Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Ricky Eugene Morrow, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 20, 2004. On December 5, 1990, Ricky Eugene Morrow was sentenced to die for the capital murder of Mark Frazier in Dallas on January 19, 1982. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On January 19, 1982, Ricky Eugene Morrow and his girlfriend (later wife), Linda Morrow, drove to the Metropolitan Savings and Loan in Dallas. Armed with a .38 caliber revolver and a .25 caliber automatic, Morrow entered the savings and loan and robbed the institution.

About thirty minutes later, Morrow and his girlfriend arrived at the First Texas Savings, also in Dallas. Morrow approached one of the teller windows with one pistol aimed at the head of a bank employee and the other pistol aimed at a bank teller. Morrow ordered the teller to place all of her money inside a bank bag and she complied. After receiving the bag from the teller, Morrow fired a single shot into the head of the other bank employee, Mark Frazier, who died instantly.

Following the second robbery, the Morrows drove to a University Park hotel and checked in. Dallas and University Park police officers and FBI agents tracked the Morrows to the hotel. They surrounded the couple’s room. Ricky Morrow pushed Linda Morrow from the room and she was arrested. When the officers asked Ricky Morrow to surrender, he threatened to kill the officers. After an exchange of gunfire with the officers, Morrow surrendered.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

February 2, 1982 - A Dallas County grand jury indicted Ricky Morrow for capital murder.

November 7, 1983 - A Dallas County jury found Morrow guilty of capital murder.

November 9, 1983 - Following a separate punishment hearing, the trial judge sentenced Morrow to death.

March 30, 1988 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and remanded the case for a new trial.

November 19, 1990 - At his second trial, the jury found Morrow guilty of capital murder.

December 5, 1990 - Following a separate punishment hearing, the trial judge sentenced Morrow to death.

May 31, 1995 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Morrow’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal.

May 13, 1996 - The U.S. Supreme Court denied Morrow’s petition for writ of certiorari.

October 24, 1996 - Morrow filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the state trial court.

April 19, 2000 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Morrow’s application for writ of habeas corpus.

September 13, 2000 - Morrow filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in a Dallas U.S. district court.

December 20, 2002 - The federal district court dismissed Morrow’s federal habeas petition.

June 10, 2003 - Morrow requested permission to appeal from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

April 14, 2004 - The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied Morrow’s request for appeal of denial of his habeas petition.

April 27, 2004 - Morrow filed a petition for rehearing in the 5th Circuit Court.

May 21, 2004 - Morrow’s petition for rehearing was denied by the 5th Circuit Court.

July 7, 2004 - Morrow petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which is currently pending.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Morrow’s first arrest and conviction came in 1969 for aggravated robbery. One year later, he was convicted of his second aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 1970, Morrow also pleaded guilty to several other felonies, including two counts of burglary with intent to commit theft, felony theft, and possession of a dangerous drug. Morrow was convicted of yet another aggravated robbery in 1976 and given another 25 year sentence. During trial, Morrow admitted to burglarizing the office of his psychologist, Dr. Farrar, in 1988. In 1993, Morrow pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted capital murder in connection with the murder of Mark Frazier.

ProDeathPenalty.com

In the late morning of January 19, 1982, Morrow and Linda Ferguson, who married Morrow after the crime, proceeded to a Laundromat so that Ferguson could do their laundry while Morrow went to a pawnshop to purchase a radio. He later returned for Ferguson and they in turn went back to the pawnshop ostensibly to purchase a television. They instead purchased two handguns – a smaller .25 pistol and a larger .38 revolver. After purchasing the weapons, they proceeded to a mall to purchase ammunition.

Ferguson and Morrow arrived at Metropolitan Savings at around 4:15 p.m. Morrow went inside the bank and “started screaming and cursing and hollering and directing profanities at everyone in the bank and demanding the money.” Five employees were working at Metropolitan at the time of the robbery. Morrow exited the bank with a sack of money, including coins. As he exited, the sack ripped and his gun discharged. He stopped to retrieve the dropped money. Two bystanders witnessed a man leaving the scene with money falling from a ripped sack. No one disputes that the man they saw was Ricky Morrow.

After leaving Metropolitan, Morrow and Ferguson arrived at First Texas Savings between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. As Morrow entered First Texas he approached an employee at her desk. When Mark Frazier, another bank employee, asked Morrow if he needed assistance, Morrow “started screaming and ranting and raving and cursing and hollering it was a robbery.” He led Frazier at gunpoint to a teller's window and pointed one pistol at her and another pistol at Frazier. After getting a sack of money from the teller, Morrow shot and killed Frazier and exited the bank with just slightly over $5000.

