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Summary:
In 1992 Gallamore and accomplice James John Steiner drove to the
residence of Verle Clayton Kenney, his wife Julianna Kenney, and
their daughter Adrienne Arnot, for the purpose of robbing them.
Steiner had previously cared for Mrs. Kenney at a nursing home and
hid while Gallamore went to the door. 44 year old Arnot answered and
both men rushed inside.
They immediately began beating her and her 83 year old father with a
tire iron and tree branch. They got a knife from the kitchen and
Gallamore stabbed Arnot in the neck.
In all, Arnot suffered 12 blunt
force blows to her head and face, and 14 blunt force blows to her
upper extremities.
Gallamore discovered Mrs. Kenney, partially paralyzed, immobile in a
chair, and unable to defend herself. Gallamore, wielding the kitchen
knife, stabbed Mrs. Kenney in the neck and beat her so powerfully
that it caused a gaping hole in her skull measuring 7 inches long by
2 inches wide. All three victims died.
Two taped confessions by Gallamore detailing the crime were admitted
at trial. Gallamore claimed that he and Steiner were on a 2 week
speed binge at the time. Steiner was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment.
Final Meal:
Gallamore requested no last meal.
Final Words:
"I would like to apologize and say I'm sorry but words seem so
hollow and cheap," Gallamore said in a handwritten statement
distributed after his execution. He had declined to make a final
statement from the death chamber gurney. "Their death should not
have happened, but it did. I'm so sorry that all of this took
place."
ClarkProsecutor.org
Texas Attorney General
Media Advisory
Friday, January 10, 2003
Samuel Clark Gallamore Scheduled to be Executed.
AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
offers the following information on Samuel Clark Gallamore, who is
scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003.
On Feb. 3, 1994, Samuel Clark Gallamore was
sentenced to death for the capital murders of Julianna Kenney, Verle
Clayton Kenney and Adrienne Arnot in Kerr County, Texas, on March
29, 1992. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows:
FACTS OF THE CRIME
On the evening of March 29, 1992, Samuel Clark
Gallamore and James John Steiner drove to the private residence of
Verle Clayton Kenney, his wife Julianna Kenney, and their daughter
Adrienne Arnot, in Kerr County, Texas, for the purpose of robbing
their home.
On their way to the Kenney residence, Gallamore and
Steiner discussed their proposed robbery and decided that if any of
the occupants of the home tried to stop them, they would kill them.
When Gallamore and Steiner arrived at the Kenney
residence, they parked away from the house and walked to the door.
Along the way, Gallamore picked up a cedar branch and handed it to
Steiner. Steiner also carried a tire iron. Gallamore knocked on the
front door while Steiner, who was known to the Kenney family, hid
out of sight.
After Ms. Arnot opened the door, the two men forced
their way in, knocking Ms. Arnot down in the process. Gallamore and
his accomplice then began beating Ms. Arnot and Mr. Kenney, who had
come to her aid, with the tire iron and a wooden club.
Ms. Arnot
struggled for her life, sustaining 12 blunt force blows to her head
and face, and 14 blunt force blows to her upper extremities, back,
and right thigh. Mr. Kenney sustained six blunt force injuries to
his head. These injuries were sufficient to cause the deaths of the
two victims.
Gallamore then grabbed a knife from the Kenney's
kitchen and began stabbing Ms. Arnot and Mr. Kenney. Ms. Arnot
sustained a stab wound to her right, middle finger, consistent with
a defensive laceration. In addition, Gallamore stabbed Ms. Arnot
twice in the neck, creating a three-inch wound.
Gallamore proceeded further into the house, where
he discovered Mrs. Kenney, partially paralyzed, immobile in a chair,
and unable to defend herself. Gallamore, wielding the kitchen knife,
stabbed Mrs. Kenney in the neck.
The knife wound would have been
sufficient to cause Mrs. Kenney's death. Gallamore, however,
continued to beat Mrs. Kenney, hitting her at least five times with
a blunt object. The blows were so powerful that they created a
gaping hole in Mrs. Kenney's skull measuring 7 inches long by 2
inches wide. All three victims died.
After stabbing and beating all three of the
residents, Gallamore and Steiner took several spoons, cash from
Arnot's purse, and various small items on display in the house. They
buried most of the items taken from the Kenney residence on property
owned by Gallamore's parents.
Much of the detailed and graphic description of
the events surrounding these murders came from Gallamore himself, in
two tape-recorded confessions which were produced for the jury, and
from Gallamore's testimony at trial.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Gallamore was indicted on July 22, 1993, by a
Kerr County grand jury for the capital offense murdering Julianna
Kenney, Verle Clayton Kenney and Adrienne Arnot in the same criminal
transaction on March 29, 1992.
Venue for Gallamore's trial was
transferred to the 22nd Judicial District Court of Comal County,
Texas. Gallamore was tried before a jury upon a plea of not guilty,
and on Feb. 1, 1994, the jury found him guilty of the capital
offense.
On Feb. 3, 1994, following a separate punishment hearing,
the jury answered special issues one and two affirmatively and
special issue number three negatively. In accordance with Texas law,
the trial court sentenced Gallamore to death.
On March 2, 1994,
Gallamore filed a motion for new trial. On April 15, 1994, a hearing
was held on that motion, and at the end of that hearing, the trial
court denied the motion.
Gallamore appealed his conviction and sentence to
the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, which affirmed in an
unpublished opinion. On Feb. 8, 1996, the Court of Criminal Appeals
denied Gallamore's motion for rehearing. Gallamore did not petition
for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.
On Dec. 2, 1997, Gallamore filed his original
application for writ of habeas corpus in the state trial court
raising five grounds for relief. The state trial court issued
findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that relief be
denied. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals deemed the trial court's
findings and conclusions to be supported by the record and denied
habeas corpus relief in an unpublished order.
