WHITE, LEAMON
Freed on March 31, 2006, after pleading no contest to murder 2 in exchange for time served.
GENERAL INFORMATIONDOB: July 17, 1950
Race: African-American
Gender: Male
CRIME AND TRIAL
County of conviction: Jackson
Number of counts: 1 (not including two victims who survived the same incident)
Race of victim: African-American
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: January 5, 1987
Date of sentencing: April 14, 1989
TRIAL COUNSEL:
Robert G. Duncan
LEGAL STATUS:
Current proceedings:
--Petition for Cert filed by the Attorney General, 12/05/05, Case No. 04-2772
Last judicial decision:
--Mandate issued by the Eighth Circuit, Case No. 04-2772, 11/17/05
--Denial of A.G.'s motion to stay the mandate by the Supreme Court, Thomas, J., 11/15/05
--Eighth Circuit granted the A.G.s motion to stay the mandate for 45 days to seek a stay from the Supreme Court, 9/27/05, Case No. 04-2772
--Habeas relief granted as to guilt and sentence by U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Case No. 97-1663-CV-W-ODS, (per Smith, J.), unpublished order dated June 14, 2004; affirmed by the Eighth Circuit, August 22, 2005, Case No. 04-2772. (Loken, J.).
CURRENT COUNSEL:
Charles W. Gordon, Jr.
106 W. 14th St., 12th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64105
816-221-5666
Ronald Partee
606 West 39th Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
816-531-3500
REPORTED OPINIONS:
--Denial of habeas affirmed in part, reversed and remanded in part, by White v. Luebbers, 307 F.3d 722 (8th Cir. 2002).
--Denial of habeas affirmed in part, reversesd and remanded in part, by White v. Bowersox, 206 F.3d 776 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 917 (2000).
--Conviction, sentence and denial of post-conviction relief (following earlier remands) affirmed by White v. State, 939 S.W.2d 887 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 948 (1997).
--Denial of post-conviction relief reversed and remanded by State v. White, 873 S.W.2d 590 (Mo. banc 1994).
--Conviction and sentence affirmed; denial of post-conviction relief reversed and remanded by State v. White, 813 S.W.2d 862 (Mo. banc 1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1103 (1992).
SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES:
--Habeas corpus granted on claim that trial counsel failed to investigate and present evidence that Mr. White is innocent, and that the murder was committed one A.J., or Christopher Constantine.
--Habeas corpus granted on claim that trial counsel discovered and presented essentially no mitigating evidence because he was so confident that Mr. White would be acquitted by the jury; the omitted facts included evidence of Mr. White's troubled childhood and history of physical abuse, as well as evidence of his positive behavior in jail and prison
--Trial counsel's failure to ask potential jurors any questions at all regarding their attitudes about the death penalty.
--"Adequacy" of procedural rule refined by Missouri Supreme Court regarding abandonment by counsel during Rule 29.15 proceedings for purposes of procedural default, where rule was not announced until White's case
--Fact-pleading requirements surrounding Rule 29.15
--Trial counsel's failure to, among other things, depose certain defense witnesses in order to generate more effective impeachment evidence
--Whether informing jury of governor's power to commute LWOP sentence diminished jurors' responsibility for death sentence
--Exclusion for cause of equivocating Witherspoon venirepersons