| MacInnis 2005-03-19, 5:17 pm |
| How tragic and terrible that apathy plus the tool that unlocks it could be
used to destroy.
but u know the spin.
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" <rfgdxm@geeks.org> wrote in message
news:422f281e$0$6843$892e7fe2@authen.puce.readfreenews.net...
> The second earlier news report mentions the DXM angle. At this rate
DXM
> is going to have as bad a reputation as LSD and PCP for causing people to
be
> violent and murderous.
>
>
>
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/artic.../iq_1769133.txt
>
> Thomas convicted of capital murder
>
> By Jerrie Whiteley
> Herald Democrat
>
> Jurors took less than 40 minutes Monday morning to convict Andre Thomas of
> capital murder in the death of 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes.
>
> The jury had heard closing arguments in the case on Friday and received
just
> a few more instructions Monday before they began their deliberations.
>
> Thomas showed no emotion as the jury's verdict was read, but his aunt
broke
> down and cried loudly. On the other side of the courtroom, the families of
> Thomas' victims took the verdict quietly.
>
> Laura Boren Thomas' boyfriend and father of Leyha Hughes, Bryant Hughes,
was
> in the courtroom when the man who killed his child was convicted. So were
> Laura's parents Paul and Sherry Boren.
>
> With the conviction, the jury rejected the defense theory that Thomas was
> insane a the time that he kicked in the door to Mrs. Thomas' apartment and
> stabbed her, their son Andre Boren, and her daughter, Leyha, to death and
> mutilated their bodies.
>
> Now, the jury must decide what Thomas should pay for the crime. Grayson
> County District Attorney Joe Brown and his first assistant, Kerye Ashmore,
> are asking the ultimate price for what many people believe was the
ultimate
> in brutality - death.
>
> Defense attorneys R.J. Hagood and Bobbie Peterson are asking the jury to
> consider the whole of Thomas' life experiences and give him a life
sentence.
>
> To reach their decision, the jury will have to consider two questions. The
> first is whether they think Thomas will be likely to commit violent crimes
> in the future. This is commonly called the future dangerousness issue. The
> second question is whether the jury thinks there are enough mitigating
> circumstances to spare Thomas' life.
>
> In order to make Thomas pay for his crimes with his life, all 12 jurors
will
> have to vote that he does pose a future threat and that there are no
> mitigating circumstances. If 10 or more vote that he is not a future
danger
> and that there are mitigating circumstances, then Thomas will receive a
life
> sentence.
>
> The prosecution has the burden to prove that Thomas is a continuing danger
> and they started trying to do that Monday afternoon.
>
> Ashmore said Thomas is a man who refuses to take responsibility for the
> wrongs he has done in life and has a history of feigning mental illness to
> keep from suffering the consequences of his actions. He said Thomas'
history
> shows the trifecta of signs for future dangerousness - past violence, use
of
> alcohol or drugs and mental illness. The prosecutor then urged the jury
not
> to settle on a life sentence for Thomas and to sentence him to die.
>
> Hagood argued that the jury has not yet completed its journey with this
case
> and urged them to pay attention to the rest of the case. He described
Thomas
> as a young man who had a future at one time. Hagood recounted that Thomas
> was accepted into the gifted and talented program at Sherman schools and
> showed talent for drawing.
>
> "He is a kind person," Hagood said of his client. He also said Thomas has
> shown unconditional love for his mother even though she has refused to
> answer subpoenas requesting her testimony at the trial. The rest of
Thomas'
> family, Hagood said, are standing behind him in this case.
>
> "He has made poor choices," Hagood said, but he added that people have
been
> aware since Thomas was about 10 years old that Thomas suffered from mental
> illness. And the defense attorney reminded the jury that Thomas does not
> have a felony conviction as an adult.
>
> "I will ask you to say that Andre's life is worth saving," Hagood said
> before sitting down.
>
> The state started presenting evidence a little after 2 p.m. The first
person
> called was Thomas' former probation officer Mike Polk. Polk supervised
> Thomas when he was on juvenile probation. He said Thomas did eventually
> complete the probation, but he didn't always meet all of the requirements.
> Polk said Thomas first got into trouble for vandalizing property at Austin
> college with some other young people in 1994. He was sentenced to
probation
> and completed that probation.
