The post-convictin hearing was ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Here are links to several articles on the hearing, which is continuing today.
"Consultant says convicted killer's attorneys pressured him to plead guilty," is by Deanna Boyd for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
A mitigation specialist hired by defense attorneys in Stephen Barbee's 2006 capital murder trial testified Wednesday that the attorneys frequently pressured Barbee to plead guilty and didn't explore or present some evidence that she believes could have helped the Death Row inmate.
Amanda Maxwell testified that Barbee's trial attorneys, Bill Ray and Tim Moore, failed to delve more into what she said were mitigating circumstances in the case, including several head injuries Barbee had suffered throughout his life and his abuse of hydrocodone for one of those head injuries.
In February 2006, Barbee was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to lethal injection for the smothering deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, who was seven months pregnant, and her 7-year-old son, Jayden.
Prosecutors said Barbee killed Underwood because he believed that she was pregnant with his child (DNA tests later proved he was not the father) and wanted to keep their relationship from his wife.
Maxwell was the first to testify in a hearing before state District Judge Louis Sturns over allegations by Barbee's appellate attorneys that important information was withheld from Barbee's capital murder trial due to a "secret deal" between then-state District Judge Bob Gill and Ray, Barbee's lead attorney.
Barbee's appellate attorney, A. Richard Ellis of California, has said federal court testimony by Ray in connection with an unrelated case -- made public in 2010 in an article by The Associated Press -- revealed that Gill had negotiated plea deals in probation revocation cases, many of which he had appointed Ray to handle, to move cases more quickly though his docket.
Ellis says that because of that conflict of interest with the judge, Ray failed to provide effective counsel and deprived Barbee of a fair trial.
"Defense attorney answers allegation in death case," is the latest AP filing on the hearing. It's via KTRK-TV.
The lawyer court-appointed to lead Stephen Barbee's defense at his double-murder trial six years ago is to testify to allegations that he and the trial judge had a "secret deal" to move cases quickly through the judge's court.
Former State District Judge Bob Gill testified in state court that he believed the attorneys who represented Stephen Barbee, sentenced to die foJudge Bob Gillr killing his pregnant girlfriend and her 7-year-old son, were effective despite having "a difficult case to try."
Barbee is seeking a new trial, claiming he received ineffective counsel because his lead attorney, William H. "Bill" Ray, had a "secret deal" with Gill, who retired from the bench in 2007, to make cases move quickly in the judge's court.
Wednesday was the first day of a two-day hearing in front of Judge Louis Sturns, who succeeded Gill on the bench. Sturns will recommend to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals whether a new trial is warranted.
Gill, now an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County, acknowledged he had an "arrangement" with Ray to let the attorney handle most of the probation revocation cases involving indigent defendants in the judge's court. But he described it as a matter of picking the most available attorney.
"Mr. Ray came around the courthouse and made himself available for court on Fridays, which is when I handled most of my probation revocation hearings," Gill testified.
An earlier AP posts, "Witness: Lawyers wanted guilty plea in death case," is also via KTRK-TV.
"Double-murder case returns to Fort Worth," by Dianna Hunt is an earlier Star-Telegram report.
State District Judge Louis Sturns will decide whether Death Row inmate Stephen Barbee should get a new trial in the killing of his ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son based on his appellate attorney's argument that the trial judge and Barbee's trial attorney had a "secret deal."
Sturns has set a hearing to begin Wednesday to consider evidence that Barbee's lead trial attorney, Bill Ray of Fort Worth, had an ongoing agreement with former state District Judge Bob Gill that caused important information to be withheld from Barbee's capital murder trial.
In court filings, Barbee contends that he was denied due process and a fair trial because his attorneys "had a conflict of interest that precluded them from effectively representing Barbee at trial."
Barbee's appellate attorney, A. Richard Ellis of California, said Monday that important evidence was not presented at the trial, which lasted less than three days.
"Circumstantially there was a very strong suggestion of conflict of interest," Ellis said.
Ray emphatically denied the contention.
And:
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- the state's highest court in criminal matters -- ordered the trial court to consider Barbee's appeal, and Sturns set the special hearing to hear evidence.
The allegation of a secret deal stems from an unrelated case in which Ray represented a woman facing revocation of her probation. During an appeal in federal court, Ray testified that Gill had a policy of personally handling plea bargaining with defendants facing probation revocation, and that the sentence was higher if the defendant rejected the plea offer, according to court documents.
It also notes:
In an article about Gill's handling of probation cases, Associated Press writer Danny Robbins reported in 2010 that Tarrant County records indicated that Ray had received more than $700,000 from 2001 to 2007 from appointments in Gill's court. That was 43 percent of his total earnings from court appointments, Robbins reported.
Ray and Gill have been subpoenaed to testify in the Barbee hearing, which is expected to continue for two days in Sturns' 213th state District Court.
The Los Angeles Times posted a preview of the hearing, "Texas death row inmate claims lawyer had 'secret deal' with judge," written by Molly Hennessy-Fiske, reporting from Houston.
A Texas death row inmate convicted of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old son in 2005 is seeking a new trial, alleging that his attorney had a "secret deal" with the judge to quickly dispose of his case.
Attorneys for Stephen Barbee, 44, plan to argue in a Fort Worth state court this week that his defense in the double murder case was tainted.
The proceeding, scheduled to begin Wednesday, was ordered by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after a 2010 Associated Press story showed that presiding Judge Robert Gill had negotiated plea deals in certain cases, many of which were handled by Barbee's court-appointed attorney, William H. "Bill" Ray.
Ray gave details about the plea deals, which expedited Gill's docket, during testimony in a 2009 federal court case that a judge subsequently sealed. The issue was kept quiet until the AP story ran.
The 2011 Court of Criminal Appeals order in Ex Parte Barbee is at the link. Judge Sturns was recently appointed to hear the Court of Inquiry in the Morton exoneration.
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