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Dec 26, 2008 12:14 pm US/Central
Garland Cop Killer Loses Federal Court Appeal
TEXAS (AP) ―
The convicted killer of a Garland police officer has moved closer to execution by losing a federal court appeal that challenged the competence of his lawyers at his capital murder trial more than a decade ago.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week turned down Kenneth Mosley, 50, who was seeking permission to pursue additional appeals of his conviction for the 1997 shooting death of police officer Michael Moore. Moore was gunned down trying to stop Mosley's robbery of a bank.
Evidence showed Mosley already had robbed a Bank One branch in Garland in January 1997, showed up at the same bank the following month and was recognized by employees as he waited in line. They called police and Moore, a 10-year veteran, was among officers to respond.
He approached Mosley and was fatally shot in the ensuing struggle as both he and Mosley fell through a window. Mosley was shot in the wrist by another officer.
At his trial, Mosley's lawyers didn't deny he shot the officer but tried to show Mosley didn't intend to kill him. They also argued drug use was to blame for his behavior.
Mosley, identified in Texas prison records as a native of Flint, Mich., testified he never knew his gun went off, saying it was fired by accident five times as he was trying to surrender it to Moore. But from the witness stand, he also launched into a profanity-laced tirade against the officer's family and other police officers. Jail officers also testified that after his conviction, he was belligerent while in lockup and said it would make his day to kill another cop.
Dallas County jurors deliberated 30 minutes before deciding Mosley should be put to death.
In their request to the New Orleans-based appeals court for a certificate of appealability, Mosley's appellate lawyers argued trial attorneys were ineffective because they failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence on his behalf, that they failed to object to testimony from the officer's widow and failed to contest the admitting of an entire investigation of the shooting by a prosecution expert who testified the final gunshot to Moore was fired from more than a foot away.
The testimony supported prosecution contentions Mosley stepped back to fire a final "coup de grace shot." They also challenged what they said was improper impeachment of a defense witness by prosecutors and said trial lawyers improperly failed to challenge a portion of jury instructions.
Evidence showed Mosley sexually assaulted a woman in 1985, had other arrests for marijuana and possession of illegal knives, that he was arrested for stealing merchandise from a Home Depot and then taking the items back for cash refunds, and for robbing a Home Depot at gunpoint six days before the officer's shooting.
The appeals court, in its ruling late Tuesday, said Mosley's trial lawyers conducted a "reasonable investigation" by interviewing him, family members, friends, co-workers and a counselor.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a federal district court earlier upheld Mosley's conviction and death sentence. Mosley does not yet have an execution date.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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