TITSWORTH, Timothy

Timothy Titsworth

• 1993-07-23
• 2005-02-15
• 2006-06-06

Summary:

Three months following his graduation from a "boot camp" and early release following his car theft conviction, Titsworth and Christine Marie Sossaman shared a trailer in Amarillo.

According to a confession later given by Titsworth, he and Sossaman had argued, she went to sleep, and he went out to buy crack and a pill he believed was LSD.

When he returned to the trailer, Titsworth got an axe from a closet and blacked out, although he said he did remember hitting his girlfriend four or five times.

Her body was later discovered in the trailer with 16 axe wounds.

A friend of Sossaman testified at trial that the victim told her the day before she was killed that she intended to ask Titsworth to leave because she believed her boyfriend had been stealing from her.

After the attack, Titsworth took her car along with items from the trailer home that he sold to buy more crack cocaine, then returned repeatedly to the murder scene to take more property to sell for drug money.

Citations:

Titsworth v. Cockrell, Not Reported in F.Supp.2d, 2003 WL 22132810 (N.D. Tex. 2003) (Habeas)
Titsworth v. Dretke, 401 F.3d 301 (5th Cir. 2005) (Habeas)

Final Meal:

Beef fajitas with jalapeno peppers, a rib eye steak with a baked potato, beef enchiladas with cheese and Mountain Dew soda.

Final Words:

“There are no words to describe the pain and suffering that you have gone through all these years. That is something that I cannot take back from you all,” Titsworth said.

“I hope that Megan, if she is here present today, know that today I hope you get peace and you. I am sorry that is has taken 14 years to get closure. If it would have brought closure or brought her back, I would have done this years ago, I promise, I promise. My family all knows the sincerity in my heart when I say these words to you. I didn’t mean to inflict the pain and suffering on your family. I pray that (Christine) is safe in Heaven.... If these words can ever touch your heart, I am sorry. I am truly sorry.” After saying, “I love you,” several times to his friends and family, Titsworth stared at the ceiling as the lethal chemicals entered his system. “Here we go,” he said, as he took his final breath.

Texas Attorney General

Media Advisory

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Timothy Titsworth Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Timothy Titsworth, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 6, 2006.

Titsworth was sentenced to die for the 1992 capital murder of Christine Marie Sossaman. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

The body of Christine Marie Sossaman was found in July 1992 in the bedroom of the trailer in Amarillo she shared with her boyfriend, Timothy Titsworth. Sossaman had been killed with an axe.

The evidence showed Titsworth and Sossaman had been living together for about two months when Sossaman was murdered.

Sossaman told a friend a day before she was killed that she intended to ask Titsworth to move out because she believed he was stealing from her.

The next day, Titsworth killed Sossaman in her bedroom by striking her about sixteen times with a dull two-bladed axe. Sossaman was likely sleeping in bed when the attack began.

Titsworth stole Sossaman’s car and some of her personal property. Titsworth sold Sossaman’s property and used the money to buy crack cocaine.

Over the next couple of days Titsworth and other admitted crack cocaine users made at least two trips to Sossaman’s home and took more of her property, which they used to buy more crack cocaine.

Once Titsworth exhausted his supply of money and drugs, he and another person decided to make another trip to Sossaman’s home in her car to get more of her property.

However, by this time Sossaman’s mother had found her body and had alerted the police. Titsworth was arrested in Sossaman’s car, while he and another person were on their way to Sossaman’s home.

Titsworth confessed to killing Sossaman and taking her property. Titsworth retrieved an axe from a closet while Sossaman was asleep in bed. Titsworth said he remembered hitting Sossaman four or five times with an axe.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

• October 1993 - Titsworth was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.
• November 22, 1995 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction on appeal on .
• February 10, 1999 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied state habeas relief on
• Sept. 11, 2003, a U.S. district court judge denied a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus.
• Nov. 25, 2003 - The court also denied a certificate of appealability
• February 26, 2004 - Titsworth requested COA from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After hearing oral argument, the court denied COA on all claims except one, on which the court granted COA.
• February 16, 2005 - The court ultimately denied relief
• January 9, 2006 - The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review on .

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY & TIMELINE

According to Titsworth’s mother, he received three years probation and was ordered to seek mental health counseling for breaking into a shed at thirteen and was arrested for drugs and placed on probation when he was fifteen.

