Judge orders death row inmate released after 16 years behind bars

Wednesday, March 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) -- A man who spent 16 years on death row in the stabbing of his former roommate was ordered freed by a federal judge Wednesday because prosecutors missed a deadline for keeping him behind bars.

However, the judge did not bar prosecutors from retrying Calvin Jerold Burdine, 46.

Last year, U.S. District Judge David Hittner threw out Burdine's conviction because his lawyer slept through long stretches of his 1984 trial. Hittner gave prosecutors 120 days to give Burdine a new trial or set him free.

That time ran out in late January, and on Wednesday, Hittner ordered Burdine released from prison within five days. The judge said the state must adhere to the same rules as defendants.

"A similar procedural error by defense counsel in a capital case could result in a defendant's execution," Hittner said.

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn's office filed an immediate appeal to keep Burdine in prison.

Burdine was convicted of the 1983 slaying of W.T. Wise, 50, a former housemate. Burdine told police that he had argued with Wise and moved out of their trailer because Wise wanted him to work as a prostitute.

Evidence showed Burdine and an accomplice, Douglas McCreight, were involved in the burglary in which Wise was stabbed. McCreight served eight years in prison for a lesser crime before he was paroled.

Burdine said in an interview last month that if released he could make his home nearby at Lake Livingston or go to Oklahoma. "The state of Texas don't have to worry about Calvin Burdine," he said. "We've got 80 acres in Oklahoma and I can get out there and fish and relax -- out of sight and out of mind. I don't want them to think I'm going to roar down those streets and in those bars. I'm not like that anymore."