Posted on 09/14/2005 3:41:27 PM PDT by rocksblues
Newton didn't deny putting a gun in her 7-year-old son's knapsack and stashing the bag at an abandoned house. But she and her lawyers argued the .25-caliber blue steel revolver she hid was not the one used to fatally shoot her son, Alton; her 21-month-old daughter, Farrah; and her husband, Adrian, 23, at their Houston apartment.
Newton all along insisted she was innocent, and the claim about the gun was among several in her appeal to the Supreme Court. She also contended her trial attorneys were incompetent and evidence at her trial improperly was destroyed.
"I know I did not murder my kids and my family," she told The Associated Press in a death row interview. "It's frustrating ... nobody's had to answer for that."
Prosecutors called Newton's appeals meritless, noting that a second gun never was recovered, that repeated ballistics tests confirmed the gun she hid was the murder weapon, and that any destruction of evidence was not improper.
"The unbroken chain of custody directly links Newton to the murder weapon," the Texas Attorney General's Office said in its filing to the Supreme Court.
Newton, accompanied by a cousin, found the bodies April 7, 1987. Her husband had been shot in the head, the two children in the chest, all with a .25-caliber pistol.
Three weeks before the slayings, Newton took out $50,000 life insurance policies on herself, her husband and her daughter. She named herself as beneficiary and said she signed her husband's name to prevent him from discovering she had set aside money to pay for the premiums.
Prosecutors said the insurance payoff was the motive for the slayings.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
A woman and minority hardest hit.
Sniff snifffffffff I smell a cry of racism coming, how many WHITE women have been put to death, (I'm guessing more whites than blacks - BUT) sniff sniff, herrrrrrrrrrre's jesse.....
No doubt in my mind either.
Anyways, by my clock she will "Ride the magic needle" in about 15 minutes.
On topic, does anyone know the latest about Darlie Routier?
This one has been going on for years.
Hopefully her bell will ring soon.
George W. Bush made her do it!
I'll be the first to say it,,,,
THIS IS BUSH's fault, he does not care about black women convicts.
Velma, Velma, Velma
Velma who? Velma Barfield, thats who.
Euro-peons seem to have a thing for black people on death row. Don't know why.
Who the he<k cares if she is black, white, yellow or green ?
Law is law and we must execute law as the law dictates.
Long live death penalty....long live Texas...long live USA!
I also think she did it, but I have never seen a .25 revolver.
Bingo: I don't remember that the last woman executed by Texas had a headline "Texas White Woman Scheduled for Execution". But I do remember they played up her Born Again status!
She continues to beg for a new trial, but she continues to fail.
Did you know her mother is named "Darlie" as well? Her husband, Darrin, is creepy, and admitted publicly that he married her for her breasts.
There should be a law that prohibits, with steep penalties, any destruction of evidence in a capital case.
Reminds me of an old Bob Newhart show where three guys are brothers,,,,my name is Daryl, this is my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl......I believe the main brother was named something else though,,,,my memory escapes me at the moment, anyone remember?
Could it be because they have never had to deal with the aftermath of it, just the shame of profiting from it?
Never seen one
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