At the time of this offense, Titsworth was on probation for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, for which he was sentenced to five years in state prison. However, a motion to revoke his probation had been filed and a warrant for Titsworth’s arrest had been issued at the time he killed Sossaman.

July 23, 1992:
Christine Marie Sossaman, 26, is struck at least 16 times with an ax and killed inside her home on West Arden Road. Police catch her live-in boyfriend, Titsworth, driving her car three days later and arrest him for illegal firearm possession. He reportedly tells investigators that he went to get drugs after he and Sossaman argued. He returned high on crack cocaine, grabbed an ax and killed her. Titsworth said he stole Sossaman's car and credit cards, and returned several times after killing her to get items to pawn for drugs.

December 1992:
While awaiting trial, Titsworth and three other inmates - including two other capital murder suspects - escape from the Randall County Jail. The escapees stole some clothes and a car and drove into Amarillo, where they obtained marijuana. They are captured about twelve hours later after a 40-mile police chase to Umbarger.

October 1993:
A Randall County jury convicts Titsworth of capital murder and sentences him to death by lethal injection.

November 1995:
In a split decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upholds Titsworth's conviction. In his 32-point appeal, Titsworth claims the state did not prove that he killed Sossaman during a robbery. Homicide during the commission of another crime is the basis for a capital murder charge.

February 1999:
Titsworth launches a federal appeal in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, but his petition to review his case is denied in 2003, and that decision is upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans last year.

January 2006:
The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review Titsworth's case.

Feb. 10 2006:
181st District Judge John Board schedules Titsworth's execution for June.

June 6, 2006:
Titsworth is executed in Huntsville, becoming the state's 11th execution of 2006 and the second from Randall County since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

CCADP.org

Tim Titsworth - On Death Row in Texas

Information and links provided by Tim Titsworth and his supporters

The Courage To Be Your Best in Both English & Danish

Author/Case History

My name is Timothy T. Titsworth #999078 and I'm a Death Row inmate here in Texas, U.S.A. Ladies and Gentlemen,the guilt innocence isn't the point that we are trying to get across in this information sheet.

We're trying to let people know that Timothy isn't Guilty of Capital Murder and doesn't deserve to be on death row,where he is and has been since November 2,1993.

What Timothy is trying to do is establish some kind of friendship with people of your country and his as well,and let them know the serenity of his situation isn't something to be overlooked, by the people of the justice system. All this man wants is a fair trial and another chance at life.

But unless he can get some outside help from people who can be a "voice" for him in their country,or give some type of financial help to him in his fight against the death penalty,as he has no chance of doing this. Ladies and gentlemen, please keep this in mind that this isn't a "Traffic Ticket" this young man is being tried for. This is a murder trial!

A Capital Murder Trial at that, where the State of Texas, USA, is trying for nothing less than the death penalty in this case.

The following information can be reviewed in court documents and in articles from the Amarillo Global News in Amarillo,Texas.

On August 12, 1992, Timothy Titsworth was indicted for the Capital Murder of his live - in girlfriend Christina Marie Sossaman. Sossaman was found around midnight on July 26th, by her mother, Mrs. Gibson, after she was unable to contact her daughter by phone.

Mrs.Gibson informed the police that her daughter had a live-in boyfriend named Timothy Roberts? (Who's Timothy Roberts ?)

Shortly after, a flier was distributed to all units instructing them to detain, not arrest, and and all people in a Black Chevy Corsica and bring them physically to the Special Crimes Unit, as they were suspects.

Around noon on July 26th, 1992, Timothy Titsworth was arrested and taken to the Special Crimes Unit where he was immediately interrogated and shortly taken to Randall County Jail/County Court House where he was charged with Capital Murder and placed in jail to await trial.

A year and a half later, after he had initially been indicted for this crime, Timothy had been through alot of changes and was very confused as to what was going to happen to him.

The Courts had appointed a lawyer to represent Tim, but six months after he was appointed he dropped off Tim's case and therefore Tim was without any kind of legal representation. But all this was unknown to him and so he thought that since his lawyer hadn't contacted him in several months, he was just busy is all ?

Then on August of 93, another lawyer named Selden B Hale and his co counsel Joe Marr Wilson was appointed to his case and forced to take any and other information needed to fully represent him in court by his trial date of October 26,1993!

Which only left four months tops to collect, investigate, and file any information or motions to start a Capital Murder Trial.

These men never had a chance to fully investigate, prepare and establish a proper defense for me in the time that was allotted to them .