On July 13, 1998, Gallamore filed a petition for
writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division. The district court
denied relief in a 94-page opinion, but granted Gallamore's request
for a Certificate of Appealability as to all four issues.
On Jan. 18, 2001, Gallamore filed his appeal from
the district court's denial of federal habeas corpus relief with the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals raising only two of the four issues
for which he had been granted COA. On Oct. 4, 2001, the Fifth
Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of federal habeas
corpus relief. On Nov. 13, 2001, Gallamore filed a petition for
rehearing. It was denied the same day.
On Jan. 31, 2002, Gallamore filed a petition for
writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court denied the petition.
On July 10, 2002, Gallamore filed a second
application for writ of habeas corpus in the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals raising a single ground for relief. It was dismissed as an
abuse of the writ.
In Dec. 2002, Gallamore filed an application/petition
for a 90-day reprieve from execution and for commutation of sentence
to imprisonment for life with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Gallamore's petition for reprieve and commutation remains pending
before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
CRIMINAL HISTORY
Gallamore's documented criminal history reflects
that he had been in trouble with the law numerous times prior to the
1992 capital murders of Verle Clayton Kenney, Julianna Kenney and
Adrienne Arnot that culminated in his sentence of death.
On Oct. 31, 1991, Gallamore was convicted of
misdemeanor assault (family violence), fined and sentenced to four
months in jail.
On Oct. 29, 1992, Gallamore was convicted of
possession of marijuana and sentenced to 14 days in jail and 30 days
drug counseling.
On Sept. 3, 1992, Gallamore was convicted of
interfering with the duties of a police officer (resisting arrest)
and sentenced to five months in jail.
ProDeathPenalty.com
Death row inmate Samuel Gallamore says the bloody
1992 slayings of a partially paralyzed woman, her husband and their
daughter didn't have to happen. "Things went wrong, terribly wrong,"
Gallamore said last week from death row. "I am sorry. I have no
problem giving my life in payment, but I only have one life and I
take responsibility for all three."
Gallamore said his friend James John Steiner
directed him on March 29, 1992, to the rural Kerr County home where
the pair planned a robbery for drug money. Julianna Kenney and her
husband, Verle Clayton Kenney, lived there with their daugher,
Adrienne Arnot. "I was under the impression that people weren't
supposed to be there," Gallamore said. "They were. One thing led to
another. Everything happened so fast. I had a split second to react.
I don't know why I made the decision that I did, but those people
had a chance to live. No one had to die. I could have left."
Gallamore and Steiner, who had cared for Julianna
Kenney in her home, brutally beat Kenney's husband and their
daughter. Arnot was struck 12 times in the head and face and
suffered 14 blows to her upper body, back and right thigh. Her
father was hit 6 times in the head with a tire iron and a cedar
stick.
Gallamore then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed
Arnot and her father. "(Mrs. Kenney) literally kind-of had to watch
everything that was happening to her husband and her daughter but
could not move," Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said Monday.
Gallamore said he killed Julianna Kenney. She was found with her
throat slit and skull bashed with so much force that a gaping hole
measuring 7 inches by 2 inches wide was left in her head. Hierholzer
said a maid who arrived at the family's home discovered the gruesome
scene.
"You walk into any crime scene that is as brutal
and gory as that one was and it definitely changes you," Hierholzer
said. "It is the type of crime you never forget. It was just so
senseless. It is so hard to understand. She couldn't even defend
herself if she wanted to." It took 18 months for police to track
down Gallamore and Steiner.
Gallamore had moved to Chicago, where he
was working as a home repairman. "After the crime happened I wasn't
running from it," Gallamore said. "I wasn't going to turn myself in,
but if I got caught, I got caught. It wasn't something I was proud
of." Heirholzer said had it not been for the bloody cedar stick
found with a partial fingerprint from Gallamore in the brush outside
the Kenneys' home, police officers might not have ever suspected the
young man who had previously been in trouble for marijuana
possession, resisting arrest and misdemeanor assault.
"We had handled him for some minor offenses, but
nothing anywhere like this crime," said Heirholzer, who was the
case's lead investigator back in 1992. "It was a nightmare. It was
one of the worst crimes we have ever had around here."
Kerr County
prosecutor Ronald Sutton said Gallamore confessed to the crime
shortly after his arrest. Jurors heard a poem Gallamore wrote from
his jail cell during his trial in which he described the begging and
pleading of "the people I sat and watched bleed. I say I am guilty
and that is true. Now I ask mercy from all twelve of you."
Gallmore was sentenced to death on Feb. 3, 1994.
Steiner received a life sentence. "My life is worthless since I've
done this," said Gallamore, who says he began using marijuana when
he was 5, dropped out of school as a teenager and often fought to
protect his older brother who was in a gang. "When it comes to
having a life, you can pretty much say mine was a failure," he said.
"I was just a mixed-up, confused kid. A lot of it had to do with the
drugs. ... If it wasn't for me shooting the bathtub crank we were
making, I wouldn't be (on death row.)"
Gallamore said he and Steiner had been on a 2-week
drug binge the night of the killings and both were high on
methamphetamines. "If I could, I would take it back, not just to
save my own life, but to save everybody," Gallamore said. "I have
got people I don't even know who are crying because of me, because
they feel for me or they feel for the victims. Never in my wildest
imagination did I ever think this would cause so much pain to so
many people."
Samuel Clark Gallamore
Txexecutions.org
Samuel Clark Gallamore, 31, was executed by
lethal injection on 14 January 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the
robbery and murder of three people in their home.
On 29 March 1992, Gallamore, then 21, and James
Steiner, 19, drove to the home of Clayton Kenney, 83; his wife,
Juliana, 74; and Mrs. Kenny's daughter, Adrienne Arnot, 44. Steiner,
who had once cared for Mrs. Kenney at an area nursing home, was
carrying a tire iron and a cedar tree branch. He hid while Gallamore
knocked on the door.
