More info from the AP on why Dallas County DA Craig Watkins requested a stay of execution for Joseph Lave:
Mike Ware, special assistant in Watkins’ conviction integrity unit, said Thursday prosecutors discovered evidence that had not been turned over to Lave’s defense attorneys. The evidence, a second polygraph test given co-defendant Timothy Bates, came to light within the last few days, Ware said.
While he wouldn’t describe the polygraph results in detail, it “does go directly to his credibility,” Ware said.
Lave’s lawyers had been requesting the information for years as part of the post-conviction process and Ware said it appeared the administrations of two previous district attorneys failed to turn it over. Watkins became Dallas County district attorney in January and has since allowed an outside review of cases where inmates are seeking post-conviction DNA testing.
Ware said Lave’s case, tried in 1994, continues to be examined, but said prosecutors believe several attorneys no longer with the DA’s attorney’s office misled the court by saying the evidence did not exist.
“This office and this administration is about honesty, about candor, about integrity … we do not feel it would be right to allow the execution to go through without disclosing this information to Mr. Lave’s attorneys,” Ware said.
