Larry Swearingen

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2-27-12
OUTCOME MAGAZINE
By OM Team

Excerpt:
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday passed up the chance to hear argument on whether death row inmates can get a new court review on a simple claim of innocence.

Go to:
http://outcomemag.com/top_news/2012/02/ ... ence-case/

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Expert claims Trotter’s body not dead for very long
Posted: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 10:43 pm, Tue Feb 28, 2012.
By Howard Roden

The body of Melissa Trotter wasn’t exposed to the elements for more than five days, a forensic pathologist [Dr. Lloyd White] testified during the second day of convicted killer Larry Ray Swearingen’s hearing.

Full text at: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/spring/n ... 963f4.html

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Defense expert at Swearingen trial testifies about forensics, more
Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 12:23 am, Fri Mar 2, 2012.
By Howard Roden

Dr. Lloyd White resumed testifying Wednesday in the hearing of convicted killer Larry Ray Swearingen, but he wound up saying a lot more [during cross-examination] than was expected. ...

...Defense attorney Stephen Jackson minimized the collateral damage of White’s diatribe, saying the third day of the hearing in the 9th District Court of Judge Fred Edwards went “OK.”
“They (the prosecution) tried to attack a man for his personal life 10 years ago, but they never attacked the science,” Jackson said. “After three hours of cross-examination they did nothing to disprove our contention that (Trotter) was not killed before Dec. 11, 1998.”

Read full text at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... b261a.html

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Prosecution: Science can’t save Swearingen
Posted: Friday, March 2, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 9:39 pm, Fri Mar 2, 2012.
By Howard Roden

A defense expert in the hearing of convicted killer Larry Ray Swearingen reluctantly agreed with prosecutors Thursday that histology – the study of microscopic cell tissue – isn’t an accepted method to determine the time of death in a body.

Full text at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 2de58.html

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Swearingen Coverage: 2000 to 2012

The Courier has collated its news coverage of the ongoing legal proceedings of Larry Ray Swearingen in an online archive collection including more than 50 articles dating from recent coverage back to Swearingen’s initial capital murder trial in 2000.

Access complete coverage by clicking here: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 963f4.html

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Former Harris County medical examiner denies reversing opinion in murder case
By Renée C. Lee
Updated 08:37 p.m., Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The former Harris County medical examiner who conducted the autopsy in the Larry Swearingen murder case testified on Tuesday that his attorney misrepresented her opinion.

Full article at: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 387209.php

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Here is Dr. Joye M. Carter's Affidavit for you to review:

Exhibit A: Affidavit of Former Harris County Medical Examiner, Joye M. Carter, M.D. (pdf, 3 pages)
October 31, 2007
http://www.iippi.org/pdf/larryswearingen16a.PDF

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Defense attacks examiner’s flip-flop in Swearingen case
Posted: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 7:28 pm, Wed Mar 7, 2012.
By James Ridgway Jr.

... Carter argued that the wording in the affidavit did not belong to her, explaining to Edwards that it was written by Rytting.
“I could not force you to sign an affidavit that you don’t believe in,” Rytting said.
“Yeah you could,” Carter replied. “It is not that I didn’t believe in it. The initial conversation we had, information was not brought up. There was not a pretrial discussion that I recall with the other attorney. I said there is a possibility and I distinctly told you I would not agree to two or three days postmortem interval. I absolutely would not and that was why I believe this wording was in this way.” ...

Full article at: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 5c1fb.html

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Battle of experts continues at Larry Swearingen hearing
Posted: Thursday, March 8, 2012 12:15 am | Updated: 9:06 am, Thu Mar 8, 2012.
By Howard Roden

... Forensic Entomologist Neal Haskell testified under cross-examination that he could extract a time of death based on DNA, weather data and autopsy photographs.
Prosecutor Warren Diepraam asked Haskell if the forensic evidence he was shown Wednesday was consistent with the condition of Trotter’s body found 25 days after her disappearance.
Haskell agreed.
Later in the day, Sibyl Bucheli, of Sam Houston State University, was called to the stand to testify about the decomposition of the human body.
Bucheli said data obtained at SHSU proved to be “entirely” consistent with the decomposition of Trotter’s body, Diepraam said.
“She (Bucheli) showed (Trotter’s) internal organs didn’t turn to mush as the defense alleged,” he said.