After Arnot opened the door, the two men
knocked her down and forced their way inside. Mr. Kenney came to
Arnot's aid, but the intruders beat both of them with the tire iron
and the tree branch. Gallamore then grabbed a knife from the kitchen
and began stabbing them.
Next, Gallamore proceeded further into the
house, finding Mrs. Kenney, who was partially paralyzed, seated in a
chair and unable to move. Gallamore stabbed her in the neck and beat
her. After killing all of the residents, Gallamore and Steiner stole
some silverware, cash, and figurines.
Adrienne Arnot suffered 26 blunt force blows all
over her body, two stab wounds to her neck, and a slashed finger.
Clayton Kenney suffered six blunt force blows to his head. Juliana
Kenney had a large stab wound to her neck and five blows to her head.
The blows created a 7-inch by 2-inch hole in her skull.
Sheriff's investigators found the bloody tree
branch hidden in the brush outside the Kenneys' home. A partial
fingerprint pointed them to Gallamore, who had a prior arrest record
for minor offenses. Eighteen months later, Gallamore was arrested in
Chicago. In his confession, he said that he and Steiner had been
taking crack cocaine and decided to rob the Kenneys to buy more
drugs. Most of the stolen property was discovered buried on some
land owned by Gallamore's parents.
Gallamore had no prior felony convictions, but he
had misdemeanor convictions for domestic assault, possession of
marijuana, and resisting arrest.
A jury convicted Gallamore in February 1994 of
the capital murder of Mr. and Mrs. Kenney and Adrienne Arnot and
sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed
the conviction and sentence in February 1996. All of his subsequent
appeals in state and federal court were denied. James John Steiner
was convicted in December 1994 of capital murder and sentenced to
life in prison.
"Things went wrong, terribly wrong," Gallamore
said of the triple murder in an interview the week before his
execution. "I was under the impression that people weren't supposed
to be there. They were. One thing led to another. Everything
happened so fast. I had a split second to react. I don't know why I
made the decision that I did, but those people had a chance to live.
No one had to die ... I am sorry. I have no problem giving my life
in payment." "When it comes to having a life, you can pretty much
say mine was a failure," Gallamore said.
Gallamore declined to make a spoken last
statement at his execution. He was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. His
written last statement was issued after the execution was over. "I
would like to apologize and say I'm sorry, but words seem so hollow
and cheap," he wrote. He also thanked his victim's family for their
forgiveness. "Thank you. You have given me more hope than I have had
in a long time ... If I could change things I would, not for my sake
but for all those who have loved me over the years and for those who
have forgiven me."
"We forgave him," said Kristin Huffman, Arnot's
cousin, who witnessed the execution. "My heart goes out to
Gallamore's family," she said. "They've lost a son, a loved one, and
we know what that feels like."
Murderous Home Invader Is First Executed in
2003
By Robert Anthony Phillips -
TheDeathHouse.com
January 14, 2003
A man who bludgeoned and stabbed to death a
family of three - including a partially paralyzed woman - was
executed by lethal injection tonight, becoming the first condemned
killer put to death in the United States in 2003. Samuel Clark
Gallamore, 31, went to the death house here for the bloody and
brutal home invasion murders in March 1992 in Kerr County. He
confessed and, before being executed, apologized.
Prosecutors said Gallamore and another man, James
John Steiner, used a tree branch, tire iron and a knife to murder
the victims. The victims were Verle Clayton Kenney, 83, his wife,
Julianna, 74, and their daughter, Adrienne Arnot, 44. "I would like
to apologize and say im sorry, but words seem so hollow and cheap,"
Gallamore said in a handwritten statement released following his
execution. "Their deaths should not have happened...I'm so sorry
that all of this took place."
Gallamore said the murders he committed
"devastated" his family. "If I could change things, I would,"
Gallamore wrote. "Not for my sake, but for all those who have loved
me over the years and for those who have forgiven me."
A relative of the Kenney family was the only
person from the victims' side that witnessed the execution, said
Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice. The lethal dose of chemicals began at 6:07 p.m. and
Gallamore was declared dead at 6:14 p.m. Gallamore requested no last
meal and apparently spent his last few hours writing out his last
statement, Lyons said. On the execution gurney, Gallamore kept his
eyes closed and head pointed toward the ceiling.
For the murder and robbery that cost him his life,
Gallamore stole several spoons, a purse, cash and several small
household items, prosecutors said. Steiner received life in prison
for the murders. Gallamore and Steiner were on a drug binge at the
times of the slayings. In an interview with the Associated Press
before his execution, Gallamore admitted the murders and said he was
ready to give his life in return. "Things went wrong, terribly wrong,"
Gallamore said. "I am sorry. I have no problem giving my life in
payment, but I only have one life and I take responsibility for all
three."
Steiner Knew Victim
Prosecutors said Gallamore and Steiner discussed
the robbery and decided that if the victims were home and tried to
stop them, they would kill them. Steiner knew Julianna Kenney,
having worked at a nursing home she was once hospitalized. After
arriving at the Kenney home, Gallamore and Steiner parked away from
the house and walked to the door. Along the way, Gallamore picked up
a cedar branch and handed it to Steiner. Steiner also carried a tire
iron. Gallamore knocked on the front door while Steiner hid.
After Arnot opened the door, Steiner and
Gallamore forced their way in and began beating her and Verle Kenney
with the tire iron and the tree branch, authorities said, and then
stabbed them with a knife. Meanwhile, Julianna Kenney was in another
room. She was partially paralyzed and immobile in a chair. "Gallamore,
wielding the kitchen knife, stabbed Mrs. Kenney in the neck," the
Texas Attorney General's office said in a prepared summary of the
case. "This would have been sufficient to cause Mrs. Kenney's death.