Again, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a Capital Murder Trial in which a human being was sentenced to death. To properly investigate a life-span of twenty-one years in four months tops, is out of the question.

On the third day of the trial, I was told to stand before the Judge. The Jury answered "yes" to Special Issue # l, which is the question of "Guilty".

They answered "Yes" to Special Issue #2,' which is " did I intentionally and knowingly take the life in question, and "No" to Special Issue # 3 which was the question,of were there any mitigating y factors or circumstances in this case.

When these three questions are answered in the manner which I have just mentioned, a Death Sentence is Automatic. If they would have answered the last question as "Yes", then I would have received a life sentence,in which my crime truly Constitutes by Law.

Still,Justice is denied in any way presented other then that of Complete Liberation. When the Judge read off those three lssues,the co-counsel for the state started clapping and smiling towards the back of the court room,where my family and friends sat in awe. My Heart sank to the souls of my shoes. My world as I used to know it was no longer as it use to be.

During the time that I sat in my cell awaiting the verdict, I prayed that some type of Justice would prevail,at least to the hearts of the Juror's and they would have compassion in their heart,in returning with a sentence of Life in Prison and not Death.

On November 29,l993, Timothy Titsworth had a post-conviction hearing on a motion in which a new trial was being asked. This Motion was Refused !

On August 3Oth,1994, Seldom Hale and his Partner Joe Marr Wilson filed Timothy's brief pointing out 32 points of error that occurred during his Trial ! If I can get the courts to rule in favor of these errors,I could be given a New Trial,or Commuted to a Life Sentence.

Mr.Hale and Mr.Wilson argued these points of error before the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, Texas (which is the Highest Appellate Court in the State) However... On November 22nd, 1995,the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Timothy's case!

On December 6th,1995, Mr.Hale and partner Mr.Wilson filed a motion for a rehearing to the Court of Criminal Appeals, requesting that the court resubmit this case for further consideration of it's opinion on the Affirmation for Mr.Titsworth's case on November 22nd,1995, Again our Motion was Denied!!

On March 28th, 1997 an attorney out of Austin Texas, was appointed to investigate, research and prepare an application for Writ of Habeas Corpus on my behalf. He(Gary Taylor and his investigator Lisa Millstien).

They represented my State Writ Application on December l7,l997, within the Statutory time, Mr.Taylor filed an Amended Application for Writ Of Habeas Corpus, On February 1Oth,1999, the Court of Criminal Appeals entered an unpublished order Denying Relief!

Actual notice of the Courts Order did not reach petitioner's Counsel until February l6th,1999.Petitioner filed a Motion for appointment of Counsel and a Motion for Equitable Tolling in this Court on February 19th, on March 3rd,1999, the courts appointed Gary Taylor as Counsel for petitioner.

It is our hopes that we can collect a considerable amount of financial help for research and investigator fees, before going into the Federal Courts.

Once again, I Thank You all for being attentive to me and this situation here in Texas. It is my Great Hopes that after you have listened to all I have stated In this article,that you will see that the death penalty only serves mistakes and injustice upon it's citizens, It is my hopes that you will look into your hearts and make a conscience committment from your heart, to join in the Fight to Abolish the Death Penalty.

There lies a fire within your heart, that will speak up against the wrongs of this world. I urge you to please stand up, speak out and be heard. With many voices enjoined together as "One" one day we will be heard.

Please come, join the cause. With enough said, I bid each of you Peace, Love, and a better Understanding, of those things which we seem not to understand.

Thank You for your time in hearing your words and I Thank You, especially, those who have Graciously brought you these very words which I write, because without them I am merely a fraction of a man desperately seeking relief from an oppressive situation. Thank You all and May God Bless You.

Anyone interested in knowing more about me and my situation can write to me direct at the address listed below:

TIMOTHY TITSWORTH #999078
Polunsky Unit D.R.
12002 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351 USA

Democracyinaction.org

Timothy Titsworth, TX - June 6

Do Not Execute Timothy Titsworth!

Timothy Tyler Titsworth, a 34-year-old white man, is scheduled to be executed on June 6 for the murder of Randall County resident Christine Marie Sossaman. Titsworth and Sossaman had been living together for two months prior to the murder.

After purchasing and ingesting crack cocaine, Titsworth is alleged to have entered the home that he and Sossaman shared and to have attacked her with an ax.

