Tag: alabama

David Wilson was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of an elderly man. According to court documents David Wilson would break into the victims home and beat the man with a baseball bat before strangling him with a cord. David Wilson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

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man convicted of capital murder in the 2004 beating death of a 64-year-old cancer patient is challenging his death sentence on multiple grounds, but state prosecutors believe a judge and jury relied on overwhelming evidence in seeking death and that the challenge should be dismissed.

Hearings were held Tuesday in the case of David Phillip Wilson, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the killing of Dewey Walker in April 2004. Wilson and others were convicted in connection with Walker’s death, but prosecutors alleged it was Wilson who beat Walker with a baseball bat and used a cord to strangle Walker during the murder.

Wilson was charged with murder in the course of a robbery and murder in the course of a burglary, both of which made Wilson eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors also argued at trial that the circumstances surrounding Walker’s death were particularly heinous, atrocious and cruel, an aggravating factor juries and judges can use when considering death for a defendant.

Wilson, through his attorney David Schoen of Montgomery, argued there were significant arguments that could have been made at trial by Wilson’s then-defense attorneys that may have persuaded a jury and/or judge to conclude the death penalty was not applicable or reasonable.

Schoen made several arguments Tuesday, including:

» A co-defendant, Catherine Corley, wrote a letter from jail claiming she – and not Wilson – may have delivered the fatal blows to Walker. Schoen argued that defense counsel did not have Corley’s letter at the time of the 2008 trial and certainly would have used it to craft a defense that may have allowed Wilson to avoid the death penalty.

Alabama Assistant Attorney General Richard Anderson argued that defense counsel did have a police report that alluded to the Corley letter, and the mere receipt of the police report by defense counsel barred Wilson from being able to make a post-conviction claim.

» Ineffective assistance of counsel. Schoen recited several instances in which Wilson’s attorneys should have made arguments beneficial to the case. Schoen cited trial testimony about blood spatters from a Dothan police sergeant who worked the crime scene. Schoen said counsel should have objected to the blood splatter testimony because a police sergeant is not a blood splatter expert. Schoen said the testimony was used by prosecutors to argue the crime was particularly heinous, atrocious and cruel.

Further, Schoen argued that counsel should have challenged the police sergeant about the blood testimony itself. Schoen said defense counsel should have asked if samples of the blood were collected and tested to indicate if, in fact, the material believed to be blood was actually blood.

Schoen also said counsel should have hired a DNA expert to test the bat used in the crime as well as gloves Wilson wore during commission of the crime to determine whether any of Wilson’s DNA could be found on the bat.

Schoen said the arguments that should have been raised go to the heart of the case against Wilson.

“Did he kill Walker? Did he intend to kill Walker? Did he act in a heinous, atrocious and cruel manner?” Schoen said during arguments in front of Circuit Judge Kevin Moulton on Tuesday.

Schoen further argued Wilson’s statement to police should have been suppressed because of his mental state at the time and that police did not have probable cause to come into Wilson’s home to detain Wilson after the crime.

Anderson argued that preceding case law favors the prosecution and that, even if some of Wilson’s claims survive, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest Wilson participated in the murder and that it occurred during a robbery and burglary, which would make him eligible for the death penalty.

A police investigation revealed Walker’s custom van, replete with stereo equipment estimated to be worth $20,000, was missing. A search for the van and the stereo equipment led investigators to Matthew Marsh. Investigator Tony Luker interviewed Marsh, and then interviewed Catherine Corley and another person named Michael Jackson. These interviews led Luker to Wilson

Marsh, Corley and Jackson all pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder.

Walker was suffering from cancer at the time of the murder.

https://dothaneagle.com/news/crime_court/death-sentence-challenged-in-2004-dothan-capital-murder-case/article_c495c4d4-a614-11e6-9d22-af4d6eb335b1.html