High court won’t review death term in Tison case

High court won’t review death term in Tison case Appeals not exhausted for Randy Greenawalt The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review the conviction and death sentence of Randy Greenawalt in the case of a Yuma family shotgunned to death during a gang rampage in 1978. Justice Sandra O’Connor of Phoenix, on her first day as an associat,e justice of the Supreme Court, joined the 7-2 majority that declined to review the case. Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall dissented. Greenawalt’s attorney, Robert C. Brown of Casa Grande, said the appeal process is not over. Greenawalt still can take his appeal to the high court by appealing through lower federal courts. Brown said he had not talked with Greenawalt but assumed the appeal would be pursued. Greenawalt and Ricky and Raymond Tison were sentenced to death in 1979 for the murders of Marine Sgt. John F. Lyons; his wife, Donnelda; his 22-month-old son Christopher; and his niece, Teresa Jo Marie Tyson of Las Vegas, Nev. The four were killed aft.er Raymond, Ricky and their brother, Donald, helped their father, Gary, and Greenawalt escape from Arizona State Prison on July 30, 1978. The Tison gang committed the murders north of Yuma to obtain the Lyons’ car after the gang’s car had been disabled. Donald Tison was killed in a shootout near Casa Grande on Aug. 11, 1978. His father died of exposure in the desert while trying to elude pursuers. Brown said Greenawalt’s appeal was based on more than 20 legal questions including