2 Death Row Appeals Denied

Florida Alabama 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denies appeals from death row inmates Bruce Pace and Thomas Whisenhant

by Associated Press

Published: Wed, February 04, 2009 - 5:39 am CST Last Updated: Wed, February 04, 2009 - 5:44 am CST

ATLANTA (AP) - The federal appeals court in Atlanta has rejected
an appeal by Florida death-row inmate Bruce Douglas Pace, convicted
of the shotgun killing of a taxi-driver friend during a robbery of
his cab 20 years ago.
Seventy-year-old Floyd Covington, described as like an uncle to
the 29-year-old Pace, was slain in Bagdad, Fla., in Santa Rosa
County in November 1988.
Among other issues, Pace claimed ineffective assistance of
counsel, saying his lawyer should have used his crack cocaine
addiction as a mitigating factor during the trial's penalty phase.
Other courts supported the lawyer's strategy of depicting Pace
as a good person who helped and supported his family rather than as
a crack addict. A panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found
no reason Tuesday to overturn the decisions.

A federal appeals court has also denied Alabama
death row inmate Thomas Whisenhant's bid to challenge his
conviction for the 1976 rape and murder of a Theodore woman.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied
Whisenhant's petition, which claimed he had ineffective counsel at
his 1981 retrial, the state held back key evidence, prosecutors
were unfair in closing arguments and there was judicial bias in a
1987 penalty phase proceeding.
Whisenhant, whose 1977 conviction and death sentence were
overturned, was convicted of capital murder in his 1981 retrial for
the rape and murder of convenience store clerk Cheryl Payton.
The 11th Circuit ruled that Whisenhant received effective
assistance of counsel at his 1981 trial because his lawyer made a
reasonable, strategic decision not to present evidence of insanity.
Whisenhant was accused of mutilating the victim's body and
raping and killing two other convenience store clerks, and
mutilating the body of one.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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madam queen Says:

Mon, Feb 09, 2009 at 5:51 pm

My Brother Was A On The Police Force When Thomas Whisenhant Was Caught In The Murder And Mutilation Of Venora Hyatt,He Was The One Who Took The Photo’s Of Her Body,And Let Me Just Say To People Who (DO NOT) Believe In The Death Penalty,They Should Let You Convert The Rapest,And Murders,Let Them Come To Your House And Share Your Food and Bed’s,Then You Could See Just How They Are,It Would Save The Tax Payers A Whole Lot Of Money.BUT SO WOULD A SINGLE BULLET!!!!

FastFred Says:

Mon, Feb 09, 2009 at 9:10 am

There is no argument as far as I am concerned why this individual should not be put to death.In fact it should have been done a lot sooner.This is absurd that tax payers have to support scum like this when they don’t even deserve to be breathing the air descent people breath.

Cnidaria Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Rosepetal: He is just argueing for argueing’s sake. I have run into many posters like that. They don’t really have a point or a belief but they just take the opposite viewpoint for the sake of taking the opposite side.Just agree to disagree or he’ll talk to you death. lol

fish4fun2 Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:55 am

I’d shoot to kill, but I don’t think Jesus would. The fact that I’m not a perfect Christian doesn’t have anything to do with the validity of the argument.

Do you not recognize that Jesus changed Mosaic Law? He explicitly gives a new law; this is not an interpretation or extrapolation. It is word for word out of Jesus’s mouth.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.‘But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Off to work.

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:44 am

oh yes it is. now you can not answer the question. the new convenant is Jesus, just as the old convenant was.

fish4fun2 Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:39 am

Rose, this isn’t about my personal beliefs and how well or poorly I stick to them.

I’m just presenting the argument that Jesus would not kill people. I do not think Old Testament sources represent Jesus’s stance on every argument because he was against the “eye for an eye” Mosaic Law.

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:29 am

the whole old testament was Jesus.

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:28 am

now let me ask you a question. if someone was fixing to kill the one you loved more than life itself and you had a gun in your hand and there were no other options. would you use the gun?

fish4fun2 Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 9:18 am

Should we execute adulterers since that is in Mosaic Law? One of the main points of my argument is that Jesus established a New Covenant with man that overruled the old Mosaic Law.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also… unless someone is really bad, then kill them!

doesn’t really follow…

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 8:42 am

well i tell you what fish4fun2, since you are not a bibical scholar i doubt you have the correct answer. to understand what Jesus meant you have to understand who He was. if you think the death penalty is wrong that is your right. now just hope and pray you or someone you love does not meet someone like this man

On Nov. 21, 1975, federal parolee Thomas Whisenhant shot and killed Mobile County, Ala., Compact Food Store clerk Patricia Hitt. Six months later, Whisenhant raped, mutilated, and murdered Venora Hyatt after kidnapping her from a 7-Eleven food store in the same area. Seven months later, Whisenhant raped and killed another Mobile County convenience store clerk, Cheryl Gazzier Payton.

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