December 2021 | Page 6 of 26 | My Crime Library

Christopher Barbour Alabama Death Row

Christopher Barbour was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Christopher Barbour would break into the home of the victim who was beaten, sexually assault and stabbed to death. Christopher Barbour would set the victim on fire before robbing the home. Christopher Barbour would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Christopher Barbour 2021 Information

Inmate:	BARBOUR, CHRISTOPHER D
AIS:	0000Z556

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Christopher Barbour More News

The State’s evidence at Barbour’s trial tended to show that on March 21, 1992, 16-year-old William Roberts found the naked and partially burned body of his mother, Thelma Bishop Roberts, lying on the floor of her bedroom at her home on Manley Drive in Montgomery. When the body was found, there was a white plastic trash bag over her head and a knife protruding from her chest. Additionally, the jewelry that Roberts always wore was missing.

An autopsy revealed that Roberts died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the chest. Two of the wounds were inflicted with such force that the knife went all the way through Roberts’s body, piercing her back. One of the wounds pierced her left lung and another pierced her heart, causing extensive internal bleeding. In all, Roberts was stabbed nine times. Additionally, the autopsy revealed that Roberts had suffered repeated blows to her head.

Upon questioning by the police, Barbour gave a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding Roberts’s murder. He told police that on March 20, 1992, he, Chris Hester, and Mike Mitchell went to see “Koon,” a friend of Hester’s who lived on Manley Drive. After discovering that Koon was not home, the three went across the street to the Roberts’s house. Initially, everyone sat down in the living room and drank beer. Hester and Roberts started talking; however, Roberts subsequently left the living room and went to another part of the house. Shortly after Roberts left the living room, Hester also left the living room. A short while later, Barbour and Mitchell heard loud noises coming from the back of the house and went to investigate. Upon entering a bedroom, they saw that Roberts was naked and Hester was wearing only his pants. Hester struck Roberts, and Barbour and Mitchell began hitting her about the head, causing her to fall to the floor. Barbour and Mitchell held Roberts down while Hester raped her. After Hester got up and pulled on his pants, Barbour told the others that they could not leave because Roberts could identify them. Barbour went to the kitchen and got a knife; he then returned to the bedroom, where he knelt and stabbed Roberts several times. Barbour left the knife in Roberts’s body, stood up, walked to the closet, threw some clothes from the closet around her body, and set them on fire. As the three men fled the house, Barbour pulled the smoke detector off of the wall in the hallway and threw it down.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1487093.html

Michael Taylor Alabama Death Row

Michael Taylor was sentenced to death by the state of Alabama for the murder of an elderly couple during a robbery. According to court documents Michael Taylor who was absent without leave when he would enter an elderly couple home that he knew and proceeded to beat the couple to death with an iron bar before stealing a number of items from he home. Michael Taylor was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Michael Taylor 2021 Information

Inmate:	TAYLOR, MICHAEL SHANNON
AIS:	0000Z549

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Michael Taylor More News

“On November 4, 1991, Michael Taylor, then a 19-year-old high school graduate who had returned to his hometown of Gadsden while absent without leave from the Navy, solicited a ride to the home of the Moores, an elderly couple he knew. Taylor left a duffel bag outside the house and asked Mr. Moore, who was age 83, if he could use the telephone. Once inside, Taylor pretended to make a telephone call, and then Mr. Moore asked him if he would like something to drink. Taylor said he would, and Mr. Moore got him a glass of water and a doughnut. After Taylor had eaten, Mr. Moore asked him if he would like something else. Taylor said he would, and Mr. Moore went back into the kitchen.

“Taylor then went outside and removed a metal bar from his duffel bag. Taylor followed Mr. Moore into the kitchen, and, as the man bent into the refrigerator, Taylor began to strike him about the head with the metal bar. Mr. Moore fell to the floor. Mrs. Moore, who was age 79, entered the kitchen and bent down to see what was wrong with her husband. Taylor then struck her repeatedly about the head with the metal bar. As Mr. Moore attempted to crawl away and get up, Taylor again struck him with the bar. Taylor then took Mr. Moore’s wallet, Mrs. Moore’s purse, their checkbook, and their 1986 Cadillac automobile. He drove to Birmingham, cashed several checks made out to his name for a total of about $1500, and made several clothing and jewelry purchases at the Galleria shopping mall.

