Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Harris County jurors will today begin deciding whether to sentence a Houston man to death a day after convicting him of the capital murder of a Houston police officer.
The widow of officer Timothy Abernethy smiled as the verdict was read Tuesday and hugged family members and HPD officers after leaving the courtroom. She is hoping jurors decide to put Mabry Joseph Landor III on death row.
“What I hope happens from here is … You know it’s really hard to talk about the death penalty,” she said. “We lost Tim, and now we have to think about this man losing his life, and his parents dealing with it. But what was proven today is that he doesn’t have a conscience. So honestly, he needs to be put to death.”
Landor’s family declined to comment.
Jurors deliberated for nearly 3½ hours and asked to see portions of the transcript again before coming back with their verdict. They specifically asked to review testimony about which path Landor took to run though the apartment complex where officer Timothy Abernethy was killed. He was shot through the neck and at close range through the head on Dec. 7, 2008.
Witnesses placed Landor at the Luxor Apartments near Tidwell and Antoine on the morning of the shooting. Testimony described him running from Abernethy after a traffic stop and then ambushing the 11-year veteran from behind a wall. The gunman then walked up to the wounded officer and shot him in the head at close range. Landor testified Monday that he saw another man shoot the officer.
No weapon was recovered.
“This gives you faith that the system works,” said Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union. “Certainly I would hope they would return a death penalty by injection. ...
This guy, certainly with his track record, he’s never been an asset to society. I don’t know if he can ever be reformed or be a productive member of society.”
Landor’s record shows felony convictions for burglary, DWI, possession and distribution of narcotics, and failing to stop and render aid. In 2003 he was convicted of a misdemeanor for assault with bodily injury of a family member. He was on parole at the time of his arrest in 2008.
Impassioned arguments
During a morning of impassioned closing arguments, the defense tried to cast reasonable doubt over the state’s evidence and singled out gunshot residue evidence and the potential for contamination.
“This gunshot residue is like a germ; it gets passed around,” defense attorney Laine Lindsey said. “What you didn’t hear is whether there was any gunshot residue on his black hoodie. ... There was no gunshot residue on his clothing.”
Lindsey pointed to contradictions between witness testimony, zeroing in on Ditreuchiea Brazil, who was visiting her son at the complex and testified last week that she heard eight or nine gunshots during the incident; investigators found only four casings.
“If she’s wrong, then the state’s case can be wrong,” Lindsey said.
Prosecutors challenged the defendant’s character and painted him as a man who has changed his story at least three times since he was first arrested.
“He tried to shift blame, tried to make officer Abernethy responsible for his own death,” Maria McAnulty told jurors. “He is trying to escape responsibility, a pattern that you see throughout this case.”
Lindsey reminded the jury that the burden of proof is on the state and asked them to disregard Landor’s taped confession.
“I believe reasonable doubt is raised by the state’s evidence,” Lindsey told jurors.
After the verdict, Stephanie Abernethy made a statement to thank the jury and witnesses.
“My heart goes out to you for having to have to sit through and listen to what went on in that courtroom, and to be faced, just like I was, what I consider to be a soulless person and to know they exist in the world,” she said.
Testimony in the sentencing phase of the trial begins today at 10 a.m.
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