Texas Moratorium Network

If Teresa Hawthorne Must Recuse Herself From Death Penalty Case, Then Sharon Keller Must Recuse Herself From All Cases

2012-01-03T23:10:00.003-06:00

Judge Teresa Hawthorne

In Texas it is apparently ok for a Republican judge to say that they are "pro prosecution", as Judge Sharon Keller has done, and not have to recuse herself from any cases, but if a Democratic judge expresses any doubts about the constitutionality of the death penalty, then she must recuse herself. If Judge Teresa Hawthorne must recuse herself from the current death penalty case because of "bias", then Judge Sharon Keller should recuse herself from all cases before her court.

Prosecutors, with the help of a judge appointed by Rick Perry, may have been successful today in forcing Judge Hawthorne to recuse herself (just as other prosecutors were successful in shutting down the 2010 hearing in Judge Charlie Baird's court on the Todd Willingham case), but as we said in an earlier post "these type of rulings are likely to continue as more and more judges reach the same conclusion. One day, we expect it will be the U.S. Supreme Court that will rule the death penalty unconstitutional, but until then we are happy to see lower level courts build momentum towards the day when the death penalty will be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court."

From the Dallas Observer:

Teresa Hawthorne, the Dallas County judge who ruled that the state's death penalty statute was unconstitutional, must recuse herself from a capital murder case, a judge ruled today.

and

Assistant District Attorney David Alex argued that Hawthorne's bias against the death penalty was clear from statements she made during a December 19 pre-trial hearing. He quoted, in bits and pieces, things the judge said in open court that day, such as: "I remember when women and blacks could not vote. I remember when so-called witches were burned. I remember when gays had to hide to be in the military." Hawthorne said then she wasn't trying to engage in judicial activism; she insisted last month that she was not trying to "buck the system or stir the waters." Alex vehemently disagreed.

"The judge analogized the death penalty to some very heinous times in our American history," Alex told the court. It's obvious, he said, that she has "very strong emotional, personal feelings against the death penalty. ... But none of these things have anything to do with legal precedent."

Judge Sharon Keller

Executions in U.S. by State Since 1930 and 1977 (Texas number one in both time periods)

2011-12-31T14:18:00.000-06:00

The Bureau of Justice Statistics issued a report on December 11, 2011 that contained a table on page 15 with all executions by state since 1930 and since 1977. Texas is by far the number one execution state in both time periods according to the BJS table, with 761 executions since 1930 and 477 since 1977. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a list that goes back to 1924 and says that a total of 361 people were executed in Texas from 1924 to 1964. There was then an 18 year moratorium on executions in Texas, and add the 477 in the modern era for a grand total of 838 executions in Texas since 1924.

Texas Moratorium Network revised the BJS table to include executions in 2011 and also added executions in Hawaii and Alaska that occurred after 1930, which were left out of the BJS table. Neither Alaska or Hawaii conducted any executions since becoming states in 1959. In the table below, a handful of states had zero executions since 1930, but there were executions in various numbers in all those states before 1930. The total number of all executions in the U.S. since 1930 is 5,104 . The total since 1977 is 1277. The table below does not include all the many executions in states prior to 1930. If you count all known executions from the year 1685 to the present, Virginia is the number one state with 1,386 followed by Texas with 1,232. You can see a list of executions since 1685 here, to which you have to add the ones in the modern era.

Note: Statistics on executions under civil authority have been collected by the federal government annually since since 1930. These data exclude 160 executions carried out by military authorities between 1930 and 1961.

Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics Program and Texas Moratorium Network

State Since 1930 Since 1977

Texas	761	477
Georgia	414	52
New York	329	0
North Carolina	306	43
California	305	13
Florida	239	71
Ohio	213	46
South Carolina	204	43
Virginia	200	109
Alabama	184	55
Mississippi	167	15
Louisiana	161	28
Pennsylvania	155	3
Oklahoma	154	96
Arkansas	145	27
Missouri	129	68
Kentucky	106	3
Illinois	102	12
Tennessee	99	6
New Jersey	74	0
Maryland	73	5
Arizona	62	28
Indiana	61	20
Washington	52	5
Colorado	48	1
Nevada	41	12
District of Columbia	40	0
West Virginia	40	0
Federal system	36	3
Massachusetts	27	0
Delaware	26	15
Connecticut	22	1
Oregon	21	2
Utah	20	7
Iowa	18	0
Kansas	15	0
Montana	9	3
New Mexico	9	1
Wyoming	8	1
Nebraska	7	3
Idaho	4	2
Vermont	4	0
South Dakota	2	1
New Hampshire	1	0
Alaska	3	0
Hawaii	8	0
Maine	0	0
Michigan	0	0
North Dakota	0	0
Wisconsin	0	0
Rhode Island	0	0
Minnesota	0	0
Totals	5104	1277

