The Austin American Statesman reports Friday, March 30, 2007
Cathy Lynn Henderson’s lawyers were in court today asking a judge in Travis County to delay her April execution to give them more time to file a final appeal.
Henderson, 50, is scheduled to be executed April 18 for killing 3-month-old Brandon Baugh in 1994 at her Pflugerville-area home.
Doctors testified at her 1995 trial that Brandon’s massive skull injuries could not have been caused by an accidental fall, as Henderson claimed.
Henderson’s lawyer, George A. Cumming of San Francisco, told visiting state District Judge Jon Wisser today that recently developed science on head trauma — melding the work of doctors with that of physicists and engineers — will show Brandon’s death could have been an accident.
“This is new science,” Cumming argued. “It is very much like the DNA equivalent in a head trauma case.”
Cumming asked Wisser, who was the trial judge in the case, to vacate his execution order or to delay it by 90 days to allow him to fully develop an application for writ of habeas corpus requesting a new trial.
Wisser said he would rule Monday morning.
