Hi, everybody. Scott Fuller here again with an update once again on our
season one case, the nineteen ninety seven disappearance of Amy Roebectol from the Mountains
around Lander. We're in your feed for a few moments last month with a
legal development involving a person of interest in that case, Dale Wayne Eaton,
and that's exactly why we're here again. We'll tell you what's going on with
the case now following the Supreme Court decision last month right after this, so
your recall last month, I was in your earphones updating you about Dale Wayne
Eaton just as a refresher. In nineteen eighty eight, Daye. Wayne Eaton
abducted and murdered an eighteen year old young woman named Lisa Marie Kimmel as she
was traveling across Wyoming, and he was uncaught for that crime all the way
until two thousand and four when DNA finally linked him. Actually two two I
believe he was arrested, but any event, he was convicted in two thousand
and four, and he was sentenced to death for that crime in two thousand
and four. And what's followed legally, we've talked about throughout season one of
the podcast, And it's a bit of a winding road that I don't want
to unwind fully right now, because you can just basically say fifteen years ago
or so, day Alwaine Eaton was sentenced to death, and the legal appeals
and the court rulings have persisted for fifteen years after that, as these things
often do in capital cases, until finally last month, the US Supreme Court,
which is the highest governing legal authority in this country, refused to hear
his appeal. That is the end of the appellate line for day Awayne Eaton.
He has nowhere else to go, and his death sentence has effectively been
reaffirmed, and the State of Wyoming has said that they want to pursue and
continue to pursue that death sentence. So that's where it's at right now.
It's back in Wyoming, and the case was in front of a Natrona County
judge earlier today. And let me just recap the events of today and sort
of outline a little bit of what we know of the legal roadmap forward.
There's virtually no way now that day Awayne Eaton can be unconvicted for his nineteen
eighty eight murder of les Marie Kimmel. He has been convicted and all his
appeals have run out, but that's not to say he's out of options as
it relates to his planned execution. Now, there was a hearing in front
of a judge in Natrona County today. Eaton himself was not there, but
the topic of a mental evaluation for day Awayne Eaton came up pre execution mental
evaluation, and both sides actually agreed earlier today that Eaton should undergo a mental
evaluation before he is to be executed. There was a little bit of a
back and forth between the two lawyers though, when Eaton's defense lawyer asked that
he be present Eaton's lawyer be present at this mental health evaluation, and the
assistant DA kind of pushed back on that and said, well, if Eaton's
lawyer is in the room, it might actually impact and affect the outcome of
the mental health evaluation. So the judge has basically said to both sides submit
your written arguments. Eaton's attorney is to submit his motion and then the District
Attorney's office will have a week after that to submit their own countermotion. And
when we get to July tenth, the judge will make a decision about that
motion as to whether or not Eaton's lawyer can be in the room when he's
mentally evaluated, and he will also at that point formally order the mental health
evaluation. So as a relatively aside from the state reaffirming today that yes,
we are going to still seek the death penalty, which they'd already sort of
done, is a relatively kind of procedural thing, but it raises the question
of is Dalewaine Eaton ever going to be executed and what role does his mental
health evaluation playing that? And this is an eyebrow raising issue with Eaton,
especially because his mental health has been in question for pretty much his entire life.
Just looking back over the basic timeline of his life, and none of
us can diagnose Eaton obviously, but red flags are raised when early in his
life, when he was still in his twenties and thirties, he turned himself
into police because he thought he was dangerous, but the police at the time
asked him, well, what have you done? Have you committed a crime?
And if Eaton had at that point, he wouldn't confess to it,
so they basically passed him off to a mental evaluation, and he was released
at that point. We've heard anecdotal reports about Daowne Eaton's mental state from everybody
from law enforcement to prison guards to anybody almost who's met this man or encountered
this man in the last twenty years, and they are all anecdotal, and
there are some on the record and some off. But it is a factor
because any objective observer could raise the question about Daoween Eaton's mental ability, what
does that have to do with his execution? Of all, Eaton was convicted
in two thousand and four of Lisa Marie Kimmel's murder. That is almost impossible
to change now. There is no way, for example, that a judge
will unconvict or exonerate day Awayne Eaton. But one of the reasons why a
mental health evaluation is prudent here before his execution is to go forward is because
of what the US Supreme Court has said about executing people in this country with
mental illnesses. And it has to do with day Awayne Eaton's Eighth Amendment right
under the US Constitution. The eighth Amendment is very short. I'll read it
to you right now. It says quote, excessive bail shall not be required,
nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. That's the
entirety of the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution as relates to eaton. We
don't have to worry about bail here. We don't have to worry about fines
necessarily. However, cruel and unusual and mental health seem to go hand in
hand a little bit here. Is it cruel or unusual to execute somebody who
is mentally ill? A lot of people would raise their hand to that question
in the affirmative and say, yes, we should not kill someone who is
mentally ill. Well, the US Supreme Court has weighed in on that question.
