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Court: Death-row inmate can argue for new trial Friday, Jun 20, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A death-row inmate can pursue claims that his due-process rights were violated because prosecutors at his trial did not disclose a deal they made with a witness, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Raymond Sanders Jr. was convicted of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to die for the November 1989 slayings of Charles and Nancy Brannon of Malvern during a robbery. Sanders, now 47, asked the Supreme Court for permission to argue in circuit court that he deserves a new trial because prosecutors at his February 1991 trial in Hot Spring County withheld from the defense the fact that they agreed to dismiss a rape charge against a witness, Eddie Watkins, in exchange for his testimony. Watkins, a former cellmate of Sanders, testified that Sanders told him he killed the Brannons. Dan Harmon, lead prosecutor in the case, later testified in a hearing that the state offered Watkins a deal for his testimony. "As Watkins' testimony at petitioner's trial was significant and the defense could have impeached that testimony had it known of a deal, we find good cause to grant leave for petitioner to proceed in circuit court," the Supreme Court said Thursday in a per curiam order. Harmon and lawyer William Murphy, who represented Sanders at his trial, were both indicted in 1996 on racketeering charges. Harmon, who was accused of taking money and drugs from defendants in exchange for dropped charges, was convicted of three counts of conspiring to commit extortion, one count of racketeering and one count of conspiring to possess and distribute marijuana. Murphy pleaded guilty to one count of suborning perjury. Sanders also is serving a sentence of life without parole for the December 1989 slaying of Frederick LaSalle of Malvern during a robbery. |
