BOLDER, MARTSAY
General Information
DOB: October 6, 1957
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Crime and Trial
County of conviction: Randolph
Number of counts: One
Race of victim: Black
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: March 14, 1979
Date of sentencing: July 11, 1980
Date of execution: January 27, 1993
Trial Counsel:
Julian Ossman
Last counsel of record:
Gardiner Davis
Mark Thornhill
Spencer, Fane, Britt & Browne
1000 Walnut St., Suite 1400
Kansas City, MO 64106
816-474-8100
Last judicial decision:
--Denial of second habeas petition affirmed by Bolder v. Delo, 985 F.2d 941 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1089 (1993).
Reported opinions:
--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Bolder, 635 S.W.2d 673 (Mo. banc 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1137 (1983).
--Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by Bolder v. State, 712 S.W.2d 692 (Mo. App. W.D. 1986).
--Denial of second motion for state post-conviction relief affirmed by Bolder v. State, 769 S.W.2d 84 (Mo. banc 1989).
--Habeas granted by Bolder v. Armontrout, 713 F. Supp. 1558 (W.D. Mo. 1989).
--Grant of habeas (above) reversed by Bolder v. Armontrout, 921 F.2d 1359 (8th Cir. 1990), reh'g denied, 928 F.2d 806 (8th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 850 (1991).
--Denial of 60(b) motion affirmed, and motion treated as a successive petition, by Bolder v. Armontrout, 983 F.2d 98 (8th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1088 (1983).
--Denial of second habeas petition affirmed by Bolder v. Delo, 985 F.2d 941 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1089 (1993).
Significant legal issues:
--Counsel's failure to investigate, discover and present mitigating evidence to the effect that Mr. Bolder was one of ten children living in a housing project, that he and his siblings were routinely entrusted to the care of older sisters, that his parents had been divorced when he was very young, that his father was an alcoholic who suffered a nervous breakdown when defendant was eight or nine years old, that defendant's brother was killed at a young age, and that he suffered from learning deficiencies
--Trial counsel's unawareness that he was entitled to present non-statutory mitigating evidence
--Alleged procedural default of claim that trial counsel failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence, and availability of state post-conviction counsel's ineffectiveness as "cause" to excuse Mr. Bolder's failure to present the facts underlying his claim on state post-conviction review
--Brady claim, presented on successive habeas petition, involving prosecution's alleged withholding of evidence that the victim died as a result of medical malpractice rather than from injuries inflicted by Mr. Bolder
--Exclusion for cause of equivocating Witherspoon veniremembers