Circuit judges deny Arthur's murder appeal

MONTGOMERY -- A Colbert County death row inmate who was his own attorney in his capital murder trial has been denied federal appellate court relief.

An 11th U.S. Circuit Court three-judge panel has denied an appeal by Tommy Douglas Arthur.

Arthur was appealing a federal district judge's ruling on his 1991 capital murder conviction of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker, the husband of Arthur's lover, Judy Wicker.

The appeal was based partly on ineffective counsel.

Arthur, 64, was convicted three times of capital murder in Wicker's shooting death in 1982.

The murder case became high profile in the Shoals because Arthur managed to escape at one point and because of the unusual circumstances surrounding him opting to represent himself at trial.

Wicker's widow, who admitted to an affair with Arthur, was convicted in connection with the case and sentenced to life in prison. She agreed to testify against Arthur in a second trial.

Arthur, after being convicted in the third trial, asked the judge to sentence him to death. His conviction and sentence have been upheld at both the state and federal level and he's now running out of appellate options.

Clay Crenshaw, head of the capital litigation section of the Alabama attorney general's office, said Wednesday that Arthur could get a second execution date set within a year, if his remaining appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is not successful.

Crenshaw said Arthur can ask the U.S. 11th Circuit Court to reconsider its decision. If that fails, his last option will be to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

"That could take nine months or a year,'' Crenshaw said.

Arthur's first execution date was April 27, 2001, but it was stayed by a federal district judge so he could consider an appeal based on innocence.

Arthur maintained his innocence during all three trials, but he was convicted each time. He asked a judge to sentence him to death, believing he would never be executed and a death sentence would actually help his appeal.

Arthur acted as his own attorney during his third trial but didn't take the stand and didn't call potential alibi witnesses. His handling of the first trial became a factor in his latest appeal, the court said.

Arthur's federal appeal said his claims should be considered because he is innocent, Alabama impeded his constitutional right to file appellate briefs, because of a prosecutorial conflict of interest, because his trial and appellate attorneys were ineffective and because the trial court failed to ensure that Arthur's decision to represent himself and to request the death penalty were "knowing and voluntary.''

The three circuit judges answered each of Arthur's points, including his protestation of innocence.

"He has not established that he is actually innocent or that the district court erred in denying him discovery and an evidentiary hearing on his claim of actual innocence,'' the court said in its opinion.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605 or dtb12345@aol.com.