Then Titsworth is said to have stolen several of Sossaman’s belongings, which he later sold in exchange for drugs. Police arrested Titsworth in Sossaman’s car as he and another man were driving to the victim’s home.

Soon after being arrested, Titsworth made a confession to the police, describing the events listed above.

However, just before the confession, when Titsworth was being booked at the police station, the sheriff’s deputy processing him, Cindy Risley, commented to other officers how intoxicated Titsworth appeared.

She testified: “‘[He] would laugh, he’d nod off. I had to wake him up a couple of times during the booking process. He didn’t seem to understand at the time what he was being brought in for.’” Furthermore, “[Risley] recalled that [Titsworth] answered questions as if the victim were still alive.”

The prosecutor in the case argued that Titsworth could not have been intoxicated when his confession was made, saying that it fails to fit within the timetable of Titsworth’s drug or alcohol use and arrest. Yet even if this were true, Titsworth clearly seems to have been exhibiting some mental disturbance when he was confessing.

A confession is generally considered the gold standard of evidence in a criminal trial. However, in Timothy Titsworth’s case, the confession is fool’s gold.

Titsworth was impaired by either drugs or mental illness when he confessed to police and thus likely didn’t know what he was saying. It would be impermissible to allow Texas to execute Timothy Titsworth on the grounds of such a questionable confession.

Please write to Gov. Rick Perry on behalf of John Titsworth!

The Pampered Prisioner.com

My name is Timothy Titsworth, a native of Denver, Colorado - currently a resident in Texas. I have no expectations . . . just hopes and prayers that honesty and trust will be among those hearts that read this ad. Your attention and understanding to such circumstances is what brings me here today.

I've been reaching out for over twelve years, learning and growing in the friendships that I've been blessed with thus far. It's an enlightening feeling to truly understand what *FRIENDSHIP* can do for a person.

To know its boundaries, its special smiles, its warmth . . . is something I did not know while on the streets.

I'm on death row and have fought a hard battle within the appellate courts, only to reach the final stage . . . a better man, a stronger soul . . . and an awesome friend. Smile I seek open hearts and kind words in these final moments of my life.

Something that allows me to see the world from afar, the vivid colors which radiate from the hearts and souls that also seek friendship as I do. I offer my hand of friendship to any who are willing to take that path, and journey with me.

Timothy Titsworth #999078
3872 FM 350
So. Livingston, TX 77351 USA

Titsworth v. Cockrell, Not Reported in F.Supp.2d, 2003 WL 22132810 (N.D. Tex. 2003) (Habeas)

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION TO DENY PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

AVERITTE, Magistrate J.
Pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, this case has been referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge for recommendation.

NATURE OF THE CASE

TIMOTHY TYLER TITSWORTH, a state prison inmate sentenced to death has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 2254.

PARTIES

Petitioner, Timonthy Tyler Titsworth, is an inmate in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division (TDCJ-ID). Respondent, Janie Cockrell, is the Director of TDCJ-ID.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A jury convicted petitioner of capital murder, and his punishment was assessed at death by lethal injection. State v. Titsworth, No. 8119-B (Dist. Ct. of Randall County, 181st Judicial Dist. of Texas, Oct. 29, 1993).

The case was appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which court affirmed the conviction and death sentence. Titsworth v. State, No. 71,804 (Tex.Crim.App. Nov. 22, 1995)(unpublished). Petitioner filed a motion for rehearing which was denied. Titsworth v. State, No. 71,804 (Tex.Crim.App. Jan. 26, 1996).

Petitioner subsequently filed a state application for writ of habeas corpus on April 22, 1997, and an amended application for writ of habeas corpus on December 17, 1997.

The trial court found the application presented no controverted, previously unresolved fact issues material to the legality of Applicant's confinement. State v. Titsworth, No. 8119-B-1 (Dist. Ct. of Randall County, 181st Judicial Dist. of Texas, Sep. 4, 1998). It then entered findings of fact and conclusions of law, and recommended that relief be denied. State v. Titsworth, No. 8119-B-1 (Dist. Ct. of Randall County, 181st Judicial Dist. of Texas, Sep. 17, 1998).

The Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the trial court findings of fact and conclusions of law and denied relief by written order. Ex parte Titsworth, No. 39,237-01 (Tex.Crim.App. Feb. 10, 1999) (unpublished).

Petitioner filed his petition for writ of habeas corpus in this Court on April 8, 1999. Respondent filed its answer on May 31, 2001.FN1 Petitioner filed a response to this answer on August 20, 2001.

