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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Georgia Just Executed A Man For Murder With Shoddy Evidence
BY CARIMAH TOWNES
DEC 9, 2015 8:34 AM
CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS/ GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
On Tuesday night, Georgia executed Brian Keith Terrell for shooting and beating an old man to death. Terrell was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in 2001. He refused to plead guilty and maintained his innocence for more than two decades. And there is still no legitimate evidence to suggest he was actually involved in the crime.
In addition to using shoddy forensic evidence, the state relied on false witness testimony to justify Terrell’s execution. The Georgia Board Of Pardons and Parole rejected his petition on Monday. Last minute appeals over Georgia’s questionable lethal injection protocol were not enough to save him.
One IV was eventually injected into Terrell’s right hand, after a nurse attempted to put two IVs in his right arm for an hour. He winced in pain. Before he died, he mouthed “didn’t do it” while looking directly at Newton County Sheriff Ezell Brown.
The murder Terrell was convicted for happened shortly after he spent time in jail for robbery. After he was released in 1992, Terrell stole 10 checks from John Watson, a 70-year-old family friend and patient of Terrell’s mother, Barbara. When Watson discovered what Terrell did, he told Barbara that he would not press charges if her son returned the money.
According to prosecutors, Terrell chose to kill the elderly man instead. They used shoe impressions and hand prints to link Terrell to the crime scene. They also built their case around witness testimonies: one from Terrell’s cousin, Jermaine Johnson, who drove Terrell to and from the crime scene, and one from Watson’s neighbor.
But the shoe impressions taken at the crime scene were too small to match Terrell’s feet. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) tested 13 fingerprints, and none of them matched Terrell’s. In addition to the fact that fingerprints are not considered infallible forensic evidence, prosecutorsrelied on two fingerprints and a palm print on Watson’s vehicle that matched the prints of Terrell’s uncle. They struck a plea deal with Johnson, who also faced murder charges. Johnson received a five-year-prison sentence for robbery in exchange for testifying against his cousin. He has since sworn that he was pressured to do so by police and would tell the true story if perjury charges were off the table. Watson’s neighbor also maintains that she did not see Terrell at the scene, despite information that prosecutors presented in court.
It took three separate trials to convict Terrell. The first was a mistrial because some jurors believed he was innocent. Terrell was convicted the second time around, but the state’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction because of an error made in the jury selection process. Terrell was convicted again in 2001, based on the shaky evidence.
Defense attorneys filed last-minute appeals raising concerns about the state’s lethal injection drugs. The pharmacist who supplied the drugs has a 50 percent error rate. He provided the cloudy pentobarbital that forced Georgia to postpone one of its executions in March.
Georgia carried out Terrell’s lethal injection anyway. Terrell was the fifth person the state executed this year.
“Brian Terrell’s case reeks of police and prosecutorial misconduct, yet, Georgia once again is prioritizing finality over fairness,” Executive Director Sara Totonchi of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represents death row inmates in the region, said in a press release. “The Parole Board should grant clemency in this case that is riddled with doubt.”
The coalition and advocacy group Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP) held 12 vigils on Tuesday night.
Georgia has carried out a spate of controversial executions. Troy Davis was put to death in 2011 for shooting and killing a police officer, without reliable physical evidence linking him to the crime. Witnesses also recanted their testimonies before Davis was put to death. Earlier this year, the state executed Warren Hill, a man with a severe intellectual disability. Kelly Gissendaner was executed in September for plotting the murder of her husband in 1997. Gissendaner did not commit the actual crime. She received the death penalty after her former boyfriend, the actual murderer, took a plea deal in exchange for a life sentence and the possibility of parole. In November, Marcus Ray Johnson was executed for the rape and murder of a woman he admitted to having sex with. There was no physical evidence to back up prosecutors’ claims against him.
@the next guy
BY CARIMAH TOWNES
DEC 9, 2015 8:34 AM
CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS/ GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
On Tuesday night, Georgia executed Brian Keith Terrell for shooting and beating an old man to death. Terrell was convicted of murder and sentenced to die in 2001. He refused to plead guilty and maintained his innocence for more than two decades. And there is still no legitimate evidence to suggest he was actually involved in the crime.
In addition to using shoddy forensic evidence, the state relied on false witness testimony to justify Terrell’s execution. The Georgia Board Of Pardons and Parole rejected his petition on Monday. Last minute appeals over Georgia’s questionable lethal injection protocol were not enough to save him.
One IV was eventually injected into Terrell’s right hand, after a nurse attempted to put two IVs in his right arm for an hour. He winced in pain. Before he died, he mouthed “didn’t do it” while looking directly at Newton County Sheriff Ezell Brown.
The murder Terrell was convicted for happened shortly after he spent time in jail for robbery. After he was released in 1992, Terrell stole 10 checks from John Watson, a 70-year-old family friend and patient of Terrell’s mother, Barbara. When Watson discovered what Terrell did, he told Barbara that he would not press charges if her son returned the money.
According to prosecutors, Terrell chose to kill the elderly man instead. They used shoe impressions and hand prints to link Terrell to the crime scene. They also built their case around witness testimonies: one from Terrell’s cousin, Jermaine Johnson, who drove Terrell to and from the crime scene, and one from Watson’s neighbor.
But the shoe impressions taken at the crime scene were too small to match Terrell’s feet. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) tested 13 fingerprints, and none of them matched Terrell’s. In addition to the fact that fingerprints are not considered infallible forensic evidence, prosecutorsrelied on two fingerprints and a palm print on Watson’s vehicle that matched the prints of Terrell’s uncle. They struck a plea deal with Johnson, who also faced murder charges. Johnson received a five-year-prison sentence for robbery in exchange for testifying against his cousin. He has since sworn that he was pressured to do so by police and would tell the true story if perjury charges were off the table. Watson’s neighbor also maintains that she did not see Terrell at the scene, despite information that prosecutors presented in court.
It took three separate trials to convict Terrell. The first was a mistrial because some jurors believed he was innocent. Terrell was convicted the second time around, but the state’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction because of an error made in the jury selection process. Terrell was convicted again in 2001, based on the shaky evidence.
Defense attorneys filed last-minute appeals raising concerns about the state’s lethal injection drugs. The pharmacist who supplied the drugs has a 50 percent error rate. He provided the cloudy pentobarbital that forced Georgia to postpone one of its executions in March.
Georgia carried out Terrell’s lethal injection anyway. Terrell was the fifth person the state executed this year.
“Brian Terrell’s case reeks of police and prosecutorial misconduct, yet, Georgia once again is prioritizing finality over fairness,” Executive Director Sara Totonchi of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represents death row inmates in the region, said in a press release. “The Parole Board should grant clemency in this case that is riddled with doubt.”
The coalition and advocacy group Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (GFADP) held 12 vigils on Tuesday night.
Georgia has carried out a spate of controversial executions. Troy Davis was put to death in 2011 for shooting and killing a police officer, without reliable physical evidence linking him to the crime. Witnesses also recanted their testimonies before Davis was put to death. Earlier this year, the state executed Warren Hill, a man with a severe intellectual disability. Kelly Gissendaner was executed in September for plotting the murder of her husband in 1997. Gissendaner did not commit the actual crime. She received the death penalty after her former boyfriend, the actual murderer, took a plea deal in exchange for a life sentence and the possibility of parole. In November, Marcus Ray Johnson was executed for the rape and murder of a woman he admitted to having sex with. There was no physical evidence to back up prosecutors’ claims against him.
@the next guy
