Justice for Slain HPD Officer's Family

[peejay 327]

High court reverses ruling for new trial

By BRIAN ROGERS

2010 Houston Chronicle

Feb. 22, 2010, 10:56PM

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reversed an appellate court's decision to grant a new trial for a Houston man convicted in the 1998 shooting of an off-duty police officer.

The high court ruled that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must reconsider the case of Anthony Cardell Haynes, 31, who was sentenced to die in 1999 for the slaying of Houston Police Sgt. Kent Kincaid.

The appellate court said last year that Haynes deserved a new trial because of the possibility that black jurors were improperly dismissed from his jury panel.

The Supreme Court said the appeals court was wrong in relying on two earlier decisions and must decide the case again, said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Roe Wilson, who heads the office's post-conviction writs division.

“We'll just have to wait and see,” Wilson said. “The 5th Circuit could affirm it this time or they could go ahead and reverse it again, depending on what tack they take.”

Hayne's attorney, Richard Ellis, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Kincaid, 40, was off-duty and not in uniform as he drove with his wife, Nancy, in northwest Harris County on May 22, 1998. According to investigators, Haynes drove past the Kincaids and appeared to toss something that hit and cracked their windshield.

Kincaid followed Haynes until he stopped, then approached the car. After Kincaid identified himself and reached behind him for his badge, Haynes, who was 19, shot him with a pistol, Nancy Kincaid testified. Investigators later found that Kincaid's windshield had been hit with a .25 caliber bullet.

At the Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General's Office argued the prosecution's position. Spokeswoman Lauri Saathoff said the office would have no comment.

Kincaid's wife could not be reached Monday.

“Hopefully, the family of Sgt. Kincaid will begin to see the end of the labyrinth of our criminal justice system with the latest ruling,” said Andy Kahan, head of the mayor's crime victims office.

Ray Hunt, a vice president for the Houston Police Officer's Union who worked with Kincaid in 1998, said making the dead officer's family relive the conviction is a tragedy.

“This guy does not need another trial. He had a fair trial,” Hunt said. “He needs to face his maker just as quickly as possible, as far as I'm concerned.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/6880318.html

[Ali G. 37]

Court: No new trial in Texas police officer death

By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press

Feb. 22, 2010, 1:19PM

Anthony Cardell Haynes was arrested two days after the killing of police Sgt. Kent Kincaid.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday reversed a lower court decision that gave a new trial to a man condemned for killing an off-duty Houston police officer.

The high court told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision that Anthony Cardell Haynes, 31, of Houston, should get a new trial or be released from death row.

The New Orleans-based federal appeals court had ordered Haynes retried or released because a prospective juror improperly was excluded from his 1999 trial in Harris County because of race. But the high court said the 5th Circuit last year misinterpreted Supreme Court rulings in its decision ordering a new trial.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office had appealed the 5th Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court. Spokeswoman Lauri Saathoff said the office would have no comment on the decision.

Richard Ellis, Haynes’ lead attorney, did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Police Sgt. Kent Kincaid was killed after he followed a passing pickup truck that had fired a bullet into the windshield of his car. When the 40-year-old officer pulled up alongside the truck and identified himself as an officer, he was shot in the head. Kincaid, a 13-year officer, was not armed at the time of the shooting.

Haynes was arrested two days later and was convicted of murdering Kincaid.

Evidence showed Haynes and two others would shoot or strike the windshields of motorists to get them to stop, then rob them. In a taped confession, Haynes said he was driving the truck and that he shot Kincaid.

In his appeal, lawyers for Haynes, who is black, contended that State District Court Judge Jim Wallace improperly allowed Harris County prosecutors to exclude a juror because she was black.

The Supreme Court in 1986 found it unconstitutional to dismiss a juror because of race.

Prosecutors contended the juror was stricken from consideration because of her demeanor, that she was somewhat humorous and not serious. Haynes’ trial lawyers objected to her removal but Wallace ruled the juror exclusion was “race-neutral.”

The jury that convicted and then condemned Haynes included one black person. Of six potential black jurors interviewed during the selection process, four were stricken by prosecutors. One was eliminated by Haynes’ lawyers.

The 5th Circuit opinion noted a second judge was presiding during the individual questioning while Wallace was on the bench when potential jurors were questioned as a group. There was no explanation for Wallace’s absence.

In its ruling Monday, the high court said it couldn’t find any decision it had made “on which the Court of Appeals appears to have relied” in ordering a new trial for Haynes. But it said its ruling didn’t reject the juror claim that was the basis of the appeal and that the lower courts still could look at it.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Booyah

[peejay 327]

As is usual, it isn't the question of whether this guy did the deed...it is the effort to get him off on a technicality that keeps this guy around 12 years after he murdered this cop.

[Scott & Lai 12]

As is usual, it isn't the question of whether this guy did the deed...it is the effort to get him off on a technicality that keeps this guy around 12 years after he murdered this cop.

And that is a fundamental problem in our justice system.

[Ali G. 37]

As is usual, it isn't the question of whether this guy did the deed...it is the effort to get him off on a technicality that keeps this guy around 12 years after he murdered this cop.

Which is why the US legal system is so loathed in other countries. It's not about right or wrong here, it's about a lawyer finding a legal loophole, and potentially allowing a cold cop killer on the street. The same deal happened with OJ.