Today's Dallas Morning News reports, "Death-row inmate dies in Dallas awaiting new hearing." It's by Richard Abshire; reporter Jennifer Emily also contributed.
Ronald Curtis Chambers, who held the record for the longest stay on Texas' death row at 35 years, died Friday in Dallas.
Chambers, 55, was in the Dallas County jail to prepare for a new sentencing hearing when guards found him on the floor of his cell. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died, said sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Leach.
Jurors convicted Chambers of capital murder in the slaying of a college student and sentenced him to death in 1975, 1985 and 1992. Those convictions were all overturned on appeal.
"There was never any material doubt about Chambers' guilt," said James Volberding of Tyler, who worked on his appeals from 1996 to 2008. "The only question was whether or not he should be executed."
Volberding said Chambers' case illustrates flaws in the state's death penalty system. He said court and prosecution errors caused the long delay, which he argues amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
"We need more experienced defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges," Volberding said.
And:
The Dallas County medical examiner's office has yet to determine Chambers' cause of death, and toxicology test results are pending. Leach said Chambers came to the jail with "a series of health complications."
In a 2007 reversal of Chambers' conviction, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that jurors should have had the option of a life sentence because of mitigating circumstances.
The AP report is, "Longest-serving prisoner on Texas death row dies," by Danny Robbins, via the Houston Chronicle.
Chambers had been in the Dallas County jail since May 2009 preparing for a sentencing trial scheduled for September 2011. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the new trial on the grounds that jurors hadn't received mitigating information when they imposed the death penalty in 1992.
According to the appellate court, jurors weren't properly told of Chambers' impoverished upbringing in a West Dallas housing project, his exposure to violence and drugs and his lack of role models.
Chambers' attorney, Richard Burr of Houston, said he had approached the Dallas County District Attorney's office with a deal in which Chambers would plead guilty to multiple life sentences. The plea would have meant Chambers never would be eligible for parole, Burr said.
"He was willing to give up any chance of parole to have the family of Mr. McMahan feel like he was appropriately punished," Burr said, adding Chambers was "deeply remorseful."
Dallas County District Attorney's office spokeswoman Jamille Bradfield said the office was "actively preparing to retry Mr. Chambers on punishment at the time of his death."
The 1992 trial marked the third time Chambers' death sentence had been overturned on grounds unrelated to his guilt. The first was because Chambers wasn't warned information from a psychiatric interview by a state expert could be used against him. The second was because jury selection had been racially tainted against a black defendant.
Chambers arrived on death row Jan. 8, 1976, three days before his 21st birthday. His death means 60-year-old Raymond Riles, who arrived a month later, is now Texas' longest-serving death row inmate.
Earlier coverage is here, here, and here.
The next post will highlight two recent examinations of incarceration and health issues.
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