PDF:Beasley responseTHE STORY SO FARA jury convicted Stephan Beasley in the 2003 killing of his estranged girlfriend Ugandra Shibley. She had been shot four times and cut on the neck at the day-care center where she worked. Ms. Shibley’s 17-month-old daughter was left alone with her dead mother. After confessing to the crime, Mr. Beasley claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since he previously had been shot by his ex-wife. He claimed he had gone to the day-care center to take back four rings he had given Ms. Shibley.
A court hearing for a murder convict has been put off again, nearly two years after he asked for a new trial because of claims that a now-discredited state medical examiner tainted the proceeding.
Stephan Beasley was scheduled to appear Monday in Hamilton County Criminal Court on claims that the trial court erred in allowing Dr. Charles Harlan, a former state medical examiner who lost his medical license in 2005, to testify at Mr. Beasley’s murder trial the same year.
Mr. Beasley now is scheduled to appear in court April 12, at which time prosecutors expect the hearing finally to take place, they said Monday.
Mr. Beasley, who filed a petition for a new trial in May 2008, became the first-ever murder convict in Hamilton County to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the 2003 shooting death of his estranged girlfriend.
Though Mr. Beasley confessed to killing Ugandra Shibley, he claims Dr. Harlan’s testimony and the way in which the doctor conducted the victim’s autopsy portrayed Mr. Beasley as a “monster of a person” who deserved to spend his entire life behind bars.
Among Mr. Beasley’s allegations is that Dr. Harlan purposely made a gash to the victim’s throat during the autopsy and falsely testified about markings on the victim’s fingers that led jurors to believe that Mr. Beasley had stolen her rings before killing her.
Mr. Beasley’s supposed commission of a separate felony — stealing the victim’s rings — in the process of killing her is a crime described as “felony murder” and is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to state law.
The Tennessee Board of Medical examiners ultimately determined that Dr. Harlan had for years made false statements on autopsy reports and committed numerous acts of malpractice, fraud, deceit and unprofessional conduct.
But in their response to Mr. Beasley’s petition for a new trial, prosecutors have indicated that the trouble surrounding Dr. Harlan would not have affected the outcome of Mr. Beasley’s case since he confessed to the crimes.
The possibility of a different outcome often is what tips the scale in determining whether someone will receive a second chance in the justice system, court observers said.
“(Mr. Beasley) fails to identify any newly discovered evidence nor how the newly discovered evidence would have resulted in a different judgment,” Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston states in court documents.