22 November 2010 :

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out the conviction of Roderick Newton, 32, black. The court said it agreed with a Dallas judge who found prosecutors at the 2000 trial of Newton improperly withheld evidence that could vindicate him. Newton was condemned for the March 9, 1999 death of 20-year-old Jesus Montoya. Newton was scheduled to die last year. His punishment was stopped after prosecutors gave Newton's lawyers a police questionnaire uncovered in a review of the case. That evidence never had been given to Newton's trial attorneys. Newton's appeals lawyers argued that the questionnaire — the first of three statements made to Mesquite detectives by a co-defendant who testified against Newton — was improperly withheld and could have been used to discredit the co-defendant's testimony. In the questionnaire, Julian Paul Williams told police he knew nothing of the slaying and wasn't involved. He changed his story in subsequent statements. Williams' fingerprints were found in Montoya's truck. He served a 10-year prison term and was released. Newton got a death sentence. Evidence showed that a day after the slaying, he pawned jewelry belonging to the murder victim. After stopping Newton's scheduled execution, the appeals court last year (on July 22, one day before the scheduled execution) returned the case to his Dallas County trial court for a hearing on the evidence issue. Prosecutors now must decide whether to try Newton again.