>
> He was next involved with the legal system in 1997 when he was caught
> stealing cars. Thomas was out on probation for stealing one car when he
was
> caught with another. He was out waiting trial on those two counts when he
> was caught stealing a third car. He pleaded true to the allegations and
was
> placed on probation. Polk said Thomas was repeatedly cited for not
attending
> school, not paying fines, restitution and not doing community service
work.
>
> Under questioning by Ashmore, Polk recounted instances in which Thomas
said
> he had attempted suicide in an attempt to get out of going to boot camp or
> the Texas Youth Commission. This, Ashmore contended, is part of a pattern
> with Thomas.
>
> Polk said Thomas was about to get sent to boot camp when he apparently
> scratched himself and told staff that he was contemplating suicide.
Peterson
> asked what the diagnosis was when mental health practitioners examined
> Thomas' claim, and Polk said they found that Thomas needed future
evaluation
> and treatment at Mental Health and Mental Retardation for mild depression,
> an unnamed psychotic disorder and feelings of unreality and anxiety.
>
> She also pointed out that Thomas was medically released from boot camp due
> to a hernia. And she read a letter that Thomas wrote to Laura Boren before
> their son was born in which Thomas said he was going to accept
> responsibility for his actions and go to boot camp. He said he was going
to
> turn his life around and stop living by his life-long philosophy to "rage
> against the machine."
>
> Ashmore used Thomas' own words to fight against that notion. He read
another
> letter in which a cocky teen confessed to his girlfriend that he was
trying
> to pull one over on Polk. Thomas told Laura Boren he wasn't going to
change
> for anyone and if that is what she wanted, then she shouldn't have started
> dating him.
>
> Former Sherman Police officers Terry Dunn, now a Grayson County District
> Attorney investigator, and Frank Deater, now a Pottsboro police officer,
> testified about their encounters with a young Thomas. Dunn said he
> investigated the car that Thomas stole from Ramey Chevrolet, and Deater
> caught Thomas out past curfew one night. Deater said Thomas and another
> juvenile had cans of spray paint and were cited for curfew violations.
>
> Sherman Police Lt. Carl Hudman said he also caught Thomas in one of the
cars
> he stole in 1997. Hudman said he noticed Thomas in the car because he
seemed
> to be having trouble driving it down Texoma Parkway. Hudman said Thomas
took
> off when he saw the officer, and they raced around the area behind SherDen
> Mall until Thomas lost control and put the car into a ditch. Hudman said
> when he approached the car, Thomas got out and jogged toward the police
> cruiser. He then admitted he had stolen the car.
>
> The case will continue Tuesday in the east courtroom in the Grayson County
> Courthouse with Judge James Fry presiding.
>
> ---------
>
>
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/artic.../iq_1766896.txt
>
> Up to the jury
> Thomas deliberations begin Monday
>
> By Jerrie Whiteley
> Herald Democrat
>
> The capital murder trial known as the State vs Andre Thomas has been
> complicated and tense from the beginning, and Friday's closing arguments
> were no different.
>
> The jury will begin to deliberate Monday morning. If jurors find Thomas
knew
> what he was doing when he killed Laura Boren Thomas, Andre Boren and Leyha
> Marie Hughes last year, they could convict him of capital murder. The
trial
> would then move into a second phase with the jury deciding if he should
> spend the rest of his life in prison or die for his crime.
>
> If, however, jurors find Thomas was controlled by a delusion at the time
he
> killed his estranged wife and her children, they could send him to a
mental
> hospital for the immediate future.
>
> Attorneys had up to 60 minutes each to address a jury that has heard from
a
> handful of expert psychiatrists and dozens of other witnesses in the case.
>
> Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown started the marathon session by
> reminding the jury where the whole thing began - with a mother and her two
> small children.
>
> Brown said the jury has heard a great deal about Andre Thomas and the
> problems going on in his life. But, the trial isn't about Thomas, Brown
> said. It's about getting justice for Laura, little Andre and Leyha.
>
> Brown was all energy as he entered the courtroom just a little before 1
p.m.
> and the energy stayed up as he gave what has to count as the closing of
his
> life. In the first part of his second term in office, Brown has tried a
few
> prominent cases, but none as serious as capital murder, and none as
> off-the-chart, high profile as a triple murder.
