Crawford v. Mississippi
Annotate this CaseIn January 1993, four days before his trial for the unrelated charges of aggravated assault and rape was set to begin, Charles Crawford broke into the home of Kristy Ray, kidnapped her, left a ransom note, and took her to a secluded barn in the woods. Crawford then raped and killed her. He claimed to have had two blackouts, one immediately before abducting Kristy, and one before her death. Crawford described everything he claims he could remember and that after he awoke from the second blackout, Kristy was dead at his feet. Crawford said he must have killed Kristy, but he could not remember doing so. He told the investigators that he sometimes had blackouts and could not control himself. This matter went before the Mississippi Supreme Court on Crawford’s Application for Leave to File Successive Petition for Post-Conviction Relief attacking his conviction for capital murder and death sentence. Also before the Court was the Response by the State and Crawford’s pro se Application for Leave to File Successive Petition for Post-Conviction Relief. After review, the Court concluded Crawford showed neither first PCR counsel nor trial counsel was deficient, nor has he shown prejudice due to any of the alleged errors raised in his appeal. The Court therefore denied both Crawford’s application for leave to proceed and his pro se application for leave.
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