Alvie James Hale

Case details

Alvie James Hale, Jr. was convicted in the District Court of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma on one count of Murder in the First Degree and one count of Kidnapping for Extortion.

The offence

Murder in the First Degree

Hale was tried and convicted of Murder in the First Degree for the murder of William Jeffrey Perry.

Kidnapping for Extortion

Hale was tried and convicted of Kidnapping for Extortion.

The jury recommended death for the crime of Murder in the First Degree and life imprisonment for the crime of Kidnapping for Extortion.

Background

William Jeffrey Perry’s parents owned and managed a local bank. Perry failed to arrive for work, and his sister went to his home and found Perry missing, with his automobile in the driveway, the front door open, his clothes laid out for work, and an upset alarm clock. Perry’s mother received telephone calls about Perry. During each call, the family asked to speak with Perry and were told that Perry was at a lake cabin and could not be brought to a phone, but that he would be released after the caller received $350,000 from the family. The family could not arrange to have the money until the following day.

At approximately 7:00 a.m. on the morning of October 11, 1983, a man identified as Hale came to the bathroom window of the house where Janet Miller lived. He asked if he could use a telephone and she told him she did not have a phone. The man went back to his white station wagon in her driveway. A second man dressed only in undershorts yelled for help from an adjacent field. Hale hurried to the spot where the second man was located, who was bent over with pain, and pulled him over the fence into the automobile.

On the next day, Mrs. Perry received a phone call directing her to go to the pay phone at a 7-11 store where she would receive further instructions. When she reached the 7-11, she received another phone call on the pay phone at the store directing her to another 7-11. During this phone call, Mrs. Perry spotted Hale sitting in a red and white pickup across the street. Mrs. Perry proceeded to the second location, where she received a phone call telling her where to drop off the ransom money. Mrs. Perry followed the caller’s instructions and deposited the money at the designated location. While Mrs. Perry was dropping off the money, she observed Hale’s truck approaching her location and identified Hale as the driver after Hale retrieved the money.

Investigation

After Hale retrieved the money, F.B.I. agents pursued Hale in a high speed chase through Oklahoma City. The pursuit ended when Hale’s vehicle hit a drainage ditch, went airborne, and collided head on with an F.B.I. agent’s vehicle. All the money Mrs. Perry had delivered was found in the truck. Hale was taken into custody at that time.

Hale’s father gave law enforcement officers consent to search his home and property. Officers found Perry’s body wrapped in a dark colored trampoline tarp within a metal storage shed; it fit a trampoline frame found at Hale’s own home. Perry had been shot a number of times.

Officers also found a cream colored station wagon Hale had used on the morning of October 11. A blood-stained towel containing a hair identified as Hale’s was found in the vehicle. Blood was found on the shoulder harness in the car consistent with Perry’s blood. A .38 caliber revolver was found in a kitchen cabinet. Two bullets found in Perry’s head were determined by a ballistics expert to have come from that revolver to the exclusion of all other weapons.

Arrest

Hale was taken into custody after his vehicle collided head on with an F.B.I. agent’s vehicle, during the high speed chase that ended in Oklahoma City.

Trial

Charges and jury recommendation

A jury tried Hale and convicted him of Murder in the First Degree and Kidnapping for Extortion.

During the first stage and second stage of the trial:

• The prosecutor sought the death penalty on the kidnapping as well as the first degree murder charges.
• The jury found two aggravating circumstances for kidnapping: that it was done for remuneration and was heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The jury sentenced Hale to life imprisonment for kidnapping.
• The jury found two aggravators on the murder charge: the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel and the murder was committed to avoid lawful arrest. The jury sentenced Hale to death.

Sentencing

On March 22, 1984, the trial judge sentenced Hale in accordance with the jury’s recommendation.

Appeals

After unsuccessful direct and post-conviction appeals in state court, Hale filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court denied the writ. Hale appealed.

Federal habeas appeal (Tenth Circuit)

The case was:

• Alvie James Hale, also known as Alvin J. Hale, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary Gibson, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee.
• Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (D.C. No. CIV-96-1073-L).
• Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, PORFILIO and EBEL, Circuit Judges.