>
> "I want you to remember Laura and kids. She died not quickly. She died not
> painlessly," Brown said as he recounted how Mrs. Thomas must have felt as
> she fought off her estranged husband's assault on her. Brown told the jury
> she was probably alive when Thomas left her bleeding on the floor and
headed
> for her children.
>
> Members of the Boren family and friends cried loudly as Brown talked about
> the pain and fear the children must have felt during the attack. Brown
> showed the jury photos of the young mother and her children smiling. Then,
> he held up the large photos of them after the attack. The prosecutor said
> Thomas knew what he was doing as he viciously stabbed the three.
>
> Brown said Thomas did what he did to his wife and her children, "because
he
> is mean and he was jealous. He wanted Laura back and she wouldn't take him
> back. He wanted to take everything from Bryant Hughes who had what he
> couldn't have."
>
> Brown said Thomas drank and took drugs until he worked himself into a
> rage-filled stupor and then went to Laura's apartment and killed what he
> couldn't have for his own. The prosecutor then warned the jury about what
> they would hear from the defense. Brown said lots of people tried to get
> Thomas the help he said he wanted. He reminded them that each time, it was
> Thomas who left or failed to show up to get the help.
>
> "His brutality brought us to this courtroom," Brown said pointing at
Thomas
> in the last few minutes of the state's opening remarks.
>
> When Brown sat down, the jury got a break. As they left the room, defense
> attorneys R.J. Hagood and Bobbie Peterson prepared to give the jury their
> side of the case. This is not the first capital murder case for either of
> them. Dressed in a dark suit and carrying an ever-present Coke bottle,
> Hagood patted his client on the back once or twice while the jury was out.
> Between the time when the jurors returned and Hagood began his statement,
he
> fished under a nearby bench for a large wooden dowel he had brought into
the
> courtroom.
>
> As he walked into the space between the jury box and the judge's bench,
> Hagood talked about how both the human mind and the piece of wood are
> generally considered to be strong and reliable under normal circumstances.
>
> "In the right time and under the right circumstances, the board snaps,"
> Hagood said as he broke the piece of wood into two sections. He then
> continued that his client's mind snapped just as surely as the dowel had
and
> he shouldn't be held responsible for what he had done.
>
> "How could a man do something like this?" Hagood said, acknowledging the
> question he said he knows the jurors have been asking themselves.
>
> "I think in a case like this, you have to look not only at the facts and
> circumstances, you have to get into the mind of Andre Thomas," Hagood
said.
> He then told the jury they have to start with the fact that Thomas
suffered,
> at the time of the crime, from a mental illness. He then reminded them of
> the expert witness, Dr. Edward Gripon, whom the defense called to help the
> jury see what the defense has called Thomas' "journey into madness."
>
> Hagood reminded them that the doctor had said someone suffering from
> schizophrenia can have moments of clarity and rational discussions as long
> as the discussion veers clear of the delusions. Hagood said the defense is
> asking the jury to look at the whole of Thomas' behavior from early 2004
> until the killings and see a pattern of disintegration in Thomas' mental
> state.
>
> The state, Hagood warned, wants the jury to look only at pieces of Thomas'
> life before and after the crime. Hagood reminded them that Thomas has
> repeatedly told people he thought he was doing God's work when he killed
the
> three people and that a God-fearing person wouldn't consider answering
God's
> commands to be wrong. It is key to the defense case that Thomas did not
know
> what he did was wrong because, in order to find that Thomas was insane at
> the time of the killings, the jury must find that he suffered from a
mental
> illness so severe it kept him from knowing his actions were wrong.
>
> To try to bring the jury closer to that decision, Hagood reminded them of
> Bible verses that refer to Jezebel and the suffering she should have
endured
> for her sins. Hagood said it is beyond insane for anyone to take such a
> verse literally enough to actually kill someone he or she thought to be
> Jezebel. Then, Hagood reminded the jury of the other Bible verse his
client
> took literally and the damaged right eye the verse caused. He then pleaded
> with them to follow their own minds.
>
> "What we are asking you to do will take some courage and conviction.
Perhaps
> we ought to have a verdict that says guilty, but insane. But you don't
have
> that option. You have to wrap your arms around the not guilty and then go
to
> insane," Hagood told them.