Gallamore, however, continued to beat Mrs. Kenney, hitting her at
least five times with a blunt object. The blows were so powerful
that they created a gaping hole in Mrs. Kenney's skull..."
Gallamore gave authorities two tape-recorded
confessions, describing what happened at the Kenney home, the Texas
AG's office stated. At Gallamore's trial, jurors heard a poem in
which Gallamore admitted his guilt. The poem also desribing the
victims' begging and pleading.
Gallamore had previously been convicted of
misdemeanor assault, possession of marijuana and interfering with an
officer. After the murders, he fled to Chicago and was arrested 18
months later.
Texas has now executed 290 condemned killers
since 1982 - the highest in the nation. In 2002, Texas led death
penalty states with 33 executions.
First Execution of 2003 Carried Out Tuesday
By
Mark Passwaters - The Huntsville Item
January 14, 2003
Samuel Clark Gallamore became the first man to
die in the death chamber in Texas this year when his sentence for
three 1992 murders was carried out Tuesday night at the Huntsville "Walls"
Unit.
Gallamore, 31, looked vastly different from his
mug shots taken a decade ago as he lay on the death chamber gurney.
With his head shaved and sporting a goatee, Gallamore declined to
make a last statement before the lethal dose of chemicals was
started at 6:07 p.m. He snorted and gasped twice as the dose took
effect and was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m.
In written final statement, Gallamore -- who was
described by Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials as "very
emotional" and "remorseful" -- apologized to the family of Clayton
and Julianna Kenney and Mrs. Kenney's daughter, Adrienne Arnot, who
he beat to death with a tire iron on the night of March 29, 1992.
"I would like to apologize and say I'm sorry, but
words seem so hollow and cheap," he wrote. "Their death should not
have happened, but it did. I'm so sorry that all of this took
place." Gallamore also wrote that his "heart had grown" with the
knowledge the victims' relatives had forgiven him. "Thank you. You
have given me more hope than I have had in a long time," he stated.
"If I could change things I would, not for my sake but for all those
who have loved me over the years and for those who have forgiven
me."
Kristin Huffman, Arnot's cousin and Julianna
Kenney's niece, witnessed the execution and said her family had
indeed forgiven Gallamore. "We all believe Jesus died for us and
died for him," she said after the execution. "We forgave him. He's
been reconciled with God now, and you can't ask for any more than
that."
Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who worked
on the case, said he thought of the murder and the ensuing
investigation as Gallamore's sentence was carried out. "I came
mainly to support the family, but yes, when it came back up, you do
relive it," he said. "It's a crime you could never forget."
Gallamore and his accomplice James John Steiner,
were on a two-week-long drug binge when they forced their way past
Arnot and into the Kinney household on March 29, 1992. Armed with
the tire iron and a large cedar tree branch, the two attacked Arnot
and 83-year-old Clayton Kinney and beat the two severely in the
living room. Gallamore then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and
stabbed the two several times, making sure they were dead.
Gallamore then attacked Julianna Kenney, who was
paralyzed and restricted to a wheelchair. Gallamore stabbed her
several times and struck her with a blunt object, believed to be the
tire iron, with such force that it opened a seven-inch long gash in
her skull.
Gallamore and Steiner stole some belongings from
the Kenney house and fled, using the proceeds from their robbery to
buy more drugs. The two were then able to make good their escape for
nearly 18 months, until Gallamore was arrested in Chicago. He was
sentenced to death by a jury in Comal County -- where the trial was
moved on a change of venue -- in 1994.
In spite of the brutality of the killings,
Hierholzer said he was pleased that Gallamore had been granted
forgiveness. "Seeing this statement now, that he's acknowledged he's
sorry, I'm pleased that he's been forgiven," he said. "We have some
sadness that (the Kenneys and Arnot) were killed in a horrific way,
but my heart goes out to Gallamore's family," Huffman said. "They've
lost a son, a loved one, and we know what that feels like."
National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty
Samuel Gallamore (TX) - Jan. 14, 2003
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Samuel
Gallamore Jan. 14 for three murders in 1992. Gallamore, a white man,
and an accomplice allegedly broke into the home of Clayton and
Juliana Kenney, an elderly couple in Kerrville, and stabbed them to
death with a butcher knife while stealing their valuables for money
to buy cocaine. They also killed Juliana’s daughter, Adrienne Arnot,
in the process.
This is one of several pending executions this
month involving murder connected to substance addiction, and death
penalty proponents continue to ignore the fact that executing
offenders for drug-related crimes fails to address the root of the
problem. In December, the state of North Carolina executed Desmond
Carter, whose grandmother tried to admit him to a mental health
facility for his struggles with drug abuse. The hospital refused,
deeming her health care plan insufficient, and Carter committed a
murder for money to buy cocaine just a few weeks later.
As for Gallamore, he had no prior record and no
history of violence. His addiction to cocaine got the better of him
on one night in 1992, and now he is awaiting execution. He deserves
strict punishment for the murders, but he also needs serious medical
attention. If the states begin treating people for these problems
instead of violently retaliating for their effects, the future link
between drug abuse and crime will likely subside. As it is now, the
drug crisis is plowing full speed ahead, and the solution in many of
these cases – the death penalty – is only contributing to the cycle
of violence that accompanies it.
Gallamore admitted that he and his co-defendant
were strung out on crack cocaine at the time of the murders, but
somehow they left little hard evidence behind. Sixteen months passed
before police investigators, with the help of two Crime Stopper tips,
matched Gallamore’s fingerprints to the murder weapon. They found
him near Chicago a few days later, and after returning to Texas to
stand trial, he received a capital murder conviction and a death
sentence.
In an era defined by senseless violence, the
United States should aim to treat its citizens’ drug problems
instead of sweeping the crisis under the carpet with executions.
