BULLETIN BOARD WEEK 6
July 14-20,
2003
T-minus 15 days and counting...
Days remaining for Judge Glenn Thompson to explain
his ruling over-ruling the result of his previous two
years of rulings...
FYI:  The Governor's only role in a
capital murder case is the right to
commute the death sentence to life
without parole.  Even the Governor
can't pardon a convicted capital
murderer...much less order a new trial.
FYI:  It is highly unusual for someone
with four capital murder convictions
and a death sentence to be anywhere
except death row, Holman Prison.
Tomorrow will be a week since the ruling Tuesday; there have been three mentions of it
in the press.  The Huntsville Times broke the story Saturday with a cursory article,
Channel 48 did a nice spot on it (on Saturday night 10 o'clock news), followed by the
Sunday article in the Decatur Daily about the "Tipton Case."  The newspaper articles are
available on their websites.  There is no mention of the ruling on the television news
Internet sites. Channel 31's site still says the judge ruled police (DPD, Mike Pettey)
"withheld evidence."  The judge's ruling didn't mention the police.  It didn't mention
much at all, as a matter of fact.

I must also say, the press isn't exactly right when they say the CCA has ORDERED
Thompson to EXPLAIN his ruling...
The Court of Criminal Appeals issued a ruling, ALLOWING him to RESPOND to
allegations made against him in the State's petition.  The petition is a lengthy document,
with a response to each of the twenty-something paragraphs from the defense motion
that Thompson granted.  There are a lot of details that have never received any public
attention whatsoever--except possibly through this website.  It's all about the bloody
footprint defense and the dog sheet defense and admissibility and standards of criminal
proceedings and offers of proof and hard drives and on and on...it has been a primary
source of information for the pages I've done on the subjects here.  But none of that
may be important in the end.  What's important is whether Judge Thompson's ruling was
without basis in the law or in fact.

So the Court of Criminal Appeals is giving Judge Thompson an opportunity to respond
to the petition from the State.  This isn't an appeal of the ruling.  The state isn't allowed
to appeal his ruling.  Only convicted criminals are allowed appeals (dwm has a
guaranteed automatic appeal even if they overturn Thompson's ruling).  The only
option the State of Alabama is given is to make a petition to a higher court--to intervene
with an action against a trial judge.  It's rarely successful.

My take on it is that the pressure is on Judge Thompson to justify his ruling--to
demonstrate its basis in law and in fact.  The CCA will all read his report carefully, and
they'll make a decision what to do next.  There is no set time-frame.  The next decision
could decide it one way or the other, or it could be another request for
information--from anyone and in any form they see fit.

As a layman, the CCA's decision makes a lot of sense to me.  It cuts to the chase.  It
gives Judge Thompson the opportunity to answer--with law and with fact--the allegation
he abused his discretion in the ruling.
Right now, the REAL SHOW is the Court
of Criminal Appeals, and Judge Thompson.
 Everything else is a side-show.
NEXT