United States Court of Appeals
For the Fifth Circuit

opinion 04-70035

Media Advisory: Joseph Lave scheduled for execution

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Joseph Roland Lave, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Thursday, September 13, 2007, for the capital murder of Justin Marquart during a robbery at a Richardson sporting goods store. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

On the evening of November 25, 1992, Joseph Lave, James Langston and Timothy Bates went to a Herman’s Sporting Goods store in Richardson, about thirty minutes after the business had closed its doors for the day.

Using a key he had as an employee of the store, Langston let himself and Lave in through the front door and opened a rear door for Bates to enter.

The trio confronted store manager Angela King and took money from the safe after they had King unlock it. The men taped King’s hands and face with duct tape and taped two male employees up, as well.

According to Bates, Langston and Lave delivered lethal blows to the heads of the two male employees and cut their necks with a knife. The carotid arteries and jugular veins were severed with incisions that cut to the boys’ backbones, effectively decapitating the victims. King lost consciousness when she received a hammer blow. Her throat was also sliced, but the blade having failed to sever her carotid artery, she survived.

King awoke, and feeling the bloody wound on her neck, thought she had been shot. She dialed 9-1-1. King identified Langston as one of the robbers.

At about 3 a.m., two Richardson police officers went to Langston’s apartment complex and ordered Langston to freeze when he drove up in his truck. Instead, Langston struck one of the officers with his vehicle; that officer fired his weapon, fatally wounding Langston.

A few hours later, police arrested Timothy Bates at his house. Bates eventually led the police to Lave.

When officers executed a search warrant at Lave’s apartment and car on November 28, 1992, they seized a sweat jacket from Lave’s closet and a fixed-blade knife and some Herman’s tags from his dresser. They also seized a pair of tennis shoes from the trunk and a roll of duct tape from behind the passenger seat of Lave’s car. The property seized from Lave was later identified as Herman’s merchandise.

Lave surrendered to Richardson police on November 30, 1992.

• September 28, 1993 — A Dallas County grand jury indicted Lave for the capital murder of store employee Justin Marquart.

• March 29, 1994 — A jury found Lave guilty of capital murder and following a separate punishment hearing, the court assessed a sentence of death.

• November 20, 1996 — Lave’s conviction and death sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

• January 26, 1998 — Lave filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the state trial court.

• September 20, 2000 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas relief.

• January 22, 2001 — Lave filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in a Dallas federal district court.

• June 17, 2004 — The federal district court denied habeas relief on all of Lave’s claims.

• March 22, 2006 — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of habeas relief.

• June 13, 2006 — Lave sought certiorari review in the U.S. Supreme Court.

• March 5, 2007 — The Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

• June 13, 2007 — The trial court entered an order setting the execution date for September 13, 2007.

The State’s punishment evidence established a lack of remorse on Lave’s part both during and after the crime. An acquaintance testified that Lave arrived at his apartment shortly after the crime with his girlfriend and some beer, and that Lave’s behavior neither indicated that he had just been involved in a heinous crime nor demonstrated remorse. To the contrary, Lave’s actions suggested he was emotionally unaffected by the offense.

The State also put forth evidence of Lave’s prior convictions and criminal behavior, arguing that these extraneous acts showed an escalating propensity for violence and lawlessness. One witness testified that Lave used marijuana and cocaine in public. Another witness testified that Lave bragged about being a “hustler,” carried a gun, once shot at someone, and had robbed someone. A Houston Police Officer testified that Lave had engaged in a struggle with another officer who was attempting to arrest him and that when Lave had reached for his waist, the officer hit him on the head with his flashlight and ended the fight; Lave was carrying a loaded gun in his pocket.

Joseph Roland Lave

Status: Stayed

On the day before Thanksgiving, 1992, Joseph Roland Lave, James Langston and Timothy Bates conspired to rob a suburban Dallas sporting goods store. During the robbery, the assailants brutally killed two of the store’s employees, Frederick Banzhaf and Justin Marquart.

A third employee at Herman's Sporting Goods, Angela, was also attacked but managed to survive, call 911 and identify Langston as one of the perpetrators. All three victims were beaten with a hammer and their throats were slit.

As a result of Angela's identification, the police sought to apprehend Langston. During the attempted arrest, Langston tried to run over the police officers. The police responded by shooting Langston who died soon after. Inside Langston’s shoe, the police found a card with Bates’ name and phone number.

Using that information, the police arrested Bates, who identified Lave as the third robber. Subsequently, the police executed a warrant and searched Lave’s apartment and automobile, where they seized merchandise from the sporting goods store and other evidence.

When police searched Lave's car and apartment, they found some loot from the robbery. Authorities said $2,950 in cash, 21 rifles and shotguns and athletic clothing were taken. Lave surrendered to police 2 days later after he rented a Cadillac and drove to New Orleans, where he was told by a friend that he was a suspect in the Richardson slayings.

Lave was tried for the murder of Marquart. A police sergeant took the stand at Lave's trial and  testified that Bates told him that, on the night of the crime, he and Langston went to the sporting goods store and met with Lave. Langston gave Lave a gun and the two of them went to the front and broke in.

Bates waited in the back until his accomplices allowed him to enter. Bates had told him that while waiting in the hallway he saw Lave in a room with Langston and that Langston was striking one of the victims with a hammer. When Bates saw this, he went outside to the back of the store and waited for his accomplices.

Eventually, Lave, with Langston, emerged from the back carrying the knife and drove off with the money. Lave did not testify. At the end of the trial, the jury convicted Lave for the murder of Marquart, under Texas’ law of the parties, and sentenced him to death.