![]() ![]() Peeler is one of 11 men still on death row following the state’s 2012 repeal of the death penalty. Though the high court also agreed with a challenge by the defense of the trial court’s refusal to permit disclosure of Lee’s psychiatric records to the jury, the justices said the mistake was harmless and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Peeler in which jurors voted for death. Prosecutors successfully appealed the judge’s decision, arguing that the judge should have declared a mistrial instead. A judge then imposed life in prison without the possibility of release. Peeler was convicted of capital felony charges in 2000 but a jury deadlocked on whether to sentence him to death. When Clarke opened the door for her, Lee said, Adrian Peeler stormed in and killed the boy and his mother. Before the killings, Lee said she went with Adrian Peeler to Clarke’s door. Lee, who lived across the street from Clarke, testified that she agreed to spy on the victims’ home in exchange for drugs. Days before Peeler was to be tried for the slaying, Clarke and her son were found shot to death in their Bridgeport apartment. Peeler went after the boyfriend a second time, killing him. Leroy witnessed an attempt by Peeler to shoot his mother’s boyfriend in a drug money dispute. The remarks, including statements that a life sentence for Peeler would be pointless and “insult” the victims, minimized the jury’s sense of responsibility for imposing death, Rademacher said.Īccording to trial testimony, the Peelers ran a lucrative crack cocaine ring out of the Bridgeport apartment of Josephine Lee, a crack addict. ![]() Peeler’s attorney, Senior Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, charged in the appeal that closing arguments by former prosecutor Jonathan Benedict were improper and misled the jury about its sentencing power. Peeler, a former drug dealer, raises more than 30 claims in his appeal of the death sentence that examines such issues as whether Peeler’s due-process rights were violated either through prosecutorial misconduct, improper instructions to jurors, a lack of presentation to jurors of all relevant mitigating evidence and unreliable jury selection.Īlleged prosecutorial misconduct is one of a half-dozen issues that will likely be included in Thursday morning’s arguments. ![]() The attorneys questioned Peeler’s decision to seek the petition, or writ of habeas corpus, often a convict’s last-resort bid for a new trial, saying the legal move was premature since the appeal of his death sentence was not complete and still in the briefing stage.The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether Russell Peeler Jr., convicted of ordering the 1999 killings of Karen Clarke and her 8-year-old son Leroy “B.J.” Brown in Bridgeport, should have received the death penalty. Last month, Peeler’s attorneys filed a motion seeking a competency evaluation for Peeler. ![]() He noted one recent case in which Kestenband argued successfully on behalf of a client who ultimately received a reduced sentence.īright, however, disagreed with the attorneys that Peeler should be given a competency exam, saying Peeler, 42, understands what he is facing in court and can assist in his counsel. Kestenband are some of the “best” attorneys in the state handling habeas petitions. Bright told Peeler that attorneys William H. VERNON - A Superior Court judge Thursday rejected condemned killer Russell Peeler Jr.’s bid to fire his attorneys on the eve of a hearing on his petition for a new trial. ![]()
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