Two employees of the bank witnessed the murder. One testified that when Morrow entered the bank, Frazier approached him, asking if he could be of help; that Morrow had a big gun in his right hand and a smaller one in his left. Her account of the shooting was graphic, telling the jury that Morrow picked up the money bag with his left hand, turned his head slightly, raised the .38 pistol very deliberately and shot Frazier in the face as he stood two feet away. In her words, it “was as deliberate as anything I have ever seen”; there was a “slight pause” before he pulled the trigger. Finally, she testified that Morrow “turned around and very calmly walked out with a springy little step right up on the balls of his feet with a smirky little look on his face” – a “satisfied look,” and an “I don’t care attitude.”

A real estate agent with an office in the same building at First Texas witnessed Morrow and Ferguson leave the scene in their vehicle. She testified at trial that she worked as a realtor in the bank building and was leaving for her car when she heard a shot. She got into her car, arranged her things, and then learned as she looked back that a car blocked her exit. The male passenger bent down as if he were putting something down or picking something up; when he looked up, their eyes met, and he was laughing and smiling, which “chilled” her. She watched him for a brief period, perhaps 30 to 60 seconds, until the car entered traffic. Because the car “whipped around” in a dangerous manner, she felt that something was wrong and obtained a partial license plate number. When she arrived at her destination, having seen police cars traveling toward the scene with flashing lights, she called First Texas, learned of the robbery, and went to the bank to describe the car to the officers. On the following day, she identified a photo of Morrow as the man she had observed.

After robbing First Texas, Morrow and Ferguson proceeded to the Park Cities Inn and rented Room 311. A police officer then employed by the University Park Police Department, spotted their vehicle at the inn. He spoke with the clerk-receptionist for the inn and ascertained that Morrow and Ferguson were in room 311. He called for assistance and several units arrived on the scene soon thereafter. Numerous law enforcement officers from the FBI, Dallas Police Department, and University Park Police Department arrived at the inn, converged on Room 311, and demanded that Morrow and Ferguson surrender. An FBI Agent armed with an assault rifle, and a Dallas police officer armed with a shotgun crouched behind a toppled coke machine in the hall outside the room. Six other Dallas police officers were also present at the inn. Ferguson voluntarily surrendered. Morrow then fired his .38 revolver. Law enforcement officers fired weapons and Morrow subsequently surrendered.

UPDATE: Ricky Morrow of Houston has been tried three times on capital murder charges in the January 1982 shooting death of a savings and loan security guard. His initial November 1983 capital murder conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in March 1988 because of an improper question posed to prospective jurors. A second trial ended in a mistrial in July 1989. Morrow admits killing Mark Frazier, but said the shooting occurred accidentally while he was trying to rob First Texas Savings and Loan. "I'm not innocent of a crime. I'm innocent of capital murder," Morrow said from his cell at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas. Under Texas law, a killing during the commission of a felony can bring the death penalty.

"It was a complete accident, something I never intended to happen. I was drunk, I was on psychiatric medication, I had just been released from a hospital seven days before," he said. "In my own mind, I do not think that it would be any more wrong for me to die than it was for him.... He should be living today and would be living today had I not gone out and got drunk and decided to rob a bank. But I did and it happened," Morrow said. An employee of Metropolitan Bank testified that Morrow was not intoxicated on drugs or alcohol. She denied telling police officers a different story, explaining that she told the officers that Morrow was “high like on adrenaline,” an appeared to be “excited with the thrill of what was going on.” An employee of Metropolitan testified that Morrow was not drunk out of his senses, that he did not stagger or slur his words. A police officer present at Morrow’s arrest testified that Morrow appeared “high” on drugs or adrenaline, and prompted by the prosecutor, accepted that Morrow could have been on a “murder high.”

The Fifth Circuit Court of appeals found that "it is important that Morrow plead guilty to the robbery of the Metropolitan Savings & Loan and to attempted capital murder of the police officers who arrested him at the Park City Inn. These pleas of guilty were to offenses having an element of intentionality and were put before the jury by Dan Hagood, the prosecutor, in his cross-examination of Morrow. This left Morrow confessing that he was sober enough in his first robbery, minutes before the fatal shooting in the second robbery - where he claims he was stoned. Yet he was again sufficiently sober a short while after the homicide to have the intent to kill arresting officers. With his claims of intoxication now tightly sandwiched between another bank robbery and shooting, Morrow attempted to explain in his trial testimony that he did not intend to shoot Frazier; rather, concerned that the cocked .38 pistol he had trained on Frazier at a distance of two feet might accidentally discharge, he testified that he attempted to uncock the gun by lowering the hammer with his thumb while releasing it by pulling the trigger.