Another Texas Judge Rules Texas Death Penalty Unconstitutional

2011-12-27T01:48:00.004-06:00

Another judge in Texas has ruled that the Texas death penalty is unconstitutional. This is the second time in less than two years that a judge in Texas has made such a ruling. In 2010, Judge Kevin Fine ruled the Texas death penalty was unconstitutional and then later had to withdraw the ruling. There will be a hearing in January 2012 on the ruling by Judge Teresa Hawthorne in Dallas. Texas Moratorium Network is making tentative plans to be at the hearing, just as we attended the hearing in Houston in December 2010. These type of rulings are likely to continue as more and more judges reach the same conclusion. One day, we expect it will be the U.S. Supreme Court that will rule the death penalty unconstitutional, but until then we are happy to see lower level courts build momentum towards the day when the death penalty will be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

If you live in the Dallas area, we hope you will come to the hearing. We will post the date as soon as we find out.

From the Dallas Morning News:

A state district judge in Dallas County has ruled that a Texas death penalty statute is unconstitutional because it allows prosecutors to arbitrarily seek capital punishment.

Prosecutors are appealing Judge Teresa Hawthorne’s decision and have filed a motion to recuse her from Roderick Harris’ capital murder case.

Hawthorne acknowledged when making her ruling last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and other courts have “consistently rejected” the reasons that she found the statute unconstitutional, according to a transcript of the hearing. But she said changes in the law can still be made.

Hawthorne, who could not be reached for comment later, said she refused to be a “rubber-stamp judge.” The Democrat took office in January and is a former public defender.

“My decision is not an act of unabashed judicial activism,” she said Monday from the bench. “I remember when women and blacks could not vote. I remember when so-called witches were burned. I remember when gays had to hide to be in the military. My decision is not to buck the system or stir the waters.”

and

Hawthorne ruled that she believed:
The Legislature failed to define terms like “continuing threat” and “moral blameworthiness” for jurors deciding between a life or death sentence.

The Legislature’s definition of mitigating evidence is vague.

State law prevents jurors from knowing that one vote for life can keep a defendant from receiving a death sentence.
The law allowing a judge to enter into evidence “any matter that the court deems relevant to sentence” means that each judge hearing a case has the power to influence a sentence.

“The law should not be arbitrary or capricious,” Hawthorne said in court.

The Dallas County district attorney’s office and special prosecutor Kevin Brooks declined to comment about the ruling or the recusal motion.

Brooks was appointed special prosecutor in the case because he had already been working on the case when he left the DA’s office earlier this year.

Brad Lollar, one of Harris’ defense attorneys, said he believed that the appellate court would be interested in issues surrounding the lack of definitions and the fact that jurors consider whether a defendant would continue to be a threat based on his release into society.

“That’s not going to happen” after sentencing in a capital murder case, Lollar said. “He’ll either get life without parole or death.”

A Harris County judge made a similar ruling on the constitutionality of the death penalty in March 2010. State District Judge Kevin Fine eventually withdrew his ruling and refused to recuse himself from the case.

That case ended in a plea agreement earlier this year when John Edward Green Jr. pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder. He fatally shot a Houston woman and wounded her sister in a June 2008 robbery.

The chance that a higher court will agree with Hawthorne is “a long shot,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. But he said changes in an appeals court’s makeup can produce different rulings on the same issues.

“That’s sometimes how laws get changed,” Dieter said. “What’s been rejected before could be seen differently.”
Lollar pointed to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy as an example of a jurist changing his opinion on death penalty issues. Lollar said that within a 10-year span, Kennedy changed his mind on whether the mentally retarded and those who are 17 at the time of the crime could be executed for capital murder. Executions of the mentally retarded and juveniles are no longer allowed in the United States.

“Unless you give the court the opportunity to reconsider, how do you change the law?” Lollar said.

A hearing on the recusal motion is scheduled for January before another judge. Testimony in Harris’ trial is expected to begin in May after a months-long process of jury selection.

Charlie Baird Files For Travis County District Attorney

2011-12-19T23:04:00.001-06:00

AUSTIN—Telling gathered supporters it was time for real reform in the District Attorney's Office, Charlie Baird formally filed for a place on the Democratic Primary ballot Monday afternoon at Travis County Democratic Party Headquarters.

Baird, a former Travis County district court judge and judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, said his campaign was about ideas and making the criminal justice system in Travis County a model for the rest of the state and the nation. Baird filed petitions with a total of 893 signatures of Travis County voters to qualify for the ballot.

"I am running for District Attorney because I believe we have a moral obligation to help people lead a good and productive life and that, if we do that, we are better as a society--we are better people. That's what I want to do as your District Attorney. It's time to take people that don't need to be in the criminal justice system and get them help to break the cycle of criminality and support their children and families, and live the kind of life that we all want to live," Baird said.

"People in our community are continually being ground up by the criminal justice system. It's time to stop that and focus on rehabilitation and addressing the root causes of crime so we can have a safer and more productive society. This is where my passion is. This is where my heart is," he continued.

"We know that we can do a better job with the criminal justice system in Travis County than we're doing now. We are the most progressive county in Texas, and we should to be the model not just for our state but for the nation when it comes to how to treat people in the criminal justice system and still provide for public safety," he continued.

A longtime progressive and jurist who has gained national attention for his work on such cases as that of the late Tim Cole, Baird is campaigning on issues including reforming the Felony Diversion Program, increasing rehabilitative opportunities, and operating the DA's office 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.

Video of Exoneree Juan Melendez at 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty

2011-12-14T01:00:00.002-06:00

Juan Melendez spent seventeen years,eight months and one day on Florida's death row for a crime he did not commit. His story highlights the many problems that plague the death penalty system, including its high risk and inevitability of being imposed on the innocent,its unfair application on the basis of race and ethnicity and its almost exclusive imposition on our most vulnerable members of society—the poor.

12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty
Austin, Texas
October 22, 2011
www.marchforabolition.org

Clarence Darrow: "A Plea for Mercy" delivered September 1924

2011-12-12T23:52:00.002-06:00

Clarence Darrow delivered "A Plea for Mercy" at the Sept 1924 trial of Nathan Leopold and Walter Loeb, who were two Jewish wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment. They were motivated to murder Franks by their desire to commit a perfect crime. Once apprehended, Leopold and Loeb retained Clarence Darrow as counsel for the defense. Darrow’s summation in their trial is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment and retributive, as opposed to rehabilitative, penal systems. Darrow succeeded. The judge sentenced Leopold and Loeb each to life imprisonment (for the murder) plus 99 years each (for the kidnapping). Loeb was murdered while in prison by another inmate. In 1958, after 33 years in prison, Leopold was released on parole. He died in 1971.

"A Plea for Mercy"

Now, your Honor, I have spoken about the war. I believed in it. I don’t know whether I was crazy or not. Sometimes I think perhaps I was. I approved of it; I joined in the general cry of madness and despair. I urged men to fight. I was safe because I was too old to go. I was like the rest. What did they do? Right or wrong, justifiable or unjustifiable -- which I need not discuss today -- it changed the world. For four long years the civilized world was engaged in killing men. Christian against Christian, barbarian uniting with Christians to kill Christians; anything to kill. It was taught in every school, aye in the Sunday schools. The little children played at war. The toddling children on the street. Do you suppose this world has ever been the same since? How long, your Honor, will it take for the world to get back the humane emotions that were slowly growing before the war? How long will it take the calloused hearts of men before the scars of hatred and cruelty shall be removed?

We read of killing one hundred thousand men in a day. We read about it and we rejoiced in it -- if it was the other fellows who were killed. We were fed on flesh and drank blood. Even down to the prattling babe. I need not tell you how many upright, honorable young boys have come into this court charged with murder, some saved and some sent to their death, boys who fought in this war and learned to place a cheap value on human life. You know it and I know it. These boys were brought up in it. The tales of death were in their homes, their playgrounds, their schools; they were in the newspapers that they read; it was a part of the common frenzy -- what was a life? It was nothing. It was the least sacred thing in existence and these boys were trained to this cruelty.

It will take fifty years to wipe it out of the human heart, if ever. I know this, that after the Civil War in 1865, crimes of this sort increased, marvelously. No one needs to tell me that crime has no cause. It has as definite a cause as any other disease, and I know that out of the hatred and bitterness of the Civil War crime increased as America had never seen before. I know that Europe is going through the same experience today; I know it has followed every war; and I know it has influenced these boys so that life was not the same to them as it would have been if the world had not made red with blood. I protest against the crimes and mistakes of society being visited upon them. All of us have a share in it. I have mine. I cannot tell and I shall never know how many words of mine might have given birth to cruelty in place of love and kindness and charity.