Thereafter, the Court granted an evidentiary hearing limited to those portions of petitioner's first, third, fourth, and sixth claims which involved the testimony of Cindy Risley. Titsworth v. Cockrell, No. 2:99-CV-0061 (N. D.Texas, Feb. 14, 2003). Such evidentiary hearing was conducted on May 14, 2003, and all post-hearing briefs have been filed.

ISSUES PRESENTED

In eleven grounds for relief, petitioner raises various issues concerning his alleged intoxication at the time of his confession, the jury instructions submitted during the punishment phase of his trial, the State court's action in sealing certain records and denying expert assistance, and his trial and appellate attorney's assistance in connection with certain intoxication and psychiatric issues.

* * *

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recited the following factual background in its opinion on direct appeal:

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows appellant and the victim had been living together for approximately two months when this offense occurred.

A friend of the victim testified that on the day before the victim's murder the victim told her she intended to ask appellant to move out of the house because the victim believed appellant was stealing from her.

The next day appellant killed the victim in her bedroom by striking her with a dull two-bladed ax approximately sixteen times excluding the defensive wounds on the victim's hands and legs.

The victim probably was asleep in bed when the attack began. At some point during the attack the victim “was either taken off or came off the bed.”

The victim suffered at least seven blows from the ax while she was on the floor. After the attack, appellant left the victim on the floor. The medical examiner testified the victim could have lived anywhere from twenty minutes to “a number of hours” after the initial attack.

After she died, the victim suffered at least one more blow from the ax in a separate episode from the initial attack.

After the initial attack, appellant took the victim's car and some of the victim's personal property. Appellant sold the victim's personal property and used the money to buy crack cocaine.

Over the next couple of days appellant and other admitted crack cocaine users made a couple of trips to the victim's home and took more of her property.

They used the victim's property to buy more crack cocaine. One of these witnesses testified appellant acted like he was “just having a good time”.

After appellant exhausted his supply of money and drugs, he slept for approximately ten or eleven hours. After he awoke, he and another person decided to make another trip to the victim's home in the victim's car to get more of her property.

However, by this time the victim's mother had found the victim's body and had alerted the police who were looking for appellant. The police arrested appellant and another person in the victim's car while, according to this other person, they were on their way to the victims' home.

Later that day, after initially denying any involvement in the offense, appellant confessed to killing the victim and taking her property. In his confession, appellant claimed he and the victim had some type of argument after she accused appellant of “messing around.”

After slapping appellant around, the victim went to bed. Appellant left the house and bought some crack cocaine and a pill he thought was LSD. Appellant ingested the drugs and went back to the house. Appellant retrieved an ax from the closet while the victim was asleep in bed.

Appellant claimed he blacked out but he remembered hitting the victim with the ax. He claimed he hit the victim four or five times with the ax. He claimed that when he realized what he had done he did not know what to do so he sold some of the victim's property and bought more crack cocaine.

On his first trip back to the victim's home, appellant claimed the victim “was still breathing and it looked like she had tried to crawl into the bathroom.” However, appellant left the house with more of the victim's property which appellant sold to buy more crack cocaine.

Appellant claimed he was taking a friend home when the police arrested him. Titsworth, slip op. at 1-2. This Court must accord a presumption of correctness to these state court findings. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e).

ISSUES

Claims related to failure to disclose intoxication evidence

In his first and second grounds for federal habeas corpus relief, petitioner alleges the prosecutors failed to disclose, upon request, favorable evidence in violation of his due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

Petitioner contends he was intoxicated at the time he gave his confession, and in his first ground claims the prosecutors suppressed evidence that petitioner's confession was involuntary because of his intoxication. His second ground complains that prosecutors suppressed a memo in their files of a telephone contact with a mitigation witness.

* * *

CONCLUSION

The undersigned is of the opinion that the conviction and death penalty in this case were not obtained in violation of the United States Constitution. Further, and particularly under the AEDPA deference standard now in place, federal habeas relief is not warranted.

As alluded to previously, the difficulty with this case is whether the offense petitioner committed was murder or capital murder. This Court, however, cannot substitute its judgment for that of the jury's.

RECOMMENDATION

Petitioner has failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a federal right. The state court adjudication on the merits did not result in a decision that was contrary to, or which involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.

The state court adjudication has not been shown to have resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding. Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus should be DENIED.