The detailing at trial of his thought processes while attempting this maneuver was plainly in (conflict) with his claim that he was so drunk that he had no intent to kill and even more so his pleas of guilty to the first robbery and to attempting to kill the arresting officers a short while after the second robbery with its fatal shooting. Evidence of some impairment is relevant to the claim that the shooting was accidental, but evidence that he was so drunk as to lack cognitive awareness was undercut by his detailed explanation of how the shooting occurred. On this record accidental shooting was Morrow’s only arguably plausible defense to capital murder." Morrow had previous convictions including a 25-year sentence for possession of dangerous drugs, theft and burglary. He served 5 years before being paroled in October of 1975. Less than a year later, he was returned to prison with a parole violation and a new sentence of 25 years for aggravated robbery. He was again paroled after serving 5 years and committed this murder less than 6 months later.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Ricky Eugene Morrow, 53, was executed by lethal injection on 20 October 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a savings and loan employee during a robbery.

On 19 January 1982, Morrow, then 30, and his girlfriend, Linda Ferguson, went to a Dallas pawn shop and purchased two handguns - a .38-caliber revolver, and a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol. That afternoon, they drove to Metropolitan Savings and Loan in Dallas and robbed it at gunpoint. About thirty minutes later, they arrived at First Texas Savings, also in Dallas. Morrow entered the institution and approached employee Kathy Crouse at her desk. According to trial testimony, Morrow became disruptive and frightened Crouse. At that point, another employee, Mark Frazier, 26, asked Morrow if he needed assistance. Morrow, according to one witness, "started screaming and ranting and raving and cursing and hollering that it was a robbery." He led Frazier at gunpoint to a teller window and pointed one gun at the teller, Tammy Roy, while keeping the other gun on Frazier. Morrow ordered Roy to put all of her money into a bank bag. She complied. After taking the bag, Morrow fired a single shot, which hit Frazier in the head. He died instantly. Morrow and Ferguson left with $5,500.

Witnesses described the robbers and their vehicle to police. After three days, police tracked Morrow and Ferguson to a hotel in the area. When they surrounded the room, Morrow pushed Ferguson outside and threatened to kill the officers. After an exchange of gunfire, Morrow surrendered.

At his trial, Morrow testified that he did not intend to shoot Frazier. He said he was attempting to uncock the hammer of the gun in his right hand while he reached for the money sack with the gun in his left hand, and that one of the guns accidentally discharged. "My thumb slipped," he testified. "It was something I never ever intended would happen." He also said that he was drunk and high during the robbery, and was therefore reckless in handling the guns. Kathy Crouse, however, testified that Morrow took the sack and stood back, then raised one hand from waist level to Frazier's head, then pulled the trigger. Another employee, Jo Brown, testified, "He looked, raised the gun, and shot." Another witness testified that Morrow was laughing as he left the scene, but Morrow and Ferguson both testified that he was distraught and crying when they left. Ferguson, who married Morrow some time after the crime, described him at his trial as "probably more sensitive than most people."

Morrow had a lengthy criminal record. Beginning in 1968, he had convictions for robbery, burglary, larceny, damage to property, and drug possession. In July 1970, he began serving a 25-year prison sentence. He was paroled in October 1975. In August 1976, he was returned to prison with a new conviction for aggravated robbery, which carried another 25-year sentence. He was paroled again in August 1981.

A jury convicted Morrow of capital murder in November 1983 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction in March 1988, citing an error by the prosecution when questioning potential jurors. A second trial was halted in 1989 when the judge declared a mistrial. Morrow was tried again, and in November 1990, a new jury convicted him of capital murder and subsequently sentenced him to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that conviction and sentence in May 1995. All of Morrow's subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Specific information regarding charges against Linda Ferguson Morrow was not available for this report.

At his execution, Morrow expressed love to his family. He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.

Dallas Morning News

"Inmate executed over '82 Dallas slaying." (AP Wednesday, October 20, 2004)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Convicted killer Ricky Morrow was executed Wednesday for the slaying of a Dallas savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago.

His voice choking with emotion, Mr. Morrow expressed love to family members and called them a blessing. "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now," he told three sisters who watched from a few feet away. "But we are both headed to a better place." He listed a number of people by their first names and said he loved them all. Addressing his sisters again, he said, "Thank you for having been there for me – and our father and mother. "Give them a hug and give them my love." As the drugs began taking effect, he sputtered and gasped several times. Seven minutes later, at 6:32 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Mr. Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed 26-year-old Mark Frazier. But the former welder, who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup in 1982, said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death because the shooting was an accident.

Mr. Morrow was the 17th Texas prisoner executed this year and the fourth this month. Another lethal injection is set for next week, and six are scheduled for November.

Huntsville Item

"Inmate executed for slaying during Dallas bank robbery," by Kelly Prew. (October 20, 2004)

Convicted killer Ricky Morrow was executed Wednesday evening in the Texas death chamber for the slaying of a Dallas savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago.

Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed 26-year-old Mark Frazier, but the former welder who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death for the 1982 slaying because the shooting was an accident.

Three of his sisters were the only personal witnesses to the execution; Frazier's family did not attend. Upon entering the viewing room, Morrow acknowledged his sisters with nods and a few mouthed words of assurance. He gave a final statement, but did not mention his crime or the victim's family except to say he was sorry. "What a blessing, what a blessing you have been in my life," a tearful Morrow told his sisters. "And I am so sorry you are going through what you are now . . . I love you all." After telling the warden he was ready and the lethal dose began at 6:25 p.m., Morrow made a few last statements directly to his family. He then took a few deep breaths, said he could "feel it" and became quiet.

His sisters were visibly emotionally overcome, and the three shared words among each other. Then, at 6:32 p.m., Morrow was pronounced dead. Morrow was the 17th Texas prisoner executed this year and the fourth this month. Another lethal injection is set for next week and six are scheduled for November.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block Morrow's execution as Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials moved him from death row at a prison in Livingston to the Huntsville "Walls" Unit, about 45 miles west, where lethal injections are carried out. Three of the justices supported a delay. The appeal argued evidence from prosecution witnesses was withheld that could have swayed jurors to vote for murder instead of capital murder. Only the capital murder conviction carries a possible death sentence.

Morrow was tried and sentenced to death in 1983, but the conviction was thrown out five years later by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In 1989, a second trial was halted when a judge declared a mistrial. Morrow went to trial again the following year, was convicted and condemned.

The late afternoon holdup on Jan. 19, 1982, at the First Texas Savings and Loan Association branch where Frazier was killed was the second of the day involving Morrow and his girlfriend, evidence showed. Witnesses said Morrow, carrying a .38-caliber revolver in one hand and a .25-caliber automatic in the other, screamed and cursed as he announced a holdup and took Frazier hostage. With one gun on his captive, he pointed the second weapon at a teller and ordered her to fill a bag with money. As Morrow went to leave, Frazier was shot in the face. "My thumb slipped," Morrow testified at his second trial. "It was something I never ever intended would happen."

Morrow, a Navarro County native who was listed at the time of his arrest as being from Houston, was a two-time parolee. When taken into custody, he had been out of prison for about five months after serving five years of a 25-year term for aggravated robbery.

Houston Chronicle

"Robber executed today for slaying at Dallas S&L." (AP October 20, 2004)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Convicted killer Ricky Morrow was executed Wednesday for the slaying of a Dallas savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago.

His voice choking with emotion, Morrow expressed love to family members and called them a blessing. "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now," he told three sisters who watched from a few feet away. "But we are both headed to a better place." He listed a number of people by their first names and said he loved them all. Addressing his sisters again, he said, "Thank you for having been there for me -- and our father and mother." "Give them a hug and give them my love." As the drugs began taking effect, he sputtered and gasped several times. Seven minutes, later at 6:32 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed 26-year-old Mark Frazier. But the former welder who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death for the 1982 slaying because the shooting was an accident.

Morrow was the 17th Texas prisoner executed this year and the fourth this month. Another lethal injection is set for next week and six are scheduled for November.

Reuters News

"Texas Man Executed for 1982 Killing." (Wed Oct 20, 2004 08:13 PM ET)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man convicted of killing a bank employee during a 1982 robbery in Dallas was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Ricky Morrow, 53, was the fourth person to be put to death this month and the 17th this year in Texas, which leads the country in capital punishment.

He was condemned for killing Mark Frazier, 26, while robbing a savings and loan on Jan. 19, 1982. Morrow held a gun to Frazier's head and ordered a teller to give him money. She gave him a bag of cash, then he shot Frazier and fled, witnesses said.

In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, Morrow expressed love for his family and friends and apologized to them. "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now. But we are both headed to a better place," he said.

For his final meal, he requested a cheeseburger, French fries, onion rings and iced tea.

Morrow was the 330th person executed in Texas since 1982, when the state resumed capital punishment after a Supreme Court ruling ended a national death penalty ban. Seven more executions are scheduled this year in Texas.

Miami Herald

"Man Who Slew S&L Worker in 1982 Executed," by Michael Graczyk. (AP October 20, 2004)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A convicted killer was executed Wednesday for the slaying of a savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago. His voice choking with emotion, Ricky Morrow expressed love to family members. "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now," he told three sisters who watched from a few feet away. "Thank you for having been there for me - and our father and mother. Give them a hug and give them my love." He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m., seven minutes after a lethal injection was administered.

Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed 26-year-old Mark Frazier. But the former welder, who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup, said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death for the 1982 slaying in Dallas because the shooting was an accident.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block Morrow's execution. The appeal argued evidence from prosecution witnesses was withheld that could have swayed jurors to vote for murder instead of capital murder. Defense lawyers disputed testimony about how the shooting occurred, Morrow's demeanor following the shooting and whether he was intoxicated or high on drugs.

