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U.S. Supreme Court Rules Gary Cone Deserves New Hearing

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that Tennessee death row inmate Gary Cone deserves a new hearing to determine whether evidence withheld by the prosecution in Shelby County would have changed the jury's mind about imposing the death sentence.Cone, a Vietnam veteran, who suffered from combat stress, mental illness, and a drug addiction, claims that he was in an amphetamine psychosis when he killed elderly Memphis couple, Shipley and Cleopatra Todd, while hiding in their home after a robbery of a jewelry store in 1980.At the time he was tried, prosecutors called his addiction "baloney" and told jurors that Cone was a drug dealer and cold-blooded killer and not an addict. However, the prosecutor withheld information that substantiated Cone's claims, including police and FBI communications identifying Cone as a drug user and addict and witness statements describing his behavior as "weird" and "wild-eyed...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).