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Mauro
Morris BARRAZA
Classification:
Homicide
Characteristics:
Rape - Robbery - Juvenile (17)
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
June 14,
1989
Date of birth:
May 5,
1972
Victim profile: Vilorie
Nelson,
73
Method of murder:
Died from a
crushing blunt injury to the chest caused by her assailant jumping in
the air and landing on Nelson with his knees
Location: Tarrant County, Texas, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on April 30, 1991. Commuted to life
in prison on June 22, 2005
United States Court of Appeals For the Fifth Circuit
Media Advisory: Mauro Morris Barraza Scheduled For
Execution
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers
the following information on Mauro Morris Barraza, who is scheduled to
be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29, 2004.
On April 8, 1991, Mauro Morris Barraza was
sentenced to die for the capital murder of Vilorie Nelson in her
Haltom City Home in June 1989. A summary of the evidence presented at
trial follows.
FACTS OF THE CRIME
Joy Nelson, the victim’s daughter, returned home
from work at approximately 6:45 on the evening on June 14, 1989, and
discovered her mother’s body on the floor of her bedroom covered with
a bedspread. The house was in disarray, with drawers pulled open,
furniture turned over, and her mother’s mattress askew. She found a
pair of garden shears in the dining room and a pair of scissors in the
backyard. Further investigation alerted Joy Nelson that property was
missing, including jewelry and a carton of cigarettes.
An autopsy determined that wounds to Vilorie
Nelson’s head indicated that her assailant had struck her at least
twice with garden shears, possibly knocking her unconscious. However,
these injuries were not fatal, and Nelson ultimately died from a
crushing blunt injury to the chest caused by her assailant jumping in
the air and landing on Nelson with his knees.
On the day of the murder, four of Nelson’s
neighbors saw Barraza walk down Nelson’s street and jump a fence into
Nelson’s backyard. The investigation of Nelson’s murder led to the
arrest and indictment of Barraza on the charge of capital murder.
Subsequent to his arrest, Barraza gave a statement
to police that described in detail his version of the murder. Barraza
stated that he and another man knocked on Nelson’s door and no one
answered. After knocking on other doors and walking up and down the
street, Barraza went behind a neighbor’s house and climbed over the
fence into Nelson’s backyard. Barraza then removed the screen from a
window, opened the window, and entered the house. Once inside, Barraza
heard the television on and saw Vilorie Nelson sitting in front of it.
Barraza picked up some shears and walked into the living room, where
he struck the victim once on the right side of the head. After she
fell over, Barraza hit her again.
Barraza then removed her underwear and threw a
tablecloth over her. He claimed that he then started jumping on her
chest with his knees. Barraza also admitted searching the house and
finding the victim’s jewelry, a carton of cigarettes, and some other
items, which he took.
A police fingerprint expert testified that he found
Barraza’s fingerprints on a bedroom window screen. Additionally, a DNA
specialist and a forensic biologist testified that forensic evidence
revealed that, as Nelson lay dying, Barraza sexually assaulted her.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Sept. 21, 1989 — A Tarrant County grand jury
indicted Barraza for the capital murder of Vilorie Nelson while in
the course of committing burglary of the habitation.
Apr. 5, 1991 — A jury found Barraza guilty of
capital murder.
Apr. 8, 1991 — Following a separate punishment
hearing, the court assessed a sentence of death.
Oct. 4, 1994 — The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals affirmed Barraza’s conviction and sentence.
Nov. 9, 1994 — The Court of Criminal Appeals
declined to rehear the case.
May 1, 1995 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied
Barraza’s first petition for writ of certiorari
June 29, 1995 — Barraza filed an application for
writ of habeas corpus in the trial court.
Dec. 9, 1998 — Based on the recommendation of the
trial court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Barraza’s
application for writ of habeas corpus.
June 1, 1999 — Barraza filed a petition for writ
of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.
Oct. 4, 1999 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied
Barraza’s second petition for writ of certiorari.
July 31, 2002 — The federal district court denied
Barraza’s petition for habeas relief.
Sept. 6, 2002 — The federal district court denied
permission to appeal.
Dec. 11, 2002 — Barraza requested permission to
appeal from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
May 1, 2003 — The Fifth Circuit denied permission
to appeal in a published opinion.
July 29, 2003 — Barraza filed a third petition
for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oct. 14, 2003 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the
petition.
June 16, 2004 — Barraza filed a subsequent
application for writ of habeas corpus in the Court of Criminal
Appeals. The application is pending.
PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY
On May 20, 1988, Barraza burglarized Carson Row’s
house, stealing jewelry, money, cassette tapes, and cigarette lighters.
