The crazy part was that Dell Nelson wasn’t appealing on the basis of Tip’s aforementioned behavior, which occurred when the jury was considering whether or not Dell Nelson was guilty of murder. Rather, Nelson took issue with Evans’s performance during the sentencing phase, namely when the jury was deciding life or death. The Tipper didn’t call one witness to testify as to why Nelson’s life should be spared. Not one of his sisters, nor his grandmother, all of whom clearly adored Nelson, a young guy who’d been supporting the family since he was barely out of grade school. The jury didn’t hear about how Nelson often babysat for his neighbors’ kids, put food on anyone’s table who asked for it, and personally delivered groceries to the elderly folks in his public housing development.

The most disturbing of all was Tip Evans’s treatment of Kyle Cooper, a fellow Arch Homes resident–drug-dealer–thug. Kool Kyle, as he was known in the neighborhood, should have been Nelson’s ticket out of the electric chair. Thanks to the Tipper, Kyle served as the prosecution’s star witness. One snippet from the trial transcript:

District Attorney: “So, Mr. Cooper, you mentioned that Dell Nelson was a big-time drug dealer, pushing speed, heroin, crack, preying on mere children, right?”

Kyle Cooper: “Ya. Ya. Man, the guy was whack. Once I even saw him peddling some shit on a little girl, she couldn’t have been older than five.”

District Attorney: “I have no further questions, Your Honor.”

Judge Jackson: “Mr. Evans, you may approach the bench for cross-examination. Er, um, Mr. Evans? Can someone please wake up Mr. Evans.”

Upon awakening, Evans was so disoriented, he simply said, “I rest my case.” Resting, obviously, but where was his case? A case that could have—indeed, should have—involved questioning Kool Kyle about how he’d made repeated threats against Nelson, proclaiming their mutual neighborhood as his turf, not Dell’s. How he, and not Dell Nelson, had been arrested two years earlier for selling cocaine to a group of ninth-graders. And when Kyle spent six months in the slammer, how Dell Nelson cared for Kyle’s pregnant girlfriend, sending her money and food. The jurors never heard any of this testimony, all of which would have at once discredited Kool Kyle’s prior testimony and educated the jury as to Dell’s good qualities. Instead, the Tipper rested his case. And the jury recommended death.