"No question he got a fair trial, no question he got a fair sentence in my mind," said Dan Hagood, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. "Ricky was a just cold-blooded killer, nothing more, nothing less."

Morrow was the 17th Texas prisoner executed this year and the fourth this month. Another execution is set for next week and six are scheduled for November.

TylerPaper.Com

"INMATE DIES FOR DALLAS SAVINGS AND LOAN ROBBERY-SLAYING." (AP October 20, 2004)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Convicted killer Ricky Morrow was executed Wednesday for the slaying of a Dallas savings and loan office worker during a robbery 22 years ago.

His voice choking with emotion, Morrow expressed love to family members and called them a blessing. "I am so sorry you are going through what you are now," he told three sisters who watched from a few feet away. "But we are both headed to a better place." He listed a number of people by their first names and said he loved them all. Addressing his sisters again, he said, "Thank you for having been there for me - and our father and mother." "Give them a hug and give them my love." As the drugs began taking effect, he sputtered and gasped several times. Seven minutes later, at 6:32 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Morrow, 53, acknowledged firing the shot that killed 26-year-old Mark Frazier. But the former welder who carried a gun in each hand during the $5,500 holdup said he shouldn't have been sentenced to death for the 1982 slaying because the shooting was an accident. Morrow was the 17th Texas prisoner executed this year and the fourth this month. Another lethal injection is set for next week and six are scheduled for November.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block Morrow's execution as Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials moved him from death row at a prison in Livingston to the Huntsville Unit, about 45 miles west, where lethal injections are carried out. Three of the justices supported a delay. The appeal argued evidence from prosecution witnesses was withheld that could have swayed jurors to vote for murder instead of capital murder. Only the capital murder conviction carries a possible death sentence.

Defense lawyers disputed testimony about how the shooting occurred, Morrow's demeanor following the shooting and whether he was intoxicated or high on drugs. "That's nonsense," Dan Hagood, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, said Wednesday. "They received everything."

Morrow was tried and sentenced to death in 1983, but the conviction was thrown out five years later by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In 1989, a second trial was halted when a judge declared a mistrial. Morrow went to trial again the following year, was convicted and condemned. "No question he got a fair trial, no question he got a fair sentence in my mind," Hagood said. "Ricky was a just cold-blooded killer, nothing more, nothing less. A very dangerous man."

Morrow, a Navarro County native who was listed at the time of his arrest as being from Houston, was a two-time parolee. When taken into custody, he had been out of prison for about five months after serving five years of a 25-year term for aggravated robbery.

The late afternoon holdup on Jan. 19, 1982, at the First Texas Savings and Loan Association branch where Frazier was killed was the second of the day involving Morrow and his girlfriend, evidence showed. Witnesses said Morrow, carrying a .38-caliber revolver in one hand and a .25-caliber automatic in the other, screamed and cursed as he announced a holdup and took Frazier hostage. With one gun on his captive, he pointed the second weapon at a teller and ordered her to fill a bag with money. As Morrow went to leave, Frazier was shot in the face. "My thumb slipped," Morrow testified at his second trial. "It was something I never ever intended would happen." Morrow said that day he'd consumed a bottle of vodka and also had taken cocaine and heroin, with the combination leaving him irrational and paranoid.

"I heard the testimony of the witnesses," Hagood said. "He aims flat smooth square right at that young man's head and shot him through the temple and walked out laughing. It was a clean shot right through the head. There wasn't any angle to it. It wasn't like he was waving the gun around and it went off in a strange way. "He got to say his story and the jury didn't believe it. Other witnesses got to say their story and the jury believed that. End of issue."

Morrow disputed the description that he laughed as he left. His girlfriend, Linda Ferguson, whom he later married, testified he was hysterical when he returned to their car, describing him as "probably more sensitive than most people." Authorities had a partial license plate number from a witness and traced the couple to a Dallas-area motel. She surrendered and Morrow was arrested after an exchange of gunfire.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Ricky E. Morrow - Texas - October 20, 2004

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Ricky Eugene Morrow on Oct. 20 for the 1982 murder of Mark Frasier and the attempted murder an FBI agent who was attempting to arrest Morrow. Morrow robbed the Metropolitan Savings and Loans Association Bank at a shopping center in Harris County. It was the second bank he had robbed that day. Police later surrounded the hotel room which Morrow and his wife, Linda Ferguson Morrow occupied. Morrow reportedly opened fire on two of the FBI agents but did not injure them prior to his surrender and arrest.

Morrow’s appeals process has primarily revolved around four FBI documents surrounding the robbery and shooting which the prosecutor was aware of but did not reveal to the defense. The Fith Circuit Court of Appeals stated that the prosecutor inappropriately failed to reveal some of this information to the defense.