Your Honor knows that in this very court crimes of violence have increased growing out of the war. Not necessarily by those who fought but by those that learned that blood was cheap, and human life was cheap, and if the State could take it lightly why not the boy? There are causes for this terrible crime. There are causes as I have said for everything that happens in the world. War is a part of it; education is a part of it; birth is a part of it; money is a part of it -- all these conspired to compass the destruction of these two poor boys.

Has the court any right to consider anything but these two boys? The State says that your Honor has a right to consider the welfare of the community, as you have. If the welfare of the community would be benefited by taking these lives, well and good. I think it would work evil that no one could measure. Has your Honor a right to consider the families of these defendants? I have been sorry, and I am sorry for the bereavement of Mr. And Mrs. Frank, for those broken ties that cannot be healed. All I can hope and wish is that some good may come from it all. But as compared with the families of Leopold and Loeb, the Franks are to be envied -- and everyone knows it.

I do not know how much salvage there is in these two boys. I hate to say it in their presence, but what is there to look forward to? I do not know but what your Honor would be merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful if you tied a rope around their necks and let them die; merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful to those who would be left behind. To spend the balance of their days in prison is mighty little to look forward to, if anything. Is it anything? They may have the hope that as the years roll around they might be released. I do not know. I do not know. I will be honest with this court as I have tried to be from the beginning. I know that these boys are not fit to be at large. I believe they will not be until they pass through the next stage of life, at forty-five or fifty. Whether they will then, I cannot tell. I am sure of this; that I will not be here to help them. So far as I am concerned, it is over.

I would not tell this court that I do not hope that some time, when life and age have changed their bodies, as they do, and have changed their emotions, as they do -- that they may once more return to life. I would be the last person on earth to close the door of hope to any human being that lives, and least of all to my clients. But what have they to look forward to? Nothing. And I think here of the stanza of Housman:

Now hollow fires burn out to black,

And lights are fluttering low:

Square your shoulders, lift your pack

And leave your friends and go.

O never fear, lads, naught’s to dread,

Look not left nor right:

In all the endless road you tread

There’s nothing but the night.

I care not, your Honor, whether the march begins at the gallows or when the gates of Joilet close upon them, there is nothing but the night, and that is little for any human being to expect.

But there are others to consider. Here are these two families, who have led honest lives, who will bear the name that they bear, and future generations must carry it on.

Here is Leopold’s father -- and this boy was the pride of his life. He watched him, he cared for him, he worked for him; the boy was brilliant and accomplished, he educated him, and he thought that fame and position awaited him, as it should have awaited. It is a hard thing for a father to see his life’s hopes crumble into dust.

Should he be considered? Should his brothers be considered? Will it do society any good or make your life safer, or any human being’s life safer, if it should be handed down from generation to generation, that this boy, their kin, died upon the scaffold?

And Loeb’s the same. Here are the faithful uncle and brother, who have watched here day by day, while Dickie’s father and his mother are too ill to stand this terrific strain, and shall be waiting for a message which means more to them than it can mean to you or me. Shall these be taken into account in this general bereavement?

Have they any rights? Is there any reason, your Honor, why their proud names and all the future generations that bear them shall have this bar sinister written across them? How many boys and girls, how many unborn children will feel it? It is bad enough as it is, God knows. It is bad enough, however it is. But it’s not yet death on the scaffold. It’s not that. And I ask your Honor, in addition to all that I have said to save two honorable families from a disgrace that never ends, and which could be of no avail to help any human being that lives.

Now, I must say a word more and then I will leave this with you where I should have left it long ago. None of us are unmindful of the public; courts are not, and juries are not. We placed our fate in the hands of a trained court, thinking that he would be more mindful and considerate than a jury. I cannot say how people feel. I have stood here for three months as one might stand at the ocean trying to sweep back the tide. I hope the seas are subsiding and the wind is falling, and I believe they are, but I wish to make no false pretense to this court. The easy thing and the popular thing to do is to hang my clients. I know it. Men and women who do not think will applaud. The cruel and thoughtless will approve. It will be easy today; but in Chicago, and reaching out over the length and breadth of the land, more and more fathers and mothers, the humane, the kind and the hopeful, who are gaining an understanding and asking questions not only about these poor boys, but about their own -- these will join in no acclaim at the death of my clients.

