Did Chuck Rosenthal hide evidence?

Check out the following AP article and keep the following in mind:

Chuck Rosenthal is guilty of hiding evidence when he prosecuted Ronnie E. Johnson for capital murder back in 1994. Six weeks before his execution, Lonnie’s lawyer and private investigator found missing evidence contained within police reports at the Harris County District Atorney's office that supported his claim of self-defense. But the courts said that it was always available in the DA's files and refused to stay his execution.

Six of Lonnie's attorneys over 17 years have signed affidavits saying they never saw these reports that would have supported Lonnie's claims of self defense.

Lonnie's case is one of a Black man accepting a ride late one night from two white teenagers at a convenience store. They took him the wrong way and when he asked them where they were going, one of the youth put a gun to Ronnie and told him, "this was the end of the ride, N - - - - r."

They ordered him out of the car, beat and kicked him repeatedly and urinated on him. Lonnie grabbed the gun during a lull and killed both teenagers. Though Lonnie was able to defend his life during this hate crime, the State of Texas wrongfully executed him for the “double murder” of his two attackers.

So, I wonder if all defense attorneys would now ask for a search warrant for the DA's offices, if that would be granted. It might have helped save Lonnie Johnson's life if his first attorneys could have searched for the exculpatory evidence that the DA, Rosenthal, had hidden.

Defense lawyers group upset over search of office

FRISCO, Texas — Members of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association plan to attend an upcoming hearing to protest what they say is a highly unusual search of a defense attorney's office in connection with a murder-for-hire case in suburban Dallas.

Collin County prosecutors seeking the death penalty against a man accused of being a contract killer requested a court-ordered search of the offices of the man's lawyers, saying they believed defense attorneys were hiding incriminating evidence.

Attorneys for defendant Mark Lyle Bell and members of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association said the February search violated attorney-client privilege.

"I think it's unconscionable," David Schulman, one of Bell's attorneys, said in a story in Sunday's editions of The Dallas Morning News.

Craig Jett, a former president of the defense lawyers association, said defendants should be able to have private communications with their attorneys and that such a search violates that right.

"I thought it was pretty outrageous to issue a search warrant for a lawyer's office," Jett said.

Prosecutors defended the search, saying they believed the defense was hiding evidence, including the boots Bell wore the night of the alleged killing. The search turned up no boots but did yield a sealed box, documents and handwritten letters from Bell to his wife.

"No one has a right to conceal evidence in a criminal case, including attorneys," prosecutor Greg Davis said.

A hearing is scheduled Aug. 5 to determine whether state District Judge Mark Rusch, who signed the search warrant, can stay on the case. Bell's lawyers want him off the case.

Rusch declined to comment. The Texas Attorney General's Office said Rusch should be able to stay on the case and should not have to testify at the hearing.

Southern Methodist University law professor Linda Eads said lawyers can be subject to search warrants, but it's considered an extreme and rare measure to execute one against an attorney. Courts must balance "the level of probable cause against the incredible importance of the attorney-client relationship," she said.

No trial date has been set in Bell's capital murder case. He is accused of fatally shooting 36-year-old Craig Nail in his Frisco home in December. Authorities said Nail's estranged wife, Vera Elizabeth Guthrie-Nail, wanted him dead. She and another man, Thomas Edward Grace, face charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder.

All three defendants remain in the Collin County Jail.

Lonnie Earl Johnson Foundation

PRESS RELEASE

Lonnie Johnson was unlawfully executed on July 24, 2007 for killing two teenage boys on August 15, 1990. Six weeks prior to his death, his defense team found police reports hidden in Mr. Johnson's prosecuting attorney's file at the District Attorney's office. The prosecuting attorney was then assistant District Attorney, Chuck Rosenthal. The police reports were investigated and submitted by the Harris County Police Investigation Department in August 1990 and tell the story of how Mr. Johnson was targeted on August 15 by two teenage boys who were ultimately killed by Mr. Johnson in self-defense as Mr. Johnson had claimed from the beginning.

