Vail wants conviction tossed

Published 7:00 pm Thursday, January 9, 2020

Felix Vail has filed an appeal for post-conviction relief, asking once again to have his conviction in the second-degree murder of his wife, Mary Horton Vail, overturned.

Judge Robert Wyatt has ordered the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s office to have an answer to Vail’s application by Jan. 24.

The 3rd circuit Court of Appeal denied Vail’s appeal in 2017 and the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his appeal in 2018.

Vail, 80, was convicted on Aug. 12, 2016, of killing his wife after jurors deliberated for less than an hour.

Mary Horton Vail’s body was pulled from the Calcasieu River on Oct. 30, 1962. She was 22.

Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist, testified she had been knocked unconscious and strangled with a scarf found around her neck. He said 4 inches of the scarf in her mouth was enough to suffocate her.

Calcasieu Parish Coroner Dr. Terry Welke testified he did not believe Mary Vail died from drowning and that it was his opinion she was dead before she went into the water.

While Welke could not state what caused her death, he did testify he was 100 percent certain the manner of death was homicide.

In this appeal, which is lengthy, Vail raised multiple claims.

One claim is Vail alleged he was denied his constitutional rights to appellate review and to a complete transcript of court proceedings.

Another claim was whether “the Assistant District Attorney had committed prosecutorial misconduct during the closing arguments of the proceedings at trial, denying Vail a fair and impartial trial.”

Additional claims included whether Vail was denied effective assistance of counsel during the course of jury selection, and “whether the district attorney used peremptory strikes in a discriminatory manner based on race and gender.”

Vail also alleged his rights were violated “when his right to testify was taken away from him.”

It was mentioned several times in the appeal that Vail was “relying on his memory” and not court documents in the assertions but according to the appeal, “When Mr. Vail informed his attorney that he felt he needed to testify in his own behalf, defense counsel was enraged and informed him that, ‘If you testify, I will be visiting you in Angola next week.'”

Vail made the claim in the appeal that he believed the trial court should reverse his conviction and sentence and order a new trial.

“Or in the alternative, the court should order that Mr. Vail be provided the trial record whereby he can more fully substantiate his claims,” the appeal said.Felix Vail, 80, was convicted on Aug. 12, 2016, of killing his wife after jurors deliberated for less than an hour.

Rick Hickman