Saturday, October 19, 2019

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



10 comments:

Vicky Gallas said...

So is this the new trend? When courts wrongfully convict defendants with faulty trials and the case later goes south for the government or the state, the court cover-up all of the intentional errors and falsified case by whittling down the defendant's claims in the future? When the defendant actually has many valid claims only a minor point moves forward and then the defendant is easily denied? The government is never held accountable and it all just looks like a minor technical issue!

Good flippin' grief!

Anonymous said...

WELL I BE DAM the government just admitted that anthony young ACTUALLY wasn't the shooter LITERALLY READ THE GOVERNMENT BRIEF for Baskerville last hearing im waiting.

Vicky Gallas said...

@the last Anonymous -

I did read it, but I do not see anything stating that clearly. They talk in circles and make too many assumptions and almost say that it is irrelevant who killed Kemo, with *almost* being key.

They make it sound like Young would never admit to a capital murder over his gun / felony charge that was pending... but Young was not intelligent; Rashidah Tarver, who was his girlfriend at the time, said he had a book about how to deal with the feds when you're facing major time and what sort of confessions will get you a 'get out of jail free' pass. I believe that - not unlike Sammy Gravano, who probably admitted to murders he never even committed to pile it on for the feds. Gravano was out in short time. Young expected to be out in short time - lol on that - but was not released until after Bergrin's appeals were filed, until the feds no longer needed him.

And by the way, I hear that Young keeps harassing Rashidah Tarver via text messages, but she's married now and unbeknownst to Young, he's texting her husband. Back when she broke-up with Young long ago, he started her house on fire; he's an angry guy and not smart, so this is believable. And she definitely never drove Young anywhere to dispose of a weapon after Kemo was killed - more reason that she should have been called as a witness!

The government keeps claiming that Johnnie Davis said he was only 30% sure Lattimore was the shooter, but other than the government saying it, I have never read that anywhere. Davis said that Lattimore LOOKED LIKE the shooter but he was not sure that Lattimore was the shooter. The dreads and the light skin is what Davis was sure about. Anthony Young was bald and has dark skin. Davis was 100% sure that Young was NOT the shooter.

So what page of the government brief are you reading this on?

What also irks me is that in the Opinion, the court seems to expect William to solve the crime... they go through the listed possibilities and say why each is not proven to be the shooter. All we know for sure 100% is that YOUNG WAS NOT THE SHOOTER! I have a guess, others have guesses, but we do not have the power and money of the federal government to thoroughly investigate.

Another issue that irks me is how the government down-played the statement that Davis gave to Bergrin's former attorney and investigator, which is discussed in the evidentiary hearing transcript. They knocked Louis Stephens (former FBI agent) who was the investigator, but Stephens couldn't testify because he died of a heart attack before Bergrin's trial. The attorney is no longer practicing because of major medical issues, not some nefarious incident the government alludes to.

Anyway, there is so much. Get back to me on what page you read that on please.

Anonymous said...

@ vicky gallas we spoke a few times on this blog as a matter of fact i pointed out to you that jonnie davis was actually and finally came to his sense that paul had nothing too do with kemo murder like the first trial,(martini) we also discussed how weed was a felony but anyways here's what the government stated. after investigation in the deliberation the defense counsel settled on a trial strategy of accepting youngs cliam that he was the shooter in blaming the mcray murder on the curry organization and bergrin, indeed defense counsel (EFFECTIVELY) open on that theory on april 4 2007 mocking the government for helping a COLD BLOODED KILLER ? it was more than a theory its BS but my point they acknowledge that the defense was effective. we all know young never killed kemo and 30% mr davis said was and still is a lie he always said dreadlocks and not fat and bald but i belive they just killed off all avenues for paul,hakeem,will,rakeem and thanksgiving is looming very stress

Anonymous said...

@ vickys stressful was what i ment but this a bad time for them all is there any other way besides clemency.

Anonymous said...

august 5 2019 brief not that far from beginning of that brief its starts with curry and rakeem so called pleading the fith on will because of appeal reasons, wich i dont get, they claim hakeem and rakeem will brothet was going to invoked the fith ??

Vicky Gallas said...

@my Anonymous friend -

Starting with your last statement first... I think what the government is referring to is that Rakeem and Curry were going to plead the 5th if they had testified at Paul's trial, which may or may not be true. They were never called as witnesses because the claim was that it was impossible to get them to the trial - it was some game the government ran on Lustberg, who had issued subpoenas in plenty of time.

As for William's evidentiary hearing, I know 100% that Rakeem was planning to testify, but the government ran that same game on Judge Sheridan. Curry is another story - the investigator attempted contact with him, but never did speak with him as far as I am aware. I reached out to him and it took him 3 days to respond with 'talk to my lawyer'. I responded asking who his attorney was and it was days later when he responded with something about his former attorney. I looked in PACER and the last docs filed on his case were Pro Se.

Vicky Gallas said...

@my Anonymous friend -

I knew what Judge Sheridan did when the November 2018 Opinion was issued. All avenues that could possibly help Paul were cut off and the only claims the evidentiary hearing was about could not help Paul - the Boyd 302 was released to Paul's attorney, and that's the issue remaining. Even this court made it all about Paul Bergrin, carefully crafting that first Opinion around anything that could help him.

William even told me that at the evidentiary hearing he said to one of the AUSAs on the side that they knew all they ever had was a minor drug case. The AUSA responded, "You should have found a different attorney." They know. The government is well aware that Young was not the shooter and their case is BS. They are full of shit. And the judge let them get away with it.

The other thing in that brief that ticks me off is the pretense of the 40K plus calls (the improperly sealed calls) being allowed in if the ones William referred to are. Well hell, it's more BS because there is nothing about William in any calls except the few after he was arrested, and those are the ones he wants in! The government is totally full of crappola.

Yes, Davis has always said heavy, light skinned, and dreadlocks. He just couldn't say for sure if it was one of the guys in the photos they showed him. He didn't get a long, clear look at the shooter - just a look - and you can't miss dark skin, dreadlocks and heavy versus Young, who is light skinned and bald.

William is working on his COA docs and reaching out to several known projects for assistance.

Yes, it is a stressful time. Did you know that Paul's SAMs were renewed? Yup, they are definitely trying to kill him in Florence ADMAX.

Anonymous said...

@vicky gallas and yes i knew paul Sams was and still is in effect, and trust me this is strict punishment for being a by the book doing my job prosecutor (PAUL FISHMAN) this is when it all began, it being Paul's DOOM sorry for late response but had demanding work hours i just pray for them all good night vicky-friend.

Unknown said...

I hope paul gets all the support he can he was always an honorabale n decent man Vicky please get back to me a very good friend