Video about half way down....I will warn you know a police officer does die off camera.
Ignatius Piazza: Stop Screaming, Start Shooting…
Here is the story.....
Deputy Kyle Dinkheller, Laurens County, GA, was minutes from being off duty when he encountered a speeding pickup truck going 98 mph. The deputy was an ICE (Interstate Criminal Enforcement) officer that dealt with traffic infractions, speeding and the occasional drug bust. This was a low risk or unknown risk stop for speeding. He radioed in the speeding infraction, made a U-turn in the median and pursued the vehicle. The driver, Andrew Brannan, stopped his vehicle, exited and started a crazy, dancing jig in the middle of the road while swearing at the officer and shouting ‘I’m a god-damned Vietnam vet.” At first, he ignored Dinkheller’s commands to step towards the deputy, which always began with `Sir’.
When he finally complied, he attacked the deputy and a scuffle ensued. The deputy implemented the use of his asp and ordered Brannan to `get back’. This procedure was repeated, but after what appeared to be a second scuffle, the suspect returned to his vehicle and retrieved a M-I Carbine from under the seat. The first shots were fired nearly 50 seconds after Brannan returned to his vehicle despite the deputy’s commands. Brannan ignored the repeated commands to put the gun down and Deputy Dinkheller apparently fired the first shot.
Brannan, a Vietnam veteran, advanced firing on the deputy. Dinkheller returned fire, but succeeded only in breaking a window in the driver’s side of the pickup and wounding Brannan in the stomach. Using `suppressive fire’, Brannan systematically, methodically shot Dinkheller in the arms, legs, exposed areas that would not be covered had Dinkheller been wearing a bulletproof vest, slowly executing him. Reloading his weapon Brannan continued firing with the final death shot to Dinkheller’s right eye.
Brannan was convicted and sentenced to death, here is that part of the story:
Brannan's Appeals Process
Brannan was scheduled for execution in May of 2003, but he was granted a stay of execution as he began his way through the appeals process. In criminal convictions, a direct appeal is immediately filed with the State Supreme Court, and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court. In Brannan's case, the State Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence; likewise the U.S. Supreme Court in essence affirmed the conviction by refusing to review the case.
Brannan's next standard appeal was to file the writ of habeas corpus, which sent the case back to the Georgia Supreme Court justices.
In petitioning for a habeas corpus, a defendant must prove that the court that ordered his imprisonment made a legal or factual error. Brannan's writ stated that he had been diagnosed by Veteran's Administration hospitals in Decatur and Augusta as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and bipolar disorder. It further questioned whether Brannan was properly medicated at the time he killed Dinkheller.
In March, Superior Court Judge Richard C. Sutton of Butts County granted Brannan's petition, saying "this Court finds ineffective assistance of counsel" by Brannan's defense attorney during the trial in January 2000. Brannan was represented during his trial by Richard Taylor and Larry Duttweiler.
In his ruling, Sutton refers to "factual history" stating that Taylor was designated as lead counsel but had never represented a client in a death penalty proceeding.
Sutton stated in his ruling that Brannan's defense attorneys "completely undermined" his defense by not adequately exploring the documented history of Brannan's mental illness. The judge stated that Brannan's attorneys limited his defense strategy to "guilty but mentally ill" which Sutton said left Brannan's bizarre actions on the video unexplained.
Originally Posted by SuperSport
