[DP-Announce] (Fwd) Anthony graves : hearing on April 13

Thu Apr 12 08:15:16 CDT 2007

If anyone is able to make it to Caldwell for the pretrial hearing in 
Anthony Graves' case tomorrow, please do so.  I'm sure his family and 
other supporters would appreciate the support of the anti-death 
penalty movement.  

More details below

Rich

------- Forwarded message follows -------
To:	lampofhope at yahoogroups.com, r-woodward at tcadp-bv.org,
       	mariesnows99 at yahoo.com, dccurry552002 at yahoo.com, dpatwood at igc.org,
       	vmccuistion at hotmail.com, abolish at npogroups.org,
       	admin at texasmoratorium.org
Subject:	Anthony graves : hearing on April 13
Date sent:	Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:00:51 -0400
From:	isabelleperin at aol.com

The next pretrial hearing in Anthony Graves' case is scheduledon 
Friday, 13(tomorrow) in Caldwell, TX. Please, attend this important 
hearing for this case of prosecutorial misconduct. 
http://www.desmainsunies.com/anthonygraves2/ 

Thank you, 

Isabelle 

                             Burleson County Tribune, March 29, 2007
                                                                P. 1

                Graves' lawyers challenge Ranger Coffman's testimony

  Defense lawyers for Anthony Graves, convicted of capital murder in 
the 1992 deaths of six Somerville residents, last week accused Texas 
                  Ranger Ray Coffman of perjury in a written filing.

 Also, the state submitted its filing seeking the death penalty in a 
                                                          new trial.

  In an objection to the state's evidence from an Oct. 7, 1992, bond 
      hearing, defense attorneys say there was perjured testimony by 
Coffman and co-defendant Robert Carter, who testified against Graves.

Their objection was filed on Wednesday, March 21. They are trying to 
                     seek bond for Graves as he awaits a new trial.

    An April 13 hearing has been set for District Judge Reva Towslee 
        Corbett to rule on Graves' bond motion and on other motions.

Graves and Carter were convicted in 1994 in the Aug. 18, 1992 murders 
  of Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter and four grandchildren. 
After the crime, the bodies were doused with gasoline, and the house 
   was set on fire. Prosecutors believe a gun, a hammer and a knife 
                            were used. Carter was executed in 2000.

     The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled that the state 
 withheld two statements made by Carter that they believe might have 
changed the jury's mind. In one of those statements issued to former 
 district attorney Charles Sebesta the night before he testified, he 
                   says he acted alone, and Graves was not involved.

Sebesta has maintained that Carter's statements were not credible and 
that he did not withhold pertinent evidence. Sebesta insists that he 
did notify the defense about Carter changing his story. He has also 
       argued that Carter's statements were not credible because the 
physical eviidence presented, including multiple weapons used, proves 
        that one person could not have committed the crimes, he said 
                                                         previously.

 Regarding Coffman, the defense's objection states that his Nov. 30, 
2006 testimony in a pre-trial hearing contradicts his original trial 
                                                          testimony.

      In the Nov. 30, 2006 testimony, he states that Carter told him 
  several times from 1992 until 1994 that Graves was not involved in 
                      the crime, according to the defense objection.

At the trial, Coffman testified that Carter implicated Graves in all 
     but one of his statements, that being the grand jury testimony, 
                                            according to the motion.

 Coffman and all other witnesses are bound by a gag order instituted 
by judge Towslee Corbett that prevents them from responding to media 
inquiries about this. However, the gag order was overturned last week 
                                                          on appeal.

                         Coffman, contacted Tuesday, had no comment.

         "It is no wonder that the 5th Circuit set aside Mr. Graves' 
     conviction in light of Ranger Coffman's perjury," the objection 
 states. "Now that Mr. Graves' fraudulently procured conviction has 
been set aside, the state is holding him on $1 million bail and seeks 
     to justify that detention by submitting hearsay statements from 
perjurers Carter and Coffman, as well as several other witnesses who 
the state did not deem credible enough to present at the first trial."

Their filing regarding the 1992 bond hearing also includes objections 
to testimony by jail personnel about overheard conversations between 
Graves and Carter in their jail cells.That testimony indicated that 
        Graves admitted his guilt; however, the defense claims those 
witnesses could not be sure it was Graves' voice they heard over the 
   intercom. One of the witnesses was also under indictment at that 
 time and owed Sebesta money at the time he testified, the objection 
                                                             stated.

         They are also challenging the "alleged hypnotically induced 
       identification" of Graves in a lineup by one witness, Mildred 
 Bracewell. She referred to a man who bought gasoline at her store, 
but the defense claims those identifications do not describe Graves. 
Her statements were never offered at the first trial and do not meet 
        the standards for admitting hypnotically enhanced testimony, 
                                         according to the objection.

     Regarding the death penalty filing, special prosecutors Patrick 
Batchelor and Julie Ann Stone filed that motion on Friday, March 23.

 The next pre-trial hearing is set for April 13, and Towslee Corbett 
could rule on Graves motion on whether he should be free or released 
  on bond while awaiting his new trial, a trial date and whether the 
                       trial should be moved out of Burleson County. 

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------- End of forwarded message -------
--
Richard Woodward
www:  http://TCADP-BV.org  
e-mail:   r-woodward at TCADP-BV.org

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