In the spring of 1989, Barraza broke into a vacant house in Haltom
City, but did not steal anything because there was nothing to take.
Also in 1989, Barraza burglarized Cowtown Racing. Barraza also claimed
that he burglarized a house in Granbury, Texas. On March 23, 1991,
after returning to the Tarrant County Jail from a court hearing in his
capital murder case, Barraza swore at a correctional officer and
repeatedly slammed a phone receiver into the wall.
Granted a stay of execution by the US
Supreme Court pending a decision in Simmons.
Case Overview
Internationaljusticeproject.org
The Crime
On June 14, 1989, Barraza violently attacked and
sexually assaulted 73- year-old Vilorie Nelson in her home during the
course of a burglary. He murdered her by jumping on her chest and
purposefully landing on her with his knees several times, crushing her
heart and major blood vessels.
Her dead body was found when her daughter, Joy
Nelson, arrived home from work later that day. Barraza claimed he was
intoxicated at the time of the offence; he was high on crack and cocaine.
The Trial
Mauro Morris Barraza was convicted of capital murder
and sentenced to death by lethal injection by a jury in Tarrant County.
The defence was insanity. At his trial, Barraza presented expert
testimony that he suffered from a drug psychosis, a severe mental
disease that prevented him from forming the requisite intent to kill.
On cross-examination, this same expert testified that
Barraza suffered from an organic brain disorder as a result of his long-term
addiction to drugs and alcohol. In the conclusion to his direct
testimony, this expert testified that when Barraza is on a certain "collection
of drugs" he could be expected to be violent, but that most of his life
he had not shown violent behaviour.
Based upon this evidence, the trial court allowed
defensive charges on the issues of insanity and temporary insanity. The
state countered with two experts who testified that Barraza had no
mental disease or defect and understood that what he had done was wrong.
They also contended that Barraza was faking.
After Barraza had exhausted his direct appeal, the
state trial court set an execution date. Barraza's state habeas petition
was then filed on June 29, 1995, and the execution date was lifted to
allow the state habeas to proceed. The state habeas judge granted
Barraza's request for money to obtain psychiatric testing, responding to
the argument that the possibility of organic brain damage had been
raised at trial.
On January 30, 1996, the trial court held an
evidentiary hearing on the motion at which it heard the testimony of
Barraza's expert, Dr. J. Douglas Crowder, a forensic psychiatrist and
professor at Southwestern Medical School.
Dr. Crowder expressed the opinion that the testing
done by Drs. Coons, Peek, and Parker, who all testified at trial, was
inadequate and that more testing would be necessary to rule out the
possibility of organic brain damage. The trial court did not rule
immediately. Rather, it asked that Barraza be examined by a competent
expert appointed by the court.
Then in a hearing held on May 6, 1996, Dr. Melissa
Renee Ferguson, the court-appointed expert, testified that Barraza
understood the death penalty, was competent to be executed, and had no
significant deficits which would indicate the need to go further. The
court then refused to fund more testing, finding no objective reason for
more testing. These findings were adopted by the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals.
A similar request for funding to the United States
District Court followed, supported by an affidavit of Dr. Crowder,
essentially stating that he adhered to his view that further testing was
needed despite Dr. Ferguson's testimony. The federal district court
found no objective reason for more testing and refused the requested
funding.
Texas, USA.
Governor Commutes 28 Death Sentences
June 22, 2005
Gov. Rick Perry commuted the
death sentences of 28 convicted killers. Perry ordered the
commutations in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that
the Constitution forbids executing anyone for a crime committed before
the age of 18.
The inmates with commuted
sentences are:
Robert Aaron Acuna, Steven Brian
Alvarado, Randy Arroyo, Mark Sam Arthur, Johnnie Bernal, Edward Brian
Capetillo, Raymond Levi Cobb, John Curtis Dewberry, Justin Wiley
Dickens, Tony Tyrone Dixon, Derek Jermaine Guillen, Jimmy Jackson,
Eddie C. Johnson, Anzel Keon Jones, Leo Little, Michael Lopez, Jose
Ignacio Monterrubio, Efrain Perez, Whitney Lee Reeves, Jorge Alfredo
Salinas, Christopher Julian Solomon, Oswaldo Regalado Soriano, Robert
Springsteen IV, Son Vu Khai Tran, Raul Omar Villarreal, Bruce Williams,
Nanon McKewn Williams and Geno Capoletti Wilson.
One other capital murderer who
was 17 at the time of his crime, Mauro Morris Barraza, was already
given a reformed sentence by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Convicted murderer Patrick Horn is in federal custody and Gov. Perry
has not commuted his sentence at this time.
