Be careful what you wish for....

[Charlene]

I've cross-posted this in case someone who has access to Lexis reads this forum but not the other:

Here is something you just almost never hear of....a murderer appeals their sentence and ends up with a harsher sentence than they started with. And in one of the poster children cases no less!

As mentioned below, in 1978, Roger Stafford had his wife Verna feign car trouble in order to elicit an offer of help from some unlucky passing motorist and this resulted in the murder of a family of three by Stafford and his brother. A few weeks later, this lovely trio robbed a steakhouse and murdered six employees, many of them just teenagers trying to make some spending money.

Roger Stafford received a death sentence and it was one of the few actually carried out. In 1980, Verna Stafford pled guilty to and was convicted in two of the murders, that of the good samaritan's wife, Linda Lorenz, and that of one of the teenage employees of the steakhouse, Terri Horst.

She received what is called "an indeterminate sentence" of ten years to life on each count of second degree murder, to be served concurrently (at the same time.)

In 1989, she filed an appeal asking that her sentences be reduced to 10 years, citing the repeal of the statute that provided for such a wide range in indeterminate sentencing. Where a life sentence is the maximum imposed sentence, the courts no longer allowed an indeterminate sentence.

Instead of reducing her sentence to the ten year concurrent sentence she hoped for, meaning she would be released almost immediately, the court shocked the little lady by handing down two life sentences, to be served consecutively!

In 1990, she screamed long and loud in an appeal to the OK Court of Appeals, but they were having none of it. She said that the new sentence violated her protection against double jeopardy. Nay nay! said the court. Since the appellate court agreed with her claim that her original sentences were illegal and thus void, Verna's legal standing was as if she had never been sentenced for these crimes. Because the new sentence was within the range of punishment under which she should have been sentenced originally, this did not support a double jeopardy claim.

She seemed to say in her appeal, that because she thought she might get out in 10 years, she had participated in any and all rehabilitative activities available. Hopefully she would want to try to improve herself in any case, even if not having a hope of getting out of prison in such a disgustingly short time after having participated in at least 9 murders. The appellate court said she was offered the opportunity to withdraw her guilty pleas and proceed to trial, but she declined. They also said that "the evidence presented overwhelmingly supported the sentences imposed."

I don't know if she was successful in subsequent attempts to appeal this issue - maybe one of our legal types can find out in Lexis.

admin said:

And the hits just keep on coming....

Buh Bye. Executed in Oklahoma in 1995, this guy played with the appellate system for almost 20 years - can't imagine many less worthy of any delay in exacting the punishment.

He murdered a man, his wife and their young son who were on their way to a funeral in North Dakota when they stopped to help this POS's POS wife who was posing as a female motorist in distress. Then a month later they murdered six employees of a restaurant, three of whom were teenagers. Who knows how many other people are dead that the authorities did not connect with this trio.... Disgusting.

Roger Dale Stafford, his wife Verna Stafford and their three children were transients who arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June of 1978. Shortly thereafter, Stafford met up with his brother, Harold Stafford. On June 21, Stafford, Verna, and Harold embarked upon a journey with the purpose of finding an Oklahoma City establishment to rob. All of the targeted sites were too busy, so they drove to Pauls Valley to look for motels to rob. Having examined the number of cars in the parking lots of each of the motels they visited, it was determined that it would not be profitable to rob any of the motels. As they drove back to Oklahoma City, the trio decided to stop their car, raise the hood, and have Verna feign distress, in hopes that a wealthy good samaritan would come along. Verna attempted to flag down by-passing cars as Stafford and Harold lay in wait in the darkness beside the car. After a period of time, a blue Ford Ranger pickup with a white camper shell pulled off the road, and the driver, Sergeant Melvin Lorenz, exited the vehicle to help Verna. Mr. Lorenz looked at the Stafford automobile, and informed Verna that he could detect no mechanical difficulties. At that point, Stafford and Harold approached Sergeant Lorenz and demanded his wallet. Stafford was armed with a pistol. Sergeant Lorenz informed Stafford that he and his family were on their way to his mother's funeral in North Dakota, and that he could give Stafford some money, but not all that he had. Upon hearing this, Stafford shot the Sergeant two times. Sergeant Lorenz' wife, Linda Lorenz, heard the gunshots, and ran toward Verna Stafford from the pickup. Verna knocked Linda Lorenz to the ground. Stafford shot her as she fell. The three then heard dogs barking and a child calling from the back of the camper. Stafford approached the camper, produced a knife, cut a hole in the screen, and fired his pistol into the darkness. The bullets from the pistol forever silenced the voice of eleven-year-old Richard Lorenz. Stafford and Harold dragged the bodies of Sergeant and Mrs. Lorenz into a field adjacent to the highway where they were stopped. Stafford and Harold drove the Lorenz vehicle approximately three-fourths (3/4) of a mile down the highway, and dumped the body of Richard Lorenz in a field at that point. They then drove the pickup to Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City. Verna followed them in the Stafford automobile. Upon arriving at Will Rogers, Verna parked the Stafford automobile and got in the Lorenz' pickup with Stafford and Harold. The trio drove to Stillwater, Oklahoma. They eventually returned to Will Rogers and abandoned the pickup. Stafford drove the Stafford vehicle back to Tulsa, while Harold and Verna hitchhiked to Tulsa. Much additional evidence was adduced at trial concerning eyewitness identification of Stafford, Verna and Harold at various points throughout the evening and night of June 21-22, 1978.