“The Moores were discovered in their home by a neighbor two days after their beating. Mr. Moore was dead at that time; Mrs. Moore was then unconscious, but later died. The cause of both their deaths was severe blunt force injuries to their heads, which had fractured their skulls. Mr. Moore had been struck with the bar approximately 17 times and had 11 wounds on his head; Mrs. Moore had been struck with the bar at least 10 times.

“Taylor was arrested outside the Galleria shopping mall, after he had entered the Moores’ vehicle and attempted to drive away. Upon being returned to Gadsden, Taylor confessed to beating the Moores during the course of a robbery. It is disputed whether he stated, while giving his confession, that he had intended to kill the Moores.”

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1239161.html

Wayne Travis Alabama Death Row

Wayne Travis was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Wayne Travis and Steven Hall would commit a robbery in which Clarene Haskew was beaten and shot multiple times inside of her home. Wayne Travis and Steven Hall would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Steven Hall was later resentenced to life in prison without parole.

Wayne Travis 2021 Information

Inmate:	TRAVIS, WAYNE HOLLEMAN
AIS:	0000Z548

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Wayne Travis More News

“On the morning of December 15, 1991, Conecuh County sheriff deputies and other investigators found the body of Clarene Haskew in her home. Mrs. Haskew was a sixty-nine year old widow in poor health. Her home had been burglarized. Items were thrown about in the home. The body of Mrs. Haskew was found in the kitchen. A pentagram had been spray-painted on a cabinet above her body, the words ‘thunder struck’ spray painted in large letters on the floor beside her body. On top of her body was found a large metal hook and a set of keys. Missing from the home was silverware and an address book. Also missing was her gray 1982 Ford LTD. It was ordinarily parked outside her home. A Ford pickup parked in a shed next to the house was found with its steering column opened and wires pulled out. Two sets of keys were found in the yard.

“Dr. George Wanger, state pathologist, was called to the scene. Based upon his examination there, and a later autopsy, he determined that Mrs. Haskew had suffered two gunshot wounds to the back of the head; exit wounds were on her forehead. Two spent bullets were found near the victim’s head on the floor. He also found that she had suffered a number of blunt force injuries and had been strangled by hand or with an object. Her hyoid bone was broken and there were bruises around her throat. On her right and left cheeks were pinpoint hemorrhages. These occurred during strangulation, while her heart was beating. The muscles on her neck were bruised, a yellow abrasion on her neck occurred after there was no blood flow. The other blunt force injuries included a rectangular abrasion in the mastoid area and a tear in the skin at the right ear. The victim had numerous bruises. Red bruises were on her right lower back, blue bruises were on her buttocks, and purple bruises were on her left forearm.

“Dr. Wanger found that Mrs. Clarene Haskew died of blunt force injuries and two gunshot wounds to the head. The blunt force injuries could have been sufficient in themselves to cause death. The order of the injuries is not completely known. If the gunshot wounds were last, they would have been the cause of her death, but she could have died from the blunt force injuries if she had not been shot. The blunt force could have caused her asphyxiation after the gunshot wounds. The two gunshot wounds would have caused immediate unconsciousness and the victim probably could not have felt pain after them.

“The Defendant TRAVIS and HALL were seen early Sunday morning, December 15, 1991, at the residence of Paula Shiver in south Monroe County. They drove up in Mrs. Haskew’s 1982 Ford LTD and hid it behind a camper between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. that morning. Neither appeared out of the ordinary. Hall stayed in the house with Paula Shiver and went with her later that day to get her son. Travis stayed in the car most of the day. Defendant TRAVIS told Paula Shiver that the car was his sister-in-law’s car. Defendant TRAVIS came into the house about 6:00 p.m. that night. Monroe County Sheriff, Tom Tate, came later that evening. Paula Shiver called out that the sheriff was there. Both Defendant Travis and Hall went out the back door into the woods.

“Dog Wardens from Fountain prison came there with beagles. They tracked the Defendant TRAVIS and HALL about one and one-half miles through the woods to a kudzu patch. They shouted to Defendant TRAVIS and HALL to ‘Lay ‘em down, lay ‘em down,’ [and] one of the two suspects said ‘Lets get it on. [T]he dog wardens shot 9 or 10 times. Defendant TRAVIS and HALL were both wounded.

