Condemned New Albany man claims he didn't shoot trooper

Published January 05, 2007 06:29 pm -

Norman Timberlake, 59, said in a clemency petition submitted this week to the state Parole Board that he is seeking clemency because: "I did not do crime, co-defendant did it and blamed it on me."

Condemned New Albany man claims he didn't shoot trooper


Associated Press

SOUTH BEND — A man who told a judge before he was sentenced to death more than a decade ago that he wouldn't ask for mercy is now seeking clemency from Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Norman Timberlake, 59, said in a clemency petition submitted this week to the state Parole Board that he is seeking clemency because: "I did not do crime, co-defendant did it and blamed it on me."

Earl Coleman, assistant for the parole board, said those seeking clemency are told at the beginning of the hearings that the purpose of the parole board review is not to retry the case.

"But they always try to retry it," he said Friday.

Timberlake was convicted of killing Master Trooper Michael E. Greene of Thorntown in February 1993 during a routine traffic stop along Interstate 65 on the northwestside of Indianapolis.

Timberlake is scheduled to die by chemical injection in the early hours of Jan. 19. He will appear Monday before the parole board during a hearing at the state prison in Michigan City. The parole board also will take public testimony Jan. 16 in Indianapolis before making a clemency recommendation to the governor.

Greene, 43, was shot once in the chest. According to court testimony, Greene pulled his cruiser over near a car parked along I-65 because he saw Timberlake's companion urinating along the highway.

Prosecutors said that when Greene tried to handcuff Tom McElroy, he was shot and killed by Timberlake.

Timberlake did not take the stand during his trial, but his attorney at the time, Arnold Baratz, told the jury in closing arguments that McElroy had a greater motive to kill Greene since he was wanted on an outstanding warrant and was close enough to Greene to have shot him.

In his clemency petition, Timberlake wrote that after Greene pulled over he was sitting on the hood of his car when Greene started to handcuff McElroy and he heard a scuffle and a "pop sound."

Timberlake said when McElroy put down the gun, he picked it up. Authorities said Timberlake had the gun in his pocket when he was arrested.

McElroy was convicted of assisting a criminal because he failed to call police immediately after the shooting. He was sentenced to four years in prison and testified against Timberlake.

Last year, Daniels commuted the death sentence of Arthur Baird II to life without parole. Baird's lawyers argued that he was mentally ill, but the state Parole Board voted 3-1 to recommend that the execution be carried out.

The parole board has recommended clemency just once in 50 years. In 2004, then-Gov. Joe Kernan followed the board's recommendation and spared the life of Darnell Williams, commuting his sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Attorneys for Timberlake filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on Dec. 29 claiming he would suffer unnecessarily during the lethal injection procedure. The suit asks for a judge to block the execution.