On July 16, 1978, Roger Stafford, his wife, Verna Stafford, and his brother, Harold Stafford, drove from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to rob the Sirloin Stockade Restaurant. The trio waited in the restaurant parking lot until all the customers had left. At around 10:00 p.m. they exited their automobile and Roger Stafford knocked on the side door of the restaurant. The manager answered the door and was greeted by Roger and Harold Stafford pointing guns at him. They forced him to take them to the cash register and the office safe. Inside the restaurant, the manager began taunting them, saying that he could not understand why people rob others instead of working for themselves. Roger Stafford hit the manager and demanded that he call his employees to the cash register. The manager complied with the demand. Harold and Verna Stafford held the employees at gunpoint while Stafford and the manager emptied the office safe which contained about $1290.00. After they obtained the money, the employees were ordered inside the restaurant's walk-in freezer. Stafford then asked Harold Stafford to help him in the freezer. Harold reminded Stafford that no one was to be hurt. Stafford retorted that "they are going to get what they deserve." He then shot the only black employee, and both men opened fire on the remaining employees. Verna Stafford testified that she heard a lot of gunfire and screaming. Roger Stafford then told Verna that it was time for her to take part. He placed his gun in Verna's hand and helped her pull the trigger. All six Sirloin Stockade employees died as a result of the shootings. The killings took place at 11:00 p.m. Three teenage employees of the restaurant and three adult employees were killed. The teenagers were Terri Michelle Horst and David Gregory Salsman, 15, and David Lindsay, 17. I cannot find the names of the adult victims in this mass murder.

[Rhonda]

Now THAT is justice! I hope she never gets out.

[Anony+]

admin said:

I don't know if she was successful in subsequent attempts to appeal this issue - maybe one of our legal types can find out in Lexis.

When the kiddies take their naps I'll see what I can find.

Allison

[Anony+]

Looks like good 'ol Verna filed a federal habeas, which was denied. 10th Circuit denied her certificate for appealability, and the US Sup Ct denied cert.

Here's the 10th circuit decision (I've taken out the extraneous stuff):


VERNA MONKS, a/k/a Verna Stafford, Petitioner-Appellant, v. NEVILLE MASSIE, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 97-6417

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

July 23, 1998, Filed

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY:
Certiorari Denied January 11, 1999, Reported at: 1999 U.S. LEXIS 131.

PRIOR HISTORY: (W.D. Okla.). (D.C. No. CIV-97-645-A).

DISPOSITION: Monks' application for a certificate of appealability DENIED, and appeal DISMISSED.

COUNSEL: For VERNA MONKS, Petitioner - Appellant: Lanita B. Henricksen, Henricksen & Henricksen, El Reno, OK.

For NEVILLE MASSIE, Respondent - Appellee: Patrick T. Crawley, Asst. Attorney Gen., Office of the Attorney General, Oklahoma City, OK.

JUDGES: Before BALDOCK, EBEL, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

OPINIONBY: DAVID M. EBEL

OPINION: ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

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* This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.


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Appellant, Verna Monks, appeals the district court's denial of her petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. n1 HN1Before proceeding on appeal, Monks must obtain a certificate of appealability from this court, which requires "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2).

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n1 After examining appellant's brief and the appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to grant appellant's request for a decision on the brief without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.


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Monks pled guilty to two counts of second degree murder and was given two concurrent indeterminate sentences of ten years' to life imprisonment. After successfully challenging the validity of those sentences, Monks was resentenced by a different judge, who imposed two consecutive life sentences based upon evidence developed at the second [*3] sentencing hearing of the grievous and outrageous nature of the crimes for which she was convicted and other criminal conduct. Monks challenges the harsher sentences on the ground of judicial vindictiveness. HN2A presumption of vindictiveness will not arise when, as here, "a different judge imposes the second sentence and provides an on-the-record, wholly logical, nonvindictive reason for the sentence." Macomber v. Hannigan, 15 F.3d 155, 156 (10th Cir. 1994) (quotation omitted). Absent a presumption of vindictiveness, Monks bears the burden of demonstrating actual vindictiveness, see id. at 157, which she has failed to do.

Therefore, Monks' application for a certificate of appealability is DENIED, and the appeal is DISMISSED.

Entered for the Court

David M. Ebel

Circuit Judge

[Charlene]

Well, well. Chalk one up for the good guys. It is rare to hear that something actually turned out detrimental to an appellant. Nice to know that it does indeed happen sometimes.

[Deleted]

Who wants to file the next appeal???

[cynthiak]

Bout dayumed time something like this happened!