Burleson County Tribune, March 29, 2007
P. 1

Graves' lawyers challenge Ranger Coffman's testimony

Defense lawyers for Anthony Graves, convicted of capital murder in the 1992 deaths of six Somerville residents, last week accused Texas Ranger Ray Coffman of perjury in a written filing.

Also, the state submitted its filing seeking the death penalty in a new trial.

In an objection to the state's evidence from an Oct. 7, 1992, bond hearing, defense attorneys say there was perjured testimony by Coffman and co-defendant Robert Carter, who testified against Graves.

Their objection was filed on Wednesday, March 21.  They are trying to seek bond for Graves as he awaits a new trial. 

An April 13 hearing has been set for District Judge Reva Towslee Corbett to rule on Graves' bond motion and on other motions.

Graves and Carter were convicted in 1994 in the Aug. 18, 1992 murders of Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter and four grandchildren.  After the crime, the bodies were doused with gasoline, and the house was set on fire.  Prosecutors believe a gun, a hammer and a knife were used.  Carter was executed in 2000.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled that the state withheld two statements made by Carter that they believe might have changed the jury's mind.  In one of those statements issued to former district attorney Charles Sebesta the night before he testified, he says he acted alone, and Graves was not involved.

Sebesta has maintained that Carter's statements were not credible and that he did not withhold pertinent evidence.  Sebesta insists that he did notify the defense about Carter changing his story.  He has also argued that Carter's statements were not credible because the physical eviidence presented, including multiple weapons used, proves that one person could not have committed the crimes, he said previously.

Regarding Coffman, the defense's objection states that his Nov. 30, 2006 testimony in a pre-trial hearing contradicts his original trial testimony.

In the Nov. 30, 2006 testimony, he states that Carter told him several times from 1992 until 1994 that Graves was not involved in the crime, according to the defense objection.

At the trial, Coffman testified that Carter implicated Graves in all but one of his statements, that being the grand jury testimony, according to the motion.

Coffman and all other witnesses are bound by a gag order instituted by judge Towslee Corbett that prevents them from responding to media inquiries about this.  However, the gag order was overturned last week on appeal.

Coffman, contacted Tuesday, had no comment.

"It is no wonder that the 5th Circuit set aside Mr. Graves' conviction in light of Ranger Coffman's perjury," the objection states.  "Now that Mr. Graves' fraudulently procured conviction has been set aside, the state is holding him on $1 million bail and seeks to justify that detention by submitting hearsay statements from perjurers Carter and Coffman, as well as several other witnesses who the state did not deem credible enough to present at the first trial."

Their filing regarding the 1992 bond hearing also includes objections to testimony by jail personnel about overheard conversations between Graves and Carter in their jail cells.  That testimony indicated that Graves admitted his guilt; however, the defense claims those witnesses could not be sure it was Graves' voice they heard over the intercom.  One of the witnesses was also under indictment at that time and owed Sebesta money at the time he testified, the objection stated.

They are also challenging the "alleged hypnotically induced identification" of Graves in a lineup by one witness, Mildred Bracewell.  She referred to a man who bought gasoline at her store, but the defense claims those identifications do not describe Graves.  Her statements were never offered at the first trial and do not meet the standards for admitting hypnotically enhanced testimony, according to the objection.

Regarding the death penalty filing, special prosecutors Patrick Batchelor and Julie Ann Stone filed that motion on Friday, March 23.

The next pre-trial hearing is set for April 13, and Towslee Corbett could rule on Graves motion on whether he should be free or released on bond while awaiting his new trial, a trial date and whether the trial should be moved out of Burleson County.