Freddie Lee Wright
Mobile
County, Alabama
Date of Crime: December 1, 1977
Executed March 3, 2000
On Dec. 1, 1977, Warren and Lois Green were murdered during a
robbery of the Western Auto store that they owned and operated in Mount
Vernon. Shortly before the murders, a customer, Mary Johnson, noticed
a man entering the store as she was leaving. After she heard about the
murders, she identified Theodore Otis Roberts from a police photo spread as
the man she saw entering along with his blue car that she saw parked
outside.
Mobile County Detective Albert Stroh then filed a search affidavit in which
he swore under oath that Roberts' girlfriend, Sharlene Tipton, told him she
had been with Roberts twenty-four hours a day and that Roberts' handgun was
the weapon used in the murders. Based on this affidavit, a search
warrant was issued, and Robert's handgun was recovered. A state expert
positively identified the handgun as the weapon used in the murders. Roberts was then arrested and bound over for trial. Tipton also
reportedly led police to property that had been taken from the Western Auto
store.
In the summer of 1978, a Mississippi inmate named Roger McQueen claimed to
have knowledge of the murders. After interviewing McQueen, police
arrested Freddie Lee Wright as well as two other individuals, Percy Craig
and Reginald Tinsley. McQueen and Craig eventually were to testify
that McQueen (not Roberts) was the first member of the robbery team to enter
the Western Auto store. They disclaimed any involvement by Roberts and
implicated Wright as the triggerman instead. Following these arrests, all
charges against Roberts were dropped.
At Wright's trial, McQueen and Craig, both of whom had criminal records,
testified against Wright. They admitted culpability in the robbery. (Tinsley did not testify.) The state withheld the witness
identification of Roberts as well as the search affidavit, which contained
the statement by Roberts' girlfriend. The only evidence the state
submitted was the identification of an earlier unspecified handgun (Robert's
gun) as the murder weapon. At Wright's trial, an expert testified that
Wright's handgun was consistent with the murder weapon. The state also
withheld evidence of its deals with McQueen and Craig.
Wright's first trial ended in a mistrial. The mixed race jury voted 11
to 1 to acquit him. Wright was black and the victims were white. The holdout juror, a white female, admitted later that she did not believe
Wright was guilty, but felt “someone must be severely punished for such a
senseless crime.”
At Wright's second trial the prosecution used at least seven of its ten
peremptory challenges to exclude black jurors, resulting in an all white
jury. In addition to the first trial evidence, it presented the
testimony of Wright's former girlfriend, Doris Lambert. Lambert
testified that Wright admitted to the murders in June 1977, which was six
months before they were committed. The state withheld evidence of
Lambert's extensive psychiatric history as well as her drug addiction. Lambert reportedly received help regaining custody of her children in
exchange for her testimony against Wright. The state had previously
arrested Wright's fiancée on an apparently trumped up charge and
unsuccessfully tried to pressure her to testify against Wright. The
second trial jury convicted Wright and he was sentenced to death.
In 1992, McQueen was released from prison in Mississippi. He served an
Alabama sentence for armed robbery of the Greens concurrently with his
Mississippi sentence. He did not have to serve any time in Alabama. Percy Craig was sentenced to ten years. His later status is unknown. Tinsley was sentenced to 25 years and was granted parole. At a 1996
federal hearing in Mobile, McQueen recanted his testimony and apologized to
Wright from the witness chair.
Two Alabama Supreme Court Justices voted in favor of a last minute stay of
Wright's execution, but seven others voted against it. Justice
Johnstone wrote in his dissent, “Whether Wright is electrocuted or injected
seems insignificant compared to the likelihood that we are sending an
innocent man to his death. We should stay this execution briefly and
take another look at this case under Rule 39(k).” Wright was executed
in the electric chair on March 3, 2000. [5/07]
________________________________
References:
CCADP,
Justice: Denied
Posted in:
Victims of the State,
Alabama Cases, Defendants Executed After 1976
|