© 2007 The Justice Institute -
Thomas
Arthur's Impending
Murder
Justice:Denied Editorial
September 21, 2007
Justice:Denied Editorial
September 21, 2007
Murder is
defined as, “The
action of killing or causing destruction of life, regarded as wicked
and morally reprehensible irrespective of its legality.” (Oxford
English Dictionary, def. 1.c.) Although murder is commonly thought of
only in terms of how it is defined in a statute, as a concept it
predates any written laws.
Murder is what Judy Wicker was convicted of committing in 1982 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama against her husband Troy Wicker. After almost ten years of imprisonment she made a deal with the State of Alabama. She would be paroled from her life sentence in exchange for recanting her trial testimony and numerous extra-judicial statements that she had been raped by a black intruder who then killed her husband, and that Thomas Arthur had nothing to do with the crime.
Murder is what Thomas Arthur was convicted in 1991 of committing against Troy Wicker. Yet none of the plethora of crime scene evidence that included hair, blood, sperm, fingerprints, and a bullet and bullet cartridges, was forensically linked to him. The only direct evidence placing Thomas Arthur at the murder scene was the revised testimony of Judy Wicker. (Judy Wicker also directly implicated her sister and her sister’s boyfriend in Troy Wicker’s murder, but for still unexplained reasons they were never prosecuted.)
Murder is a gravely serious charge, and if a State is going to make that accusation against a person, that person deserves the aid of a competent and diligent team of attorneys, who prior to trial independently investigate the case, interview witnesses, review the state’s evidence, and file all necessary pre-trial motions. To accomplish those crucial tasks, Thomas Arthur’s counsel was paid the princely sum of $1,000 – the amount designated by law in Alabama.
Murder can be punished by a sentence of death in Alabama, and that was Thomas Arthur’s sentence. However, Alabama does not provide a post-conviction lawyer for a death row prisoner, so by the time he was able to find a pro bono lawyer to handle his case the time limit had expired for him to file his state, and then a first federal habeas corpus petition. So neither Thomas Arthur’s claim of innocence nor any of the irregularities related to the investigation of Troy Wicker’s murder, Judy Wicker’s suspect testimony, and the deficient performance of Thomas Arthur’s counsel, has ever been considered by a state or federal habeas court for how they affected his constitutional right to due process, a fair trial, effective assistance of counsel and to be shielded from cruel and unusual punishment. (Thomas Arthur’s trial counsel has admitted that he received inadequate representation.)
Murder can be disproved, and a convicted person’s claim of innocence can be vindicated, by DNA testing of crime scene evidence that can directly or indirectly exculpate that person. The State of Alabama has for many years unwaveringly opposed making the crime scene evidence in Thomas Arthur’s case available to him for forensic testing at his expense. Alabama’s refusal to allow post-conviction testing of the evidence has continued with its opposition to a federal civil rights lawsuit Thomas Arthur filed seeking access to the biological evidence for DNA testing that could contribute to proving his innocence. That evidence sought for DNA testing includes Judy Wicker’s clothing, Judy Wicker’s rape kit that includes sperm recovered from her the morning of the murder, a wig and hair samples collected from Judy Wicker’s car, vacuum sweepings from the Wickers’ home, hair samples taken from a shoe, bullet cartridges, a bullet, and a pillow case taken from the Wickers’ home.
Murder can be characterized as what a State intends when it uses its prosecutorial power to obtain a conviction and death sentence that is tainted by numerous pre-trial, trial and post-trial irregularities, and possibly illegal tactics that have a direct bearing on concealing both the truth of the crime and the possible innocence of the defendant. There are many suspect aspects of Thomas Arthur’s case. Those include that the office of Alabama’s Attorney General strong-armed two credible alibi witnesses to recant their post-trial sworn affidavits that on the morning of Troy Wicker’s murder they saw and talked with Thomas Arthur in Decatur, which was then about an hours drive from Muscle Shoals. (Click here for affidavit one, and affidavit two.)