The documents included information which would have added to the mitigating evidence presented in the trial. Morrow has maintained Frasier was shot accidentally as he was leaving the bank due in part to his altered state as he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The documents the prosecution kept from the defense included testimony from eyewitnesses stating that at the first bank robbery, which occurred shortly before the second, Morrow appeared to be “high” or intoxicated. One such document was an FBI report reflecting that a witness told an FBI agent that Morrow had bloodshot eyes and a “wild look,” and that he appeared to be “on drugs” or intoxicated. Another report prepared by an FBI agent reflected that a police officer reported that Morrow had slurred speech and “wild” eyes upon his arrest.

In all there were five documents reporting various witnesses stating that Morrow appeared to be under the influence of substances. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated these documents were illegally kept from the defense. However, other testimonies indicating that Morrow appeared to be sober and thus would have been unlikely to accidentally shoot the victim were used in court and must have contributed to the jury’s decision to sentence Morrow to death. The jury was not given the opportunity to weigh the opposing testimonies in order to determine the probability of Morrow’s intent to kill.

Please wrote Governor Perry and Ms. Maria Ramirez, Clemency Administrator to protest the execution of Mr. Ricky Morrow and to urge him to grant clemency.

Canadian Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

RICKY MORROW'S CCADP PEN PAL REQUEST:

I am a Texas death row prisoner who has been on death row for 21 years (CCADPs note - as of Oct 2003) - my appeals are running out and the chances of me being executed within the next year to eighteen months are great. I've lost touvh with most everyone over the years. Life here is pretty lonely, and I would appreciate it so much if you could help me meet some people who are interested in corresponding with a person in my situation. Thanks for your time and consideration.

Ricky Morrow 000753
Polunsky Unit D.R
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston Texas 77351 USA

Morrow v. State, 753 S.W.2d 372 (Tex.Crim.App. 1988) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted in the 204th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Richard Mays, J., of capital murder and sentenced to death and he appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals, Clinton, J., held that prosecutor's use of incorrect hypothetical on voir dire to explain difference between deliberate and intentional murder deprived defendant of due course of law and effective representation of counsel. Reversed and remanded. Onion, P.J., dissented and filed an opinion in which W.C. Davis, J., joined and in which Miller, J., joined in part.

CLINTON, Judge. Appellant was convicted of the offense of capital murder under V.T.C.A. Penal Code, § 19.03(a)(2), and, the jury having answered special issue numbers one and two affirmatively, Article 37.071(b), V.A.C.C.P., his punishment was assessed death. Appellant does not challenge sufficiency of the evidence in any respect.

In his fifteenth point of error appellant complains of a hypothetical question posed to a number of veniremen during the early portions of the voir dire which was intended to demonstrate the difference between a murder that is committed intentionally and one that is done deliberately. For reasons developed in Lane v. State, 743 S.W.2d 617 (Tex.Cr.App.1987) , and Gardner v. State, 730 S.W.2d 675 (Tex.Cr.App.1987), we find this hypothetical to have been improper. Furthermore, under the circumstances presented here, we agree with appellant that the use of the hypothetical so infected the voir dire process as to violate his guarantees of due course of law and representation of counsel under Article I, §§ 19 and 10 , respectively, of the Texas Constitution.

Each of the first ten veniremen was questioned extensively on direct voir dire by the State concerning his or her ability to understand and apply the Article 37.071 special issues. During the course of this, each was informed that the law requires the factfinder to recognize a distinction between its duty to determine, at the guilt/innocence phase of trial, whether the murder was intentional, and its duty to undertake at punishment the discrete inquiry whether the killing was "committed deliberately and with the reasonable expectation that ... death ... would result." By way of explanation of the difference between an intentional and a deliberate murder the prosecutor presented substantially the same hypothetical to eight of these veniremen the gist of which was as we find in the voir dire of venireman Charles Race:

"[PROSECUTOR:] Let me give you an example of how they differ from finding a person guilty of capital murder. Let's say that I go in and rob [Co-counsel] in the 7-Eleven store. He gives me the money and, for whatever reason I have, I'm leaving and I--it is my conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct of pulling the trigger on the gun that I have and shoot him. And I shoot him. I just so happen to shoot him in the knee and medical complications set in and he dies. That is a murder that occurred during the course of a robbery because he wouldn't have died if I hadn't shot him. You may very well go out and find me guilty of capital murder, you see? I committed the crime in Dallas County, January the 19th, had a gun, caused his death by shooting him with a gun during a robbery--

[Defense counsel]: We're going to object to that hypothetical as not being substantial and the facts that would be required to substantiate a capital murder. The fact that he leaves out that he intentionally committed the murder in the course--he said he shot him. There's no requisite intent to commit the murder as required in the Capital Murder Statute. All he's given is a hypothetical that comes under the third circumstance of the statute [V.T.C.A. Penal Code, § 19.02(a)(3) ] and, therefore, is a death caused by an act committed in the course of a felony. We would object to that hypothetical as not being proper.

