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Monday, October 15, 2012

The Houston Comical shows how bias it is.

The Houston Chronical has taken an editorial opinion against capital punishment and I have no issue with that. It's in the back of section B that opinions are appropriate. Then again, we have articles at the front of section B that is nothing but opinion.
Houston cop killer hopes 'nice guy' image will halt his execution

With execution looming, Houston cop killer Anthony Haynes is pinning his hopes on convincing the notoriously hard-to-convince Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that he is a nice guy and that his lawyers failed to convey that to jurors who sentenced him to death.

Haynes, 33, is set to die Oct. 18 for the May 1998 fatal shooting of Houston police Sgt. Kent Kincaid. The 40-year-old Kincaid was off duty and in civilian clothes when he confronted Haynes after an object from the killer's truck shattered the windshield of the officer's car.

A. Richard Ellis, Haynes' California-based attorney, argues in his pardons board petition that Haynes was an exceptional student with ambitions of a military career who foundered on the shoals of drug abuse. On death row, Haynes has become deeply religious and an inspiration to others, he says.

...Ellis argues that Haynes' original defense attorneys, intent on establishing that the killing was not a capital offense because Kincaid was off duty, failed to thoroughly investigate the case. "Despite a wealth of mitigating evidence, and a huge number of important witnesses who were eager to testify, the punishment phase was almost an afterthought," Ellis' pardons board petition says. "Many family members were never interviewed, and even when they volunteered to testify, their help was inexplicably refused."

Such testimony, he says, could have convinced jurors that Haynes was not a continuing danger and saved the killer's life.

Now what did this exceptional student with ambitions of a military career do in 1998 that landed him on death row:
Sergeant Kincaid was shot and killed after confronting several suspects who damaged his windshield while they were driving.

The officer was off duty and with his wife when the incident took place. An object was thrown from a pickup truck travelling in the opposite direction, striking the windshield of his personal vehicle. Sergeant Kincaid then turned around and followed the vehicle for several blocks until it stopped. He then got out and approached the vehicle and identified himself as a police officer. One suspect in the vehicle then fired a single shot which struck him in the head. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The suspect was eventually arrested and sentenced to death.

Sergeant Kincaid is survived by his wife and two young daughters.


Later in the article:
'Bragged to friends'

Prosecutors painted a different picture, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said in rejecting an earlier appeal, "Haynes admitted that he shot Kincaid because he was a police officer and, showing no remorse, bragged to friends that he had killed a police officer. The state's evidence established that Haynes is a violent man with an explosive temper whose only regret was not murdering Mrs. Kincaid, also."

I very much doubt Governor Perry will issue a stay of execution on this cop killer. So with a little luck sometime around 630PM this Thursday the news media will announce little Anthony has gone to his final Judge. And he will not be able to lie to Him.

RIP SGT Kincaid.

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