Murder describes what will happen September 27, 2007, if the State of Alabama and its agents commit the “wicked and morally reprehensible” act of administering a lethal mix of substances into Thomas Arthur’s body until he is legally, clinically and permanently dead – when there is the all too real possibility that he is factually innocent of Troy Wicker’s murder and the evidence that could prove it remains untested.
Murder is what Judy Wicker was convicted of committing in 1982 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama against her husband Troy Wicker. After almost ten years of imprisonment she made a deal with the State of Alabama. She would be paroled from her life sentence in exchange for recanting her trial testimony and numerous extra-judicial statements that she had been raped by a black intruder who then killed her husband, and that Thomas Arthur had nothing to do with the crime.
Murder is what Thomas Arthur was convicted in 1991 of committing against Troy Wicker. Yet none of the plethora of crime scene evidence that included hair, blood, sperm, fingerprints, and a bullet and bullet cartridges, was forensically linked to him. The only direct evidence placing Thomas Arthur at the murder scene was the revised testimony of Judy Wicker. (Judy Wicker also directly implicated her sister and her sister’s boyfriend in Troy Wicker’s murder, but for still unexplained reasons they were never prosecuted.)
Murder is a gravely serious charge, and if a State is going to make that accusation against a person, that person deserves the aid of a competent and diligent team of attorneys, who prior to trial independently investigate the case, interview witnesses, review the state’s evidence, and file all necessary pre-trial motions. To accomplish those crucial tasks, Thomas Arthur’s counsel was paid the princely sum of $1,000 – the amount designated by law in Alabama.
Murder can be punished by a sentence of death in Alabama, and that was Thomas Arthur’s sentence. However, Alabama does not provide a post-conviction lawyer for a death row prisoner, so by the time he was able to find a pro bono lawyer to handle his case the time limit had expired for him to file his state, and then a first federal habeas corpus petition. So neither Thomas Arthur’s claim of innocence nor any of the irregularities related to the investigation of Troy Wicker’s murder, Judy Wicker’s suspect testimony, and the deficient performance of Thomas Arthur’s counsel, has ever been considered by a state or federal habeas court for how they affected his constitutional right to due process, a fair trial, effective assistance of counsel and to be shielded from cruel and unusual punishment. (Thomas Arthur’s trial counsel has admitted that he received inadequate representation.)
Murder can be disproved, and a convicted person’s claim of innocence can be vindicated, by DNA testing of crime scene evidence that can directly or indirectly exculpate that person. The State of Alabama has for many years unwaveringly opposed making the crime scene evidence in Thomas Arthur’s case available to him for forensic testing at his expense. Alabama’s refusal to allow post-conviction testing of the evidence has continued with its opposition to a federal civil rights lawsuit Thomas Arthur filed seeking access to the biological evidence for DNA testing that could contribute to proving his innocence. That evidence sought for DNA testing includes Judy Wicker’s clothing, Judy Wicker’s rape kit that includes sperm recovered from her the morning of the murder, a wig and hair samples collected from Judy Wicker’s car, vacuum sweepings from the Wickers’ home, hair samples taken from a shoe, bullet cartridges, a bullet, and a pillow case taken from the Wickers’ home.
Murder can be characterized as what a State intends when it uses its prosecutorial power to obtain a conviction and death sentence that is tainted by numerous pre-trial, trial and post-trial irregularities, and possibly illegal tactics that have a direct bearing on concealing both the truth of the crime and the possible innocence of the defendant. There are many suspect aspects of Thomas Arthur’s case. Those include that the office of Alabama’s Attorney General strong-armed two credible alibi witnesses to recant their post-trial sworn affidavits that on the morning of Troy Wicker’s murder they saw and talked with Thomas Arthur in Decatur, which was then about an hours drive from Muscle Shoals. (Click here for affidavit one, and affidavit two.)
Murder describes what will happen September 27, 2007, if the State of Alabama and its agents commit the “wicked and morally reprehensible” act of administering a lethal mix of substances into Thomas Arthur’s body until he is legally, clinically and permanently dead – when there is the all too real possibility that he is factually innocent of Troy Wicker’s murder and the evidence that could prove it remains untested.