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Federal court asked to reconsider appeal

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

A man serving life in prison for first-degree murder wants the same three-judge panel that last month denied his most recent appeal to re-hear that petition, claiming it erred in rendering its decision.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals granted Thomas Woods of Pittsburgh a certificate of appealability and reconsidered an appeal denied at the federal district court level, ultimately upholding the lower court’s decision in February.

Woods was convicted in Fayette County in 1997 in the shooting death of Leroy Durant of Brownsville in Hiller.

Woods is arguing that a rehearing is exceptionally important in light of the fact that he is facing life imprisonment without parole. He also maintains that a rehearing is necessary to ensure uniformity and integrity of the decisions of the 3rd Circuit, claiming that the court, faced with similar sets of facts in other cases, had handed down rulings more favorable to appellants in those cases.

In a petition filed Monday, Woods reiterated the three points of contention in the appeal, this time highlighting for the 3rd Circuit judges relevant case law from previous rulings in other matters, as well as supporting case law from U.S. Supreme Court cases.

The panel had previously disagreed with Woods’ assertion that the trial prosecutor’s closing arguments regarding a plea agreement entered on behalf of Woods’ accomplice, Herbert Green, rose to the level of prosecutorial misconduct. Woods noted that that panel based its finding partly on the notion that the prosecutor did not use the plea agreement in proving Woods killed Durant, but rather to impeach Green’s credibility. A jury would not likely have been able to make such a fine analytical decision, absent proper jury instructions, Woods contended.

“Mr. Woods was clearly denied due process because of the improper argument, the jury’s inevitable use of the plea information as substantive evidence of guilt, and the ensuing tainted and unreliable jury deliberations,” the petition stated.

“This court, in other cases, has acknowledged that the admission of a co-defendant’s guilty plea can be extremely prejudicial to the defendant ‘given the natural human tendency to assume that if an aider and abetter is guilty, the principal must also be guilty,'” the petition went on to say, quoting a 1993 ruling in a different case before the same court.

Finally, Woods reiterated his ineffective counsel claim, stating that the 3rd Circuit panel erred in concluding prior counsels’ representation did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness. “A petitioner need not show that counsel’s deficient performance more likely than not altered the outcome,” Woods noted. “Rather, he must ‘show only a probability sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome.'”

Woods originally claimed at his trial that the shooting was in self-defense, but prosecutors successfully argued the shooting was premeditated, one of the elements needed for a first-degree murder conviction.

Police said the shooting stemmed from a drug deal gone awry. Woods, Green and Alfred E. Riley Jr. went to Durant’s home the night he was killed to buy crack cocaine, according to police. While Woods testified at his trial that he shot Durant in self-defense during a struggle, Green and Riley testified against him.

Green was sentenced to five to 10 years for third-degree murder, and Riley was given immunity for his testimony.

Woods appealed his conviction unsuccessfully several times in Fayette County Court and in state appellate courts, before filing his federal court appeal.

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