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The David Lee Powell Case

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The Austin American-Statesman carries an AP dispatch, "David Lee Powell can appeal his third sentence to death row."  As with the yogurt shop murders, this case has had a troubled history.A man sent to death row three times for killing an Austin police officer with an automatic assault weapon almost 30 years ago has won permission to appeal his case again. David Lee Powell, now 57, most recently was convicted and condemned in 1999 for the 1978 slaying of Ralph Ablanedo, who had pulled over Powell's girlfriend for a traffic stop near downtown Austin for not having a rear license tag. Powell was a passenger in the car. In a ruling from a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges agreed that Powell may pursue three claims of appeal, including one that could give him a complete new trial rather than a new punishment trial...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).