The Criminal Court of Appeals and the 5th Circuit Court denied Mr. Johnson's Petition for Relief in July 2007 saying that these files were not hidden because the DA's office has an open file policy. Contrary to that belief, Jodi Callaway-Cole, Mr. Johnson's' final attorney obtained as evidence, 6 affidavits from each of Lonnie's attorney's over 17 years that swore they were never provided the police reports in question.

Hiding evidence in a capital murder case for the sole purpose of gaining a wrongful conviction and unlawful execution, knowing that the person will suffer hardship and ultimately death is especially depraved and criminal. The LEJ Foundation feels strongly that if we are successful, other cases that Rosenthal handled "improperly" will be exposed - Rosenthal was a DA for a long time; he is still licensed to practice law.

On July 24, 2008, The LEJ Foundation is submitting a letter requesting an investigation of Chuck Rosenthal, former DA to the Harris Grand Jury regarding the hidden police reports in Mr. Johnson's case.

PRESS CONFERENCE - The Johnson Family and I will hold a press conference on July 24, 2008 at the Magnolia Hotel Library in Houston Texas at noon. Please let us know if you are interested in attending and/or would like more information regarding Mr. Johnson's wrongful execution.

Please feel free to visit our website for more information. www.LonnieEarlJohnsonFoundation.org

Carrie Christensen

Cell (310) 701-4380

LEJ Foundation - Exposing Unlawful Executions, Taking action , Creating Public Awareness, Finding Justice.

Karl Keys of Capital Defense Weekly wrote this about Lonnie's case in response to a blogger on his site:

Having read the pleadings in this case however I have been left with the strong, strong feeling that Lonnie Johnson is telling the truth, as well as that the state’s trial prosecutors suppressed evidence. The victims’ family members are of course outraged that their children are now dead at the hands of Johnson, what parent wouldn’t be. The question though is not the outrage at the children’s death but did Johnson kill in cold blood or in self-defense. The state suppressed evidence that went directly to that point.

I firmly believe that everyone should be entitled to a fair trial. Johnson, imo (in my opinion), was denied that right. The jury was denied, imo (in my opinion), the right to hear that evidence before condemning this man to death. The appellate courts were entitled to review that evidence without having to apply the Arcane & Byzantine rules of procedural default, abuse of the writ & deference.

The Economist: America's most vengeful prosecutor - You've got mail

Here is a recent article by the Economist Magazine about former Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal.

The death penalty's favourite district attorney resigns

The biter bit

HARRIS COUNTY, which encompasses Houston, is the most populous in Texas. Its district attorney is among the most powerful prosecutors in America. During seven years on the job, Chuck Rosenthal earned a ferocious reputation. His office prosecuted hundreds of thousands of cases and asked for the death penalty more often than did any other county in America.

But for such a moralist, Mr Rosenthal had big personal lapses. On February 15th he resigned after weeks of controversy concerning e-mails that included love notes to his secretary and racist jokes. Mr Rosenthal stepped down hours after a rival filed a lawsuit that would have forced him out. “The particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment,” he wrote.

Many Houstonians agreed with Mr Rosenthal's assessment of his judgment. Over more than 30 years at the DA's office, he often ran into trouble. He set off firecrackers in a stairwell and endorsed one judge because “she looks great in jeans.” In 2002 he went before the Supreme Court to argue in favour of upholding Texas's ban on gay sex. The eventual ruling, Lawrence v Texas, is considered a landmark for gay rights.

Most troubling was Mr Rosenthal's enthusiasm for the death penalty. He considered it “God's law”, and asked for it whenever possible. His most controversial case came in 2001, when Andrea Yates drowned her five children in her bathtub. She claimed that her children “were doomed to perish in the fires of hell” and was eventually found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Though thwarted in that case, Mr Rosenthal got 36 people sent to death row. Since America resumed the death penalty in 1976, Harris County alone has accounted for a quarter of Texas's executions. Rick Perry, the Republican governor, will probably replace Mr Rosenthal with another judge who supports the death penalty. Almost anyone, however, will be more moderate.