a day during the trial and afterwards admitted that he was in no state to represent anyone at the time.
Holsey's new legal team has argued that because his lawyer was an alcoholic, he never received adequate representation at trial.
The jury did not hear about Holsey's intellectual disability or his horrific childhood during his 1997 trail, according to NBC.
The killer's trial attorney was disbarred in 2006 because of his drinking problem and also for stealing from a client.
Holsey's latest defense team made every effort to stop his execution, requesting to stays from the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Both were declined, but it was noted that Justices Stephen G Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor would have voted in favor of staying the execution.
The killer shot 26-year-old Deputy Robinson once in the right arm and once behind his right ear during a traffic stop following the robbery.
He was arrested three hours later. The suspect was found guilty of all charges in February 1997 and sentenced to death.
Deputy Robinson is survived by his parents and two brothers.
The family issued a statement Tuesday saying they were glad to see justice being served.
'William was a leader and true hero, evidenced by the years of outpouring of support to our family by all who loved and respected him,' the Robinson family said.
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http://sputniknews.com/us/20141210/1015692081.html
US Executes Mentally Incompetent Man Despite Protests: Reports
December 10, 2014
The convicted murderer was not given a sufficient opportunity to prove his disability because standards set by the US state of Georgia for the determination of mental competency are unreasonably strict.
MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) — An allegedly mentally incompetent prisoner was executed on Tuesday in the US state of Georgia, despite lawyers claiming that the courts deprived him of the opportunity to prove his disability, USA Today has reported.
The US law forbids the execution of prisoners judged to be mentally incompetent.
The convicted murderer, Robert Holsey, was not given a sufficient opportunity to prove his disability because standards set by that state for the determination of mental competency are unreasonably strict, "which creates an unacceptable risk of wrongful execution of the intellectually disabled," the inmate's attorney said Tuesday as quoted by USA Today.
Georgia has set an IQ of 70 or a diagnosis of incompetence prior to the 18th birthday of a person as part of the standards for judging mental disability. In addition, the person must be judged incompetent in a minimum of two areas including communication and social skills, self-care, home living, work and leisure.
"Clearly, a less onerous standard of [mental deficiency] proof would have meant the difference between life and death for Mr. Holsey," the inmate's attorney said Tuesday as quoted by USA Today.
Holsey was judged competent to stand trial because he had an IQ of 79, and "understood complicated legal concepts, and had a sophisticated vocabulary," the news outlet quoted a state judge as saying.
Sentenced to death in 1997, Holsey, 49 at the time of his execution, killed a deputy sheriff in 1995 following the robbery of a convenience store. The Supreme Court denied a request for a stay of execution and the prisoner was executed Tuesday night.
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