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Friday, May 29, 2009
Ind. Courts - "Wilkes' sentence challenged: Lawyers say judge violated state law"
The case of Daniel Ray Wilkes v. State of Indiana, argued yesterday before the Supreme Court, is the subject of a story today by Eric Bradner in the Evansville Courier & Press:
INDIANAPOLIS — Attorneys for death row inmate Daniel Ray Wilkes told the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday that a Vanderburgh County judge's decision to sentence Wilkes to death violated state law.This case was a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.They asked that Wilkes, who was convicted of killing an Evansville mother and her two young daughters three years ago, instead spend his life in prison.
A state attorney countered during the one-hour hearing that Wilkes' attor-neys were off-base and that Vanderburgh Circuit Judge CarlHeldt's death sentence was allowed under the law.
Wilkes was arrested in April 2006 on charges of killing Donna Claspell and her daughters, 13-year-old Avery Pike and 8-year-old Sydne Claspell, in Claspell's Evansville home. He later admitted the slayings to police.
After his trial was moved to Clark County, Ind., a jury found Wilkes guilty of the three murders. But the jury was unable to reach a unanimous agreement on whether Wilkes should live or die.
The 12-member panel deadlocked with 11 in favor of the death penalty and one opposing.
That left Wilkes' fate to be decided by Heldt, who sentenced him to death.
It was the first time since state law was changed in 2002 that a judge had to determine the sentence in a death-penalty case. Defense attorneys at the time said Heldt's sentence could lead to years of appeals.
In noncapital cases, sentencing is already up to the judge, not the jury. But in capital cases, the 2002 law requires a judge to follow a jury's recommendation.
On Thursday, Wilkes' attorneys, John Goodridge and William Gooden, said that law means for an offender to be sentenced to death, the jury has to unanimously recommend it.
They argued that because the jury was deadlocked, Heldt's only option was to sentence Wilkes to a term of years.
Indiana Deputy Attorney General Steve Creason disagreed. He said if the jury didn't offer a recommendation, Heldt had nothing to follow.
The jury did find Wilkes guilty of the three murders. Creason said just because the jury hadn't agreed unanimously that Wilkes deserved death didn't mean that option was off the table, and that it was entirely within Heldt's power to sentence Wilkes to death.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 29, 2009 08:59 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions