Articles Posted in Criminal Appeals

Recently, 30-year-old Drew Buechlein’s appeal of his burglary plea conviction was denied by a New Jersey appeals court. Buechlein, who is said to be homeless, pleaded guilty to committing burglary in Westville in 2009. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail, and probation according to a news article at NJ.com. At issue was whether Buechlein’s attorney represented him effectively in the case.

Buechlein claimed that his lawyer did not clearly explain the potential consequences of pleading guilty, which he argues his lawyer pressured him into doing. He also says that his lawyer did not make any effort to suppress his identification as a suspect in a photo array. Buechlein also attempted to present a defense to appeals judges, saying that he could not have committed the burglary in Westville, because he had been charged in a Brooklawn burglary. Brooklawn borders Westville, according to the article.

The suspect was released from jail in March of 2014 after having been incarcerated since December of 2011 on prior burglary and drug charges.

In February of last year, 22-year-old Danielle Packer was arrested and charged in the death of another motorist following a car crash that authorities believe was caused by Packer’s ‘huffing’ of dust cleaner in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Packer was charged with 18 counts, including involuntary manslaughter, third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and vehicular homicide while under the influence. The fatal accident occurred in August of 2012; Packer was convicted of third-degree murder and other charges in October of 2014.

Now, Packer is appealing her conviction and seeking a new trial. She was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for the murder, which took the life of 25-year-old Matthew Snyder. Packer, who is a resident of Bellefonte, and her attorney claim that the judge in the case erred when the jury was allowed to hear person information about the victim and his wife. Packer believes the information prejudiced the jury. Her attorney also claims that critical evidence was withheld by the prosecution, evidence provided by a pathologist who said that Packer was not significantly intoxicated by the computer dusting spray following the crash.

The judge in the case has 120 days to make a decision on whether Packer may be retried in the case; if no decision is made by the end of the time limit, the motion is automatically denied. However, Packer and her attorney may still appeal to Pennsylvania Superior Court.

On Wednesday, February 4 it was announced that the second-degree murder conviction of 23-year-old Frederick Lee Wade had been overturned by a Florida appeals court. Wade, of Jacksonville, was found guilty in 2011 of shooting 20-year-old Kalil McCoy as he rode in the passenger seat of Wade’s vehicle when the two became involved in an argument. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

The appeals court ruled that at Wade’s trial the judge gave faulty instructions to the jury. Because the court threw out both the conviction and sentence, prosecutors in the case said they will try Wade for the murder again.

According to a news report at The Florida Times Union, Wade and McCoy had been at a nightclub on June 19 before they went to a park. Upon leaving, an argument started when the victim wanted to roll her window down, but Wade objected. Wade allegedly fired the gun at McCoy after she failed to stop arguing after he told her to “shut up.” There were three other individuals in the vehicle at the time who pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.

In November of 2013, 37-year-old Jeffery Trevino was sentenced by District Judge Leonardo Castro to serve 27 1/2 years for the murder of his wife, 30-year-old Kira Steger. Now, Trevino is in court to appeal his conviction, according to a news article at Fox News.

Steger disappeared; Trevino was later found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder. His wife’s body was found after months of searching in the Mississippi River in May of 2013. Jurors in the trial found that Trevino did not intend to kill his wife, as they argued and he allegedly used a pillow to quiet and calm her, not kill her.

While the sentence for second-degree unintentional murder is typically between 10 and 13 years, the judge enhanced Trevino’s sentence due to aggravating factors including the fact that concealing his wife’s body by placing it in the river added to the anguish for her grieving family members.

On Tuesday January 20, news reports revealed that the appeal of Hemy Neuman, dubbed the “Dunwoody Day Care Killer,” would be heard by the Georgia Supreme Court. Neuman was convicted in 2012 in the murder of Rusty Sneiderman, husband of Neuman’s mistress, Andrea Sneiderman. Neuman killed Sneiderman in the parking lot of the preschool in Dunwoody his own son attended.

Neuman’s defense team is appealing their client’s conviction based on four separate arguments. Andrea Sneiderman worked for Neuman, who was her supervisor. It was found by a jury at a later date that Andrea had lied on the stand regarding the affair with Neuman. She denied the affair, but was convicted of perjury in 2013.

Lawyers for Neuman say that the false testimony of Sneiderman was the basis for his conviction. In addition, his defense team claims that evidence from two defense consultant doctors who visited Neuman in jail should not have been allowed by the judge in the case. Neuman had been seeing a family therapist for a mood disorder, and was called suicidal by that therapist. Neuman’s lawyers said the records of his treatment should have been allowed in court.

In 2012, 60-year-old Robert Wayne Silvia was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in 2010. He was sentenced to life in prison. Now, Silvia is appealing his conviction, claiming that his right to a pretrial competency hearing was violated.

