Death row inmate may get new hearing
Prosecutors agree to request on sentencing
piumini moncler scontatissimi January 22, 2004By Stephanie Hanes Stephanie Hanes,SUN STAFF piumini moncler scontatissimi
piumini moncler outlet A Baltimore man who was sentenced to death in 1988 for the robbery and killing of a 34 year old bank executive will likely move off Maryland’s death row, court papers show. piumini moncler outlet
Acknowledging that Kenneth Collins’ moncler saldi legal representation was unconstitutionally ineffective, prosecutors have agreed to the inmate’s request for a new sentencing hearing.
If a judge grants the resentencing, as moncler donna expected, prosecutors will drop their pursuit of the death penalty, court records say.
Prosecutors would not say yesterday why they would give up their effort to secure a piumini moncler uomo death sentence moncler bambino outlet in the case, but court records show that they made the decision after talking with the victim’s family.
moncler outlet online uomo A jury found Collins, who had a criminal record of armed robberies, guilty of moncler saldi uomo first degree murder in the fatal shooting of Wayne L. Breeden on Dec. 6, 1986. moncler outlet online uomo
moncler uomo Breeden, a Maryland National Bank vice president who was married and had an infant daughter, was killed after being followed by his assailants from a Parkville automated teller machine, according to news accounts and lawyers in the case. moncler uomo
moncler outlet trebaseleghe Prosecutors have defended Collins’ death sentence as fair. Supreme Court decision in moncler outlet another Baltimore County death penalty case that of Kevin Wiggins has changed the playing field, prosecutors said. moncler outlet trebaseleghe
In the ruling in June that overturned Wiggins’ death sentence in the killing of a woman in Woodlawn, the Supreme Court raised the standards for defense attorneys’ performance in capital punishment cases.
moncler saldi uomo In light of that decision, Baltimore County Deputy State’s Attorney Stephen Bailey wrote in a court document that prosecutors would concede that Collins’ lawyer’s actions were “unreasonable and constituted deficient performance.” moncler saldi uomo
Collins, who maintains his innocence, has long contended that his original attorney, moncler outlet serravalle M. Gordon Tayback, did not adequately represent him. Tayback did not call a single witness during the trial and did moncler bambino saldi not investigate Collins’ background for the sentencing hearing, said Peter Keith, Collins’ current lawyer.
piumini moncler uomo “It has always been very clear to me that someone shouldn’t face the moncler outlet online shop death penalty when they have no witnesses called for them at all, no experts retained for them moncler saldi outlet by a lawyer, and no investigation into their background,” Keith said. piumini moncler uomo
moncler outlet online shop “Since the Wiggins case was decided last year, the Supreme Court has determined that in a death penalty piumini moncler outlet case there must be affirmative information provided in the penalty phase,” Tayback said last night. “That was not the standard in the 1980s. Collins himself did not want to provide information to the jury as to his background or to argue that his background should allow for him to receive a sentence of life imprisonment as opposed to the death penalty.” moncler outlet online shop
moncler donna Tayback said he suggested to the court a decade ago that Collins, having changed his mind on that issue, moncler outlet online uomo should get a new sentencing hearing. moncler donna
piumini moncler Keith has asked Somerset County Circuit outlet moncler Judge Daniel M. Long to grant Collins a new trial or a new sentencing hearing. The case was moved to Somerset County because of pretrial publicity. piumini moncler
moncler saldi outlet Keith said the problems with Collins’ original attorney, as well as what he says is moncler outlet trebaseleghe new information from a key witness, merits a new trial. Prosecutors have opposed that request. moncler saldi outlet
outlet moncler Court papers do not say whether prosecutors would seek the death penalty if Long orders a new trial. outlet moncler
moncler bambino outlet Bailey said he would not piumini moncler saldi comment until he received Long’s formal order about the sentencing hearing and trial requests. moncler bambino outlet
moncler bambino saldi A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5. moncler bambino saldi
moncler outlet serravalle In the court file, a letter from Bailey to Long says prosecutors decided after talking “with his comment is here https://www.moncleroutlet-i.org moncler outlet the wife of the victim in this case” not to seek death in the case of a new sentencing hearing. moncler outlet serravalle
Attempts to reach Breeden’s widow yesterday were unsuccessful.
moncler saldi Life without parole is not a possible sentence in Collins’ case because the killing took place before the law creating that sentence was passed. moncler saldi
piumini moncler saldi If prosecutors do not seek death, the longest sentence they could secure is life in prison, with the possibility of piumini moncler parole. piumini moncler saldi
Collins’ case has been a rallying point for local anti death penalty activists, who believe Collins was convicted on shoddy evidence. Among other criticisms, they point out that the man first charged with Breeden’s murder, Tony Michie, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after he agreed to name Collins as the shooter.
Mike Stark, the Baltimore Washington coordinator of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said he and other death penalty opponents were piumini moncler scontatissimi pleased about the developments in Collins’ case. “It’s a huge admission that something is deeply wrong with this case,” he said.
moncler outlet If Collins’ death sentence is overturned, nine Maryland inmates would be left on death row. He would be the third Baltimore County defendant to moncler uomo be released from death row in the past year moncler outlet.