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Fourth Circuit remand

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

via Death Watch: The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered an evidentiary hearing for Johnny Street Parker. Parker was sent to death row in 1997 for the murder of James William Buchanan, the murder of Jerry Lee Dowdy, and the castration of Mr. Dowdy.  The State asserted at trial that Parker had committed both murders and the castration alone.  Only after Parker was convicted and sentenced to die did two police reports come to light, showing that not only did Parker not act alone, but that he neither killed nor castrated Mr. Dowdy.  In legal terms, this failure to turn over material evidence is referred to as a Brady violation. Parker presented this evidence earlier in his appeals to the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).