These would ask that the shedding of blood be stopped, and that the normal feelings of man resume their sway. And as the days and the months and the years go on, they will ask it more and more. But, your Honor, what they shall ask may not count. I know the easy way. I know the future is with me, and what I stand for here; not merely for the lives of these two unfortunate lads, but for all boys and all girls; for all of the young, and as far as possible, for all of the old. I am pleading for life, understanding, charity, kindness, and the infinite mercy that considers all. I am pleading that we overcome cruelty with kindness and hatred with love. I know the future is on my side. Your Honor stands between the past and the future. You may hang these boys; you may hang them by the neck until they are dead. But in doing it you will turn your face toward the past. In doing it you are making it harder for every other boy who in ignorance and darkness must grope his way through the mazes which only childhood knows. In doing it you will make it harder for unborn children. You may save them and make it easier for every child that sometime may stand where these boys stand. You will make it easier for every human being with an aspiration and a vision and a hope and a fate. I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.

I feel that I should apologize for the length of time I have taken. This case may not be as important as I think it is, and I am sure I do not need to tell this court, or to tell my friends that I would fight just as hard for the poor as for the rich. If I should succeed, my greatest reward and my greatest hope will be that for the countless unfortunates who must tread the same road in blind childhood that these poor boys have trod -- that I have done something to help human understanding, to temper justice with mercy, to overcome hate with love.

I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all:

So I be written in the Book of Love,

I do not care about that Book above.

Erase my name or write it as you will,

So I be written in the Book of Love.

Sister of Troy Davis, Martina Correia Dies; She Fought to Prove His Innocence and Save Him From Execution

2011-12-02T00:56:00.000-06:00

From an email from Marlene Martin of CEDP:

Terribly sad news....

I just learned a few moments ago that Martina Correia, the courageous sister of Troy Davis died today. As many of you know she was fighting breast cancer and had become very ill and weak in the last few months.

For all of you that were lucky enough to meet Martina, they met someone with incredible conviction and determination.

In one of my last conversations with Martina she told me someone in France had emailed her to say they were sorry that despite all of their efforts and protests for Troy, they had failed. Martina said, “I want people to know that we didn’t fail. As long as we keep hammering away at this thing, as long as we refuse to give up, we haven’t failed. We’ll be doing what Troy would have wanted us to do. Our efforts made an impact and we’ll continue to make an impact.”

That is always how she was. She refused to be defeated. She always looked to the positive, she always looked to ways we could mobilize to win.

I feel so proud and honored to have fought alongside Martina and Troy’s family.
And I know many, many of you feel the same way.

This news came to me in a phone call from Mark Clements, someone who spent 28 years wrongfully incarcerated in IL, he said, “We will miss her, she was a warrior in this fight. To the best of our ability we must continue this fight she started for Troy and for others.”

Her life was consumed by the fight to win justice for her brother and to raise the banner for abolition of the death penalty.
She was an inspiration to us all.

Now it will be up to us all to fight on in her memory and in Troys memory -- and to not give up.

As we learn more details on services and arrangements, we will post them on the list serve and on our website.

Marlene
Campaign to End the Death Penalty

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

She stood by her brother, who maintained his innocence in the death of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. MacPhail was moonlighting on a security detail when he was shot three times.

After Davis' trial, a number of key witnesses recanted their testimony. Davis' case was known around the world and fueled the debate over eyewitness testimony.

Correia fought to clear her brother's name.

"She was the No. 1 messenger and was the one that really inspired people to get involved and work for him," Laura Moye, who heads Amnesty International's campaign to abolish the death penalty, told the Associated Press. "She is the person who really sparked the global campaign for Troy Davis."

Media witnesses reported that Davis, 42, addressed the MacPhail family from the gurney before his Sept. 21 execution and again proclaimed his innocence. He also asked his friends and supporters to keep searching for the truth.

After the execution, his sister told the AP, "We're going to keep moving forward. That's what my brother would have wanted us to do, not be angry and wallow and those kinds of things."

Correia is survived by her 17-year-old son, Antone De'Juan Davis Correia; brother Lester Davis; and sisters Kimberly and Ebony Davis, the Savannah Morning News said.

This year, the Davis family also lost their mother, Virginia Davis, who died in April, the Associated Press reported.

Charlie Baird Campaign Event in Houston for Travis County District Attorney

2011-11-29T21:51:00.000-06:00

Charlie Baird November 28, 2011 (Photo by Scott Cobb)

If you live in Houston, Charlie Baird invites you to an event he is having in Houston. If Charlie wins in Austin, he will be a force for reform and innovation that could also have an effect outside Travis County.

