Nevada

James Chappell - age 25, black (resentence after appellate reversal)

Sentenced to death in Clark County, Nevada

By: A jury

Date of crime: 1995

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Chappell had a decade-long history of abusing his girlfriend, who was the mother of his three children. After being released from jail in 1995 for having held a knife to her throat, instead of going to a drug treatment program Chappell went to her apartment where he beat, raped, and stabbed her twelve times. The defense presented mitigation evidence about Chappell’s poor and abusive childhood. Chappell’s first death sentenced was reversed for ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to properly handle the mitigation phase.

Prosecutor(s): Chris Owens, Pam Weckerly

Defense lawyer(s): Clark Patrick

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal 3/22/07 2007 WLNR 5498202; AP Alert-CA 02:01:48