The Whittle Down Effects on the William Baskerville Case

I had an epiphany moment tonight. This came about after reading a New York Post article about Kim Kardashian West trying to help Julius Jones, an Oklahoma man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. I commented on the article on Facebook and several people pursued me, with one man refusing to go away. I decided he wanted me to go away too much so I did a bit of research on the Julius Jones case. My moment happened when I realized that the case had been whittled down to one somewhat minor point of a racist juror; minor in comparison to the truth and the case.

The man was able to convince everyone commenting except me that he is a friend to the family and hated to see them go through more pain over this murder and Jones possibly getting clemency thanks to Kim. The brief research showed me how the courts had whittled down the case to the one tainted juror and then denied Julius Jones any relief. I am copying my comment here because I am seeing a pattern of these whittle down effects and how they sway public opinion with it. I am coining the term whittle down effects as I have never heard it anywhere. Suddenly I realized that this is what Judge Peter Sheridan has done to William Baskerville's case. On a side note: William's friends and relatives need to reach out to Kim on Twitter to help him!

My comment:

This is mainly addressed to a man who is disparaging Kim's choice to help Julius Jones:

I do know something about these petitions and because you're arguing with anyone in favor of clemency here, this is directed to you. More often than not, last chance appeals come down to an issue that barely touches the actual case, which often has many issues. Somewhere some judge whittled the entire case down to one point, but that definitely doesn't mean there are not many more important points.

This is what was done in a federal case I'm close to. The government tried to get William Baskerville the death penalty, but the jury said no, so the sentence is LIFE. Problem is that William had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder of the government witness in drug cases. The best point in the case is that the description of the shooter given by several witnesses, including the victim's stepfather who was walking down a Newark street with him when he was murdered, is of a light skinned man with dreadlocks. The government had a man who was dark skinned and bald claiming to be the shooter.

So how much sense does that make? Well, thanks to the last court decision, the case now comes down to an FBI 302 and a Brady violation because the government never gave it to the defense. But is the case actually about this one technical issue, with the government claiming the 302 was irrelevant and forgotten? NO. The claims in William's petition are many, but the court whittled it down, not William or one of his attorneys.

I'm seeing the same problem with this case. Julius Jones had many claims, but somewhere it was all whittled down to this one racist juror. And by the way, William's case also has a Batson issue, but every judge who has touched it has denied William on that claim too. I'm willing to bet that you already know all of this and are here to move public opinion against Kim and against Jones! You are doing this intentionally. Here's a quote from one article on the Jones case:

"At the time of Julius’ trial, the eyewitness description of the shooter did not fit Julius. Instead, it described his co-defendant who served 15 years and is now a free man. Julius’ attorney was an overworked public defender who failed to cross-examine Christopher Jordan, (Julius’ co-defendant,) on the six inconsistent statements he gave to police upon arrest. Christopher Jordan was later overheard bragging that he set-up Julius and was incentivized to testify for a shorter prison time. The evidence used to convict Julius was inconsistent and several eye-witnesses provided an alibi for Julius,” Oklahoma County One Commissioner Carrie Blumbert wrote."

I knew there was way more to this than you want anyone to see, so I looked. Kim Kardashian is involved for very good reasons!


From Kim Kardashian West's Twitter account (to help Julius Jones):

Oklahoma Pardon & Parole Board
2915 N. Classen, Suite 405,
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
405-521-6600 (press 0) / 405-522-9227
Boardmembers@ppb.ok.gov

The Pardon & Parole Board Members are:
C. Allen McCall,
Larry Morris
Adam Luck
Kelly Doyle
Robert Gilliland, J.D.
Governor Kevin Stitt

The Office of Governor Kevin Stitt
Oklahoma State Capitol
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405-521-2342
https://t.co/1wHtwyxO6X


So I am getting a better idea of why the court issued the November 2018 Opinion that knocked down almost all of William Baskerville's claims and then followed up with this ridiculous October 8, 2019 Opinion, leaving him a little bone. Interesting how things work. We learn something new every day!

And yes, this could also be referred to as cumulative effects but when the court looked at cumulative effects in the William Baskerville case, they only looked at the minor remaining claim, the only claim that wasn't outright denied. The whittling down effects happen before we get to the one claim remaining and they examine the cumulative effects of that one issue. Of course the cumulative effect of the one issue alone amounts to little. No one reading through the case is aware of the major claims denied previously. What a scam!!!


The Court Opinions:

William Baskerville Court Opinion November 15 2018

William Baskerville 2255 Opinion October 8 2019

Thanks for the Bone

The US criminal justice system and all of its many paid participants are nothing but trash, with a few exceptions of course. In the case of Paul Bergrin and case of William Baskerville, which is connected only by the murder of Kemo Deshawn McCray, the only judicial exception is the Honorable US District Judge William Martini. There are no government or prosecution or FBI exceptions. Defense attorneys are another subject and it's a mixed bag!

I know exactly what they all did to William Baskerville and so does William. Neither one of us was born yesterday. The entire evidentiary hearing was one big setup with the goal of easily disposing of his many claims in the 2255 petition. To know this, one must only look at the November 2018 court Opinion that gave William the evidentiary hearing. The Opinion whittled his long list of claims down to what amounted to a few minor points. The Opinion filed in PACER late on October 9, 2019, easily chipped away those few claims William was allowed to address in the evidentiary hearing. 

At the conclusion of the just filed Opinion, Judge Sheridan threw William Baskerville a bone. The issue is that William is not a dog and has no interest in their decaying bone. And don't think it is not easily noticeable that William was, once again, cheated out of presenting witnesses in his defense. The November 2018 Opinion whittled the witnesses down to only two: Hakeem Curry and Rakeem Baskerville. It was relatively simple to knock off these two witnesses in the hearing, but the reasoning behind knocking down the witness list to these two men is suspect to say the least. 

I did not speak openly about the court's November 2018 Opinion for reasons that should be obvious. William had won an evidentiary hearing, which is supposed to be a major accomplishment in our lousy, sorry excuse for a justice system. At that point we were unsure if it was a setup to get rid of all of William's claims or a real attempt to find truth. Now we know. 

Just let this post sit. I'm too angry to discuss this whittling exercise care of the US government and  the court right now and have been since the night of the 10th when I discovered the Opinion in PACER. This post is to let the perpetrators of this long game of injustice know that I know, and that William knows. Everything will be addressed soon.