Full article at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 8e36b.html

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Judge to rule against Swearingen
Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2012 9:58 pm | Updated: 8:44 am, Sun Aug 19, 2012.
By Howard Roden

Although he’s yet to sign off on the proposed findings and conclusions from a hearing earlier this year, state District Judge Fred Edwards has informed defense attorneys and prosecutors that he’ll recommend the state proceed with the execution of convicted killer Larry Swearingen.

Meanwhile, one member of Swearingen’s defense team said their focus is now on state and federal appeals.

Full article at http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 8ff54.html

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Judge: Ready to Rule Against Swearingen
Transcripts aren't yet in, but judge has decided
By Jordan Smith, 1:44PM, Mon. Aug. 20

Although attorneys for death row inmate Larry Swearingen have not yet seen official transcripts from an evidentiary hearing ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeals, Montgomery County prosecutors say they've gotten word from trial Judge Fred Edwards that he intends to side with them and sign a ruling that would deny Swearingen's request for a new trial.

The nod from Edwards came during an in-chambers meeting held while Swearingen's lead attorney, James Rytting, was out of the country, Rytting said. Edwards' decision to proceed with a ruling without first having seen the final record, and without having read each side's proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, culled from detailed scientific testimony heard over a period of two weeks earlier this year – legal briefs that both parties are required by law to produce – contravenes the seriousness of the proceedings, he said.

Full article at http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/ne ... wearingen/

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10-9-12
YOUR CONROE NEWS - TX
By Howard Roden

Excerpt:
Ninth state District Court Judge Fred Edwards ruled last week that convicted killer Larry Ray Swearingen failed to establish his innocence at an evidentiary hearing in February and March, sending Swearingen’s case back to the state Court of Criminal Appeals.

Go to:
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... bb6d9.html

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United States
Justice is debatable in Texas death penalty case

Larry Swearingen faces imminent execution in Texas for a crime that forensic scientists say he could not have committed. His time is running out.

In his 12 years on death row, Larry Swearingen's execution date has been set three times. Three times he has known when he will be strapped to a stretcher and put down with drugs: sodium thiobarbital to anesthetize him, pancurium bromide to paralyze his muscles and potassium chloride to stop his heart.

More at http://www.dw.de/justice-is-debatable-i ... a-16365696 .

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Edwards can set Swearingen execution date
Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2012 1:00 pm | Updated: 1:01 pm, Thu Dec 13, 2012.
By Nancy Flake

Almost exactly 14 years after her daughter’s murder, Sandy Trotter learned the state’s highest criminal court denied the latest appeal for Larry Swearingen, Melissa Trotter’s killer.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Wednesday morning that habeas corpus be denied to Swearingen, 41, who was convicted and sentenced to death in June 2000 for the abduction and murder of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter, a student at Lone Star College-Montgomery.

To read more, click here: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/ ... 46444.html

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Judge sets fourth execution date for convicted killer
By Renée C. Lee | December 20, 2012

The fourth execution date in five years has been set for death row inmate Larry Swearingen , convicted of killing a Montgomery County college student 14 years ago.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week denied Swearingen's latest claim of innocence, clearing the way for state District Judge Fred Edwards to sign an order for a Feb. 27 execution.

Read full text at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 135908.php .

Documents are available at http://www.iippi.org/inmates/texas/larryswearingen.html .

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Attorneys for condemned man seek DNA testing in Montgomery County case
By Erin Mulvaney | January 17, 2013 | Updated: January 18, 2013 1:21am

...A motion filed Thursday in Montgomery County by the New York-based Innocence Project requests testing of crime scene evidence to support Larry Swearingen's claims of innocence for the 1999 murder of 19-year-old college student Melissa Trotter.

The motion follows a 2011 Texas law that provides the right to conduct testing on any crime scene that can yield evidence of innocence.

...The evidence he is seeking to test includes the ligature used to strangle the woman, fingernail scrapings, items of the clothing that were apparently bunched and torn by her killer, cigarette butts found near the body, and torn panty hose found in the trash outside Swearingen's home.

Full text at: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 204007.php