“Defendant Wayne TRAVIS was searched there. Found on him were the keys to Mrs. Haskew’s car, five .38 caliber bullets and his driver’s license. Mrs. Haskew’s car was impounded and searched. In the glove compartment of the car was the .38 caliber Rossi revolver taken from the Shad residence. In the trunk of the car was a .410 [gauge shot] gun, a box of silverware belonging to the victim and an address book belonging to the victim.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-court-of-criminal-appeals/1003647.html

Jeffery Rieber Alabama Death Row

Jeffery Rieber was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Jeffery Rieber would shoot and kill a store clerk during a robbery. Jeffery Rieber would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Jeffery Rieber 2021 Information

Inmate:	RIEBER, JEFFERY DAY
AIS:	0000Z540

Jeffery Rieber More News

At Holman Correctional Facility, just north of the Florida panhandle in Atmore, Ala., Jeffrey Day Rieber waits to die – and some Madison lawyers, UW-Madison law students and a law professor are laboring to prevent his death.

Convicted in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk in 1992, Rieber is one of about 160 inmates on Alabama’s death row. A jury sentenced Rieber to life in prison without parole, but the judge overruled the verdict and sentenced him to death. Alabama is one of only four states that allows a judicial override of a jury verdict.

Rieber’s case now rests with UW-Madison Law Professor Frank Tuerkheimer, several law students and two Madison attorneys. They are seeking to overturn Rieber’s death penalty verdict because of what they believe was inadequate legal representation.

Because of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality concerns, Tuerkheimer and his students are prevented from discussing the specifics of their legal work on the case. But in general, they are re-examining the defense by Rieber’s former attorney, researching death penalty laws at the state and federal levels and investigating Rieber’s background.

“We are going back and doing everything his lawyer should have done,” says Tuerkheimer, a former U.S. attorney and former Watergate special prosecutor.

Like most of his fellow death row inmates, Rieber is poor and was represented by a court-appointed lawyer during the robbery/murder trial in Huntsville, Ala., where he had been living and where the crime occurred. In overriding the jury’s verdict, the judge in the case cited evidence that the clerk was shot twice, the second time when she was helpless.

After Rieber exhausted his appeals and lost his state-funded attorney, a UW-Madison alumnus who works with Alabama death row inmates turned to her alma mater for assistance.

Ellen Wiesner, a 1992 UW law school graduate and lawyer with the Montgomery, Ala.-based Equal Justice Initiative, called Tuerkheimer in 1996. She asked him to represent Rieber, who has been on death row since 1992, saying her firm can only handle a few death row cases at a time.

After getting the support and financial backing of LaFollette & Sinykin, the Madison law firm where he also works as an attorney, Tuerkheimer took the case. LaFollette & Sinykin attorneys Larry Bensky and James Friedman are assisting.

Yet Tuerkheimer knew he needed additional assistance to prepare the defense for such an important case. He recruited students to help and created a clinical class at the Law School titled “Law and Contemporary Problems: The Death Penalty.”

Tuerkheimer first recruited Elliott Milhollin, who joined Rieber’s defense team as a first-year law student in 1997. Milhollin was later joined by law students Fred Burnside, Tina Galbraith and Mary Sowinski.

Among other things, Milhollin is researching state and federal Supreme Court decisions on standards of review concerning attorney performance. He has also interviewed Rieber twice on death row: in the summer of 1997 with Tuerkheimer and Bensky, and this past summer with Friedman and the other students.

The student journeys to the prison where Rieber is incarcerated mark the first time Wisconsin law students have visited death row while working on a capital case. Capital punishment is legal in 38 states, but not Wisconsin.

“It was strange at first to meet your client on death row,” says Milhollin, who is from Washington, D.C., and will graduate this spring. “It puts an interesting take on things. I’m doing all this research on constitutional standards, which is very abstract until you meet Jeff.”

Tuerkheimer recruited Galbraith and Burnside for the case after they clerked at LaFollette & Sinykin this past summer. Sowinski, who researched Rieber’s social and family background, graduated in December and is now working in the Milwaukee district attorney’s office.

“When I started working on the case, I wondered if you can separate yourself as an attorney from your clients, and in some sense you can,” says Galbraith, a second-year law student from Westfield. “With this case, I think it’s a lot different. When it’s 10 p.m., I can close my books on my homework, but I stay up and work on this project. The stakes are different.”

