APRIL 18 2002

TEXAS: Court Lifts Stay of Execution for Inmate Who Killed at 17

In a decision likely to renew debate over the issue of executing prisoners who commit murder before the age of 18, the highest criminal court in Texas yesterday cleared the way for a death row inmate to be executed, possibly next month.

The Texas Court of Criminal appeals, which last August granted the inmate, Napoleon Beazley, a stay of execution only hours before he was to be put to death, vacated that stay yesterday after rejecting his appeal. In response, prosecutors called on the trial judge to act swiftly in setting a new execution date.

 "This has been almost eight years to the day since the capital murder of John Luttig in front of his wife, and it is time for justice to be carried out in this case," the Smith County district attorney, Jack Skeen Jr., said.

 Mr. Beazley's case attracted international attention last summer because he was only 17 when he murdered Mr. Luttig in a botched carjacking. The case also created an unusual predicament on the Supreme Court. Three justices, Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter and Clarence Thomas, took the rare step of disqualifying themselves because each had a professional relationship with victim's son, J. Michael Luttig, a federal appeals judge in Virginia.

 In their absence, the remaining justices divided evenly, 3 to 3, in turning down an appeal by Mr. Beazley for a stay. Had the state court not intervened, Mr. Beazley could have been executed despite the split Supreme Court vote.

 Now, with Mr. Beazley's lawyers already planning to appeal the state court's decision yesterday, the case is heading back to the Supreme Court, where it will present the same predicament.

 Mr. Beazley shot Mr. Luttig twice in the head in April 1994 while he and two friends tried to steal the victim's car. Mr. Beazley's arrest stunned residents in his tiny hometown of Grapeland, Tex.; he had been senior class president and a football star. Groups including the European Union and Amnesty International called for Mr. Beazley's life to be spared because of his age.

 Richard Wetzel, general counsel for the Court of Criminal Appeals, said the court stayed the Beazley case and a handful of others while it reviewed whether the state constitution provided inmates with the right to have competent counsel during the habeas appeals process. Mr. Beazley had contended that his first habeas lawyer was inadequate and had not raised several relevant arguments, including that he was 17 at the time of the killing.

 But in a decision issued in January, the court ruled that no such constitutional right exists and that inmates may not use the competency of their habeas lawyer as grounds to attack a conviction or death sentence.

 With that decision made, Mr. Wetzel said the court subsequently voted to vacate the stay in Mr. Beazley's case and that of another inmate, Gary Etheridge.

 Walter Long, a lawyer for Mr. Beazley, said he had hoped that the state court would wait until the Supreme Court addresses a related case this year. This fall, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether there is now a "national consensus" that executing the mentally retarded violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment."

 If the court does outlaw executing the mentally retarded, Mr. Long said such a ruling could also undermine the opinion that allows the execution of inmates who committed capital murder as 16- and 17-year-olds.

 "I'm disappointed," Mr. Long said of yesterday's state court ruling. "I think at the very least, a just and equitable thing for the court to have done would have been to wait for the Supreme Court."

 The state court decision essentially restarts the final appeals process for Mr. Beazley.

 He will have the right to again petition the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency. Last August, the board voted 10 to 6 against his clemency petition, a close margin considering that many votes are unanimous.

 If the board again rejects him, Gov. Rick Perry may either approve the execution or grant him a 30-day stay.

 First, though, local prosecutors are planning to request that the trial judge, Cynthia Stevens Kent, call a hearing to set a new execution date. State law allows a judge to set a date as soon as 31 days from the hearing. But in an unusual move last August, Judge Kent sent a letter to Governor Perry on the day of Mr. Beazley's scheduled execution, asking that his death sentence be commuted to life.

Stay of Execution Lifted for Killer

Apr 18, 2002

By NATALIE GOTT, 

AUSTIN, Texas - A man sentenced to death for a killing carried out when he was 17 has lost a state court appeal, and with it the stay of execution the court had granted last August while it reviewed the case.Napoleon Beazley, who was four hours away from execution when he won the stay, was convicted of murdering 63-year-old John Luttig, a prominent businessman in Tyler and the father of a federal judge. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected all of the issues Beazley raised in challenging his conviction and sentence.Beazley's attorney, Walter Long, said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court  and ask the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Beazley's sentence."I think that the death penalty is very inappropriate in this case," Long said.The inmate's father, Ireland Beazley, added: "It just feels like they are putting down the rubber stamp again instead of looking at the issues."Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen Jr. said he will urge the Board of Pardons to allow the verdict to stand."This has been almost eight years to the day since the capital murder of John Luttig in front of his wife and it is time for justice to be carried out," he said.The case has drawn international attention because Beazley was a teen-ager at the time of the slaying and because of J. Michael Luttig's position as a federal judge in Virginia.Beazley's own trial judge, Cynthia Kent, and 18 state representatives had asked Gov. Rick Perry to commute the killer's sentence to life in prison because of his age at the time of the killing. In Texas, juries rather than the judge decide whether convicted killers should be executed.An offender is eligible for the death penalty in Texas if the murder is committed at age 17 or older.Three U.S. Supreme Court justices � Antonin Scalia , Clarence Thomas  and David Souter  � recused themselves from the case because the victim's son had either worked for or advised them.Beazley, who does not deny his role in the murder, was a high school class president and star athlete who also had dealt drugs and carried firearms.