Message from Charlie Baird:

"I wanted to send my facebook friends this quick reminder about my campaign for Travis County District Attorney in HOUSTON on Thursday, 12/1, at Patronella's Restaurant, 813 Jackson Hill. You can get directions by calling 713-863-8223 or from the website at http://www.patrenellas.net/main/directions.php

The event, which is being hosted by Robert Scardino, begins at 4:30. I am looking forward to seeing you, Racehorse, Dick DeGeurin, Dan Cogdell, Craig Washington and many other long-time friends.

This race is a great opportunity to bring meaningful change and reform to the criminal justice system, and I could really use your support as I work to replace an entrenched incumbent.

Please R.S.V.P. to: betsyscardino@scardinofazel.com for us to have an approximate head count.

If you cannot attend but wish to make a contribution, please go to my campaign website - charliebaird.com."

Thanks, Charlie

Moratorium on Executions in Oregon; Could Texas Be Next in 2013?

2011-11-25T09:14:00.000-06:00

The moratorium movement continues to win successes. The governor of Oregon has declared a moratorium on executions. If more people would push for a moratorium here in Texas, we could stop executions much faster than by just pushing for abolition, which is an inept strategy when pursued as the only option for stopping executions.

We could have a moratorium on executions in Texas if more people would support the bill filed each legislative session by Rep Harold Dutton of Houston that would enact a moratorium. Instead there are people and groups in Texas who oppose the death penalty, but do not support a moratorium. The misguided abolition-only strategy is allowing for executions to continue in Texas longer than they otherwise would and it allowed at least one innocent person to be executed who would be alive if more people supported a moratorium in Texas. We went to the Texas Legislature in 2001 asking for a moratorium. Todd Willingham was executed in 2004.

More about the moratorium in Oregon:

Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon on Tuesday said he would halt the execution of a death row inmate scheduled for next month and that he would allow no more executions in the state during his time in office.

“It is time for Oregon to consider a different approach,” Governor Kitzhaber, a Democrat elected last fall, said in a news conference in Salem on Tuesday afternoon. “I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor.”

The Texas Legislature convenes again in January 2013 and we will again be pushing for a moratorium on executions in Texas. We hope more people will join us and help us achieve a stop to executions in Texas.

2011 Death Penalty Report: Fewest Texas Executions in 15 Years

2011-11-23T00:06:00.003-06:00

Texas executed 13 people this year, which is the lowest number in 15 years since 1996. The highest number of executions was 40 in 2000.

8 people were sentenced to death in 2011 in Texas. Only 6 of the 254 counties in Texas sent anyone to death row in 2011. Harris County sent three people. Travis County, often considered the most progressive county in Texas, once again sent another person to death row this year, just like last year and the year before. All 3 of Travis County's recent death sentences have come while Rosemary Lehmberg has been District Attorney.

The number of new death sentences has declined over the last several years in large part because people who serve on juries are increasingly choosing life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty, because members of juries have read about so many mistakes in the system when innocent people have been convicted only to be exonerated years later.

CEDP's Annual Conference in Austin This Weekend November 11-13

2011-11-09T23:30:00.003-06:00

Hank Skinner's wife Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner will be one of the speakers this weekend at the national conference of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, which is being held for the first time in Austin, Texas.

Attend the conference and come hear Sandrine talk about Hank's case. Also speaking will be Liz Gilbert, the friend of Todd Willingham who was instrumental in finding a fire expert to reexamine the evidence in his case.

The Prison System is the New Jim Crow

The CEDP"s 11th Annual Convention

November 11-13

At Ventana Del Soul

1834 East Oltorf, Austin, Texas

Register at: http://nodeathpenalty.org/2011-national-convention-registration

This November, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is headed straight to the belly of the beast—Texas—for a weekend of struggle and organizing!

The murder of Troy Davis by the state of Georgia on September 21 horrified millions of people the world over—and has sparked a renewed national discussion of the death penalty in the United States. We will spend the weekend sharing our stories and experiences, working to build our forces and strategizing the next steps forward for our movement and our organization.

The renewed national discussion about the death penalty, in the media and among activists, is about innocence and the death penalty – but it is also about the racism in the criminal justice system. It shows the urgent need to strike a final blow to capital punishment and to challenge the whole INjustice system – the system that Michelle Alexander calls the New Jim Crow. As Troy Davis said before his execution:

"There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country."

The CEDP annual national convention will take up questions on how to build a movement that combats racism in the criminal justice system, supports resistance behind bars, aims to end mass incarceration and harsh punishment and makes the death penalty history.

