Convicted murderer James Harlow wants a federal court to force the state to turn over records that may show his conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional, his attorneys wrote last week.
Harlow was convicted in 1998 of the June 26, 1997, stabbing death of Wyoming State Penitentiary guard Cpl. Wayne Martinez during an escape attempt with two other inmates.
The Wyoming Supreme Court declared in February that Harlow's right to justice was not prejudiced by the fact that he was shackled during his trial, and justices called for a new execution date on March 31. Harlow then appealed to federal court, and U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in early March stayed his execution so the appeals process could proceed.
The state, through the Wyoming attorney general's office, has not responded yet to Harlow's motion.
Harlow asserted during his trial that two other inmates -- Richard Aaron Dowdell and Bryan Collins, who both received life sentences -- intended to kill a guard during the escape, but he did not, according to the discovery motion filed by his attorneys, Terry Harris of Cheyenne and Sean O'Brien of Kansas City, Mo.
In the penalty phase of the trial, Harlow's attorneys unsuccessfully presented evidence for mitigation that he was the victim of childhood abuse and neglect that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression, according to the motion.
They also unsuccessfully presented evidence that Martinez's actual killer received a life sentence, and so should Harlow, according to the motion.
But the prosecution successfully argued that Harlow should be sentenced to death because he posed a future danger to society.
In his effort to revisit the innocence-guilt and penalty phases of the trial, Harlow wants the state to produce records about inmates who testified against him. One inmate later stated his release from prison was a result of an agreement with the prosecution to testify against Harlow, according to the motion for discovery.
Harlow wants documents, depositions and physical evidence about Martinez's murder from the Rawlins Police Department, the Carbon County Sheriff's Department and the prison because those agencies refused to cooperate with his defense attorneys during the trial, according to the motion.
During the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Harlow's conviction for raping and killing his cousin, Tammy Schoopman, in Rock Springs in 1985 showed that he would be a future danger to society and he deserved the death penalty, according to the motion.
Subsequent investigations have raised questions about that conviction, including police reports that another person admitted to the crime, and Harlow wants evidence about the investigation of that crime such as body fluids that now could be submitted for DNA testing, according to the motion.
Harlow also wants the state to provide information about what it knows about unsafe, inhumane and hazardous conditions at the prison, according to the motion.
"Throughout the attempted escape, Dowdell and Collins attempted to goad the law enforcement officers into shooting them because they were tired of being treated like animals," the document says.
Besides prison conditions, Harlow wants the prison's policies, disciplinary incidents against inmates and staff, psychiatric medicines given to prisoners, guards using excessive force, and other information, according to the motion.
Finally, Harlow wants the federal court to review the Wyoming Supreme Court's February decision upholding his death sentence that included justification for shackling him and thereby prejudicing the jury, according to the motion.
NewsTracker
* Last we knew: The Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence of James Harlow, who then appealed to federal court.
* The latest: Harlow's attorneys filed a motion calling for the state to produce records about inmates who testified against him.
* What's next: The state of Wyoming has an opportunity to respond to the motion, and a federal judge will consider the issue.