Please write the state of Texas and request clemency for Samuel
Gallamore.
Man Who Killed Three is First 2003 Execution
Houston Chronicle
January 14, 2003
HUNTSVILLE -- Convicted killer Samuel Gallamore,
who beat and stabbed to death a partially paralyzed woman, her
husband and their daughter, was executed Tuesday night.
"I would like to apologize and say I'm sorry but
words seem so hollow and cheap," Gallamore said in a handwritten
statement distributed after his execution. He had declined to make a
final statement from the death chamber gurney. "Their death should
not have happened, but it did. I'm so sorry that all of this took
place."
Gallamore was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m., seven
minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
Gallamore was the first to be executed in Texas
this year. Six others also are set to die in January, including John
Baltazar, whose execution is scheduled tonight for the 1997 shooting
death of a 5-year-old Corpus Christi girl.
Samuel Gallamore
UPI International
HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Texas
killer apologized to the family of his three victims Tuesday before
he was executed by lethal injection for their murders.
Samuel Gallamore was sentenced to death for the
1992 murders of Clayton Kenney, 83; his partially-paralyzed wife,
Juliana, 74, and their daughter, Adrienne Arnot, 44, at their rural
home near Kerrville in central Texas.
In a written statement Gallamore prepared before
the execution the condemned man apologized for the murders to a
relative of the victims who was a witness. "I would like to
apologize and say how sorry I am but words seem so hollow and cheap,"
he said. "Their death should not have happened, but it did. I'm so
sorry that all of this took place." Gallamore, 31, was pronounced
dead at 6:14 p.m.
Gallamore and an accomplice were on crack cocaine
the night of March 29, 1992, when they went to the Kenney house
looking for drug money. His partner had once cared for Mrs. Kenney
at an area nursing home. Gallamore and his accomplice forced their
way into the country home and beat and stabbed all the victims.
After killing them, they fled with cash and valuables, including
silver servings and a rare spoon collection.
Gallamore gave two tape-recorded confessions to
police and they were played for the jury that sentenced him to death
in February 1994.
Gallamore was the first of 18 convicted killers
currently scheduled for execution in Texas this year. Thirty-three
were executed last year by the state and 290 have been put to death
since the state restored the death penalty in 1982.
Samuel Clark Gallamore - Executed on January 14,
2003
Deathrow.at
"I would like to apologize and say I'm sorry but
words seem so hollow and cheap," Gallamore said in a handwritten
statement distributed after his execution. He had declined to make a
final statement from the death chamber gurney. "Their death should
not have happened, but it did. I'm so sorry that all of this took
place."
Gallamore also said that in the last hour of his
life, his heart grew because relatives of the slain victims said
they forgave him.
"You have given me more hope than I have had in a
long time," he said in his note. "If I could change things I would,
not for my sake but for all those who have loved me over the years
and for those who have forgiven me."
Gallamore did not look at any of the witnesses,
instead waiting with his eyes closed until the drugs took effect. He
took two deep breaths and his body began to shake before his head
turned to one side and he stopped moving. Gallamore was pronounced
dead at 6:14 p.m., seven minutes after the lethal drugs began to
flow.
The niece of the slain couple, Kristin Huffman,
attended the execution along with Kerr County Sheriff Rusty
Hierholzer. Huffman wiped tears from her eyes after Gallamore took
his final breath.
"There's sadness that they were killed in a
horrific way, yet I think my heart just goes out now to Gallamore's
family," Huffman said. "Now they are grieving over the loss of their
son and we know what that feels like."
Gallamore's mother, sister, brother-in-law and
two friends came to Huntsville to witness his execution, but he
asked that they not attend. Prison officials described Gallamore as
very emotional in the hours leading up to his execution.
Gallamore had said last week from death row that
the 1992 slayings didn't have to happen.
"Things went wrong, terribly wrong," Gallamore
said then. "I am sorry. I have no problem giving my life in payment,
but I only have one life and I take responsibility for all three." "My
life is worthless since I've done this," said Gallamore, who says he
began using marijuana when he was 5, dropped out of school as a
teenager and often fought to protect his older brother who was in a
gang.
"When it comes to having a life, you can pretty
much say mine was a failure," he said.
On the night of the killings, Gallamore said he
and Steiner were on a two-week drug binge.
"If I could, I would take it back, not just to
save my own life, but to save everybody," Gallamore said. "Never in
my wildest imagination did I ever think this would cause so much
pain to so many people."
UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 00-50821
SAMUEL CLARK GALLAMORE,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
JANIE COCKRELL, Director, Texas Department of
Criminal Justice,
Institutional Division Respondent-Appellee,
Appeal from the United States
District Court for the Western District of Texas
San Antonio Division
(5:98-CV-428)
October 4, 2001
Before DAVIS, JONES and
DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM: * Samuel Clark
Gallamore was convicted of capital murder for
participating in the beating and stabbing deaths
of an elderly couple and their daughter. The
Texas courts have rejected Gallamore’s direct
appeals as well as his request for state habeas
relief. The federal district court denied
Gallamore’s request for federal habeas relief,
but granted a certificate of appealability.
Gallamore now raises two
challenges to his conviction: (1) the trial
court violated Gallamore’s due process rights as
defined by Simmons v. South Carolina , 512 U.S.
154, 114 S.Ct. 2187 (1994), by failing to inform
the jury that Gallamore was ineligible for
parole for thirty-five years; and (2) trial
counsel rendered ineffective assistance. For the
reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of
the district court.
I. BACKGROUND
On March 29, 1992, Gallamore
and an accomplice, James Steiner, drove to the
home of Verle Clayton Kenny (“Kenny”) to rob it.
On their way to the robbery, the miscreants
agreed to kill anyone who tried to hinder them.
