Buntion capital murder conviction overturned

[Judi Lynn]

May 1, 2006, 8:48PM
Buntion capital murder conviction overturned

By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

A federal judge has overturned the capital murder conviction of a Houston man who fatally shot a motorcycle officer, saying the state trial judge had a "deep seated and vocal bias" against the defendant.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt issued an opinion late Friday overturning the conviction of Carl Wayne Buntion, convicted in 1991 of killing Officer James Irby during a traffic stop.

Hoyt said in his 61-page opinion that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his constitutional right to a fair trial by bullying his lawyers, meeting privately with prosecutors and deferring to their wishes, and making remarks in court such as he was "doing God's work" by seeing that Buntion was executed.

"We do not try and put people to death, even when the evidence is compelling and overwhelming, where the instruments of justice ridicule the very process that they are charged to protect and preserve," Hoyt wrote.
(snip/...)

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3833079.html

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Hmmm

Strange country

[jaysunb]

2. There's always hope

that people-- especially people like judges and other authority figures) are beginning to look at what's been happening the last ten years or so and realize there's a group of people, that want to change America for the worse. The information age has given all of us a unique opportunity to have clear vision on Americas' promise and moral lapses. Maybe evil has manifest itself so clearly that they are re-examining their own values.
Hopefully, it becomes very " fashionable "......

[saigon68]

3. He follows the rules

Hoyt, Kenneth M.

Born 1948 in San Augustine County, TX

Federal Judicial Service:
U. S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
Nominated by Ronald Reagan on November 24, 1987, to a seat vacated by Carl O. Bue, Jr.; Confirmed by the Senate on March 31, 1988, and received commission on April 1, 1988.


http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=1108

Appointed at age 40