First he got a life sentence without parole.
Now he's got a life sentence without appeal.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued an order this week that will largely prohibit Fort Worth killer Jeff Dodson from filing additional appeals of his conviction in the 2007 robbery-slaying of a Bedford convenience store clerk.Dodson, who was acting as his own attorney, lost his right to appeal by submitting falsified records to the court in an application for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to overturn his conviction, the state's highest criminal court concluded."The writ of habeas corpus is not to be lightly or easily abused," the court notes in a three-page opinion released Wednesday."We find that [Dodson] has abused The Great Writ by submitting false evidence. We dismiss this application and cite him for abuse of the writ."Attorney Jack Strickland, who represented Dodson at trial and handled his direct appeal, said the court's action is rare."They don't find abuse of the writ very often," said Strickland, who is now Tarrant County's deputy district attorney. "It's a curtailment of one fundamental institutional right to seek redress through habeas corpus."Meghan Ryan, assistant professor at SMU's Dedman School of Law, said it's hard to sympathize with Dodson."That's certainly a limitation of his rights, but they're not constitutionally accorded rights once he's taken advantage of the process," Ryan said. "When you abuse the process, as the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says, you lose that right."Ryan said Dodson perhaps should have considered having a lawyer handle the application."You know the saying, 'A person who represents himself has a fool for a client,'" she said. "Having a lawyer is a good idea. Perhaps the bigger lesson is don't falsify documents or try to get at the end results by untoward means."Strickland said Dodson could probably appeal the decision to a federal court but isn't likely to have much success."When I saw what he had done, I was astounded," Strickland said. "It was pretty transparent. ... He might appeal that decision to the federal courts, but federal judges are probably even less patient than the state judges." Dodson still has a glimmer of hope: The state appeals court said it will consider accepting future applications from him if he can show that any claims could not have been raised previously. But that's not likely.Dodson was convicted in 2008 of capital murder in the death of Gaurab Rajbanshi, 28, who worked at the D&S Food Mart on Pipeline Road. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.Dodson's brother, Theodis Dodson, pleaded guilty but said he was not the shooter. He was sentenced to life in prison.Dodson submitted trial transcripts to the appeals court that had been altered to state that his brother had pleaded guilty as the gunman in the case.Dodson alleged prosecutorial misconduct and witness perjury. He claimed that he was denied an attorney, that his attorneys were ineffective and that he is innocent.Strickland said Dodson thanked him at the end of the trial when the jury's decision took the death penalty off the table."It's just another example of 'no good deed goes unpunished,'" Strickland said.Dianna Hunt, 817-390-7084Twitter: @DiannaHuntHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
