When Clarke opened the door for her, Lee said, Adrian Peeler stormed in and killed the boy and his mother. Before the killings, Lee said she went with Adrian Peeler to Clarke’s door. Lee, who lived across the street from Clarke, testified that she agreed to spy on the victims’ home in exchange for drugs. Days before Peeler was to be tried for the slaying, Clarke and her son were found shot to death in their Bridgeport apartment. Peeler went after the boyfriend a second time, killing him. Leroy witnessed an attempt by Peeler to shoot his mother’s boyfriend in a drug money dispute. The remarks, including statements that a life sentence for Peeler would be pointless and “insult” the victims, minimized the jury’s sense of responsibility for imposing death, Rademacher said.Īccording to trial testimony, the Peelers ran a lucrative crack cocaine ring out of the Bridgeport apartment of Josephine Lee, a crack addict. Peeler’s attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, charged in the appeal that closing arguments by former prosecutor Jonathan Benedict were improper and misled the jury about its sentencing power. Peeler, a former drug dealer, raises more than 30 claims in his appeal of the death sentence that examines such issues as whether Peeler’s due-process rights were violated either through prosecutorial misconduct, improper instructions to jurors, a lack of presentation to jurors of all relevant mitigating evidence and unreliable jury selection.Īlleged prosecutorial misconduct is one of a half-dozen issues that will likely be included in Thursday morning’s arguments. The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether Russell Peeler Jr., convicted of ordering the 1999 killings of Karen Clarke and her 8-year-old son Leroy “B.J.” Brown in Bridgeport, should have received the death penalty.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |