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Lawrence
COLWELL Jr.
A.K.A.:"Charles Durrant"
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
March 10,
1994
Date of birth:
March 1,
1969
Victim profile: Frank Rosenstock,
76
Method of murder: Strangulation with a belt
Location: Clark County, Nevada, USA
Status:
Executed
by lethal injection in Nevada on March 27,
2004
Summary:
On March 10, 1994, appellant Lawrence Colwell and his girlfriend,
Merillee Paul, robbed and murdered 76 year old Frank Rosenstock, a
retired furrier from New York who was visiting Las Vegas and staying at
the Tropicana Hotel.
Paul went with the victim to his room on the pretext of having sex with
him. She then let Colwell into the room. He handcuffed and strangled the
victim with a belt, then robbed him.
Colwell and Paul made their way to Oregon, where Paul turned herself in
to authorities. She eventually pled guilty to first-degree murder and
testified against Colwell. She received a sentence of life with the
possibility of parole.
Colwell pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree, burglary, and
robbery of a victim 65 years of age or older. At his sentencing hearing,
Colwell basically asked that he be put to death and offered no
mitigators.
Colwell told the sentencing panel that he planned for weeks to kill
someone and murdered Rosenstock "for the kicks of it, I guess." He said
he was sorry for what he did, but added the murder "was like taking a
walk in the park, taking a drive down the street."
After losing appeals at the state level, Colwell waived any further
federal appeal rights and volunteered for execution. At the age of 18,
the high school dropout used a rifle to kidnap his former girlfriend in
Oregon. He went to prison in August 1988 for that crime and was released
on parole in June 1993.
Citations:
Colwell v. State, 919 P.2d 403 (Nev. 1996) (Direct Appeal). Colwell v. State, 59 P.3d 463 (Nev. 2002) (State Habeas).
Final Meal:
A grilled cheeseburger with onions, pickle and tomatoes, french fries, 3
slices of cheese-and-pepperoni pizza, 3 pints of vanilla, chocolate and
chocolate chip ice cream, water, a 20-ounce Coke, a 20-ounce Pepsi and
fruit, including an apple, banana and orange.
Final Words:
None.
ClarkProsecutor.org
Lawrence Colwell, Jr., a 35-year-old
white male, was voluntarily executed by lethal injection
at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada on
March 26, 2004. Colwell was found guilty of the 1994
murder of Frank Rosenstock, a 76-year-old white male.
Colwell, who was 25-years old when he committed the
capital crime, was sentenced to death on February 25,
1995.
On March 10, 1994, Colwell, aka
Charles Durrant, and his girlfriend, Merillee Paul, a
33-year-old white female, were at the Tropicana Hotel in
Las Vegas, Nevada. They had devised a plan whereby Paul
would pretend she was a prostitute, find a male victim,
and go with him back to his room and rob him.
Paul targeted Frank Rosenstock, a
vacationing Florida tourist, and went with Rosenstock
back to his room persuading him to get into the bathtub.
While he was in the bathtub, Paul searched through his
belongings for money and valuables. Without success in
locating anything of value, she telephoned Colwell in
the hotel lobby who told her to "wait there" as he
proceeded up to the room.
Colwell knocked on the door, posing
as a security guard, and Paul opened the door to let him
enter. Colwell showed a fake badge and told Rosenstock
he was being arrested for solicitation. Colwell
handcuffed Rosenstock, found his wallet, and took it
from him. The wallet contained credit cards and $91 in
cash.
While Rosenstock was handcuffed,
Colwell proceeded to take his belt and wrap it around
his throat. Colwell looped the belt through the buckle,
strangled Rosenstock, and in the course of the
strangulation, slid Rosenstock off the bed down to the
floor. Colwell had his foot on Rosenstock’s shoulders as
he pulled on the belt, and as he did so, Colwell told
Paul that it took a person six to eight minutes to die
from strangulation. Colwell strangled Frank for at least
five minutes. Finally, when Rosenstock's face was purple
and Colwell could tell he was no longer breathing, he
removed the belt.
Colwell and Paul then wiped areas of
the room down with wet rags to remove fingerprints. They
took a number of items from the room and placed them in
Rosenstock's suitcase, including the belt used to
strangle him and many other items, including glasses and
ashtrays that they might have touched. Colwell kept the
buckle from the belt. When finished, Colwell and Paul
exited the room with the suitcase, leaving Rosenstock
lying facedown and dead on the floor. They then went to
a room at the Royal Oasis Motel.
Colwell and Paul left Las Vegas and
went to Palm Springs, California where they met Kenneth
Abell. Colwell told Abell about killing Rosenstock.
Using Abell's car, Colwell and Paul next drove to Oregon
where Paul turned herself in to the authorities and
eventually entered into a plea agreement with the State
whereby she agreed to plead guilty to first-degree
murder and testify against Colwell. In exchange for her
plea agreement, the State would recommend a sentence of
life with the possibility of parole.
Colwell was soon arrested and
arraigned. The State informed the court it would not be
seeking the death penalty. However, Colwell desired to
represent himself and so a hearing was held to determine
if he was intelligently and voluntarily choosing to do
so. Prior to this hearing, Colwell had agreed with the
State to plead guilty to all charges on the condition
that the State change its position and diligently seek
the death penalty. So the district court filed notice of
its intent to seek the death penalty.
Colwell was canvassed and allowed to
represent himself although the court appointed standby
counsel for him. Colwell was allowed to plead guilty to
one count of murder in the first-degree and one count of
robbery of a victim 65 years of age or older after which
Colwell requested that the penalty hearing be conducted
as soon as possible.
During the two-day penalty hearing
before a three-judge panel, Colwell failed to conduct
meaningful cross-examination and in fact attempted to
bring out damaging evidence that the prosecution had
failed to address.
In addition, Colwell made no
objections to the State's evidence, and because he
failed to make any objections, the three-judge panel
felt compelled to comment about his defense. Colwell
also refused to introduce any mitigating evidence. His
closing argument was a plea that he be put to death, and
by unanimous vote the panel complied with his request.
Accomplice Paul was sentenced to life
imprisonment with the possibility of parole; on May 21,
2004, and May 16, 2007, she was denied parole.
Wikipedia.org
Nevada execution: Killer Colwell dies by injection
35-year-old makes no apology, statement after waiving appeals in 1994
case
By Sean Whaley -
Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 27, 2004
CARSON CITY -- Without offering any last statement or
apology, Lawrence Colwell Jr. was executed by lethal injection Friday
for the "thrill killing" of an elderly tourist in Las Vegas in 1994.
Colwell went to his death voluntarily, having waived his appeals. He
could have stopped the execution at any time before the lethal drugs
entered his system.
Colwell, in handcuffs, was led into the execution
chamber at the Nevada State Prison at 8:52 p.m. from a cell across a
hallway where he spent the last hours of his life and where he ate his
last meal. Colwell, 35, was strapped down on a padded table by
correctional officers and a needle was inserted into his right arm.
The
needle fed three drugs into his bloodstream: one to render him
unconscious, one to stop his breathing and the third to stop his heart.
He closed his eyes upon entering the execution room and never opened
them or said a word. He was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m.
Department of Corrections Director Jackie Crawford,
speaking outside the prison gates after Nevada's 10th execution since
1979, said Colwell had no last words.
Colwell pleaded guilty and was
sentenced to death in 1995 for strangling and robbing Florida tourist
Frank Rosenstock, 76, in 1994 in a room at the Tropicana. "We asked him,
did he want to say anything, and he said, `Absolutely not,' " Crawford
said. Colwell took no sedative prior to his execution, she said. "But he
did smoke a lot of cigarettes," Crawford said.
While Colwell had nothing to say, the victim's two
children, Terry Rosenstock and Mindy Dinburg, did make a statement after
witnessing his death. "After 10 years of following this case from our
homes in New York and New Jersey, and countless trips to Nevada to face
our dad's killer in court, today we feel that our family finally has
justice," Terry Rosenstock said.
Rosenstock said his father "was a
family man and always thought of others before himself. It is impossible
to put our grief and anger over the loss of our dad into words." "The
tenth anniversary of his murder was just a few days ago," he said. "The
execution has made us relive this horror."
But Rosenstock said he will return to Nevada in May,
when Colwell's accomplice, Merilee Paul, is scheduled for a parole
hearing. Rosenstock will speak against her parole. Paul pleaded guilty
to first-degree murder for her role in the death of Rosenstock and is
serving a life prison term with the possibility of parole.
Colwell's parents were at Nevada State Prison for the
execution, but they did not witness their son's death or speak to the
media. Among those attending the execution as official witnesses were
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Clark County District Attorney David
Roger and Michael Hillerby, Gov. Kenny Guinn's chief of staff. None of
the witnesses made any comment after the execution.
Waiting nearby was Colwell's attorney, Assistant
Federal Public Defender Michael Pescetta. Pescetta was there to file a
stay to stop the execution if Colwell had asked him to do so. U.S.
District Judge Howard McKibben said at a competency hearing for Colwell
earlier this month that he would sign such a stay right up to the last
minute if necessary. It remained uncertain until about 7 p.m. Friday
whether Colwell would go through with his execution. Fritz Schlottman, a
spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said Friday morning that
Colwell's behavior had changed, raising questions about whether he would
seek a stay.
Colwell had been meeting with his parents and legal
advisers who were urging him to continue with his appeals. At about 7
p.m., Pescetta visited with Colwell to read a letter the inmate had
written. While the contents were not released, Colwell wrote that he
would not halt his execution. In the end, Colwell went through with his
plans without any display of emotion. He first announced his intention
to be executed at a hearing in Clark County District Court in February.
He ate his last meal of pizza, a cheeseburger, fruit and cola at about 4
p.m.
Voluntary executions are the norm in Nevada. Nine of
the 10 men executed since October 1979 have chosen death rather than
pursue legal appeals. The execution that preceded Colwell's occurred in
April 2001, when Sebastian Bridges waived his appeals and was put to
death for murdering Hunter Blatchford, 27, in the Las Vegas desert in
1997.
A group of about 40 people opposed to the death
penalty held a candlelight vigil outside the prison grounds prior to the
execution Friday. "The death penalty is a direct act of violence against
human life," said the Rev. Chuck Durante, co-chairman of the Life, Peace
and Justice Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno, in a
prepared statement. Durante led the group in songs, including, "We Shall
Overcome," on the shoulder of the road across from the prison. Nearby,
lone pro-death penalty protester Chris Daugherty of Carson City held a
sign that said: "Nevada is the Old West. Hang him high." "This guy
deserves to go somewhere else," Daugherty said. "He doesn't belong here
with us."
Colwell did not grant any interviews to the media. At
his sentencing hearing in 1995, he asked a three-judge panel to sentence
him to death for killing Rosenstock. "I took his life for no reason. No
reason at all. It wasn't for the money. It was for the kicks of it, I
guess. "It was like taking a walk in the park, taking a drive down the
street," he said. "The act itself was committed that easily, and it was
uncalled for."
At the same hearing, former Clark County District
Attorney Stewart Bell said Colwell "has been headed for the death
penalty since he was a youth, 12 years old or younger." Bell said
Colwell received his first conviction at the age of 12 for burglarizing
a school in Oregon and continued to have trouble with the law throughout
his youth.
At the age of 18, the high school dropout used a rifle to
kidnap his former girlfriend in Oregon. He went to prison in August 1988
for that crime and was released on parole in June 1993. Bell said
Colwell continued to commit crimes after his release and later headed
for Michigan with his girlfriend, Paul, to set up a marijuana farm. The
pair soon ran out of money, he said, and in March 1994 headed to Las
Vegas.
Nevada Executes Man For Killing Fla. Tourist
WKMG-TV
Central Florida
March 27, 2004
CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The killer of an elderly Broward
County, Fla., tourist was executed after refusing a last-minute appeal.
Lawrence Colwell Jr., 35, was executed by injection late Friday at the
Nevada State Prison for the 1994 strangulation of Las Vegas tourist
Frank Rosenstock, 76. Cowell had refused to seek a stay from a federal
judge - who had said he would stop the execution if asked.
The inmate, shackled at the ankles and wrists and
wearing jeans, a blue cotton shirt and shiny black boots, showed no
emotion as he was led into the prison's old gas chamber and hoisted onto
a gurney. He briefly glanced at the 20 witnesses in a viewing area and
then closed his eyes and never reopened them. Colwell died at 9:08 p.m.,
six minutes after being injected with three lethal drugs.
Prison Director Jackie Crawford said Colwell had no
final statement and didn't express remorse for strangling Rosenstock. "We
asked him, did he want to say anything and he said absolutely not,"
Crawford said. "To be very honest, sometimes these people become very
tired , very weary of being incarcerated," she said. Crawford said
Colwell wasn't sedated and "smoked a lot of cigarettes" before his
execution.
He also talked with a priest and with a federal defender
summoned to the prison shortly before the execution to see if he wanted
a last-minute stay. Earlier, he met with his parents and dined on a last
meal of pizza, a cheeseburger, french fries and ice cream. His parents,
Lawrence Colwell Sr., and mother, Ruby Culp, both from the Grants Pass,
Ore., area where Colwell was raised, remained inside the prison but did
not witness his death.
The victim's son, Terry Rosenstock, 47, a New York
banking consultant, and his sister, Mindy Dinburg, 52, a New Jersey
probation officer, witnessed the execution. Afterward, Rosenstock read a
statement saying, "After 10 years of following this case from our homes
in New York and New Jersey, and countless trips to Nevada to face our
dad's killer in court, today we feel that our family finally has justice."
"We have been asked if the execution brings closure to our family and
the answer is no. We see today as just the end of another painful
chapter in a story we wish had never been written."
Rosenstock, a New York widower who had retired to the
Fort Lauderdale area, was vacationing in Las Vegas when Colwell's
girlfriend lured him to his hotel room and summoned Colwell. Colwell
strangled the retired Brooklyn furrier with a belt, took $91 in cash and
Rosenstock's credit cards, but missed $300 the victim had hidden in a
sock. Afterward, prosecutors said, Colwell and Merrilee Paul returned to
their motel "and had sex and breakfast." Paul later pleaded guilty to
murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal defender who
represented Colwell, said his parents didn't want to say anything. But
he said Colwell had sent a letter to Gov. Kenny Guinn "making it quite
clear how remorseful he was." Colwell's body will be cremated at his and
his parents' request. Outside the prison some 30 people lit candles,
carried signs and sang hymns to protest the execution. "We're sad that
the state of Nevada is taking one of its citizen's lives tonight," said
Nancy Hart, who heads an anti-death penalty group. Chris Daugherty of
Carson City carried a sign supporting Colwell's execution "Nevada is the
Old West - Hang Him High."
The execution was the first in Nevada since April
2001 when Sebastian Bridges was put to death and the 52nd at the Nevada
State Prison since 1903. Executions are held in the prison's gas chamber,
though lethal gas hasn't been used since convicted killer Jesse Bishop
was executed in 1979. Lethal injections have been used for the nine
executions since, including Colwell's. All but one of the condemned
inmates cleared the way for their executions by voluntarily surrendering
their rights to appeal.
Colwell said at recent court hearings that he wanted
no more appeals. "I can't sit here and say I'm 100 percent for this,"
Colwell said at a Feb. 25 hearing in Las Vegas, where a judge issued a
death warrant. "Like I've told the attorneys all along, I'm about 90-10
and I don't think that will ever change." "Do I want to die? No, I don't
want to die," he said." But is the value of life there for me now? No,
it isn't."
Colwell lost two state Supreme Court appeals,
including one in 1996 and another in 2002 in which Nevada justices said
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against using judicial panels in capital
cases couldn't be applied retroactively. Colwell receiving the death
sentence from a three-judge panel after pleading guilty and requesting
he be executed.
At his initial 1995 sentencing hearing, Colwell told the
sentencing panel that he planned for weeks to kill someone and murdered
Rosenstock "for the kicks of it, I guess." He said he was sorry for what
he did, but added the murder "was like taking a walk in the park, taking
a drive down the street." Eighty-four inmates remain on death row in
Nevada.
ProDeathPenalty.Com
Convicted killer Lawrence Colwell Jr., told a federal
judge in clear terms that he wants to proceed with his execution at 9
p.m. on March 26. "Am I certain I want to be executed?" Colwell said to
U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben. "I'm 99.99 percent certain that I
do. Because I'm tired of this."
After an 80-minute hearing during which McKibben
repeatedly asked Colwell about his intentions, the former Oregon
resident who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Las Vegas in 1995
did not waver. McKibben also asked questions to determine if Colwell was
competent to proceed with his death by lethal injection and if he knew
what it would mean to die. "Yes, I understand the difference between
life and death," Colwell said. McKibben found that Colwell was competent
to proceed with his execution. There is no evidence of mental illness or
other factor that would lead to a different conclusion, the judge said.
Colwell, wearing prison-issued blue jeans and blue shirt, was articulate
and polite throughout the hearing, saying "yes, sir" or "no, sir" to
McKibben's repeated questions. McKibben did allow an appeal filed by
Colwell to remain active in U.S. District Court, which will give the
inmate a chance up to the last minute to change his mind.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Pescetta
will also remain as Colwell's attorney, but he told McKibben he would
not seek a stay of execution unless Colwell told him to do so. McKibben
expressed a concern that Colwell could manipulate the court system by
waiting until the last moment to seek a stay. The judge said he was not
interested in any "procedural games."
But McKibben also said he would
grant any request by Colwell to stop the execution because issues he has
raised on appeal remain unresolved. Colwell said it is not his intention
to change his mind at the last minute. "I really don't believe it will
go to the 11th hour," he said. If he changes his mind, Colwell said he
would seek a stay by no later than March 24.
Colwell pleaded guilty in 1995 to first-degree murder
for strangling and robbing elderly Florida tourist Frank Rosenstock in
1994. Colwell's death sentence stems from the slaying of Frank
Rosenstock on March 10, 1994, at the Tropicana. The slaying occurred
after Colwell's girlfriend, Merillee Paul, lured Rosenstock to his room,
then called Colwell to carry out a robbery. Colwell strangled Rosenstock
with a belt. Afterward, prosecutors said, Colwell and Merrilee Paul
returned to their motel "and had sex and breakfast."
Paul pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced
to life in prison. Colwell pleaded guilty to the murder as well and then
appeared before a three-judge panel for a sentencing hearing in 1995.
Colwell represented himself during the hearing. "I took his life for no
reason," he told the judges. "No reason at all. It wasn't for the money.
It was for the kicks of it, I guess." "It was like taking a walk in the
park, taking a drive down the street," Colwell said. "The act itself was
committed that easily, and it was uncalled for." During the hearing,
Colwell stopped short of saying he wanted to die, but he did nothing to
try to prevent his death sentence. He called no witnesses on his behalf
and while questioning prosecution witnesses, he portrayed himself in the
worst possible light. "The victim died," Colwell said. "I murdered him
in cold blood."
McKibben also queried Colwell about his appeal on
file with the U.S. District Court, noting that his sentence of death
could be vacated if some of his claims are upheld. In particular, the
judge asked Colwell if he was aware that the U.S. Supreme Court will
soon decide whether to make retroactive a previous decision finding
sentencing by three-judge panels is unconstitutional. Colwell, who was
sentenced by a three-judge panel after pleading guilty, could be
affected by the decision, McKibben said. Colwell said he was aware of
the review but that he wanted to proceed anyway.
"I'm just ready," he said. Frank Rosenstock's son,
Terry Rosenstock, said from New York that he and his sister are making
plans to attend the execution of their father's killer. "It is a very
awkward feeling," Rosenstock said. "You are going to watch someone die,
and it is going to affect us. "We were taught that life is very precious.
But at the same time, this is something I have to do," Rosenstock said.
Authorities said Colwell had been in trouble with the
law since he was 12 - for running away from home, starting a fire,
animal cruelty, burglary, theft, forgery, stealing a car and other
crimes. At age 18, he was imprisoned for 5 years after a 1988 conviction
for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend who had worked with him at a fast-food
joint in Grants Pass, Ore.
While in prison, records showed he seduced a
female guard and bragged about it. Colwell had been out on parole for
nearly a year when he killed Rosenstock and, according to prosecutors,
had been talking about murdering someone since 1988.
A former Oregon
cellmate, who Colwell visited after the Las Vegas murder, provided the
tip that led authorities to Colwell. Colwell had wound up in a Grants
Pass jail for a parole violation after visiting his mother, Ruby Culp,
at a trailer park in nearby Myrtle Creek. The former cellmate also
described Colwell as threatening and manipulative, and said Colwell
wanted him to join in robbing a military armory so they could steal
weapons and form a militia-like criminal gang.
Colwell, who used the
alias Charles Durrant, also claimed to be part of a shadowy, white-only
group called "Merces Constrada" which he said was Latin for "Mercenary
of the Country." Court records also note letters from Colwell to various
public and police agencies asking them to investigate a conspiracy to "get
him," and letters to then-President Clinton and Hillary Clinton warning
them of dangerous gang activity. Colwell has told authorities he didn't
want to grant any interview requests while he awaits execution.
UPDATE: Las Vegas killer Lawrence Colwell wants to be
well-groomed when he goes to his execution March 26 at the Nevada State
Prison. Colwell has asked to receive a haircut and to have his teeth
cleaned before he is put to death by lethal injection, prison spokesman
Fritz Schlottman said. The inmate has been placed in protective custody
in a single-bed cell. The section he is in has its own exercise yard.
Schlottman described Colwell's demeanor as "matter-of-fact." Colwell has
declined further court appeals and said he wants to be executed. But he
has left the door open to renew his appeal and get a stay of execution
from the federal court. He has said he will decide that issue by
Wednesday. Colwell has declined to be interviewed by the press.
Terry Rosenstock, the son of the victim, and Mindy
Dinburg, the daughter, plan to attend the execution. Rosenstock said, "We
have to," he said, "for closure." Rosenstock, of New York, said Colwell
"did wrong by my father," and the killing "leaves a permanent mark on my
life." Rosenstock said he and Dinburg, who lives in New Jersey, plan to
arrive the night before the execution. Colwell has asked that his
television, which was in storage, be returned to him, Schlottman said.
Colwell has also asked for ice in his soft drinks. The prison does not
have an ice-making machine, Schlottman said.
The March 26 execution is expected to have an
estimated 20 witnesses, including the family members and 10 members of
the media, Schlottman said. On March 10, 1994, Colwell and his
girlfriend Merillee Paul robbed and murdered 76-year-old Frank
Rosenstock at the Tropicana. Rosenstock, of Florida, was handcuffed and
strangled with a belt. Colwell and Paul fled to Oregon, where she turned
herself in to authorities. She pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder and
testified against Colwell.
She is serving a life term with the
possibility of parole. The state initially did not seek the death
penalty in the case, but Colwell offered to plead guilty to all charges
if the state changed its position. At the penalty hearing before three
judges, Colwell asked to be put to death.
UPDATE: Condemned Nevada inmate Lawrence Colwell Jr.,
facing a 9 p.m. execution for strangling a Las Vegas tourist, had what
prison officials term an overnight emotional change and asked to meet
with a public defender's representative. "His emotional state has
changed," Nevada State Prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman said, adding
that Colwell had been talkative but Friday morning became quiet and
asked to see a federal public defender's paralegal, Linda Lewis.
Lewis
had talked several times with Colwell in the days leading up to his
scheduled execution by injection, and was to meet with some of his
family members early Friday. Assistant federal defenders Michael
Pescetta and Rebecca Blaskey boarded a plane in Las Vegas and planned to
join Lewis at the prison. They were to arrive at about noon - the same
time Colwell was to be moved to a "last night" cell next to the death
chamber - the prison's old gas chamber.
The events early Friday followed meetings on Thursday
between Colwell and his father, Lawrence Colwell Sr. of Grants Pass,
Ore., and with his godparents, Thomas and Dorothy Higgins of McGill, Nev.
He recently became a Catholic. Earlier in the week, Colwell had met with
a Catholic priest and his mother, Ruby Culp, who's from the Grants Pass
area. Prison officials have moved ahead with plans for the execution,
preparing staffers and taking Colwell's request for a last meal of
pizza, a cheeseburger, french fries and ice cream.
As of Thursday, he
had left open the possibility of a last-minute stay. NSP Warden Mike
Budge said Colwell still has left a "little 0.01 percent" window for a
stay that the judge already has said he'd grant - but only if the inmate
asks for it. Colwell, who has refused to grant media interviews, met
with Budge and other prison officials who went over the execution
procedures with him. He's also been making phone calls and has access to
a television, but opted not to use a prison exercise yard. Colwell had
told U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben on March 5 that he'd probably
say by Wednesday whether he wanted a stay of his lethal injection. But
that self-imposed deadline came and went with no final word from him.
UPDATE: Nevada death row inmate Lawrence Colwell Jr.
was executed by injection Friday night for strangling an elderly tourist
in Las Vegas. Colwell, 35, was executed at the Nevada State Prison after
refusing to seek a stay from a federal judge - who had said he would
stop the execution if Colwell asked. The inmate wearing jeans, a blue
cotton shirt and shiny black boots was led into the prison's old gas
chamber. He briefly glanced at the 20 witnesses who were in the viewing
area and closed his eyes as he was hoisted onto the gurney. Colwell died
a few minutes after being injected with 3 lethal drugs at 9:02 p.m.
Some 30 people lit candles, carried signs and sang
hymns outside the prison to protest the execution. "We're sad that the
state of Nevada is taking one of its citizen's lives tonight," said
Nancy Hart, who heads an anti-death penalty group. Chris Daugherty of
Carson City carried a sign supporting Colwell's execution "Nevada is the
Old West - Hang Him High."
Daugherty said he was "expressing my First
Amendment rights in favor of the death penalty" because executions
protect future victims from killers. "They can't go out and kill
somebody else," he said. Colwell, an Oregon native, lost 2 state Supreme
Court appeals, including one in 1996 and another in 2002 in which Nevada
justices said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against using judicial
panels in capital cases couldn't be applied retroactively. The victim's
son, Terry Rosenstock, 47, a New York banking consultant, and his sister,
Mindy Dinburg, 52, a New Jersey probation officer, witnessed the
execution.
Nevada Department of
Correction
Inmate Name: COLWELL, LAWRENCE
NDOC ID: 47271
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
DOB: 03/01/1969
Approximate Age: 35
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 170 lbs
Build: Medium
Complex: Fair
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Death penalty opponents gather in Vegas as execution
nears
By Christina Almeida -
Las Vegas Sun
AP - March 24, 2004
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two days before Nevada's first
scheduled execution in three years, a group of death penalty opponents
gathered for a vigil to highlight what they call an unjust practice.
About a dozen death penalty activists attended a news conference and
vigil Wednesday afternoon at Christ Episcopal Church. As the names of
the nine people executed in Nevada since 1979 were read aloud, members
of the group placed daisies in a large red bucket.
"We are here today to express our outrage and our
dismay that Nevada is about to kill one of its citizens," said Nancy
Hart, president of the Nevada Coalition Against The Death Penalty. "Nothing
justifies the taking of human life when there are so many frailties and
flaws within the system." The group plans a candlelight vigil outside
the Nevada State Prison in Carson City on Friday night, when convicted
killer Lawrence Colwell Jr. is scheduled to be executed.
Colwell, 35, asked for and received a death sentence
for strangling tourist Frank Rosenstock, 76, in 1994 in Las Vegas.
Colwell's girlfriend lured the New York widower who had retired to the
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area to his room then called Colwell who
strangled Rosenstock with a belt. Many in the group said they were
troubled by Colwell's decision to commit what they called "state-assisted
suicide." "In this state, the death penalty is only used when the
prisoner is volunteering to be executed," said Abe Bonowitz, director of
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "That's not the
way it should be. Real punishment would be not to let them have the
cowardly way out."
All but one of the nine inmates executed in Nevada
since 1979 cleared the way for their executions by voluntarily
surrendering their rights to appeal. Nevada's last execution was held in
April 2001 when Sebastian Bridges refused to stop his execution and was
put to death.
The group also read the names of the victims killed
by those who have been executed. "We remember the victims, but not with
more killing," Bonowitz said. "We are for accountability. We believe
victims' families are entitled to see the person who killed their loved
one locked up - and throw away the key." Bill Pelke, director of Journey
of Hope, a victims rights organization opposed to the death penalty,
said healing does not come when a killer is executed. "I didn't need to
see someone die to have that healing," said Pelke, whose grandmother was
murdered in 1985. "It's simply continuing the cycle of violence. Violent
acts are never going to lead to peace and healing and justice."
The group planned a forum Wednesday night at
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Nevada executions follow precise procedures
By Brendan Riley -
Reno Gazette-Journal
Online
AP - 3/21/2004
Unless he asks for a last-minute stay, condemned
inmate Lawrence Colwell Jr. will be led through a submarine-type door
into the Nevada State Prison’s half-century-old death chamber and be
executed at 9 p.m. Friday. The procedures to be followed provide for a
final meal, coffee, cigarettes or a cigar if requested in a “last night”
cell just outside the tiny death chamber. The entire execution area,
which includes two last night cells and a viewing room for witnesses, is
so small it’s difficult for people to move around.
Colwell will be able to send out last letters to his
family and reporters and possibly make some final phone calls. He also
can be visited by the chaplain, warden or prison director, and give away
any personal items to other inmates. A visit from his mother, Ruby Culp,
also is scheduled. The condemned man gets a new set of prison denims.
There has been one exception in 2001: Sebastian Bridges, the last man to
be executed in Nevada, wore a suit. Colwell hasn’t made that request. So
far, he has asked for a haircut and to have his teeth cleaned before he
dies, prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman said.
To guard against suicide attempts, a “death watch”
guard keeps an eye on the convict at all times. Colwell can’t have any
electrical items, such as a radio or television, in his cell although
they can be placed in the corridor outside the cell. Colwell has asked
to use his television, which has been in storage. A few hours before the
execution, Colwell will be pre-medicated with a sedative to discourage
last-minute resistance.
About half an hour before the execution, Colwell will
be brought into the 9-by-12-foot, beige-painted room where he’s strapped
to a gurney with eight automobile seat belts. If he can’t or won’t walk
to the death room, he will be carried in on a stretcher. Looking up,
Colwell will be able to see two bare light bulbs and the old exhaust
pipe that was used to fill the room with cyanide gas until the
Legislature discontinued the practice in 1983. If he turns his head,
Colwell will see a heart monitor.
Through a three-panel window on his
right he can see the nine witnesses required by law plus a dozen or so
other witnesses who will be standing in a 13-by-20-foot viewing room.
The first is an overdose of a “downer” that can cause
death. Another stops breathing, and a third stops the heart. A few
minutes later, a doctor pronounces the inmate dead, shades on the death
chamber windows are pulled down, the needles are removed from his arm,
and the body is transported to a local mortuary.
Prison officials had hoped to replace the old chamber,
once described by Nevada State Prison Warden Mike Budge as “almost
medieval,” but the 2003 Legislature didn’t fund the project. Two and
possibly three other locations at the prison were in use before the
current chamber was first used in 1950 to execute James Williams for the
murder of a co-worker in Elko. Twenty condemned men have died in the
chamber since. Those executions are among 51 at the state prison since
1901, when it was designated as the location for all executions.
Jesse Bishop, convicted of murder in a Las Vegas
casino robbery, was the last person to be executed in the chamber by
lethal gas, in 1979. Since then, all executions have been by lethal
injection. Bishop and the other condemned men who followed him were
“table jumpers,” guard parlance for inmates who didn’t resist as they
were led to the death chamber and strapped into a chair or onto the
gurney that’s now used.
Bridges’ execution, on April 21, 2001, was the most
bizarre in recent years. Wearing his brown, double-breasted Pierre
Cardin suit and shiny, new black shoes, he appeared calm at first, but
then broke down, sobbing and screaming, “You want to kill me like a
dog.” Still he wouldn’t appeal. Had he done so, even at the last minute,
the execution would have been called off.
NEVADA EXECUTIONS SINCE 1976
Nine men, all but one of them who refused appeals,
have been executed in Nevada since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the
way for capital punishment in the mid-1970s:
1979—Jesse Walter Bishop, 46, was executed by lethal
gas Oct. 22, 1979, for killing a newlywed man in the El Morocco
hotel-casino in Las Vegas during a robbery attempt. Bishop, the last man
to die by gas in Nevada, refused all appeals and insisted that he be
executed.
1985—Carroll Cole, 47, was executed Dec. 6, 1985, for
killing Marie Cushman in Las Vegas. Cole was the first to die by
injection and, like Bishop, wanted to be executed. He also was convicted
of killing four other women, and claimed to have killed more than a
dozen women.
1989—William Thompson, 51, was executed by injection
June 19, 1989, for killing a transient in Reno. Thompson, a career
criminal, also had two other murder convictions, and claimed to have
killed three other men. He wouldn’t appeal, saying his execution would
be “payment to everyone I’ve ever hurt.”
1989—Four days after Thompson’s execution, Sean
Flanagan, 27, was executed by injection on June 23, 1989, for killing
two men in Las Vegas. Flanagan said he thought he could do “some good”
by killing homosexuals. He asked to die.
1990—Thomas Baal, 26, was executed by injection June
3, 1990, for killing a bus driver during a Las Vegas robbery. Baal also
wanted to die and resisted efforts by his family to appeal his sentence.
1996—Richard Moran, 42, was executed by injection
March 31, 1996, for two killings in a Las Vegas bar in 1984 while on a
drug and alcohol binge. Moran was the only one of the inmates executed
since the mid-1970s who didn’t oppose legal efforts to keep him alive —
but said he was ready to die.
1998—Richard Abeyta, 44, was executed by injection
Oct. 5, 1998, for killing his sleeping ex-girlfriend by shooting her
twice in the head while ransacking her home for drugs. He opposed any
11th-hour legal efforts to stop his execution.
1999—Alvaro Calambro, 25, was executed by injection
April 5, 1999, for the January 1994 murders of Peggy Crawford, who had a
tire iron driven through her skull, and Keith Christopher, whose head
was crushed by a hammer. Representatives of Calambro’s native
Philippines tried to stop the execution of the Filipino national, but he
opposed any appeals.
2001—Sebastian Bridges, 37, was executed by injection
April 21, 2001, for killing Hunter Blatchford in the desert outside Las
Vegas in October 1997. Blatchford had been romantically involved with
Bridges’ estranged wife, Laurie. Bridges refused to file appeals, but
just before his lethal injections were administered he began sobbing and
screamed, “I killed nobody, nobody,” and “You want to kill me like a
dog.”
Condemned Nevada man had criminal
record, delusions
By Brendan Riley -
Las Vegas Sun
AP - March 20, 2004
CARSON CITY (AP) - Lawrence Colwell Jr., facing
execution March 26 for the thrill killing of an elderly tourist in Las
Vegas, has a troubled history that includes a long criminal record and
reports of delusional, anti-social behavior since he was a boy.
Colwell, 35, asked for and received a death sentence
for strangling Frank Rosenstock, 76, a New York widower who had retired
to the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area. The March 1994 slaying occurred
after Colwell's girlfriend lured Rosenstock to his hotel room, then
called Colwell to rob him.
Colwell strangled Rosenstock with a belt,
took $91 in cash and Rosenstock's credit cards, but missed $300 the
victim had hidden in a sock. After the "trick roll," prosecutors said,
Colwell and his girlfriend, Merrilee Paul, returned to their motel "and
had sex and breakfast." Paul later pleaded guilty to the murder and was
sentenced to life in prison.
At a recent hearing, Colwell told U.S. District Judge
Howard McKibben that he's "99.99 percent" certain he'll do nothing to
stop his execution at Nevada State Prison. He said he'd decide by March
24 - and McKibben told the condemned man that Colwell is the only one
who can stop the execution.
Court records in Colwell's case include psychiatrists'
conclusions that Colwell, a southwest Oregon high school dropout who
took some community college classes, studied Latin and learned enough
anatomy to figure out how to kill people, had a "serious delusional
disorder" and was "anti-social to the point of being psychopathic."
Authorities said Colwell had been in trouble with the
law since he was 12 - for running away from home, starting a fire,
animal cruelty, burglary, theft, forgery, stealing a car and other
crimes. At age 18, he was imprisoned for five years after a 1988
conviction for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend who had worked with him at a
fast-food joint in Grants Pass, Ore. While in prison, records showed he
seduced a female guard and bragged about it. Colwell had been out on
parole for nearly a year when he killed Rosenstock and, according to
prosecutors, had been talking about murdering someone since 1988.
A former Oregon cellmate, who Colwell visited after
the Las Vegas murder, provided the tip that led authorities to Colwell.
Colwell had wound up in a Grants Pass jail for a parole violation after
visiting his mother, Ruby Culp, at a trailer park in nearby Myrtle Creek.
The former cellmate also described Colwell as threatening and
manipulative, and said Colwell wanted him to join in robbing a military
armory so they could steal weapons and form a militia-like criminal gang.
Colwell, who used the alias Charles Durrant, also claimed to be part of
a shadowy, white-only group called "Merces Constrada" which he said was
Latin for "Mercenary of the Country."
Court records also note letters from Colwell to
various public and police agencies asking them to investigate a
conspiracy to "get him," and letters to then-President Clinton and
Hillary Clinton warning them of dangerous gang activity.
Colwell has told authorities he didn't want to grant
any interview requests while he awaits execution. But he's made it clear
at his court hearings that he wants no appeals. "I can't sit here and
say I'm 100 percent for this," Colwell said at a Feb. 25 hearing in Las
Vegas, where a judge issued a death warrant. "Like I've told the
attorneys all along, I'm about 90-10 and I don't think that will ever
change." "Do I want to die? No, I don't want to die," he said." But is
the value of life there for me now? No, it isn't."
Colwell lost two state Supreme Court appeals,
including one in 1996 and another in 2002 in which Nevada justices said
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against judicial panels in capital cases
couldn't be applied retroactively.
At his initial 1995 sentencing hearing, Colwell told
the sentencing panel he planned for weeks to kill someone and murdered
Rosenstock "for the kicks of it, I guess." While he said he was sorry
for what he did, he added the murder "was like taking a walk in the
park, taking a drive down the street." Colwell's refusal to stop his
execution is fine with the victim's son, Terry Rosenstock, 47, who plans
to watch Colwell die.
"It's something we have to do," Rosenstock, a Staten
Island, N.Y., banking consultant, said in a recent telephone interview.
He said he and his sister, Mindy Dinburg, 52, a New Jersey probation
officer, plan to witness the execution. "We're going to this execution
and it's going to affect us. Seeing someone perish in front of you is
going to affect you," Rosenstock said. "But it's closure. That's the
bottom line." "It's a very difficult time," he said. "You think about
this, you don't sleep."
Rosenstock pointed out the execution coincides
with the 10-year mark of his father's March 1994 death at the Tropicana
hotel-casino in Las Vegas. "He took the life of a person who was full of
life and had many, many reasons to live," Rosenstock said. "We've
thought about this. If he wants the death sentence, maybe he should get
what he doesn't want." But there's no guarantee that Colwell would spend
the rest of his life on Nevada's death row, Rosenstock said, noting that
Colwell was sentenced by a three-judge panel - a practice since declared
unconstitutional. "He would go through a whole new (sentencing) hearing,"
Rosenstock said. "Your emotions go back and forth. We were subpoenaed at
his trial and we would be again. We've been through enough already."
If the execution is held, it would be the first in
Nevada since April 2001 when Sebastian Bridges was put to death.
Executions are held in the state's old gas chamber, although lethal gas
hasn't been used since 1979, when convicted killer Jesse Bishop was
executed. Lethal injections were used for the eight executions that
followed. All but one of the condemned inmates, Richard Moran who died
in 1996, cleared the way for their executions by voluntarily
surrendering their rights to appeal.
Colwell's execution scheduled Friday
35-year-old can opt to continue appeals, halt lethal injection
By Sean Whaley and Frank Curreri -
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Thursday, March 25, 2004
CARSON CITY -- Unless he changes his mind at the last
minute, convicted killer Lawrence Colwell Jr. will walk across a short
hallway Friday that separates the "last night" cell from the former gas
chamber at the Nevada State Prison. There, the 35-year-old inmate will
be strapped to a gurney and a needle will be inserted into his arm. At 9
p.m., officials with the Department of Corrections, hidden from view
behind a wall, will pump three injections into his bloodstream.
The first drug is a sedative to put Colwell to sleep.
It will be followed by two other drugs, one to stop his breathing and
the other, his heart. A doctor will then pronounce Colwell dead, and
he'll become the 10th man executed in Nevada since the U.S. Supreme
Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Pescetta
said Wednesday that Colwell's resolve has not wavered. "There's been no
change," he said. "We're just sort of sitting here waiting by the phone."
U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben said at a hearing earlier this month
to determine Colwell's competency that he would sign a stay right up to
the last minute if necessary. At the hearing, Colwell said he was
unlikely to change his mind. "I really don't believe it will go to the
11th hour," he told the judge.
Colwell pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death in
1995 for strangling and robbing Florida tourist Frank Rosenstock, 76, in
1994 in a Las Vegas hotel room. Rosenstock's son, Terry Rosenstock, said
Wednesday that he and his sister, Mindy Dinburg, are planning to fly to
Nevada today to witness Friday's execution. "I feel this is the place we
have to be," Terry Rosenstock said from New York. "It will be a totally
new experience. The whole scenario is like something you watch on TV."
Rosenstock said he attended Colwell's trial and has followed all the
legal proceedings closely over the years. "This won't bring closure," he
said of the execution. "It's a close of a chapter."
About 20 death penalty abolitionists gathered
Wednesday at a Las Vegas church to denounce the scheduled execution. One
of them was former death row inmate Juan Melendez, convicted of a
Florida murder in 1984. Seventeen years later he was freed when it was
revealed that prosecutors had hidden evidence to protect the real killer,
who was a police informant. "When they (death row inmates) drop the
appeals, they ask the government to help them commit suicide," said
Melendez, 52. "But I had my dreams; my wonderful dreams saved me."
Melendez, who is traveling as part of the Journey of Hope Abolition Day
'04 tour, said he was "a prime example that the death penalty system is
not accurate. It's not fair; it's all about revenge." Melendez had been
convicted of the 1983 slaying of a beauty school owner, though no
physical evidence had ever tied him to the crime. "I was always trying
to keep hope that one day I would be free," Melendez said.
Under the cover of trees at Christ Episcopal Church,
he and others in the group prayed and sang a hymn called "Give Peace to
Every Heart." They attacked the death penalty for reasons ranging from
religious to humanitarian. They know that Colwell is allowing his own
death, but believe the state is wrong to oblige him. "That's not the way
it should be," said Abe Bonowitz, director of Citizens United for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "Real punishment would be to not
allow the cowardly way out. Don't let the citizens of this state lower
themselves to the level of this killer."
Colwell has declined requests for interviews. He is
considered a "volunteer," a death-row inmate who has decided to waive
his legal appeals and allow himself to be executed.
At his sentencing
hearing nearly a decade ago, Colwell told the judges deciding his fate:
"I took his life for no reason. No reason at all. It wasn't for the
money. It was for the kicks of it, I guess. "It was like taking a walk
in the park, taking a drive down the street," he said. "The act itself
was committed that easily, and it was uncalled for."
Voluntary executions are the norm in Nevada. Nine of
the 10 men since the first in October 1979 have chosen death rather than
pursue legal appeals. At his competency hearing, Colwell hinted that his
bleak life on death row at Ely State Prison in eastern Nevada played a
part in his decision to be executed.
Death row inmates spend 23 hours a day in their cells.
Contact with visitors is limited because of the remote location. Fritz
Schlottman, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said Colwell
has had family visit his this week. Colwell has asked for a haircut and
his teeth to be cleaned, Schlottman said. "He wanted his TV," Schlottman
said. "We packed it up when he was moved from Ely (State Prison). We dug
it up and got him his TV."
The last execution was in April 2001. Sebastian
Bridges waived his appeals and was put to death for murdering Hunter
Blatchford, 27, in the Las Vegas desert in 1997. Prior to his execution,
Colwell will have his choice of meals from the prison kitchen.
A telephone is available for him to make calls to family and friends from
the last night cell, where he will be moved on Friday. Across the hall
is the gas chamber where executions are carried out. Nevada in 1983
switched from cyanide gas to lethal injection, but the old gas chamber
is still used for executions.
At his sentencing hearing, former Clark County
District Attorney Stewart Bell said Colwell, "has been headed for the
death penalty since he was a youth, 12 years old or younger." Bell said
Colwell received his first conviction at the age of 12 for burglarizing
a school in Oregon and continued to have trouble with the law throughout
his youth. At the age of 18, the high school dropout used a rifle to
kidnap his former girlfriend in Oregon.
He went to prison in August 1988
for that crime and was released on parole in June 1993. Bell said
Colwell continued to commit crimes after his release and later headed
for Michigan with his girlfriend, Merilee Paul, to set up an underground
marijuana farm. The pair soon ran out of money, he said, and headed to
Las Vegas in March 1994.
Paul also pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for
her role in the death of Rosenstock and is serving a life prison term
with the possibility of parole. She is scheduled for a parole hearing in
May.
Colwell v. State,
919 P.2d 403 (Nev. 1996) (Direct Appeal).
A pro se defendant pled guilty to murder, burglary,
and robbery charges, and requested that death penalty hearing be
conducted as soon as possible. The Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark
County, Gene T. Porter, Michael R. Griffin, Jerry Carr Whitehead, JJ.,
sentenced defendant to death. Defendant's appointed appellate counsel
appealed. The Supreme Court held that: (1) narrowing of death-eligible
defendants occurred, even though defendant failed to present mitigating
evidence and assisted State in presentation of its case; (2) meaningful
appellate review of death sentence could be conducted; (3) statute
limiting power of commutation did not deny defendant chance for clemency;
(4) three-judge panel used during penalty hearing did not
unconstitutionally encroach on judicial power or violate defendant's
right to impartial tribunal; (5) death penalty statute sufficiently
narrowed categories of death-eligible defendants; (6) death penalty was
not cruel and unusual punishment; and (7) death sentence was not imposed
under influence of passion, prejudice, or arbitrary factor, nor was
sentence excessive. Affirmed.
PER CURIAM:
On March 10, 1994, appellant Lawrence Colwell, aka Charles Durrant, and
his girlfriend, Merillee Paul, were at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas.
They devised a plan whereby Paul would pretend she was a prostitute,
find a male victim, go with him back to his room and rob him. Seventy-six-year-old
Frank Rosenstock was the unsuspecting victim of their nefarious plan.
