Lesley Lee Gosch

Case record: Lesley Lee Gosch

Background

Lesley Lee Gosch was convicted of killing the wife of a San Antonio bank president in a botched extortion attempt. He was a former Eagle Scout.

Coke-bottle-thick lenses in prison-issue frames drew attention to his eyes. He had lost one eye and the tips of his fingers in an accident when a chemical used to make blasting caps exploded. Gosch said:

"My vision is so bad that my right eye is...I lost it in 1977 & my left one, they've taken the lens out. That's why I wear these cataract glasses. I take my glasses off & I'm legally blind."

Gosch described a practical joke he played on a guard:

"We had a new officer working the wing & ...I was feeling particularly frustrated that day, so I took my eye out & put it in the carrots on my food tray & called him back over & said, "Look, I want another tray. I don't know where the rest of him is, but I ain't eating this part of it." I've had a lot of fun with my prosthesis."

On death row, Gosch became something of an artist, teaching himself an intricate pointillist technique using pen and ink. Because of his failing eyesight, he worked with his nose an inch or two from the canvas. He said:

"I started drawing when I was in county jail....They gave us a few pencils & pens & tablets....The walls in my cell were made out of steel with enamel paint. You could draw on them with your pencils. So, I started drawing on the wall & went from there. And after I got down here, I got to where I could get a few art books & they allowed a whole-lot-greater variety of materials."

Gosch was trained as an electrical engineer at Texas A&M and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He discussed his ideas about art:

"Art, for me, is a form of communication with a high path applied to it. Everybody communicates but the craftsmanship's in the communications-everybody can speak, but not everybody can speak in pictures...in some form of high craft. It's been said, over the years, that art is to the highest craftsman. And it's true."

Gosch also said:

"I guess it's just the pressure of not knowing. The fear it generates. You don't know what the outcome is going to be & you're just in constant limbo."

His adoptive father testified that Gosch had been active in school activities, had been an Eagle Scout, and was adept in science and gunsmithing. The father also testified that Gosch experimented with explosives until an experiment with nitroglycerin went awry and left Gosch blind in one eye and with a disfigured hand.

The offence

Gosch was convicted of killing Rebecca Jo Patton, the wife of Frank Patton, the president of the Castle Hills National Bank, in a botched extortion attempt.

Testimony showed that Gosch planned to abduct Mrs. Patton for ransom so he could get money to pay for a flight to Belize to avoid a prison sentence for a federal firearms conviction.

Prosecutors said Gosch was the mastermind of a Sept. 15, 1985 extortion scheme that left Mrs. Patton dead. She was shot six times in the head with a .22-caliber pistol.

Mrs. Patton invited Gosch into her home after he showed up impersonating a flower delivery man. Gosch ordered her to call her husband, Frank, and demanded that the banker fill a briefcase with $50 and $100 bills.

Frank Patton called police after being ordered by Gosch to fill the briefcase.

The extortionist instructed Patton to take the cash to a San Antonio shopping mall and await instructions, but a promised telephone call there never came. Instead, Mrs. Patton was found dead at her home.

Investigation

Gosch and another man, John Rogers, were arrested a week later for the slaying after an informant turned over to police the murder weapon and other items.

The key evidence against Gosch came from John Rogers, who testified against Gosch in exchange for a lighter sentence. Gosch’s attorney later told the press that Rogers’s testimony was given in retaliation for a statement Gosch made against Rogers in an earlier trial.

Arrest

Gosch and John Rogers were arrested a week after Mrs. Patton was found dead.

Trial

A change of venue moved testimony from San Antonio to Victoria.

Rogers testified against Gosch and received a 45-year prison term while Gosch received the death penalty.

Sentencing

Gosch was scheduled for sentencing earlier in September 1985 but failed to appear.

Gosch had pleaded guilty a month earlier to charges of manufacturing and selling gun silencers.

Gosch had previous convictions in 1972 for a pair of pharmacy robberies in San Antonio.

Appeals

Clemency petition was filed.

Gosch’s attorneys had raised three constitutional issues earlier Thursday regarding:

• ineffective trial attorney,
• a key witness was not truthful,
• and the state’s practice of repeatedly setting execution dates to accelerate death penalty appeals, described as cruel and unusual punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution after lower federal courts had rejected arguments that the execution should be stopped.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said:

"He is being removed from a holding cell adjacent to execution chamber and is being taken back to his cell on death row."

Outcome

Lesley Lee Gosch was awaiting execution in Texas. Prison officials refrained from beginning the execution process until all legal attempts had been resolved.

On April 24, 1998, Gosch was pronounced dead at 6:38 pm, 11 minutes after the lethal dose began. He declined to make a last statement. Gosch had no final statement and made no eye contact with any of the witnesses, including Amy Grammer, the daughter of Rebecca Jo Patton.

Amy Grammer was 15 when her mother was killed. She planned to attend the execution and sought the opportunity to look at Gosch. Grammer told the San Antonio Express-News:

"This will be my only chance to look that man in the eyes," Amy Grammer, who was 15 when her mother was killed and who planned to attend the execution, told the San Antonio Express-News. "I want to see how a person could do something like that."

Grammer said:

"I graduated from high school and college without my mom," Mrs. Grammer, who lives in Lawrence, Kan., said. "I had to have my wedding without my mom. I never got to know my mom as a person. I missed all that and I am still missing stuff."

Mrs. Grammer declined to comment.

Gosch gasped slightly once and took a couple of deep breaths, but made no further sound.

Timeline

• Sept. 15, 1985 — Gosch’s extortion scheme led to Rebecca Jo Patton being shot six times in the head with a .22-caliber pistol.
• 1972 — Gosch was convicted for a pair of pharmacy robberies in San Antonio.
• A month before sentencing — Gosch pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing and selling gun silencers.
• Earlier in September 1985 — Gosch was scheduled for sentencing but failed to appear.
• A week later — Gosch and John Rogers were arrested for the slaying after an informant turned over the murder weapon and other items.
• 1993 — Gosch came within 20 minutes of lethal injection before winning a court reprieve.
• April 24, 1998 — The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution; Gosch was pronounced dead at 6:38 pm, 11 minutes after the lethal dose began.

Other details

Gosch’s attorney, Raoul Schoenemann, said:

"I've never had anything remotely as good as this happen in seven years of doing capital cases,"

Schonemann said he had not seen the high court’s ruling but understood the date setting issue was the one the court wanted to look at:

"It's pretty unusual,"

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald provided the statement about moving Gosch: