<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
 

Online petition asking for a new trial at:
<http://kola-hq.hypermart.net/actcaro.htm>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The FERNANDO EROS CARO Case
PART 1 - INTRO

Fernando Eros Caro was charged by amended information,
filed May 28, 1981, with two counts of first degree murder
with the use of a firearm and special circumstance
allegations of multiple murder, and murder in the commission
of kidnapping. Fernando Eros Caro was also charged with one
count of kidnapping with use of a firearm, and with two
counts of assault with intent to commit murder with the use
of a firearm, and with intentional infliction of great
bodily injury.

Fernando Eros Caro pleaded not guilty to all charges and
denied all special circumstance and enhancement allegations.

>From September 17, 1981 through December 10, 1981, he was
tried before a jury. At the end of the prosecution's case in
chief, the trial court granted a motion to strike the kidnap
special circumstance allegations. The guilt-phase jury found
Fernando Eros Caro guilty on all counts and also found the
multiple-murder special circumstance allegations and the
enhancement allegations to be true. A separate penalty jury
imposed the sentence of death after the penalty phase of the
trial. The Court also imposed a term of thirteen years and
eight months in state prison concurrent with the death
sentence on the kidnap and assault charges.

Fernando Eros Caro did not testify during the guilt or
innocence phase or the penalty phase of his trial. Mr. Caro
appealed his conviction and sentence. The California Supreme
Court affirmed Mr. Caro's conviction and sentence on October
6, 1988. On December 1, 1988, the California Supreme Court
denied his petition for rehearing. On April 24, 1989, the
United States Supreme Court denied his petition for a Writ
of Certiorari.

His new appeal attorneys filed for an evidentiary hearing,
which could eventually lead to a new appeal. On August 19,
1996, the appeal was again denied, leaving only the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court as last
chance for justice. The US Supreme Court, however, rarely
will review cases like this and will most likely send the
file back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Countdown for the execution date has begun...

Fernando Eros Caro was not competent to stand trial. As a
result of his exposure to neurotoxins, brutal physical abuse
as a child, and many other deprivations, he suffered from
extreme mental disorders and organic brain damage. The State
of California could not constitutionally try and sentence
him to death.

During the guilt phase of his trial, no credible defense to
the crime of first degree murder was offered, although such
a defense was readily available. With constitutionally
adequate assistance, Mr. Caro would have had the opportunity
to show that because of the multiple mental disabilities and
neurological damage resulting from his exposure to
neurotoxic chemicals, at that time he was insane and
mentally incapable of forming the requisite premeditation
and deliberation to support the murder convictions, or the
requisite intent to kill to support the convictions for
assault with intent to murder, or the intent to inflict
great bodily injury which is an element of that allegation
in enhancement of the assault convictions.

At the time of the crimes, Fernando Eros Caro sufferered
from multiple mental disabilities of long duration,
including: major affective disorder, depression with
psychotic features, neurological damage resulting from
chronic and acute exposure to neurotoxic chemicals and head
trauma, learning disabilities, migraine disease, episodes of
unconsciousness, psychological impairments caused by chronic
child maltreatment and victimization, and blood sugar
disorders such as hypoglycemia.

Fernando Eros Caro was deprived of the opportunity to
present this evidence through the denial of his
constitutional rights to competent psychiatric assistance
and to competent trial counsel.

Having been deprived of critical defense evidence at the
guilt phase, Mr. Caro was also deprived of the opportunity
to avoid a sentence of death at the penalty phase. The
competent and credible psychiatric evidence to which he was
entitled was not presented in mitigation: no evidence of his
chronic and acute exposure to neurotoxic chemicals during
childhood, high school, and in the work place immediately
before the crime was offered. Nor was any evidence offered
of Mr. Caro's serious and longstanding mental health
disabilities nor of his cultural and ethnic background.

The cumulative effect of all the errors committed during his
trial and sentencing render his conviction and death
sentence inherently unreliable, in violation of the 5th,
6th, 8th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The series to follow will detail Mr. Caro's cultural
background as well as an indepth survey of the trial.

Your support is urgently needed!
Thank you.

Elsie Herten
executive director KOLA

<+>=<+>
Information Pages: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Online Petition: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
<+>=<+>
if you want to be removed from the KOLA
Email Newslist, just send us a message with
"unsub" in the subject or text body
<+>=<+>