And with Governor Rick Perry running for president, the eyes of the nation are on the Texas death machine and what activists are doing to fight it – we have a chance to shine a spotlight on the death penalty in Texas with this year's convention. Click here to download the full program for the convention.

To download the fill list of speakers, click here.

Featured speakers include former prisoners, family members, activists, lawyers, scholars and others:

Former prisoners: Lawrence Hayes, Jazz Hayden, Mark Clements and Darby Tillis.

Family members: Sandra Reed, Delia Perez Myers, Jeannine Scott, Terri Been, Barbara Lewis, Lawrence Foster Sr, Kenneth Foster Sr., and Sandrine Ageorges Skinner, Troy Davis' sister Martina Correia will address the convention via telecom along with her son DeJaun Correia.

Activists: Scott Cobb, Jesse Muhammad, Jack Bryson, Jessica Escobar and Elizabeth Gilbert and many others.

The convention kicks off with a Friday evening event at the University of Texas, "Southern Injustice: Fighting racism and the death penalty".

Friday, November 11th at 7 PM
Burdine Hall, Room 136, University of Texas at Austin
The panel features

Sandrine Ageorges Skinner (wife of Texas death row prisoner Hank Skinner, scheduled to be killed on November 9th), Jesse Muhammad (Activist and journalist with the Nation of Islam out of Houston) and Sandra Reed (mother of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed.)

Other sessions over the weekend include:

We ARE all Troy Davis: The struggle continues * The Prison System is the New Jim Crow * Prisoner Resistance: From Attica to DRIVE to Pelican Bay * Rick Perry, Cameron Todd Willingham and the scandal of the Texas death penalty * The Texas Law of Parties: What it is and why we need to fight it. * Not in our name: How executions create victims on both sides.

Hank Skinner Receives Stay of Execution from Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

2011-11-07T15:13:00.002-06:00

Here’s the language from the court order:

This is a direct appeal of the trial court’s ruling on a motion for DNA testing filed in the 31st Judicial District Court of Gray County, Cause No. 5216, styled The State of Texas v. Henry Watkins Skinner. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 64.05. Appellant’s execution is stayed pending the resolution of this appeal.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 64, which provides for DNA testing, has undergone several changes since its creation, but those changes have never been reviewed in the particular context of this case. Because the DNA statute has changed, and because some of those changes were because of this case, we find that it would be prudent for this Court to take time to fully review the changes in the statute as they pertain to this case.
Furthermore, in denying the motion for DNA testing, the convicting court has failed to enter determinations under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 64.03. The convicting court shall enter an order containing the relevant Article 64.03 determinations within 15 days of the date of this order. That order shall then be included within a supplemental clerk’s record, which record shall be forwarded to this Court within 30 days of the date of this order.
IT IS SO ORDERED THIS THE 7th DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2011.

Over 130,000 Ask Governor Perry to Stop Hank Skinner's Execution and Demand DNA Testing

2011-11-06T21:50:00.002-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 6, 2011

CONTACT: Justice4Hank, Gilles Denizot justice4hank@gmail.com

OVER 130,000 ASK GOVERNOR PERRY TO STOP HANK SKINNER'S EXECUTION
AND DEMAND DNA TESTING.

Hank Skinner, a man on death row in Texas since 1995 who has consistently maintained his innocence, is set to be executed on November 9 despite untested key evidence in his case.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – In less than two days, more than 130,000 people called on Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry to stay the execution and test the evidence in the murder case of Hank Skinner, who is set to be executed on November 9.

On November 4, Justice4Hank, a coalition of family and supporters of Skinner, delivered 16,000 signatures (more than half of which stemming from Texans voters) to Gray County D.A. Lynn Switzer, urging her to reconsider her position in this case and to grant Mr. Skinner the DNA testing he has been seeking for a decade. There has been no reaction from Ms. Switzer's office.

In a declaration under oath, filed on July 21, 2011, Gray County D.A. Lynn Switzer stated:

"...At least some of the evidence that Skinner seeks for testing still exists and is in my custody, such as Twila Busby's vaginal swabs and fingernail clippings. That evidence is either at GeneScreen or in the evidence locker at the Gray County Sheriff's Department. I have not sought expert opinion on that question..."

Ms. Switzer clearly confirms that the chain of custody she is responsible for has not been maintained and she also admits to be in possession of only two pieces of evidence. As for the rest of the evidence, she does not know where it is located or whether it still exists.

Less than 7 days later, on July 27, 2011, the sentencing judge, Judge Emmert, signed a new death warrant for November 9, 2011, although the courts had to be fully aware that Mr. Skinner's attorneys would file a new DNA motion as soon SB 122 became applicable.