They did so in nineteen eighty six in a landmark case called Ford v.
Wainwright. In Ford v. Wainwright, which was a murder case that
arrived at the Supreme Court on appeal death penalty case, the US Supreme Court
said that insane people cannot be executed. And they used that word insane.
Okay, insane people can't be executed. What does that word mean? Well,
the Court, in their majority opinion, one of the justices actually defined
that word. Justice Powell at the time wrote, quote, the test for
whether a person is insane for Eighth Amendment purposes is whether the prisoner is aware
of his impending execution and the reason for it. That's pretty important sentence when
it comes to death penalty cases, because ever since then that's been the de
facto law of the land when it comes to a litmus test for whether or
not a person with mental health issues can be executed. And if you think
about that standard, it's an exceedingly high one to meet. You have to
be pretty severely mentally ill to not know that you're about to be executed,
and to be unaware of the reason for your impending execution. Now, this
is a whole other conversation bag of worms we don't want to open up right
now for the purposes of this update. But obviously since eighty six we have
come to a greater understanding of the human brain to include mental illnesses and how
those affects criminal behavior. But as of this moment in time, that's the
benchmark. So if you were to ask me, let's say Daywayne Eaton's mental
health evaluation shows what it probably is going to show that he has some forms
of mental illness. I am speculating there, obviously, but it's a fairly
well founded speculation. Will that prevent him from being executed? The answer is
no. In order for day Awayne Eaton's life to be spared from the state,
he would have to be unaware of both the fact that he's about to
be executed, and he would have to be unaware of the crime that he
is about to be executed for. So Eaton could be spared the death penalty
if a psychologist and a judge being guided by a psychologist were to determine that
Eaton is both of those things. He is both unaware that he is about
to be executed and what for. And then, hypothetically, even if that
did happen, even if a judge did rule that executing Eaton violates his eighth
Amendment right, that decision, that ruling would no doubt be appealed to the
state Supreme Court, the Wyoming Supreme Court as well. So that's sort of
the roadmap forward for Eaton's case, and that's the update that we have for
you to day. The reason we continue to follow along so closely is there
is this small window right now where if the suspicions of investigators are right,
and if day Wayne Eaton is still aware of any past crimes he might have
committed that he hasn't been convicted for cold cases that might be solved, that
he might be responsible for the amount of time. The windows is short here,
but it's at least a window. It's at least a hope that some
of those cases using leverage of a threatened execution might be solved. Very small
hope, I will admit, But investigators do believe he's responsible for other killings
and did from the day that they linked him to Lisa Marie Kimmel and they
figured out who it was that killed her and the way he did it,
and various other factors. A lot of people believe he's a serial killer,
and a lot of people think he's responsible for Amy Robectel's disappearance in ninety seven
as well. That's the update on the legal developments today and sort of the
road forward as relates to day A Wayne Eaton. A couple of housekeeping items.
We have a brand new website that we rolled out last weekend. Frozen
Truth podcast dot com is totally redesigned. It is faster, it is sleeker,
it's just more esthetically pleasing, but it's better organized. You can find
anything on that site from anywhere on that site in terms of the seasons and
the episodes, so that is much improved. I want to thank our Patreon
supporters for making that website possible and supporting the show. I am going to
hold just a little conversation here a post show with just our Patreon supporters,
so some exclusive content. If this whole topic of the death penalty in the
Eighth Amendment interests you in general, we'll talk a little bit more about that
coming up after we wrap here on the main feed. I'll put a link
to our Patreon page in the show notes. If you're able to support,
that's great. If not, that's fine of course. As well. I'm
going to be on with Mike Morford on a get Vocal live stream on Thursday
night. We're going to be discussing the Jody Who's in Truts case subject of
our season three. I'll put a link online Wednesday or probably Thursday morning at
the latest so that you can join in that conversation. Thanks to Mike Morford,
good friend in the podcast world, for having me on on Thursday night
and speaking of that, as you know, I'm a member of the Fine
Jody team, and I've been involved in the production of the podcast that we
rolled out, dealing, of course, with her case in the most detail
and thorough and accurate way that it's ever been reported on. Frankly so,
the Fine Jody podcast is available for free wherever you listen to podcasts. Right
now. It's all one word, Fine Jody. We appreciate you downloading that
and checking that out. If you're a fan of season three, that's all
we have for you now in terms of this update episode, we will talk again soon