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Texas inmate executed for killing police officer in chase
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2015/08/12 15:53
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Texas inmate Daniel Lee Lopez got his wish Wednesday when he was executed for striking and killing a police lieutenant with an SUV during a chase more than six years ago.
The lethal injection was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from his attorneys, who disregarded Lopez's desire to die and disagreed with lower court rulings that found Lopez was competent to make that decision.
"I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim's family," said Lopez, who spoke quietly and quickly. "This was never meant to be, sure beyond my power. I can only walk the path before me and make the best of it. I'm sorry for putting you all through this. I am sorry. I love you. I am ready. May we all go to heaven."
As the drugs took effect, he took two deep breaths, then two shallower breaths. Then all movement stopped.
The roar of revving motorcycles on the street outside the Huntsville prison, from a group of bikers supporting police, could be heard as Lopez spoke, along with rumbles of intermittent thunder.
He was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m. CDT — 15 minutes after the lethal dose began.
Lopez, 27, became the 10th inmate put to death this year in Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. Nationally, he was the 19th prisoner to be executed.
Lopez's "obvious and severe mental illness" was responsible for him wanting to use the legal system for suicide, illustrating his "well-documented history of irrational behavior and suicidal tendencies," attorney David Dow, who represented Lopez, had told the high court. Dow also argued the March 2009 crime was not a capital murder because Lopez didn't intend to kill Corpus Christi Lt. Stuart Alexander.
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Texas man charged in killing of 8 set for court appearance
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2015/08/12 06:28
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A man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a family of six children and two parents at their Houston home is set to make his first court appearance.
David Conley, who authorities say was previously in a contentious relationship with the mother, is due in Harris County court Monday. The 48-year-old Conley, who has a violent criminal history, is being held in jail without bond. He doesn't yet have an attorney.
The dead were identified as 40-year-old Valerie Jackson and her husband, 50-year-old Dewayne Jackson. The children killed include a 13-year-old believed to be Conley's son from his relationship with Valerie Jackson.
Authorities responded to the home Saturday after relatives requested a welfare check. They say after an hours-long standoff with Conley ended, they found all eight victims shot in the head.
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Inmate challenge to death sentence goes back to trial court
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2015/08/08 07:03
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A state death row inmate is going back to a north Mississippi courtroom to again fight for a new trial.
The Mississippi Supreme Court has ordered a Lowndes County judge to determine if the results of post-conviction DNA testing raise enough questions to justify a new trial for Eddie Lee Howard Jr. Howard, now 61, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the slaying of 84-year-old Georgia Kemp of Columbus. Evidence against him included bite marks on her body.
The Supreme Court, in the order signed Thursday by Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., makes no specific mention of Howard's challenge to the bite mark evidence that the inmate argues is now widely discredited in legal circles.
Waller's order directs the trial court to hold a hearing to determine if Howard's arguments of newly discovered evidence including the results of DNA testing could "probably produce a different result or induce a different verdict if a new trial is granted."
The court's order does not disclose what the DNA testing revealed. Howard's attorneys argue in briefs that DNA results do not connect Howard to the crime.
Howard was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing Kemp in 1992. He was sentenced to death.
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UK jury says trader guilty of manipulating key interest rate
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2015/08/03 22:36
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A British jury has found a former Citibank and UBS trader guilty of being the ringmaster in the manipulation of a key interest rate, the London Interbank Lending Rate, or Libor.
The jury on Monday found 35-year-old Tom Hayes, who specialized in products pegged to yen-denominated Libor, guilty of manipulating the rate from 2006 to 2010. He was charged with conspiring with other traders — but he says he was made a scapegoat for a common practice.
Libor is a key rate that banks use to borrow from each other. Revelations that it was rigged shook the markets because the rate affects what people pay when they take out loans, such as a car loan.
Hayes is the first to be convicted by a U.K. jury of Libor rigging.
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