THE COURT: Overruled.

[Prosecutor] You see how you can find me guilty of that offense? Switch number one has been answered 'yes.' Now you come to switch number two, that first question up there. You see that there's a different inquiry being made of you than whether I committed the crime?

A. (Nods head.)

Q. Now you're asked: Was my act deliberate and with a reasonable expectation that death would result? You might say, if he got shot in the knee, he didn't reasonably expect that he's going to die, and I'm going to answer that 'no.'

A. Right.

Q. Contrast that with the situation, Mr. Race, where I go into the 7-Eleven to rob it. I finish robbing. I intentionally fire the gun. This time I do it right at his head and pull the trigger and blow his brains out. Can you see how that is a deliberate act with a reasonable expectation that death would result?

A. Yes, I can see that."

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In short we find that the prosecutor's use of the erroneous hypothetical in this cause, over appellant's objection, so *377 distorted the lawful course of the whole voir dire that appellant was denied due course of law and effective representation of counsel as guaranteed by Article I, §§ 19 and 10 of the Texas Constitution.

Morrow v. State, 910 S.W.2d 471 (Tex.Crim.App. 1995) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted in the 204th Judicial District Court, Dallas County, Richard Mays, J., of capital murder and sentenced to death. Appeal was taken. The Court of Criminal Appeals, 753 S.W.2d 372, reversed and remanded. On remand, the District Court again convicted defendant of capital murder and imposed death sentence. Appeal was taken. The Court of Criminal Appeals, en banc, held that: (1) venire members were not challengeable for cause based on their views that particular evidence was not mitigating, or based on their beliefs that other particular evidence was aggravating, for purposes of assessing punishment in capital murder trial; (2) evidence of voluntary intoxication, abusive upbringing, organic brain damage, mental illness, artistic ability, good jail record, kindness and compassion towards others, alcoholism, and drug addition was not mitigating as matter of law for purposes of assessing punishment in capital murder trial; and (3) defendant could not challenge venire members for cause based on belief that they would hold state to greater burden of proof than beyond reasonable doubt. Judgment affirmed. Clinton, J., concurred in the result. Mansfield, J., joined with note.

Ex Parte Morrow, 952 S.W.2d 530 (Tex.Crim.App. 1997) (State Habeas).

Defendant who had entered guilty pleas to charges of aggravated robbery and two counts of attempted capital murder following his conviction on capital murder charges filed postconviction application for writ of habeas corpus after guilty pleas and admissions were used during retrial on capital murder charge. Defendant was convicted of capital murder, sentenced to death, and received evidentiary hearing on his post conviction claims in the 204th District Court, Dallas County, Lena Levario and John Bradshaw, JJ. On application for habeas corpus, the Court of Criminal Appeals, Mansfield, J., held that: (1) inclusion in plea agreement of provision calling for return to defendant of money seized by police did not render pleas involuntary, and (2) defendant did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with guilty plea. Relief denied. Baird, J., dissented and filed opinion in which Overstreet, J., joined.

Morrow v. Dretke, 367 F.3d 309 (5th Cir. 2004) (Habeas).

Background: Following affirmance on direct appeal of prisoner's state court conviction for capital murder and death sentence, 910 S.W.2d 471, prisoner filed petition for writ of habeas corpus. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Sam A. Lindsay, J., denied petition. Prisoner appealed.

Holdings: The Court of Appeals, Patrick E. Higginbotham, Circuit Judge, held that:

(1) failure to disclose FBI reports indicating that witnesses told FBI agents that defendant was high on drugs, or intoxicated during two successive bank robberies, did not violate Brady;

(2) failure to disclose FBI reports containing witnesses' description as to how shooting occurred did not violate Brady;

(3) failure to disclose FBI reports, containing witnesses' account of defendant running from the bank, did not violate Brady;

(4) failure to disclose arguably conflicting FBI reports of interviews with witness who worked in office suite above bank where robbery and shooting occurred did not violate Brady; and

(5) cumulative effect of prosecutor's failure to disclose various FBI reports did not violate Brady. Affirmed in part, and dismissed in part.

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:
This is an application for a certificate of appealability by Ricky Eugene Morrow, a Texas death row inmate, seeking to appeal the decision of the federal district court denying habeas relief and refusing a COA. Morrow raises three contentions. First, he argues that the district court erred in denying an evidentiary hearing and presuming the findings of the State habeas court to be correct even though it held no hearing. Second, he asserts that the state habeas court committed constitutional error in rejecting his claim that the state suppressed FBI and Dallas police reports of interviews with prosecution witnesses. Third, he urges that the district court erred in rejecting his claim that his counsel was ineffective at the guilt-innocence phase of his trial. We grant the request for a COA on the Brady claims and ultimately affirm their denial on the merits. We deny a COA on the remaining claims.

