The Anniston Star
By GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press
January 13, 2009
MOBILE — Prosecutors have urged the Alabama Supreme Court not to delay the planned execution of James Harvey Callahan, whose attorneys are seeking to block his lethal injection set for Thursday at Holman Prison.
Callahan, now 61, was convicted twice of the Feb. 3, 1982, slaying of Rebecca Suzanne Howell of Jacksonville, who was abducted from a coin-operated laundry. The body of the 26-year-old woman was found weeks later, dumped in a creek.
State prosecutors contend Callahan has exhausted his state and federal appeals.
But Callahan's lawyers filed a petition Friday for a stay with the state Supreme Court. In the filing, the lawyers claim the conviction and death sentence were obtained unconstitutionally because the trial judge in Calhoun County refused to recuse himself after participating in the questioning of Callahan in jail.
The judge questioned Callahan about his constitutional rights, then later presided at his trial after rejecting a defense request that he step down from the case because he could be called as a witness to the interrogation.
In a response Monday, prosecutors said the judge did not participate in Callahan's interrogation, but acted to ensure that the lawyer who told him that he might represent Callahan was able to talk to Callahan.
Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw also said in his court filing that Callahan's claim about the trial judge was settled during the inmate's unsuccessful appeal in 2005.
The state Supreme Court did not immediately rule on the bid for an execution delay.
Callahan's first conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court over questions as to whether Callahan's statements about the killing were coerced or not, according to his lawyers. The court ruled that one of those statements was improperly admitted because prosecutors had failed to prove that his prior statements were properly taken.
That reversal led to a retrial and his second conviction in 1987.
Callahan is one of five inmates scheduled for execution in the first five months of this year, an unusual cluster of executions for Alabama.