9/28/2015
Fed Court Throws Out Death Sentence on Chay'Im Ben­Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
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Pro Death Penalty Resource Community » General Death Penalty » Case Watch » Death Penalty Cases Reversed ­ New
Trials » Fed Court Throws Out Death Sentence on Chay'Im Ben­Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
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Jeff1857
Fanatic
Fed Court Throws Out Death
Sentence on Chay'Im Ben­
Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
« on: July 12, 2008, 08:59:34 AM »
Posts: 9431
Karma: +12/­2
A federal court has set aside the death­penalty sentence for a man convicted in
1986 of executing a woman while trying to steal guns from a Visalia­area home.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California Friday granted the
appeal of Chay'Im Ben­Sholom, who, with two friends, burglarized the rural
home of Silvia Teague, a 58­year­old housewife, on Jan. 23,1985.
A 125­page ruling signed by U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii states that there
is no question Ben­Sholom had Teague lie down on her bathroom floor, put a
gun to the back of her head and shot her. But the judges found fault with the
defendant's legal representation.
Ben­Sholom was a few days shy of his 19th birthday when the killing occurred.
According to the ruling, Ben­Sholom told Tulare County Sheriff's deputies after
his arrest that he dreamed of becoming a mercenary and had gone to Teague's
house with his friends to steal guns. They planned to take the weapons to
Burma and fight communists, he said.
But their plan — conceived earlier that day in a pizza restaurant — fell apart
when Ben­Sholom knocked on the door of the house and Teague was home,
the court documents state. After she was forced to direct Ben­Sholom and his
companions — John Leroy Calhoun and Christopher Scott Seaman — to the
guns, she was killed.
Attackers captured
The three men fled and were captured the following day in Needles, according
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9/28/2015
Fed Court Throws Out Death Sentence on Chay'Im Ben­Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
to the ruling.
Calhoun and Seaman were initially sentenced to death, but their sentences later
were reduced to life without the possibility of parole.
Ben­Sholom appealed his death sentence, filing a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus, in part on a claim of incompetent representation by his lawyer, Roger
Alexander, who could not be reached for comment Friday. According to the
appeal, Ben­Sholom — who also went by the name Ryan Michael Marshall —
reportedly endured physical and mental abuse by his father growing up. While
Alexander consulted mental health experts while preparing for his client's trial,
none were called to testify.
"While Mr. Alexander knew from the outset that the focus of the case [both
guilt and penalty] would be on mental issues, there was no investigation plan
and no theme driving the investigation," the federal ruling states. "What was
missing was evidence explaining why Ben­Sholom committed this awful crime
and an effort on Mr. Alexander's part to develop that evidence."
Prior to trying Ben­Sholom's case, Alexander had never had a capitally­charged
case proceed to a penalty phase, the ruling said.
The judges accused Alexander of failing to seek out or properly use the mental
health experts available to him. Citing these and other factors, the district court
granted a writ of habeas corpus, taking Ben­Sholom off California's Death Row,
where he has been for more than 21 years.
Prosecutors now have 90 days to again begin the process of prosecuting Ben­
Sholom for Teague's murder and seeking the death penalty. If they seek not to
challenge the district court's ruling, Ben­Sholom would be sentenced to life
without the possibility of parole.
Tulare County prosecutors could not be reached late Friday to comment.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
The judge says no doubt he executed her in cold blood but he faulted the
defense lawyers. Now you see what's wrong with the Cali system and its bunch
of liberal thughuggers. http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20080712/NEWS01/807120315
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Granny B
Administrator
Fanatic
Re: Fed Court Throws Out
Death Sentence on Chay'Im
Ben­Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2008,
08:28:31 AM »
And another POS scummy murder gets a free pass on murder because of
scumyers and scumjudges screwy rulings. Logged
Posts: 9069
Karma: +5646/­18
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9/28/2015
Fed Court Throws Out Death Sentence on Chay'Im Ben­Sholom in 1986 Cali Murder
Karma: +5646/­18
I'd like to help U out.
Which way did U come
in?
" Closure? Closure is a misused word in the English language. There is no such thing as
closure for the family of a murder victim. There will never be any closure for the death
of our loved ones until we are dead ourselves. The families have a lifetime sentence of
anguish and sadness." Susan Levy
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