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Post by rayozz on Apr 24, 2013 6:28:05 GMT -6
Austin Chronicle Article.
Despite Prosecutor's Deal With Snitch, Cobb Loses Appeals
By Jordan Smith, Fri., April 19, 2013
Richard Cobb was just 18 when he and a friend, 19-year-old Beunka Adams, robbed the B-D-J's convenience store in Rusk, taking two female clerks and a customer hostage. The pair drove the three hostages to a nearby field known as the "pea patch," raped one of the clerks, and tied up all three. Cobb shot the customer, Kenneth Vandever, killing him; either Cobb or Adams – it remains unclear which – shot each of the clerks. Both were wounded, faked death, and ultimately survived. The murderous pair was turned in to police by Adams' cousin a day after the crime; the state sought, and obtained, a death sentence for each defendant.
On April 25 the state intends to execute Cobb – almost a year to the day after it carried out the death sentence on his accomplice, Adams. If the schedule remains on track, Cobb would be the 497th inmate put to death in Texas since 1982.
Cobb has appealed his sentence, arguing in part that prosecutors violated their duty to turn over to his defense evidence that could have been used during the punishment phase of his trial to impeach a jailhouse witness. William Thomsen testified that while in jail awaiting trial Cobb bragged about his crimes, said he would commit additional crimes if he could, that he likely wouldn't have been caught if he'd killed the two clerks, and that he got "like a rush" from shooting Vandever. (In a courtroom outburst, Cobb denied saying that.) Thomsen also testified that he was not given any deal or done any favors by the state in exchange for his testimony.
As it happened, that wasn't entirely accurate: In January 2003, the prosecutor, Elmer Beckworth, penned a short letter to Thom*sen's parole officer, advising that he would not seek to prosecute Thomsen on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The letter had been put into Adams' file, but not Cobb's; it was turned over a day before closing arguments, but the defense chose not to use it, a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a May 2012 opinion. Two months after Cobb was convicted and sentenced to death in 2004, a prosecutor reviewing Adams' file found another letter, this one from Thomsen, written in 2002, reminding Beckworth that during a meeting a week earlier the prosecutor had "agreed to completely clear" his pending weapons charge and to have a parole hold lifted so that Thom*sen could be released; in the letter Thomsen also offers additional details about what Cobb told him about the robbery and murder. Cobb then appealed, citing the failure of prosecutors to turn over this second letter. But each of Cobb's appeals has been denied, and on Feb. 21 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider the case.
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Post by moonlight on Apr 24, 2013 9:58:22 GMT -6
I want to see him dead as soon as possible. The more the better.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 10:37:23 GMT -6
NEXT
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Post by starbux on Apr 24, 2013 15:39:12 GMT -6
I hope it happens tomorrow. He will ride the lightning and taste the metal. No Mercy for this one.
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Post by starbux on Apr 24, 2013 17:01:16 GMT -6
He's Ready to DIE!!! Good, the sooner the better!
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Post by moonlight on Apr 25, 2013 11:55:51 GMT -6
Update News: East Texas man's final hours on death row www.ketknbc.com/news/east-texas-mans-final-hours-on-death-row"I wanted him to know that what he thought he was accomplishing that night whenever he was looking into my eyes and I was staring back into his I wanted my eyes to haunt him into the day he was put to death."Cool courageous lady. I liked that. I hope tonight she does the same with the other rabid undesirable thing who is scheduled for annihilation. If tonight's justice is carried out on due course I'll consider posting a nice hit to enjoy. That one just deserves this.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2013 15:55:19 GMT -6
Clock Ticks Down On Execution Of Texas Death Row Inmate Richard Cobb (Texas prison photo) HUNTSVILLE (April 25, 2013)—Attorneys for Richard Cobb, 29, were asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block Cobb’s execution Thursday evening for killing one of three people abducted from an East Texas convenience store. They’re arguing that a prison expert’s false testimony tainted the jury’s decision to send Cobb to death row. Cobb is scheduled to die Thursday evening in Huntsville for the murder of Kenneth Vandever, 37, who, along with two women, was abducted during a robbery almost 11 years ago. The women also were shot and one was raped during the attack that began in Rusk, about 120 miles southeast of Dallas. The women survived and testified against Cobb and his partner. Cobb's companion in the robbery, Beunka Adams, was executed last spring, less than three hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused an 11th hour appeal to postpone the punishment. Vandever was in the convenience store on Sept. 2, 2002, in Rusk, about 115 miles southeast of Dallas, when two men wearing masks and carrying a shotgun walked in and announced a holdup. After robbing the store, Adams and Cobb drove off with the two female clerks and Vandever in a car belonging to one of the women, authorities said. Testimony at Adams' trial showed he gave the orders during the holdup and initiated the abductions. They drove to a remote area about 10 miles away in Cherokee County, where Adams demanded Vandever and one woman get into the trunk of the car and then raped the other woman. Testimony also showed he forced all three to kneel as they were shot. Vandever was fatally wounded. The women were kicked and shot again before Cobb and Adams, believing they were dead, fled. Both were alive, however, and one was able to run to a house to summon help. Adams and Cobb were arrested several hours later in Jacksonville, about 25 miles to the north. Adams was identifiable because he had slipped off his mask after one of the women said she thought she knew him. During questioning by police, Adams "didn't fully say what he did but enough to show guilt under the law of parties," said Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth. That Texas law makes an accomplice equally culpable as the actual killer. Beckworth said evidence pointed to Cobb as the gunman, although testimony at trial showed Adams bragged to another jail inmate that he was the shooter. The law of parties became an issue in some of Adams' appeals, with his lawyers arguing trial lawyers and earlier appeals attorneys should have contested jury instructions related to the law. Assistant Attorney General Ellen Stewart-Klein countered in court documents that Adams showed "total participation in a capital murder and the moral culpability required of one sentenced to death." Cobb, who was 18 at the time of the holdup, was convicted and sentenced to die in a separate trial eight months before Adams, who was 19 at the time of the crime. Evidence tied the two to a string of robberies that happened around the same time. At Adams' trial, Adams was portrayed as "a kind of tag-along" influenced by Cobb, said Sten Langsjoen, a trial lawyer for Adams. The two met as ninth-graders at a boot camp and evidence showed they began committing burglaries together, then switched to more lucrative armed robberies. Vandever had suffered a brain injury as a result of a car accident, said Beckworth, who described him as mentally challenged. He was known around Rusk for riding his bicycle and keeping folks company at the convenience store, the prosecutor said. Vandever was in the store's eating area, not near the women, and the robbers evidently didn't spot him until he got up to leave. www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Clock-Ticks-Down-On-Execution-Of-Texas-Death-Row-Inmate-204677071.html
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2013 16:02:05 GMT -6
Hopefuly justice will be served today.. RIP:Kenneth vandever..
