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Hi, everybody. Scott Fuller here
again with an update once again on our

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season one case, the nineteen ninety
seven disappearance of Amy Roebectol from the Mountains

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around Lander. We're in your feed
for a few moments last month with a

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legal development involving a person of interest
in that case, Dale Wayne Eaton,

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and that's exactly why we're here again. We'll tell you what's going on with

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the case now following the Supreme Court
decision last month right after this, so

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your recall last month, I was
in your earphones updating you about Dale Wayne

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Eaton just as a refresher. In
nineteen eighty eight, Daye. Wayne Eaton

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abducted and murdered an eighteen year old
young woman named Lisa Marie Kimmel as she

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was traveling across Wyoming, and he
was uncaught for that crime all the way

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until two thousand and four when DNA
finally linked him. Actually two two I

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believe he was arrested, but any
event, he was convicted in two thousand

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and four, and he was sentenced
to death for that crime in two thousand

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and four. And what's followed legally, we've talked about throughout season one of

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the podcast, And it's a bit
of a winding road that I don't want

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to unwind fully right now, because
you can just basically say fifteen years ago

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or so, day Alwaine Eaton was
sentenced to death, and the legal appeals

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and the court rulings have persisted for
fifteen years after that, as these things

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often do in capital cases, until
finally last month, the US Supreme Court,

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which is the highest governing legal authority
in this country, refused to hear

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his appeal. That is the end
of the appellate line for day Awayne Eaton.

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He has nowhere else to go,
and his death sentence has effectively been

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reaffirmed, and the State of Wyoming
has said that they want to pursue and

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continue to pursue that death sentence.
So that's where it's at right now.

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It's back in Wyoming, and the
case was in front of a Natrona County

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judge earlier today. And let me
just recap the events of today and sort

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of outline a little bit of what
we know of the legal roadmap forward.

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There's virtually no way now that day
Awayne Eaton can be unconvicted for his nineteen

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eighty eight murder of les Marie Kimmel. He has been convicted and all his

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appeals have run out, but that's
not to say he's out of options as

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it relates to his planned execution.
Now, there was a hearing in front

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of a judge in Natrona County today. Eaton himself was not there, but

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the topic of a mental evaluation for
day Awayne Eaton came up pre execution mental

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evaluation, and both sides actually agreed
earlier today that Eaton should undergo a mental

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evaluation before he is to be executed. There was a little bit of a

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back and forth between the two lawyers
though, when Eaton's defense lawyer asked that

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he be present Eaton's lawyer be present
at this mental health evaluation, and the

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assistant DA kind of pushed back on
that and said, well, if Eaton's

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lawyer is in the room, it
might actually impact and affect the outcome of

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the mental health evaluation. So the
judge has basically said to both sides submit

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your written arguments. Eaton's attorney is
to submit his motion and then the District

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Attorney's office will have a week after
that to submit their own countermotion. And

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when we get to July tenth,
the judge will make a decision about that

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motion as to whether or not Eaton's
lawyer can be in the room when he's

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mentally evaluated, and he will also
at that point formally order the mental health

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evaluation. So as a relatively aside
from the state reaffirming today that yes,

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we are going to still seek the
death penalty, which they'd already sort of

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done, is a relatively kind of
procedural thing, but it raises the question

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of is Dalewaine Eaton ever going to
be executed and what role does his mental

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health evaluation playing that? And this
is an eyebrow raising issue with Eaton,

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especially because his mental health has been
in question for pretty much his entire life.

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Just looking back over the basic timeline
of his life, and none of

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us can diagnose Eaton obviously, but
red flags are raised when early in his

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life, when he was still in
his twenties and thirties, he turned himself

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into police because he thought he was
dangerous, but the police at the time

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asked him, well, what have
you done? Have you committed a crime?

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And if Eaton had at that point, he wouldn't confess to it,

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so they basically passed him off to
a mental evaluation, and he was released

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at that point. We've heard anecdotal
reports about Daowne Eaton's mental state from everybody

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from law enforcement to prison guards to
anybody almost who's met this man or encountered

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this man in the last twenty years, and they are all anecdotal, and

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there are some on the record and
some off. But it is a factor

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because any objective observer could raise the
question about Daoween Eaton's mental ability, what

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does that have to do with his
execution? Of all, Eaton was convicted

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in two thousand and four of Lisa
Marie Kimmel's murder. That is almost impossible

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to change now. There is no
way, for example, that a judge

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will unconvict or exonerate day Awayne Eaton. But one of the reasons why a

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mental health evaluation is prudent here before
his execution is to go forward is because

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of what the US Supreme Court has
said about executing people in this country with

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mental illnesses. And it has to
do with day Awayne Eaton's Eighth Amendment right

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under the US Constitution. The eighth
Amendment is very short. I'll read it

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to you right now. It says
quote, excessive bail shall not be required,

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nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted. That's the

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entirety of the Eighth Amendment to the
US Constitution as relates to eaton. We

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don't have to worry about bail here. We don't have to worry about fines

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necessarily. However, cruel and unusual
and mental health seem to go hand in

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hand a little bit here. Is
it cruel or unusual to execute somebody who

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is mentally ill? A lot of
people would raise their hand to that question

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in the affirmative and say, yes, we should not kill someone who is

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mentally ill. Well, the US
Supreme Court has weighed in on that question.