The court stated that it:

• DENIED habeas relief and AFFIRMED the decision of the district court.
• AFFIRM was the result of the appeal.

Claims raised on federal habeas appeal

Hale raised the following thirteen claims of constitutional error:

1. Denied effective assistance of counsel through a conflict of interest and denied due process when counsel’s motion to withdraw from representation was denied outside of Hale’s presence.
2. Denied effective assistance of counsel during the punishment stage of his trial.
3. Denied effective assistance of counsel during voir dire.
4. Denied effective assistance of counsel when counsel failed to object to admission of other crimes evidence.
5. Denied effective assistance of counsel during counsel’s second stage closing remarks.
6. Denied effective assistance of counsel during counsel’s first stage closing remarks.
7. Denied a fair trial due to an improper instruction to the jury that kidnapping was a death-eligible offense, and denied effective assistance of counsel for failure to object to the improper jury instruction.
8. Denied due process due to late filing of the Bill of Particulars and denied effective assistance of counsel when counsel failed to object to the late filing.
9. Convictions for murder and kidnapping violated double jeopardy principles.
10. Government committed a violation of Brady v. Maryland.
11. Denied a fair trial due to the trial court’s failure to grant a change of venue.
12. Insufficient evidence to support the aggravator that Hale committed murder to avoid lawful arrest.
13. Insufficient evidence to support the “heinous, atrocious, or cruel” aggravator.

Direct appeal and state post-conviction history (as described)

• Hale appealed and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his convictions and sentences in Hale v. State, 750 P.2d 130 (Okla. Crim. App. 1988) (“Hale I”).
• Certiorari review was denied (Hale v. Oklahoma, 488 U.S. 878, 109 S. Ct. 195, 102 L. Ed. 2d 164 (1988)).
• Post-conviction relief was denied by the District Court of Pottawatomie County after an evidentiary hearing; Hale appealed and the OCCA affirmed denial in Hale v. State, 807 P.2d 264 (Okla. Crim. App. 1991) (“Hale II”).
• Oklahoma, 502 U.S. 902, 112 S. Ct. 280, 116 L. Ed. 2d 231 (1991)).
• On April 28, 1992, Hale filed a second application for post-conviction relief; all relief was denied.
• Hale v. State, 934 P.2d 1100 (Okla. Crim. App. 1997) (“Hale III”) affirmed denial of post-conviction relief.
• Hale filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on February 28, 1997; it was denied on January 28, 1999; a certificate of appealability was granted on all issues.

Outcome

Hale was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on October 18, 2001.

Aftermath

Cleanscy and protest information (as described)

More than 18 years later, Perry’s family members were preparing to remind the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board who William Jeffrey Perry was. Hale’s clemency hearing was scheduled for Aug. 13.

Perry’s mother, Joan Perry, said she was choosing photographs and gathering letters about her son from family and friends to present to the board.

“I guess that's what I was looking for, a little peace,” Perry said concerning Hale's execution. “I don't like that word closure because my son's death will be with me always. "I'm a confused mother right now," she added.

During a protest of the execution in front of the Pardon and Parole Board offices on October 18, five people were arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The protest focused on the unanimous rejection of Jim Hale’s request for clemency.

On September 19, 2001, the Oklahoma Pardon & Parole Board voted 5-0 to not grant clemency after hearing an eyewitness recant testimony and testimony about Hale’s life on death row as a “model prisoner” and law librarian.

Five protestors were arrested on October 19, 2001.

Stay of execution history (as described)

Hale was scheduled to be executed on September 4, 2001, and was given a stay of execution by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, pending the outcome of a case filed in federal court.

Hale has a petition for Writ of Certiorari pending in the US Supreme Court on a collateral matter; the 10th Circuit ordered the stay while the petition was pending. A decision on the petition in the US Supreme Court was due at the beginning of October when the Supreme Court returns from its summer recess.

A later statement indicated that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal and over-turned his stay of execution, with the stay granted due to over 400 FBI documents apparently withheld from Hale’s defense.

Execution timing (as described)

Hale’s execution date and time were given as “10/18/01 10:00pm EST.”

On October 18, 2001, the people of Oklahoma executed Alvie James Hale after a final plea before the U.S. Supreme Court failed.