Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 19 OcTOber 2017
Texas: Guilty plea but
Execution halted amid alleged confession scheme no jail for thief

By MICHAEL GRACZYK The U.S. Supreme Court 21-year-old Maria del Car- of hand.” Doris Payne, 87
Associated Press refused an appeal from men Estrada, whose body Estrada was walking to
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Swearingen last October. was dumped in a Houston work the morning of April CHAMBLEE, Ga. (AP) — A
A judge on Wednesday His attorneys have long Dairy Queen’s drive-thru 16, 1992, when Shore of- notorious jewel thief re-
halted the execution of a fered her a ride that she cently arrested at a Geor-
man known as the Houston accepted. gia Walmart store got no
area’s “Tourniquet Killer” Shore blamed “voices in jail time during her latest
so authorities can investi- my head that I was going court appearance.
gate an alleged scheme to have her, regardless, to Doris Payne, at 87, has
in which the inmate says a possess her in some way.” stolen about $2 million in
fellow death row prisoner Besides Estrada, he con- jewels over the last six de-
asked him to confess to an- fessed to the slayings of cades. She was arrested
other killing. 15-year-old Laurie Trem- July 17 for a misdemeanor
Anthony Allen Shore was blay, who was found be- shoplifting charge after a
scheduled to be given a side a trash bin outside a Walmart employee said
lethal injection Wednes- Houston restaurant in 1986; she tried to leave the sub-
day evening, but the judge 9-year-old Diana Rebollar, urban Atlanta store with
withdrew the execution who was abducted while items she hadn’t paid for.
warrant at prosecutors’ walking to a neighbor- Payne had been on pro-
request just hours before hood grocery store in 1994; bation after pleading
Shore was set to die. His and 16-year-old Dana San- guilty in March to a felony
death was rescheduled for chez, who disappeared in shoplifting charge for trying
Jan. 18. 1995 while hitchhiking to to steal a $2,000 necklace
“If this was my day, God’s her boyfriend’s home in from a department store in
will be done. He gave Houston. December. She was jailed
me another 90 days,” the Shore’s lawyers told the ju- for violating that proba-
55-year-old Shore said in rors who convicted him of tion.
reaction to the execution This photo shows Anthony Shore. A judge on Wednesday halted capital murder in 2004 that The Atlanta Journal-Con-
delay, according to a Tex- the execution of Shore, known as the Houston area’s “Tourni- Shore desired the death stitution reports Payne ap-
as Department of Criminal quet Killer” so authorities can investigate an alleged scheme in penalty and wanted it to peared Monday before
Justice spokesman. which the inmate says a fellow death row prisoner asked him to be known, which they said Chamblee Municipal court
Another convicted killer, confess to another killing. (Texas DOCJ via AP) went against their advice Judge Angela Duncan,
Larry Swearingen, alleged- to him. who told her “Don’t come
ly tried to convince Shore wanted additional DNA lane, was matched to his During the appeals pro- back.”
to take responsibility for the testing of evidence they DNA. cess, lawyers appointed “I won’t” said Payne, who
1998 killing of 19-year-old say could show he didn’t Estrada’s 1992 killing went to represent Shore argued pleaded guilty in a deal
Melissa Trotter, according kill Trotter. unsolved for more than a he suffered from brain that gave her credit for
to Montgomery County Trotter was last seen in decade. Shore received damage early in life that 58 days served from July
District Attorney Brett Li- December 1998 leaving eight years’ probation and his trial attorneys didn’t through September.
gon. Swearingen was con- a college in Montgomery became a registered sex discover and the brain in- Over the years, Payne has
victed of her slaying and County, just north of Hous- offender in 1998 for sexual- jury affected his decision dressed in fine clothes with
put on death row for it. His ton. Her body was found ly assaulting two relatives, about wanting the death deep pockets, charmed
execution is scheduled for about a month later far- but it took five years before penalty. A federal appeals sales workers at high-end
Nov. 16. ther north in the Sam Hous- authorities made the DNA court earlier this year re- department stores, dis-
Ligon said investigators ton National Forest. She match tying him to Estra- jected the appeal, and tracted them and slipped
from his office spoke with had been strangled. da’s death. two weeks ago the U.S. out with expensive jewelry,
Shore on Tuesday and he The four killings that led to “I didn’t set out to kill her,” Supreme Court refused to the newspaper has previ-
told them he wouldn’t co- Shore getting the death Shore, a former tow truck review his case. ously reported. She was
operate with Swearingen penalty occurred from driver and phone com- Then on Wednesday as the subject of a 2013 doc-
and decided to expose 1986 to 1995. He confessed pany repairman, told po- Shore waited to be exe- umentary, “The Life and
the scheme. Swearingen to the slayings of the four lice in a taped interview cuted at the Huntsville pris- Crimes of Doris Payne.”
tried a similar scheme be- female victims after a tiny played at his 2004 trial for on, he received word that “There’s never been a day
fore his trial for Trotter’s kill- particle collected from Estrada’s slaying. “That was his punishment was being that I went to steal that I
ing, the prosecutor said. under the fingernail of not my intent. But it got out delayed.q did not get what I went to
Louisiana: do,” she said in the film.
Payne was raised in West
Computers, notes seized at slaying suspect’s home Virginia and moved with
her family to Ohio when
she was a teenager.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Wednesday. The official spoke on condi- sible death sentence if he’s Authorities have said she
Associated Press The documents don’t elab- tion of anonymity because convicted in the killings has used at least 22 aliases
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — orate on the nature of the the investigation was ongo- of a homeless man and a over the years and prob-
Investigators seized com- written material that police ing.The list of items seized male dishwasher who was ably got away more of-
puter equipment and found during their search of from Gleason’s home also walking to work. Investiga- ten than she was caught,
a notebook containing Kenneth Gleason’s house included clothing, a pair of tors said surveillance foot- though she has done sev-
“personal writings” from in Baton Rouge on Sept. 16. tennis shoes, two receipts age and DNA link him to eral stints in prison.
the Louisiana home of a However, a law enforce- and seven “loose pieces of the crimes.In each case, The Jewelers’ Security Al-
white man suspected of ment official told The Asso- paper.” the killer opened fire from liance, an industry trade
killing two black men and ciated Press last month that Police have said the dead- his car, then walked up to group, sent out bulletins as
shooting up a black fam- authorities found a hand- ly attacks may have been the victim as he lay on the early as the 1970s warning
ily’s home last month, ac- written copy of an Adolf racially motivated. ground and fired again re- about her.
cording to court filings on Hitler speech at the home. Gleason could face a pos- peatedly, police said. q q