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They did so in nineteen eighty six
in a landmark case called Ford v.

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Wainwright. In Ford v. Wainwright, which was a murder case that

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arrived at the Supreme Court on appeal
death penalty case, the US Supreme Court

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said that insane people cannot be executed. And they used that word insane.

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Okay, insane people can't be executed. What does that word mean? Well,

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the Court, in their majority opinion, one of the justices actually defined

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that word. Justice Powell at the
time wrote, quote, the test for

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whether a person is insane for Eighth
Amendment purposes is whether the prisoner is aware

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of his impending execution and the reason
for it. That's pretty important sentence when

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it comes to death penalty cases,
because ever since then that's been the de

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facto law of the land when it
comes to a litmus test for whether or

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not a person with mental health issues
can be executed. And if you think

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about that standard, it's an exceedingly
high one to meet. You have to

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be pretty severely mentally ill to not
know that you're about to be executed,

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and to be unaware of the reason
for your impending execution. Now, this

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is a whole other conversation bag of
worms we don't want to open up right

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now for the purposes of this update. But obviously since eighty six we have

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come to a greater understanding of the
human brain to include mental illnesses and how

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those affects criminal behavior. But as
of this moment in time, that's the

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benchmark. So if you were to
ask me, let's say Daywayne Eaton's mental

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health evaluation shows what it probably is
going to show that he has some forms

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of mental illness. I am speculating
there, obviously, but it's a fairly

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well founded speculation. Will that prevent
him from being executed? The answer is

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no. In order for day Awayne
Eaton's life to be spared from the state,

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he would have to be unaware of
both the fact that he's about to

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be executed, and he would have
to be unaware of the crime that he

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is about to be executed for.
So Eaton could be spared the death penalty

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if a psychologist and a judge being
guided by a psychologist were to determine that

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Eaton is both of those things.
He is both unaware that he is about

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to be executed and what for.
And then, hypothetically, even if that

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did happen, even if a judge
did rule that executing Eaton violates his eighth

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Amendment right, that decision, that
ruling would no doubt be appealed to the

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state Supreme Court, the Wyoming Supreme
Court as well. So that's sort of

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the roadmap forward for Eaton's case,
and that's the update that we have for

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you to day. The reason we
continue to follow along so closely is there

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is this small window right now where
if the suspicions of investigators are right,

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and if day Wayne Eaton is still
aware of any past crimes he might have

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committed that he hasn't been convicted for
cold cases that might be solved, that

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he might be responsible for the amount
of time. The windows is short here,

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but it's at least a window.
It's at least a hope that some

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of those cases using leverage of a
threatened execution might be solved. Very small

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hope, I will admit, But
investigators do believe he's responsible for other killings

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and did from the day that they
linked him to Lisa Marie Kimmel and they

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figured out who it was that killed
her and the way he did it,

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and various other factors. A lot
of people believe he's a serial killer,

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and a lot of people think he's
responsible for Amy Robectel's disappearance in ninety seven

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as well. That's the update on
the legal developments today and sort of the

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road forward as relates to day A
Wayne Eaton. A couple of housekeeping items.

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We have a brand new website that
we rolled out last weekend. Frozen

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Truth podcast dot com is totally redesigned. It is faster, it is sleeker,

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it's just more esthetically pleasing, but
it's better organized. You can find

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anything on that site from anywhere on
that site in terms of the seasons and

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the episodes, so that is much
improved. I want to thank our Patreon

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supporters for making that website possible and
supporting the show. I am going to

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hold just a little conversation here a
post show with just our Patreon supporters,

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so some exclusive content. If this
whole topic of the death penalty in the

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Eighth Amendment interests you in general,
we'll talk a little bit more about that

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coming up after we wrap here on
the main feed. I'll put a link

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to our Patreon page in the show
notes. If you're able to support,

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that's great. If not, that's
fine of course. As well. I'm

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going to be on with Mike Morford
on a get Vocal live stream on Thursday

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night. We're going to be discussing
the Jody Who's in Truts case subject of

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our season three. I'll put a
link online Wednesday or probably Thursday morning at

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the latest so that you can join
in that conversation. Thanks to Mike Morford,

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good friend in the podcast world,
for having me on on Thursday night

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and speaking of that, as you
know, I'm a member of the Fine

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Jody team, and I've been involved
in the production of the podcast that we

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rolled out, dealing, of course, with her case in the most detail

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and thorough and accurate way that it's
ever been reported on. Frankly so,

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the Fine Jody podcast is available for
free wherever you listen to podcasts. Right

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now. It's all one word,
Fine Jody. We appreciate you downloading that

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and checking that out. If you're
a fan of season three, that's all

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we have for you now in terms
of this update episode, we will talk again soon