David Leslie Card

Case record

Overview

David Leslie Card (43), of Nampa, was convicted for the June 5, 1988, shooting deaths of Eugene Morey and Shirley Morey. He was subsequently sentenced to death in September 1989. His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

The offence

On June 5, 1988, Eugene Morey and Shirley Morey were shot to death at a Nampa convenience store.

Witnesses at the trial said Card was frustrated after a clerk at the store scolded him, and that he left to get his gun with the apparent intention of killing the clerk. When the clerk was gone, Card returned and walked to a parking lot nearby, where he killed the Moreys. The Moreys were sitting in their car folding newspapers for delivery.

Trial

Judge’s remarks at sentencing

At the time of sentencing, 3rd District Judge Jim Doolittle called it a “cold-blooded, pitiless killing.”

Defence and mental health issues

Bruce Livingston, the attorney representing Card, said Card was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings and had to be medicated so that he could stand trial. Livingston said that Idaho is one of only four states where defendants may not plead innocent by reason of insanity, and be sent to a mental hospital instead of a prison.

Appeals and competency

Card had been fighting his capital punishment sentence for nearly 2 decades.

For several years, he also refused the medication he needed to treat schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, according to attorneys. As a result, attorneys said he was so deeply entrenched in his delusions that he was unlikely to be able to assist his attorneys in future appeals.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled that:

“His mental illness has rendered him presently unable to communicate rationally with his appointed counsel.”
“This case shall be stayed until such time as he regains competency.”