On an October night in 2002 an Ellis County gas station became the scene of a double homicide. The perpetrator was a man named Kent Sprouse. His victims were Pedro Moreno and Officer Harry Melvin Steinfeldt III. Apparently, under the influence of methamphetamine, Sprouse showed up at the gas station with a shotgun and shot Moreno. Moreno was pumping gas at the time. Officer Steinfeldt had just arrived on the scene when Sprouse began to fire at him. Steinfeldt managed to return fire but did not fatally injure Sprouse. Sprouse was taken into custody telling nurses that, two cops got whacked. Sprouse was found guilty of the capital murder of Moreno and Steinfeldt.
Insanity as a Defense
Sprouses attorneys conceded that it was he who murdered both victims. During the trial the defense presented a compelling argument that Sprouse lacked the required criminal intent for conviction. The defense presented expert testimony from Dr. Jaye Douglas Crowder who was the psychiatrist appointed to examine Sprouses mental capacity. Dr. Crowder testified that during each interview Sprouses behavior was psychotic. Crowder ultimately gave the opinion that Sprouse was psychotic, paranoid, or believed that people were persecuting him on the day of the murder. She was of the belief that Sprouse did not understand the wrongfulness of his conduct. This language is important as it is often used as the legal standard for insanity as a defense. The defense also put forth the testimony of family and friends of Sprouse. These witnesses informed the jury that Sprouse believed that he communicated with dead people and people on television. On February 27, 2004 Kent Sprouse was sentenced to death, disregarding insanity as a defense in the case.
The Lethal Injection Execution
On the evening of April 9, 2015 Sprouse ate pepper steak at the Huntsville Walls Unit. It was scheduled as his last meal. At 6:00pm on the evening of April 9th the Texas Department of Criminal Justice executed Sprouse. The drug pentobarbital delivered by injection caused his fatality. The injection used on Sprouse was initially intended for another Texan inmate named Randall Wayne Mays. Mays, too, was found guilty of the murder of a police officer, facing a lethal injection execution. The TDCJ recently experienced a shortage of pentobarbital. This shortage caused the rescheduling of several inmates executions. Four inmates, Randall Wayne Mays included, survived their scheduled executions for no other reason than the lack of the fatal drug. Currently, the TDCJ has six scheduled lethal injection executions between the time of this writing and June 18th of this year. According to the TDCJ Director of Public Information, Jason Clark, The TDCJ has obtained a new supply of pentobarbital which will allow the agency to carry out executions that are scheduled for the month of April. Sprouses injection was the last of the un-refilled source.
An Appellate Attorney
Appealing a criminal conviction is a life-altering task. The risk of not seeking an experienced attorney after a criminal conviction is immense. If you have questions about how to appeal a criminal conviction, contact our team at Brownstone Law today.
