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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1984)
Tuesday, January 24, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3 Supreme Court decision could affect Autry case Jobless rate goes up slightly despite creation of new jobs United Press International AUSTIN — Texas officials said Monday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that states do not have to compare capital punishment cases to see if the death penalty is being handed out fairly means James "Cowboy” Autry can expect a new execution date soon. The high court justices re versed a California ruling in the double-murder case of Robert Alton Harris, whose attorneys claimed state law did not provide sufficient consti tutional safeguards. The issue became known as proportionality and sug gested that slates should com pare capital murder and first- degree murder cases to en sure equality in sentencing. Texas has maintained the state’s system of mandatory review of capital punishment cases to the court of criminal appeals is a sufficient test of proportionality. “I felt f or several years that Texas’ law is constitutional and that it’s fair to the defen dants as well as the state,” Gov. Mark White said. “I hope now we can see these important issues resolved without undue delay.” Attorney General Jim Mat tox said the ruling meant Au try and death row inmates Ronald Clark O’Bryan and Thomas “Andy” Barefoot all could be executed within the next three to six months. O’Bryan, a former optician in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, was convicted of the 1974 Haloween poisoning of his 8-year-old son. His crime earned him the nick name “Candy Man.” Barefoot, 38, was convicted of the 1978 murder of Harker Heights police offier Carl Levin. His execution has been halted previously by a Sup reme Court stay. The ruling only partially clears the way for Autry’s ex ecution, though, said Stefan Presser of the American Civil Liberties Union in Houston. He also said he does not expect Texas to set another Mother testifies against nurse accused of murdering child I IlI'K in censo: Christi Hers fo nas’ Bos is bannin yer in puli most abet test) is xursint- socially lb thehigba nsibilitv [enocidcu feet” oik uinan at about United Press International GEORGETOWN — The mother of 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan sobbed con tinuously Monday as she told a jury the baby girl was laughing and healthy moments before nurse Genene Jones gave her two injections, and a few hours later Chelsea was dead. The intensely emotional testi mony from Petti McClellan, 28, opened the second week of Jones’ murder trial. The voca tional nurse is accused of mur dering Chelsea with the power ful muscle-relaxant called suc- cinylcholine. McClellan said Chelsea’s death on Sept. 17, 1982, shock ed her because the child had been playful and healthy early irsoflegt on the day she died. “One minute she was ning and playing, and the run- next T Hellfl m * nule s ^ ie was i llst laying there, J and then they came out and tell ' , asso jme she’s gone,” said the dark- 'An/4i hairec1 ’ neatl Y dressed woman, -/I lvv|whose tears and sobs forced sev eral breaks in her testimony. Jones, a 33-year-old mother of two, stared impassively at McClellan throughout her testi- ,,™mony. McClellan did not look at exas Jijones. Economy Chelsea's mother testified her ie stateMbaby had a cold the first time she e criticusBwent to Dr. Kathleen Holland’s nald MKerrville pediatric clinic, where uses bins Jones worked, on Aug. 24, 1982. lieu ofi /pie havei ;h to spta to cent! Chelsea accompanied her mother to the clinic again on Sept. 17, when McClellan’s son Cameron, now' 5, had the flu. Holland decided Chelsea needed some routine immuniza tions, and McClellan said Jones got “sort of huffy” when she in sisted on accompanying her daughter into the examining room. She said she held her baby in her arms as the nurse gave the child the first of tw'o injections. “She gave her a shot in her leg, her left leg, on her upper thigh,” said McClellan. “She (Chelsea) started acting funny. She wasn’t breathing right and her eyes were looking at me. They were funny. She was whimpering, trying to say ‘Mama,’ anil she couldn’t out. get it “I told Genene something was wrong, to do something. She said Chelsea was mad because she had to have a shot. She gave her another shot. She went limp like a rag doll. She was looking at me but she didn’t look like she could see me,” McClellan said. “Her eyes were all strange looking. She was just like a Rag gedy Ann. Genene took her and said she was having a seizure.” After being treated in a Kerr- ville hospital emergency room, McClellan said Chelsea again seemed healthy. Holland, however, decided to take the baby by ambulance to a San Antonio hospital for further ex amination. Jones accompanied Chelsea in the ambulance while Holland and the McClellans followed in other cars. A few miles outside Kerrville, the ambulance pulled to the side of the road and the group then made a hurried de tour to a small hospital in Com fort. “When they took her out of the ambulance, she was just laying there, blue,” McClellan testified. On cross-examination, de fense attorneys tried to show Chelsea had experienced sever al serious health problems be fore being treated at Dr. Hol land’s clinic. But McClellan in sisted her daughter was healthy and normal. J, II liuum. mu. .ii ii.i > i -.iiv, ,, i - j. lis school formed during a subsequent [ iophyoflt hospital stay found nothing | wrong with the child. K VI is a sU Is should Dice. Iff’ onservafl his peroi- student e does a jro and) d resent l ood pul 1 ) ation of l ' : formed healthy i be realitf :ebygro“! nent of t*! 6 destrud 1 ’ 1 S es . suclt legitin^ should cts on an g t( t A, Terr de to a 3, an eve 9 ; >niy *; don we Confee >f the Itf# rate staf f ' s event' 9 ite w' 11 ,t be ^ t Robert tntebelltf race m ant onB‘<[ Other c mgs ;ny re s ch a Amer' ( ir hea* the rev las an lack A" 1 trry Ro f JJass Minutes after Jones took the child into an examining room, the baby suffered a seizure and was rushed to an emergency room. McClellan said tests per- evelopment oundation Meeting the Needs of Texas A&M BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION SPECIAL Join us for EXERCISE, DOOR PRIZES, Food, Drinks, and specials for ALL 10% off all Merchandise (Good CELEBRATION DAY Only) the* i waist " basket Neighborhood Extras? 846-1013 402 Tarrow College Station AEROBIC EXERCISE •Morning and Evening Classes •Open 7 Days A Week •Short term memberships No contracts •Beginner classes Available execution date for his client immediately. “There’s still the incompe tence of counsel issue and also there’s an Eighth Amend ment claim that they tortured him,” Presser said. Autry is the death row in mate who spent an nearly hour on a stretcher with the executioner’s needle in his arm last October until a stay was issued just minutes before he was to die. A hearing was held last Thursday in Beaumont feder al court to address the incom petency and torture claims. Presser said he would be filing his final briefs in two weeks and expected a ruling soon after. United Press International AUSTIN — The Texas Em ployment Commission reported Monday that the jobless rate in most metropolitan areas went up during December, even though the state’s slowly impro ving economy continued to gen erate new jobs. “Most of the areas followed the statewide trend of going up a bit,” said labor market analyst Diane Dobie. “Having both the level of employment and unem ployment rise over the month is a bit unusual but it does happen. “What that means is that even though there were jobs being created, there simply were not enough to accommodate every one entering the labor force.” Both Bryan-College Station and Austin continued to record the lowest jobless rates in Texas. The December unemployment rate was only 3.2 percent for Bryan and 4.0 percent for Au stin. Texas recorded an average unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent in December, up sharply from the November rate of 6.7 percent. The average jobless rate overall for 1983 was 8 per cent. _ The unemployment rates for Texas metropolitan areas were: Austin, 4.0 percent; Brownsvil- le-Harlingen-San Benito, 15.7 percent; Bryan-College Station 3.2 percent; Corpus Christi, 9.9 percent; Dallas-Fort Worth, 4.5 percent; El Paso, 11.3 percent; Galveston-Texas City, 10.4 per cent; Houston, 7.9 percent, Laredo 22.0 percent; Lubbock 7 percent; Midland 5.0 percent; Odessa 6.9 percent; San Anto nio 5.6 percent; Wichita Falls, 5.7 percent. 53 E.TJriCL cSfiin daxe. fox .Ai £.n & AVonzzn Guz fizof-zmionaC ifzin tfi can (zztfi tj youz Celt today. r JO r J L/kxai ■zSixits. IOC) lou dzoiiz a indajLUua, cTrvznus. £>93-5909 zzafiiitii zzcjinzzn to duaff izssdi. at Northgate Above Farmer's Market New, lower rates for large numbers of copies per origin al. 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