Morrow was convicted of capital murder by a jury in Dallas County, Texas, in 1983 and sentenced to death. That conviction was reversed on appeal. [FN1] He was tried again with the same result. This second conviction was affirmed on appeal. [FN2] Morrow filed his state habeas petition on October 21, 1996, supplemented on January 26, 1999. Because the judge who presided at the trial had retired, the habeas case was assigned to a visiting judge who denied a request for an evidentiary hearing and recommended denial of relief upon the record as supplemented by affidavits and documents, a recommendation accepted by the Court of Criminal Appeals. [FN3] Morrow's federal petition followed on September 13, 2000. The federal magistrate judge also denied an evidentiary hearing, and on April 9, 2002, filed her recommendations. The district court in turn adopted the sixty-five page report of the magistrate judge, denying relief and a COA.

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The federal district court described the robbery and murder as follows:

Trial testimony adduced the following facts regarding the events at issue. In the late morning of January 19, 1982, Morrow and [Linda Ferguson Morrow] [FN17] proceeded to a laundromat so that Ferguson could do their laundry while Morrow went to a pawnshop to purchase a radio. He later returned for Ferguson and they in turn went back to the pawnshop ostensibly to purchase a television. They instead purchased two handguns--a smaller .25 pistol and a larger .38 revolver. After purchasing the weapons, they proceeded to a mall to purchase ammunition.

FN17. Ferguson married Morrow after the crime occurred.

Ferguson and Morrow arrived at Metropolitan [Savings] at around 4:15 p.m. Morrow went inside the bank and "started screaming and cursing and hollering and directing profanities at everyone in the bank and demanding the money." Joena Bailey Shipley, Jean Cullum Blum, W.L. Miller, and Carol Fritchie were working at Metropolitan at the time of the robbery. Morrow exited the bank with a sack of money, including coins. As he exited, the sack ripped and his gun discharged. He stopped to retrieve the dropped money. Two bystanders, Louis Wong and Bo Holmes, witnessed a man leaving the scene with money falling from a ripped sack. No one disputes that the man they saw was petitioner Ricky Morrow.

John Norton, a Dallas police officer at the time of the robberies, interviewed witnesses at Metropolitan. After the Metropolitan robbery, Dallas police officer K.C. Edmonds interviewed Shipley, Blum, Miller, and Fritchie. Agent Nelson Borrero of the Federal Bureau of Investigation also interviewed Blum.

After leaving Metropolitan, Morrow and Ferguson arrived at First Texas [Savings] between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. As Morrow entered First Texas he approached Kathy Knoebber Crouse at her desk. When Mark Frazier, another bank employee, asked Morrow if he needed assistance, Morrow "started screaming and ranting and raving and cursing and hollering it was a robbery." He led Frazier at gunpoint to Tammy Roy's teller window and pointed one pistol at her and another pistol at Frazier. After getting a sack of money from Roy, Morrow shot and killed Frazier and exited the bank.

Jo Brown, Operations Supervisor at First Texas, witnessed the events at First Texas on January 19, 1982. Nancy Galloway, another employee of First Texas, also witnessed the events of that date. Jan Noble, a real estate agent with an office in the same building at First Texas, witnessed Morrow and Ferguson leave the scene in their vehicle.

After robbing First Texas, Morrow and Ferguson proceeded to the Park Cities Inn and rented Room 311. Richard A. Acree, a police officer then employed by the University Park Police Department, spotted their vehicle at the inn. He spoke with Sherry Baker, the clerk-receptionist for the inn, and ascertained that Morrow and Ferguson were in room 311. He called for assistance and several units arrived on the scene soon thereafter.

Numerous law enforcement officers from the FBI, Dallas Police Department, and University Park Police Department arrived at the inn, converged on Room 311, and demanded that Morrow and Ferguson surrender. FBI Agent Thomas Yunessa, armed with an assault rifle, and Dallas Police Officer P.T. Barnum, armed with a shotgun, crouched behind a toppled coke machine in the hall outside the room. Officers Edmonds, Luke Robertson, and Harold Rice, as well as Detectives Charles Hallam, John Landers, and Jack Baird of the Dallas Police Department, were also present at the inn. Ferguson voluntarily surrendered. Morrow then fired his .38 revolver. Law enforcement officers fired weapons and Morrow subsequently surrendered.

Special Agent Richard T. Garcia of the FBI interviewed Crouse after the robbery and shooting at First Texas. Special Agent H. Lamar Meyer interviewed Nancy Galloway and Jan Noble regarding the events at First Texas.

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