Paul went with Rosenstock back to his room and persuaded him to get into
the bathtub. While he was in the bathtub, Paul searched through his
belongings for money and valuables. Without success in locating anything
of value, she telephoned Colwell in the hotel lobby. Colwell told her to
"wait there" and he proceeded up to the room.
Colwell knocked on the door, posing as a security
guard, and Paul opened the door to let him enter. Colwell showed a fake
badge and told Rosenstock he was being arrested for solicitation.
Colwell handcuffed Rosenstock. Colwell found Rosenstock's wallet and
took it from him. The wallet contained credit cards and cash.
While Rosenstock was handcuffed, Colwell proceeded to
take his belt and wrap it around Rosenstock's throat. Colwell looped the
belt through the buckle and strangled Rosenstock. In the course of the
strangulation, Colwell slid Rosenstock off the bed down to the floor. He
had his foot on Rosenstock's shoulders as he pulled on the belt; as he
did so, Colwell told Paul that it took a person six to eight minutes to
die from strangulation. Colwell strangled Rosenstock for at least five
minutes. Finally, when Rosenstock's face was purple and Colwell could
tell he was no longer breathing, he removed the belt.
Colwell and Paul then wiped areas of the room down
with wet rags to remove fingerprints. They took a number of items from
the room and placed them in Rosenstock's suitcase, including the belt
Colwell used to strangle Rosenstock and many other items, including
glasses and ashtrays, which they might have touched. Colwell kept the
buckle from the belt. When finished, they exited the room, leaving
Rosenstock lying face-down and dead on the floor. The two then went to a
room at the Royal Oasis Motel.
The two left Las Vegas and went to Palm Springs where
they met Kenneth Abell. Colwell told Abell about killing Rosenstock.
Using Abell's car, Colwell and Paul drove to Oregon. In Oregon, Paul
turned herself in to the authorities. Paul eventually entered into a
plea agreement with the State whereby she agreed to plead guilty to
first degree murder and testify against Colwell; in exchange for this
agreement, the State would recommend a sentence of life with the
possibility of parole.
Colwell was arrested and arraigned; the State
informed the court it would not be seeking the death penalty. Colwell
desired to represent himself and so a hearing was held for the purpose
of canvassing Colwell pursuant to Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806,
95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). Prior to this hearing, Colwell had
agreed with the State to plead guilty to all charges on the condition
that the State change its position and diligently seek the death penalty.
The district court filed the Notice of Intent to Seek Death Penalty.
Colwell was canvassed and allowed to represent
himself. However, the court appointed standby counsel for him. Colwell
was allowed to plead guilty to one count of murder in the first degree
pursuant to NRS 200.010 and NRS 200.030 , and one count of robbery of a
victim 65 years of age or older pursuant to NRS 193.167 and NRS 200.380
. Colwell requested that the penalty hearing be conducted as soon as
possible.
During the two-day penalty hearing before a three-judge
panel, Colwell failed to conduct meaningful cross-examination and in
fact attempted to bring out damaging evidence that the prosecution had
failed to address. In addition, Colwell made no objections to the
State's evidence. In fact, Colwell's failure to make any objections was
so obvious that members of the three-judge panel felt compelled to
comment.
Further, Colwell refused to introduce any mitigating evidence.
Prior to closing arguments, the State as well as the panel explained to
Colwell his right of allocution and his opportunity to present evidence.
During closing argument, the State argued both the existence of seven
aggravating factors and the non-existence of any mitigating evidence.
Colwell's closing argument was a plea that he be put to death.
Prior to
sentencing, Colwell was given one final chance to introduce mitigating
evidence; he declined. The panel found the existence of four of the
seven alleged aggravating circumstances and found that no mitigating
circumstances existed. By unanimous vote, the panel sentenced Colwell to
death.
* * *
We conclude that the death sentence was not imposed
under the influence of passion, prejudice or any arbitrary factor, nor
was it excessive in this case. The sentencing panel sentenced Colwell to
death based upon the aggravating circumstances of the murder. The
evidence supports the finding of the aggravating circumstances.
Considering these circumstances and the senseless nature of the killing,
the sentencing panel's decision that Colwell should be put to death was
not excessive. We affirm Colwell's death sentence.
Colwell v. State,
59 P.3d 463 (Nev. 2002) (State Habeas).
Following the affirmance of his death sentence for
murder, 112 Nev. 807, 919 P.2d 403, petitioner sought writ of habeas
corpus. The Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, Donald M.
Mosley, J., denied the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing.
Petitioner appealed. The Supreme Court held that: (1) district court
judge had subject matter jurisdiction over the petition; (2) defendant's
vague allegations did not establish ineffective assistance of trial
counsel; and (3) United States Supreme Court's Ring decision, requiring
jury rather than judge to determine aggravating circumstances for death
sentencing, did not apply retroactively. Affirmed.
On March 10, 1994, appellant Lawrence Colwell and his
girlfriend, Merillee Paul, robbed and murdered a seventy-six-year-old
man at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. Paul went with the victim to
his room on the pretext of having sex with him. She then let Colwell
into the room. He handcuffed and strangled the victim with a belt.
Colwell and Paul made their way to Oregon, where Paul turned herself in
to authorities. She eventually agreed to plead guilty to first-degree
murder and testify against Colwell; in exchange, the State recommended
she receive a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.
After Colwell was arrested and arraigned, the State
informed the district court it would not be seeking the death penalty.
However, Colwell offered to plead guilty to all charges if the State
changed its position and sought the death penalty. The State agreed and
filed a notice of intent to seek death. Colwell also sought to represent
himself. After canvassing Colwell on the matter, the court allowed him
to represent himself but appointed standby counsel.
Colwell pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree,
burglary, and robbery of a victim 65 years of age or older. He requested
that the penalty hearing be conducted as soon as possible. During a two-day
penalty hearing before a three-judge panel, Colwell did not conduct
meaningful cross-examination of the State's witnesses and even attempted
to elicit damaging evidence not presented by the prosecution. He made no
objections to the State's evidence and refused to introduce any
mitigating evidence.
During closing argument, the State argued the
existence of seven aggravating factors and the nonexistence of any
mitigating evidence. Colwell asked that he be put to death. Before
returning a sentence, the panel gave Colwell another chance to introduce
mitigating evidence; he declined. The panel found four aggravating
circumstances, found no mitigating circumstances, and sentenced Colwell
to death. This court affirmed his conviction and sentence.
* * *
We affirm the district court's order denying
Colwell's post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: N MOTIVE: Sex./Sad./C
MO:
Beat/strangled one woman and two men "for fun"; one victim
robbed.
DISPOSITION:
Condemned in Nevada.
Lawrence Colwell
Jr., shown during a 1995 court appearance.