>
> He then sat down and left it up to Peterson to complete the closing. She
> used a computer and a large screen to walk the jury back over the evidence
> she said proved her client was insane at the time of the crime. She told
the
> jury that they should stop looking for rational explanations for what
Thomas
> did because there aren't any. The actions and the man, she said aren't
> rational and can't be viewed as such no matter how one tries.
>
> Peterson tried to dispel the state's major theory of reason in the case.
The
> state says the combination of alcohol, marijuana and DXM that Thomas was
> ingesting caused him to go into a drug induced psychosis and that state
> caused him to kill his three victims. Peterson said there was no way
Thomas
> had that much of the drugs in his system at the time of the killings. She
> reminded the jury of testimony about how long those drugs stay in a
person's
> system and how little of the drugs Thomas had when he was tested at the
> hospital after the crimes.
>
> Then, she centered in on the DXM. She grabbed a grocery bag and walked
> toward the jury. Peterson took from the bag a number of cold remedies and
> spread them along the bar in front of the jury. The name-brand products
> included items made for children. Peterson argued how can a substance
> Americans give their children every day cause the kind of brutal violence
> Thomas displayed on his victims. Especially, she stressed in the low
levels
> he would have had in his blood at the time of the killings. It just
> couldn't, she asserted.
>
>
> "You have to look at his actions in the context of his delusions,"
Peterson
> said. She said the jury must remember that the Thomas who took duct tape
to
> the crime scene (an act which the prosecution says proves he knew what he
> was doing was wrong) was the same man who took three knives because he
> didn't want to cross contaminate the blood of the people he fully intended
> to kill. Those, she said are not rational thoughts.
>
>
> She said Andre Thomas didn't go to his estranged wife's apartment to kill
> her and their son and her daughter. He went there to kill Jezebel, the
> Antichrist and a demon. He went there to save the world and be redeemed in
> the eyes of God. How any one jumps from murder to redemption with God is
> only possible to understand if one is as crazy as Thomas was on the day he
> committed the crime, Peterson said. She also reminded the jury that every
> time Thomas attempted to get help he was left alone or allowed to leave
> without getting it. She said a rational person wouldn't seek help and then
> leave without getting it, but Thomas wasn't rational.
>
> First Assistant Grayson County District Attorney Kerye Ashmore was the
last
> person to address the jury Friday. A former district attorney for Lamar
> County, Ashmore has tried a number of high profile cases. His mission in
the
> Thomas case was to put the jury back on the track Brown had laid earlier.
He
> did so by reminding the jury of the burdens the defense must bear in the
> case. He said it was up to Hagood and Peterson to prove "by the greater
> weight of the credible evidence" that Thomas was insane at the time of the
> crime. Ashmore reminded the jury that the law presumes Thomas to be sane
and
> that, if jurors, individually, haven't seen enough in the defense case to
> make them think Thomas was insane, they must also presume him sane.
>
> He said the defense case rests on the assumption that Thomas was so
wrapped
> up in the religious delusion that he didn't know he was killing his wife,
> their son, and her daughter. In order for that to fit the insanity
defense,
> Ashmore contended, then Thomas would have had to stay with that delusion.
>
> Ashmore reminded the jury of the number of times that Thomas asked to be
> forgiven in the days and months after the crime. If, Ashmore said, Thomas
> had just killed three people he thought were so evil that God wanted them
> killed, why was he asking for forgiveness?
>
> Ashmore said Thomas even used the word "murdered" when he turned himself
> into the police department. He said he had just "murdered my wife." Murder
> is a legal term that means to kill without justification.
>
> Further, Ashmore said, Thomas left the scene of the crime rather than
> staying there and showing, proudly, what he had done at God's command.
> Ashmore restated testimony that reflected Thomas' repeated admissions to
> people that he thought what he did was wrong and that the drugs caused it.
> That admission is likely to be key since Texas law says a person who
commits
> a crime while intoxicated at his own choosing, is guilty of that crime.
> Choosing to use drugs, Ashmore contended, was not a directive from God. If
> the drugs drove Thomas to commit the crimes, or even if they drove Thomas
to
> think that God wanted him to commit the crimes, then the jury must not
find
> him insane.
>
>
|