Three people were present at
the Kenny residence on the night of the robbery:
Kenny, who was 83 years old; Julianna Kenny, who
was 74 years old and paralyzed on her left side;
and Adrienne Arnot, Julianna Kenny’s 41 year old
daughter.
According to Gallamore’s
confessions 1, he walked to the Kennys’ door
while Steiner, who was carrying a tire iron and
a cedar branch, hid in the shadows. Arnot
answered the door and Gallamore forced his way
into the home. Gallamore grabbed Arnot and “took
her down” while his accomplice rushed in and
began beating Kenny and Arnot with the tire iron
and cedar branch.
Gallamore then went to the
kitchen and obtained a large knife.
Gallamore returned to the
front of the house, stabbed Mrs. Kenny, and then
beat her in the head with the cedar branch.
Gallamore and Steiner cont inued stabbing and
beating all three victims until they were dead.
Gallamore took several silver spoons, cash from
ArnotÂ’s purse, and other small items from the
home. After his arrest, Gallamore led law
enforceme nt officers to the location where he
had buried the property taken from the Kenny
home.
Gallmore was indicted by a
Kerr County, Texas, grand jury for intentionally
and knowingly murdering m ore than one person
during the same criminal transaction. Venue for
Gallamore’s trial was transferred to Comal
County. The guilt-innocence phase of Gallamore’s
trial began on January 27, 1994. On February 1,
after deliberating for less than two hours, the
jury found Gallamore guilty of capital murder.
During the punishment phase
of Gallamore’s trial, the state argued
Gallamore’s future dangerousness by presenting
the testimony of three law enforcement officers
regarding Gallamore’s reputation in the
community for unlawfulness and violence. The
state also presented Gallamore’s prior criminal
history, including evidence of a prior arr est
for assaulting his own sister.
Additionally, the state
presented evidence indicating that Gallamore
threatened to escape if convicted. Gallamore’s
counsel offered the testimony of several friends
and family members in an attempt to rebut the
state’s evidence regarding future dangerousness.
Gallamore’s counsel also offered the testimony
of Dr. Wendell Dickerson, a forensic
psychologist, concerning Gallamore’s mental
health and potential future dangerousness.
The jury determined that
Gallamore posed a threat of future violence,
that Gallamore had intended to kill the deceased,
and that there were not sufficient mitigating
circumstances to warrant a life sentence. Based
on these jury findings, the trial court
sentenced Gallamore to death in accordance with
Texas law. Gallamore appealed his conviction and
sentence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,
in an unpublished opinion, affirmed. Gallamore
v. State , No. 71,856 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995).
Gallamore did not petition
for certiorari in the United States Supreme
Court. Gallamore’s application for state habeas
relief was rejected by the Texas courts. E x
Parte Gallamore, App. No. 36,958- 01 (Tex. Crim.
App. 1998).
Gallamore promptly filed his
federal habeas corpus petition in federal
district court. The district court denied
Gallamore § 2254(d)(1), or (2) constituted an §
2254 (d)(2).§ 2254).
B. The Simmons Issue
Gallamore argues that the
trial c ourt violated his due process rights as
defined in Simmons v. South Carolina , 512 U.S.
154, 114 S.Ct. 2187 (1994), by refusing to
instruct the jury that Gallamore would not be
eligible for parole for thirty-five years if
given a life-sentence. 3 Simmons mandates that
“where the defendant’s future dangerousness is
at issue, and sta te law prohibits the
defendant’s release on parole, due process
requires that the sentencing jury be informed
that the defendant is parole ineligible.” 512
U.S at 156, 114 S.Ct. at 2190. Gallamore
contends that Simmons applies because “the
minimum length of time the petitioner would be
required to serve [if given a life sentence] far
exceeds the commonly held beliefs of the
jurors.” Petitioner’s Brief at 22.
Gallamore argues that the
trial court’s failure to offer an instruction
relating to parole eligibility allowed his
jurors to employ “misconceived ideas about
parole.” Gallamore offers affidavits of three of
the jurors in support of this argument, and
contends that he is entitled to an evidentiary
hearing to demonstrate his jurors’
misunderstanding of Texas parole law.
Gallamore’s reliance on Simmons is misplaced.
“In Simmons, the Supreme Court expressly held
that its ruling does not apply to Texas, because
it does not have a life-without-parole
alternative to capital punishment.” Tigner v.
Cockrell , No. 01- 50238, slip op. at 5114 (5th
Cir. Aug. 28, 2001) (citing Simmons , 512 U.S.
at 168 n. 8, 114 S.Ct. at 2196). A parole-ineligibility
instruction is not required unless the defendant
is comple tely ineligible for parole under state
law. I d. (citing Ramdass v. Angelone , 530 U.S.
156, 167, 120 S.Ct. 2113, 2120 (2000)). This
court has repeatedly refused to apply Simmons to
Texas convictions.
See, e.g., Tigner , slip op.
at 5114-15; Wheat , 238 F.3d at 361-62.
Therefore, the state habeas
court§ 2254(d)(1).
In his brief, Gallamore
concedes that this court has refused to apply
Simmons to Texas convictions. Nevertheless, he
argues that the reasoning of Simmons requires
its extension to the facts of this case. Such an
extension would constitute an impermissible
“new” rule of constitutional criminal law barred
in habeas review by the Teague non-retroactivity
principle. Tigner , slip op. at 5 115 (citing
Teague v. Lane , 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060
(1989); Wheat , 238 F.3d at 361-62). Therefore,
Simmons does not apply to the facts of this
case. 4
C. Ineffective Assistance
of Counsel
Gallamore next argues that
the district court erred by refusing to grant
his request for an evidentiary hearing regarding
his contention that he received ineffective
assistance of counsel.