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Post by kma367 on Apr 25, 2013 17:07:17 GMT -6
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Post by rayozz on Apr 25, 2013 17:42:20 GMT -6
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Post by moonlight on Apr 25, 2013 20:02:47 GMT -6
I'm very pleased this piece of human waste has been annihilated for good. I'm happy for the family members of murder victim, Kenneth Vandever, and for the two other survivors of the abduction slaying, they got their share of justice they deserved. My heart is with them. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/richard-cobb-executed-for_n_3158818.html?utm_hp_ref=crimeAbout the murder victim Kenneth Vandever. A car accident caused him permanent brain damage leaving him with a mental capacity of a child. The survivors of the attack said they heard Vandever plead that he needed his medication and scream when he was shot. The executed perps were extremely cruel and vicious to take a life of someone who had already endured for years the consequences of his car accident. I genuinely wish the flames of hell engulf their vicious souls forever.
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Post by liljessncda on Apr 25, 2013 20:56:17 GMT -6
Good Riddance scum bag... I just don't understand people like this!
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Post by starbux on Apr 26, 2013 0:02:50 GMT -6
I hope he suffered in his last few minutes of his miserable POS of a life. Good riddance, you slimy piece of sht!
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Post by moonlight on Apr 26, 2013 0:11:09 GMT -6
Usually I don't celebrate executions of human wastes by posting musical hits but this specific one has got on me for the aggrevated circumstances is occurred (abduction during robbery) and the fact the murder victim has endured much for his car accident. The perp was a young vicious kid who just killed a disabled person for no reason. That is why, in these unique circumstances described above, I find it appropriate to have my joy of celebrating the event the way I did.
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Post by The Tipsy Broker on Apr 26, 2013 1:23:31 GMT -6
The victim, Kenneth Vandever, looks like a real 'man's man'. None of your clean shaven sissy looks for him. Id want a beer with him. RIP Kenneth
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Post by moonlight on Apr 26, 2013 3:42:48 GMT -6
An interview with the scummie a day before his scheduled execution. hmmm... poor thing. He was quite frustrated from the idea his life would eventually been terminated like an insect. I understand him. Really.
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Post by The Tipsy Broker on Apr 26, 2013 4:56:43 GMT -6
He felt 'awesome' Richard Cobb: Murderer's sarcastic comment to the prison warden caps off Death Row inmate's final words bit.ly/11GFQvm
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Post by moonlight on Apr 26, 2013 7:57:19 GMT -6
Well, I'd assume the long journey to hell is quite an awesome experience. Just imagine the feeling of being transported by a sealed locked souls conveyer all the way downward to final ultimate destination of Hades residence. That is really awesome. Hee... Hee... And then the terrifying visions of giant snakes in the entrance... Thank you warden!
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Post by moretoasts on Apr 26, 2013 10:27:56 GMT -6
Disgusting. And the celebration even more than execution itself.
Several millions of years of evolution are a waste in some parts of the world.
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Post by Matt on Apr 26, 2013 11:03:22 GMT -6
I have zero interest in listening to a "final interview" with a killer the day before his execution. In my view, whoever videotaped this and then posted it online ought to be thrown in prison. This killer had his day(s) in court, with umpteen bites at the apple just like the rest of them. His chance to make his case is long over, and I see little point in giving air time to his thoughts and opinions. I don't care what he has to say, and neither should anybody else. Just get on with it.
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Post by The Tipsy Broker on Apr 26, 2013 12:13:29 GMT -6
@ Moretoasts, the 'celebrations' have have certainly 'dimmed' on this board over the 4+ years ive been a member. I hardly notice it these days.
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Post by Californian on Apr 28, 2013 11:59:42 GMT -6
Disgusting. And the celebration even more than execution itself. Several millions of years of evolution are a waste in some parts of the world. Too bad you weren't sitting on his lap.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2013 22:33:34 GMT -6
I was disgusted by his "last remarks"
there was no call for acting like that but then there was no reason for his crime either
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Post by Californian on Apr 29, 2013 12:49:33 GMT -6
I was disgusted by his "last remarks" there was no call for acting like that ... A typical psychopath: last chance to show his ass, so he did.
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