Galbraith and Milhollin say their work on the Rieber case has deepened their opposition to the death penalty. Their main concern, they say, is that the death penalty is applied predominantly to poor people with inadequate legal representation.

Tuerkheimer, however, does not consider a student’s stance on the issue when recruiting them for the case.

“I don’t believe in litmus tests or political preconditions for taking a course,” he says.

A motion to set aside the conviction is currently pending before an Alabama judge. The motion maintains that Rieber had a significant drug problem that his attorney failed to mention. Tuerkheimer and his team have asked the court for permission to retain experts and examine numerous documents. Following that, they plan to file an amended petition, which, if granted, means Rieber could be resentenced or get a new trial.

Tuerkheimer says the students’ efforts on the case have been invaluable.

“Their assistance is essential; we couldn’t do the representation without them,” he says.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/818

Charles Burton Alabama Death Row

Charles Burton was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Charles Bruce was among a group of men who would rob a garage. During the robbery one of the men would shoot and kill a customer. All of the men were soon arrested. Charles Burton who was not the trigger man would be the only sentenced to death.

Charles Burton 2021 Information

Inmate:	BURTON, CHARLES LEE
AIS:	0000Z537

Institution:	HOLMAN PRISON

Charles Burton More News

The state’s evidence tended to show that on August 16, 1991, six menthe Charles Burton, Derrick DeBruce,[1] Deon Long, LuJuan *644 McCants, Willie Brantley, and Andre Jones robbed the occupants of the Auto Zone automobile parts store in Talladega, Alabama. During the course of the robbery, a customer, Doug Battle, was shot. He died as a result of a gunshot wound to the lower back, which pierced his chest. The trigger man was Derrick DeBruce.

The manager of the store, Larry McCardle, was at the cash register when an individual he identified as the Charles Burton entered the store, purchased some items, and asked him for the location of the restroom. McCardle testified that at this time another customer, whom he identified as DeBruce, was in the store. After Charles Burton started walking to the restroom, DeBruce pulled a gun and told everyone in the store to get on the floor. At this point, the appellant grabbed McCardle, pointed a gun at him and told him to take him to the safe. McCardle complied. Moments later McCardle heard yelling and gunshots.

One of Charles Burton s codefendant’s, LuJuan McCants, testified that the six men involved in the robbery were at Barbara Spencer’s[2] house in Montgomery on April 16 talking about committing a robbery. He said that Deon Long, Charles Burton, and Derrick DeBruce left the Spencer house to get some guns. They agreed to meet at the appellant’s house. They left the appellant’s house in two cars and headed toward Birmingham. They exited the interstate at Sylacauga and proceeded to Talladega. In Talladega, they went to a carwash and discussed robbing the Auto Zone store. They left one car at the carwash and they all proceeded in the other car to the Auto Zone.

McCants testified that Charles Burton organized the criminal activity and that he told the others what to do during the robbery. Charles Burton told McCants and Long to watch the door and told them that if he left the store that they should forget the robbery plans. McCants testified that the appellant also told them that if anyone caused any trouble in the store to let him handle the situation. McCants also testified that everyone who went into the store had a gun except Deon Long. McCants said that they forced everyone in the store to get on the floor and that they then took their valuables. The victim, Battle, walked in while the robbery was in progress and McCants told him to get on the floor. Battle was having some difficulty getting on the floor and an argument ensued between DeBruce and Battle. DeBruce hit Battle and he fell to the ground. DeBruce then shot Battle in the back while he was lying face-down on the floor. McCants testified that all of the robbers had either left the store or were about to leave when DeBruce shot Battle. He said that the appellant was among those who had already left the store at the time of the shooting. After all six left the store, they jumped in their car, picked up the other car at the carwash where they had left it, went to Barbara Spencer’s house and divided the money.

A forensic examination of the Auto Zone store revealed 17 of the appellant’s fingerprints. These prints were found on the items that McCardle had said that Charles Burton purchased before the robbery and on various other items in the store.

Barbara Spencer testified that before the robbery, the six men had been at her house discussing how to commit a robbery. She said that they left her house in separate cars and that Charles Burton and Derrick DeBruce were riding together. She testified that they returned to her house later and appeared to be upset. They had a large amount of money and the appellant was telling the others how to divide it. Spencer said that they gave her $100 but that she gave the money to McCants.

https://law.justia.com/cases/alabama/court-of-appeals-criminal/1993/cr-91-1185-0.html