Gallamore claims that his
counsel failed to: (1) adequately develop and
present mitigating mental health evidence
through the expert witness; (2) obtain the
assistance of co-counsel; and (3) call the trial
court’s attention to a state court opinion that
allegedly would have entitled defense counsel to
question jurors “extensively” about their
knowledge of parole laws.
Under the well-known
Strickland test, “[a] habeas petitioner alleging
ineffective assistance must demonstrate both
constitutionally deficient performance by
counsel and actual prejudice as a result of such
ineffective assistance.” Carter v. Johnson , 131
F.3d 452, 463 (5th Cir. 1997) (citing Strickland
v. Washington , 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct.
2052, 2064 (1984)).
Establishing deficient
performance requires the petitioner to “prove
that the performance of counsel fell below an
objective standard of reasonableness.” Id. The
petitioner must show “‘that counsel made errors
so serious that counsel was not functioning as
the ‘counsel’ guaranteed the defendant by the
Sixth Amendment.’” Moawad v. Anderson , 143 F.3d
942, 946 (5th Cir. 1998) (quoting Strickland ,
466 U.S. at 668, 104 S.Ct. at 2064). The
petitioner must overcome a strong presumption
that the conduct of his trial counsel falls
within a wide range of reasonable professional
assistance. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687-91, 104
S.Ct. at 2064-66.
To demonstrate prejudice, the
petitioner “must establish that the attorney’s
errors were so deficient as to render the
verdict fundamentally unfair or unreliable.”
Moawad , 143 F.3d at 9 4 6 (citing Strickland ,
466 U.S. at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2068-69). When
contesting counsel’s performance during the
punishment stage of trial, the petitioner “must
establish a ‘reasonable probability’ that the
jury would not have imposed the death sentence
in the absence of errors by counsel.” Id.
Gallamore is entitled to habeas relief only if
the state court’s “decision rejecting his
ineffective-assistance claim was either
‘contrary to, or involved an unreasonable
application of’ established [Federal] law.”
Williams v. Taylor , 529 U.S. 362, 391, 120 S.Ct.
1495, 1512 (2000).
1. Counsel’s Mental Health
Strategy
In his first ineffective-assistance
challenge, Gallamore asserts that his attorney
failed to properly develop and present
mitigating mental health evidence. Counsel
waited until the eve of trial to secure the
assistance of Dr. Dickerson, leaving Dickerson
too little time to examine Gallamore adequately.
Moreover, a “medically trained” expert rather
than a psychologist should have been hired by
his attor ney to investigate the possibility of
organic brain damage caused by Gallamore’s long
history of drug abuse.
In support of his argument,
Gallamore relies in part on Ake v. Oklahoma, 470
U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087 (1985). In Ake, the
Court held that when a defendant demonstrates
that “his sanity at the time of the offense is
to be a significant factor at trial, the State
must, at a minimum, assure the defendant access
to a competent psychiatrist who will conduct an
appropriate examination and assist in evaluation,
preparation, and presentation of the defense.”
Ake , 470 U.S. at 83, 105 S.Ct. at 1096.
Gallamore’s due process right of access to a
mental health expert has not been v iolated in
this case. Dr. Dickerson evaluated Gallamore and
testified on Gallamore’s behalf. Gallamore’s
reliance on Ake is misguided in that Gallamore
has not raised a due process challenge.
Rather, Gallamore asserts tha
this counsel’s performance was deficient in
violation of the Strickland standard. Gallamore,
now unsatisfied with Dr. Dickerson’s testimony,
asserts that his trial counsel should have
prepared a better mental health strategy and put
together a more qualified and prepared team of
mental health experts to testify on Gallamore’s
behalf.
Gallamore’s arguments
regarding the effectiveness of his mental health
expert do not establish ineffective assistance
of counsel. First, most of Gallamore’s arguments
hinge on a comparison of Dr. Dickerson’s
testimony with that of the health expert who
testified in the accomplice’s trial. This
comparison is largely irrelevant because
Gallamore and his accomplice do not share
identical mental health histories. Moreover, the
state court expressly found that Dr. Dickerson
was a competent mental health expert who had
sufficient time to prepare for trial and who
thoroughly and competently testified about
mitigating evidence, and Gallamore’s future
dangerousness. In any event, Gallamore’s
ineffective assistance claim should focus on the
conduct of counsel rather than on the
effectiveness of a witness. The attorney’s
decision to employ Dr. Dickerson rather than the
Steiner’s mental health expert is a decision of
trial strategy that “we must presume . . . [falls]
within the ‘wide range of reasonable
professional assistance.” Moawad , 143 F.3d at
948 (quoting Strickland , 466 U.S. at 689, 104
S.Ct. at 2065).
This is not a case where
Gallamore’s counsel failed to investigate his
client’s mental heal th or failed to present
relevant mitigating evidence. See, e.g., Lockett
v. Anderson , 230 F.3d 695, 716 (5th Cir. 2000)
(holding that the failure to conduct a minimal
investigation of a defendant’s possible
mitigation evidence renders counsel’s
performance deficient). Gallamore’s counsel
acted reasonably by intervi ewing family members
and friends, and by employing Dick erson to
examine Gallamore.
Dickerson and seven lay
witnesses testified as to mitigating evidence,
and the district court correctly observed that
an abundance of testimony relating to
Gallamore’s mental health was presented during
the punishment phase of trial. Furthermore, the
state hab eas court found that counsel acted
reasonably in hiring Dickerson and offering his
testimony at trial. Gallamore has not cast doubt
on the reasonablen ess of the state court’s
conclusion that his counsel’s performance was
constitutionally acceptable.
This prong of Gallamore’s
ineffective-assistance argument also fails
because he has failed to established that any
prejudice arose from the allegedly deficient
conduct. Gallamore provides little evidence
indicating what another mental health expert
might have revealed that would probably have al
tered the sentence.
