Texas
Judge delays next week’s execution of death row inmate
HOUSTON (AP) — Next week’s scheduled execution of a Texas death row inmate who was convicted in the killing of another prisoner was delayed by a judge.
Anibal Canales Jr., 58, had been set to be executed March 29 for the July 1997 strangling death of another inmate, Gary Dickerson, at the Telford state prison, which is located near New Boston in northeast Texas.
But on Thursday, state District Judge Bill Miller, in Bowie County, signed an order withdrawing Canales’ execution date.
Both prosecutors and Canales’ attorneys agreed to the delay to allow the inmate’s lawyers more time to seek additional evidence in his case, according to the judge’s order.
The order was meant to give Canales’ legal team time to “investigate serious flaws in the criminal investigation and prosecutions for the 1997 murder,” Joseph Perkovich, one of Canales’ lawyers, said in an email Monday.
Canales had been serving a 15-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault when he joined the Texas Mafia prison gang, prosecutors said. After the gang believed Dickerson had informed authorities about tobacco it had tried to smuggle into the prison, it ordered Canales and other gang members to kill him, according to authorities.
Canales and another gang member went to Dickerson’s cell, with Canales holding Dickerson down while the other gang member strangled him, prosecutors said.
But Canales’ attorneys have previously argued he was forced to do whatever the gang asked of him in exchange for their protection. Prior heart attacks had left him physically vulnerable as another prison gang sought to kill him.
Canales’ lawyers at his trial failed to tell jurors about the circumstances that forced him to take part in the killing and also about his childhood, which was rife with sexual abuse, poverty, neglect and homelessness, according to his attorneys.
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Canales’ claims about having ineffective lawyers at his trial.
But in a dissent, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said there appeared to be “more than a reasonable probability” that the mitigating evidence Canales’ trial lawyers did not present would have led at least one juror to sentence him to life in prison instead of death.
This is the second execution in the last two weeks that has been delayed in Texas.
On March 7, a judge withdrew the execution warrant for Andre Thomas. He had been set to receive a lethal injection April 5 for fatally stabbing his estranged wife, their 4-year-old son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Lawyers for Thomas — who gouged out both of his eyes — said he should not be executed because he is severely mentally ill.
The next execution in Texas is set for April 26.
California
Federal judge blocks key parts of state’s handgun law
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked key provisions of a California law that drastically restricts the sale of new handguns in the state, saying parts of the legislation violate the Second Amendment.
A lawsuit challenging the law was filed last year by the California Rifle & Pistol Association and other gun rights supporters following a landmark 2022 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that set new standards for evaluating firearm restrictions. The ruling left many laws aimed at regulating and limiting the sale and use of guns — in California and nationwide — at risk of being struck down.
U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney, sitting in Santa Ana, wrote Monday that California’s requirements for new handguns are unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Because of these restrictions, Carney wrote, no new models of semiautomatic handguns have been approved for sale since 2013 and Californians are forced to buy older and potentially less safe models.
He issued a preliminary injunction to take effect in two weeks, meaning the state would have to stop enforcing the law. The delay gives the state Department of Justice time to appeal.
“The fact of the matter is, California’s gun safety laws save lives, and California’s Unsafe Handgun Act is no exception,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to lead efforts to advance and defend California’s gun safety laws. As we move forward to determine next steps in this case, Californians should know that this injunction has not gone into effect and that California’s important gun safety requirements related to the Unsafe Handgun Act remain in effect.”
In California, state law requires new handguns to have three components: A chamber load indicator, which shows whether the gun is loaded; a magazine disconnect mechanism that will stop the gun from firing if the magazine is not properly inserted; and microstamping capability so law enforcement can more easily link spent shell casings to the guns they were fired from.
“No handgun available in the world has all three of these features,” the judge wrote. “These regulations are having a devastating impact on Californians’ ability to acquire and use new, state-of-the-art handguns.”
Older handguns have been grandfathered into what’s known as the “roster,” or a list of guns that pass a safety test under state law known as the Unsafe Handgun Act.
“Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves,” he wrote. “They should not be forced to settle for decade-old models of handguns to ensure that they remain safe inside or outside the home.”
Previous attempts to challenge the state law, filed before last year’s Supreme Court ruling, failed.
Chuck Michel, head of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, said the three requirements were “impossible to satisfy.”
“For decades this ‘roster’ law has deprived law-abiding citizens of the right to choose a handgun appropriate for their individual needs,” he wrote in a statement Monday. “If we can hold on to this great Second Amendment win, people will be able to choose from among thousands of the latest, greatest, and safest handguns made today.”
Only New York also has a similar microstamping requirement, according to gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, hailed the preliminary injunction in a statement Monday.
“For too long, the Second Amendment has been significantly infringed upon by elected officials who have taken every opportunity to put roadblocks in front of law-abiding citizens seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” said Lawrence Keane, the organization’s senior vice president. “The order is the first step in what will be a protracted legal battle, but it is a significant win.”
