Delay sought in execution of child killer
Attorney did poor job on appeal, inmate's new lawyers say
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFFTuesday, January 09, 2007
Wednesday's scheduled execution of Carlos Granados, who killed a Georgetown 3-year-old in 1998, should be delayed because Granados was ill-served by Austin lawyer Ray Bass, a prominent criminal defense attorney who handled his appeal, the inmate's new lawyers said Monday.
Bass filed a two-page appeal — raising a single issue challenging Granados' death sentence — that was so deficient that it deprived the condemned man of his right to a proper appellate review of his sentence before execution, lawyer William Christian said.
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"As none of us can be comfortable in this day and age executing a person whose capital sentence has never been reviewed, as that lack of review is no fault of Mr. Granados, his sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment," Christian said in a petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The board voted 7-0 Monday to deny the commutation request, as well as Granados' bid for a 120-day reprieve to allow time to complete a new application for a writ of habeas corpus, a key appeal that lets death row inmates challenge their conviction and sentence on constitutional grounds.
But Granados is not out of options.
His lawyers filed an emergency motion Monday asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which recently began cracking down on deficient court-appointed habeas lawyers, to give Granados a second chance to file a "meaningful" writ application.
Granados also asked Gov. Rick Perry for a 30-day delay of his execution — a politically unlikely result given the gruesome nature of the crime.
Granados was sentenced to die for fatally stabbing Anthony O'Brien Jimenez, 3, in the Georgetown apartment of the child's mother during a domestic dispute. Granados also stabbed the mother 20 times, but Katherine Jimenez, whom he had been dating, survived. Police found Jimenez near death, her arm draped over her son's body.
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley vividly remembers walking through the Jimenez living room as an assistant district attorney in 1998.
"It looked as if someone took a bucket of red paint and had thrown it everywhere," he said. "I remember walking into that apartment and just being horrified."
Police captured Granados, holding a kitchen knife and begging to be shot, in the apartment. With the boy's mother as a witness and unrefuted physical evidence linking Granados to the crime, the trial focused on whether Granados would receive death or life in prison. Jurors deliberated for four hours before sentencing him to die.
Bass, a 35-year lawyer who did not return two messages left at his office Monday, was appointed to file a habeas petition on Granados' behalf in 1999.
A habeas application can total dozens, perhaps hundreds, of pages as it reinvestigates every aspect of the case to determine whether a death sentence was properly levied. Facts must be found outside the trial record — witnesses and jurors are interviewed; police and prosecutor files are reviewed; the inmate and family members are questioned to look for mitigating evidence that could have swayed jurors to choose a life sentence.
Bass did not quote anything from outside the trial record, did not meet Granados, did not request help from an investigator or mitigation expert, did not file a motion for discovery seeking case materials and did not attach exhibits in support of his single claim, Christian said in his motion to the Court of Criminal Appeals.
"Two years earlier, (Bass) filed a four-page writ in the case of Ramiro Ibarra," the motion stated. "As with Mr. Granados, only one claim was presented for review."
In asking for a new writ, the motion said that without proper investigation, it is impossible to know what other challenges could have been raised.
The motion also quoted an Oct. 29-30 report in the Austin American-Statesman that chronicled poor representation by state habeas lawyers and noted that the court responded by creating tougher standards for habeas practitioners. Recently, the court directed a Houston judge to investigate claims that habeas lawyer Steven "Rocket" Rosen filed a one-issue, record-based writ without meeting his death row client, Juan Reynoso.
"To permit Mr. Granados' execution to proceed despite the fact that he (too) appears to have been deprived of competent counsel . . . would be grossly unjust," the motion said.
Left unresolved by the court, however, is how to handle cases in which deficient writs have been filed.
Granados' new lawyers suggested two avenues: vacate Granados' first writ and order the trial court to appoint another habeas lawyer or reconsider Granados' first writ and fashion an "appropriate remedy" allowing the inmate to file a properly investigated writ.
A ruling is expected before Granados' 6 p.m. Wednesday scheduled execution.
clindell@statesman.com, 912-2569
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