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| Fed court denies death row inmate appeal |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/04/2005 |
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A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling denying Mississippi death row inmate John B. Nixon Sr.'s claims that his attorney didn't do a good job and that his Rankin County jury shouldn't have been told about a previous rape conviction. Nixon appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans after a federal judge in Jackson - in decisions between 1998 and 2002 - denied Nixon's claims. The 5th Circuit this past week ruled that Nixon's claim of ineffective counsel involved only disagreement over courtroom strategy. And the appeals court said the evidence against Nixon was so overwhelming that the introduction of the rape conviction was a minor issue for consideration by the jury. Nixon, a former Utica auto repairman, was convicted of capital murder in the Jan. 2, 1985, murder-for-hire of Virginia Tucker, 45, in her Brandon home. Tucker's ex-husband, Elester Joseph Ponthieux of Raymond, is serving a life sentence for hiring Nixon to kill her. Virginia Tucker's husband, Thomas, was wounded and identified Nixon as the attacker. Two of Nixon's sons and a friend were also convicted in the killing. Among the ineffective counsel issues raised by Nixon were that his attorney presented an unprofessional closing argument during sentencing. Appeals Judge Edith H. Jones, writing for the 5th Circuit, said Nixon's attorneys made the decision to plead for his life rather than rehash the evidence that convicted him at trial. Jones said Nixon's sons were willing to testify against him and other family members wouldn't testify for him. "Contrary to Nixon's claim that this argument all but invited a death sentence, defense counsel was merely acknowledging the jury's verdict and asking for mercy," Jones wrote. According to court documents, Nixon had pleaded guilty to rape in 1958 in Texas. At Nixon's trial, prosecutors were allowed to use the rape conviction to support their seeking the death penalty. Nixon argued the information on the rape conviction unfairly turned the jury against him. Nixon said he probably would have gotten the same life sentence as Ponthieux except for the rape conviction. The 5th Circuit said the two cases were different. Jones said the evidence showed Nixon agreed to kill the Tuckers for money, brought his two sons along with him, rejected the Tuckers' attempts to pay him to leave them alone and wounded Thomas Tucker when he tried to flee. Jones said the jury heard only the barest details of the rape conviction. "Nixon was the paid killer and the central character in the grisly events," Jones wrote. "Nixon, moreover, was engaging in heartless, calculated murder for hire and bringing his children into the criminal enterprise as well; these facts qualitatively distinguish Nixon's guilt from that of Ponthieux." |
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