See Crane v. Johnson , 178
F.3d 309, 315 (5th Cir. 1999) (the defendant did
not prove prejudice because he “produced no
persuasive psychiatric evidence in the district
court that if produced at trial, would have
undermined confidence in the resulting
verdict.”). Gallamore’s key evidence regarding
prejudice is the affidavit of an expert who
reviewed Dr. Dickerson’s testimony, but never
personally examined Gallamore. This court has
previously found a similar affidavit
unpersuasive. See Dowthitt v. Johnson , 230 F.3d
733, 746 (5th Cir. 2000) (finding an expert
affidavit to be insufficient where it was “based
on [the expert’s] review of a portion of the
paper record, and [the expert] did not
personally interview [the defendant].”). The
state court’s finding that no prejudice resulted
from the retenti on of Dr. Dickinson was
reasonable.
2. Appointment of Co-counsel
Gallamore next argues that
his attorney offered ineffective assistance by
failing to secure the assistance of cocounsel.
This argument is based on an initial indication
to the trial court by Gallamore’s trial counsel
that the appointment of co-counsel would be
useful. Co-counsel was appointed, but only
assisted during voir dire. Gallamore contends
that co-counsel should have been retained for
the duration of the trial, and that the absence
of co-counsel prejudiced Gallamore because co-counsel
would have adequately prepared an effective
mental health expert to testify on Gallamore’s
behalf.
The state habeas court
rejected this argument and found that
Gallamore’s counsel had acted reasonably in
hiring additional counsel to assist only in the
voir dire process. The state habeas court also
concluded that the absence of co-counsel during
the remainder of the trial did not prejudice
Gallamore.
Outside of his conclusory
allegations, Gallamore has not demonstrated how
appointment of co-counsel would have altered the
outcome of his trial. There is no constitutional
guarantee of the assistance of two attorneys in
a capital case. Counsel’s decision to retain co-counsel
only during voir dire does not constitute
ineffective assistance.
3. Counsel’s Failure to
Bring Jackson v. State to the Trial Court’s
Attention
Gallamore also complains that
his counsel failed to call the trial court’s
attention to Jackson v. State , 822 S.W.2d 18
(Tex. Crim. App. 1991). Jackson, according to
Gallamore, permits counsel to examine jurors
“extensively” during voir dire abou ttheir
ability to obey an instruction forbidding
consideration of parole. Gallamore contends that
Jackson should have been cited when the trial
court st opped defense counsel from questioning
a potential juror fur ther about the juror’s
understanding of Texas parole law. Gallamore
attempts to establish prejudice by arguing that
if Jacks on has been cited to the court and
applied, then counsel would have been able to
question more extensively and strike for cause
any venire members who had reservations about
issuing a life sentence for fear of early parole.
Gallamore’s reliance on
Jackson is misplaced. Jackson explains that if a
potential juror is “shown to be unable to
disregard parole in determining the punishment
issues, he would have been subject to a
challenge for cause.” 822 S.W.2d at 27.
However, Jackson does not
stand for the proposition that jurors must be
extensively questioned about their understanding
of parole during voir dire. In fact, on direct
appeal of Gallamore’s conviction, the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals ind icated that
“extensive” questioning is inappropriate,
explaining that “a voir dire inquiry which
predicates a parole question with a legal
description of the attributes of a life sentence
vis a vis parole, is not a proper query.”
Gallamore v. State , No. 71,856 (Tex. Crim. App.
December 13, 1995); see also , Howard v. Texas ,
941 S.W.2d 102, 116 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996) (en
banc) (holding the same).
Where a petitioner’s argument
related to the failure of counsel to raise a
case lacks merit, counsel’s failure to raise the
case is not prejudicial. Neal v. Cain , 141 F.3d
207, 214-15 (5th Cir. 1998) . Even if Gallamore
is correct in his assertion that Jackson should
have been raised, defense counsel is not obliged
to raise every non-frivolous issue in order to
offer effective assistance. Counsel’s actions
during voir dire are viewed as trial strategy
and do not form the basis for an ineffective
assistance claim unless the voir dire strategy
is so unreasonable that it “permeates the entire
trial with obvious unfairness.” Teague v. Scott
, 60 F.3d 11 67, 1172 (5th Cir. 1995). Counsel’s
failure to raise Jackson does not establish a
“reasonable probability of a different result”
that “undermines confidence in the result” of
Gallamore’s trial. West v. Johnson , 92 F.3d
1385, 1400 (5th Cir. 1996). Counsel’s failure to
raise Jackson does not establish a reasonable
probability of a different outcome that
undermines confidence in the verdict. The state
court’s finding that counsel did conduct
extensive voir dire and its conclusion rejecting
prejudice from the failure to cite Jackson
reasonably apply Federal law.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we
AFFIRM the judgment of the district court
denying federal habeas relief.
*****
1 Gallamore made two detailed
confessions shortly after his arrest.
Transcripts and tape recordings of both
confessions were presented to the jury. Gallam
ore also testified in his own defense at trial
and admitted to participating in the robbery
2 The district court granted
Gallamore a COA on the four issues raised in his
habeas petition, but Gallamore has raised only
two of these issues on appeal. Failure to brief
the other two issues on appeal constitutes
waiver. See , e.g. , Lara v. Johnson , 141 F.3d
239, 242 (5th Cir. 1998).
3 At the time of Gallamore§
8(b)(2) (Vernon Supp. 1994). Texas law did not
provide a life-without-parole alternative to the
death penalty
4 Gallamore also argues that
he is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to
resolve factual issues relating to his Simmons
claim. Gallamore is entitled to an “evidentiary
hearing to prove his contentions only if we
believe that he is entitled to relief if his
allegations are proven true.” Moawad v. Anderson
, 143 F.3d 942, 947-48 (5th Cir. 1998). Because
his Simmons claim is without merit, Gallamore is
not entitled to an evidentiary hearing
|