Darlene Berthelot, Silvia’s then girlfriend, was found in a freezer after her daughter contacted deputies in Jasper County and requested that they check on her. Berthelot and Silvia lived together in a home in Jaycees. According to the medical examiner, 52-year-old Berthelot had been dead for approximately four to five days.

Silvia does not deny killing his girlfriend, but says that he doesn’t remember anything that happened immediately before or after the shooting took place. He says that at the time, he was intoxicated and in a “state of hopeless despair” because Berthelot was planning on leaving him. Silvia’s attorney argued that there was no documentation in the court’s record to indicate his client had been examined, although a competency examination was ordered.

Earlier this month, Reyna Patricia Valencia’s conviction in the 2011 death of a 12-year-old boy was upheld by the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Valencia was found guilty of reckless driving, felony death by motor vehicle, and two counts of felonious restraint in September of 2013. She appealed the verdict based on a motion to dismiss the two charges of felonious restraint, claiming that the 12 and 14-year-old boys who got into her vehicle on the fateful day did so willingly, and that she did not coerce them by fraud. Valencia was sentenced to 6 years, two months, and 25 days in prison.

Ultimately, Valencia was allegedly drinking along the way after she had invited the two boys to go along with her as she prepared for a party that evening, telling them their mother had given permission for them to go with her. At some point in the trip, witnesses reported Valencia’s 2003 Dodge Stratus was swerving all over U.S. 220, and that she was driving at a high rate of speed before she lost control of the vehicle. The Stratus then swerved off an embankment before becoming airborne. It landed against an interstate exit sign, flipped over on its roof. 12-year-old Roland Sierra died at the scene after being ejected from the vehicle. Valencia’s BAC was found to be .18.

According to the Court of Appeals, substantial evidence was presented by the state at trial that Valencia did fraudulently induce the brothers to go with her to run errands. The boys were playing basketball at their home at the time. The court found that she lied to the boys, and that there was no question that the boys’ mother did not give permission for them to go with Valencia.

In 1993, 48-year-old Charles Ray Crawford was convicted of rape. Today, he is sitting on death row in Mississippi for the murder of Kristy Ray in Tippah County, according to a news article at Gulflive.com. Crawford believes that he was given the death penalty in the murder case because of the 1993 rape conviction. Now, 20 years later, he is appealing the rape conviction based on ineffective counsel in the case.

Essentially, Crawford may not remain on death row if he can win his appeal of the rape conviction. He was charged with rape and aggravated assault in 1992, and while free on bond, arrested for murdering Kristy Ray. In 1993, he was convicted on the rape charges and sentenced to 66 years in prison. Shortly thereafter, Crawford was convicted of murdering Ray in 1994 and given the death penalty. Prosecutors in the murder case argued for the death penalty, maintaining that Crawford’s criminal history as a rapist was an aggravating factor that justified he be given the death penalty.

The prosecutor in the case filed a motion to throw out Crawford’s appeal, however the Mississippi Supreme Court denied the motion. The court gave no comment on why the motion was denied.

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear George Toca’s appeal of a life prison sentence without parole he was given when he was just 17 years old; that was 30 years ago. Toca was found guilty of killing a friend during a botched robbery, although the killing was said to be accidental.

At issue is a ruling the U.S. Supreme Court made two years ago, which banned those who were under the age of 18 from being sentenced to life without parole. The court determined in 2012 that such a sentence for juveniles was “cruel and unusual punishment.” Now, the court will decide whether to apply the rule to Toca’s case retroactively.

Toca has maintained his innocence, and another person has claimed responsibility in the killing; regardless, innocence is not the issue before the court. Other state supreme courts, including those in Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, have refused requests for resentencing finding the 2012 rule procedural.

Robert Ray, a 28-year-old Denver man who is on death row for a crime he was convicted of in 2009, is appealing his conviction in an earlier criminal case, requesting a new trial in a case he was convicted of in 2004 for allegedly attempting to murder two men at an Aurora Park.

Ray was convicted of attempted murder in the 2004 shooting of Javad Marshall-Fields and another man; Marshall-Fields was the son of state Representative Rhonda Fields. Ray allegedly ordered the shooting of Marshall-Fields when he agreed to testify against Ray in the case. According to a news report at abc7 in Denver, Marshall-Ray and his fiancée were murdered a day prior to Marshall-Ray’s scheduled testimony in June of 2005; they were gunned down in a car. Because he was convicted in the attempted park murders, prosecutors felt that Ray should face the death penalty for the murder of Marshall-Ray and his fiancée, Vivianne Wolfe.

Ray is appealing his earlier conviction and hoping to get a new trial based on possible procedural errors.