On November 2, without any explanation, Judge Emmert denied the new motion for DNA testing. This decision is currently on appeal with the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin.

Immediately after, more than 85,000 added their names on a new petition asking Governor Perry to withdraw the execution warrant and to grant DNA testing to Mr. Skinner.

In May 2011, the Texas legislators approved new standards for crime labs, compensation for the exonerated and revised statutes for post-conviction DNA. Gov. Perry signed those bills into law to improve and scrutinize a criminal justice system in need of reform. Considering that DNA testing has exonerated 275 prisoners in the United-States since 1989, including 43 in Texas, the overwhelming vote, both in the House and the Senate, in favor of the revised post-conviction DNA statute certainly was a welcome addition to the ongoing reforms Gov. Perry is promoting.

Governor Perry signed SB 122 into law on June 17, 2011. This bill is intended to ensure that if DNA evidence is available to prove someone's innocence, it can and will be tested. This revised post-conviction DNA law was authored and sponsored by legislators who strongly supported the bill for cases like Hank Skinner's who is set for execution on November 9, 2011. Senator Ellis, who authored the bill, stated in an interview this week that he does not understand how the court could continue to deny Mr. Skinner’s request, which he said his recent legislation would allow.

Gov. Perry, who has presided over 237 executions since taking office in 2001, must ensure that the criminal justice reforms he supports be implemented. In this respect, 17 former and current Texas elected officials as well as 27 exonerees have sent letters to Governor Perry to express their serious concerns about the lack of justice in Mr. Skinner's case. While Rick Perry campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination, Justice4Hank urges him to do the right thing for justice and for the truth in Texas, before it is too late.

Live signature totals from Justice4Hank’s campaign: http://chn.ge/HankSkinner

Timeline:

All legal documents quoted below are available in the "Legal Documents" section of the website at http://www.hankskinner.org

March 7, 2011 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Mr. Skinner's favor by 6 votes to 3.
April 4, 2011 - The U.S. Supreme Court lifts the stay and remands the case to the lower court.
May 20, 2011 - The Texas House approves SB 122, legislation by Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) to strengthen Texas' post-conviction DNA testing law.
June 2, 2011 - Gray County D.A. Lynn Switzer, the defendant in the civil lawsuit, files a motion for summary judgment as well as a brief in support of her motion.
June 17, 2011 - Governor Perry signs SB 122 into law.
July 21, 2011 - Gray County D.A. Lynn Switzer files a declaration under oath.
July 27, 2011 - Sentencing Judge Emmert issues a new death warrant for a November 9 execution.
September 1, 2011 - SB 122 becomes effective.
September 2, 2011 - Hank Skinner's attorneys file a motion for DNA testing under the revised statutes as well as a motion to withdraw the death warrant.
November 2, 2011 - Judge Emmert, without any explanation, denies the new motion for DNA testing.

Justice for Hank Skinner

Justice4Hank@gmail.com

WEB http://www.hankskinner.org

FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/Justice4Hank

TWITTER http://www.twitter.com/Justice4Hank

YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/Justice4Hank

25 Death Row Exonerees to Lead 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty

2011-10-21T17:18:00.004-05:00

25 Death Row Exonerees to Lead 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty at the Texas Capitol Saturday, October 22, 2011

The 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty will be held Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 at the Texas Capitol at 2 PM (on the north side of the capitol). A rally will begin at 2 PM followed by a march through the streets of downtown Austin at 3.

The march will be led by 25 death row survivors who each spent many years on death rows around the U.S. despite being innocent. The 25 exonerees are coming to Texas as members of Witness to Innocence. Some of the exonerees are in Texas for a speaking tour across the state and all of them will be in Austin for the Witness to Innocence "Gathering" from October 20-23. Witness to Innocence is the nation’s only organization composed of, by and for exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones.

"Many people at the rally and march will carry signs that say "Perry/Willingham 2012" to suggest that if Rick Perry becomes president of the U.S., it will be over the dead body of a person whose execution Perry allowed even though he was given information before the execution discrediting the forensic science used to convict Todd Willingham. After Willingham's execution, Perry abused his power as governor to interfere with the investigation of a governmental body into the Willingham case. Rick Perry's actions regarding Todd Willingham raise serious questions about Perry's character and judgement. Perry is not ethically qualified to be president of the United States", said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.

The signs marchers will carry can be seen at the following link:

http://stopexecutions.blogspot.com/2011/09/logo-of-rick-perry-and-his-running-mate.html

Before his execution, Todd Willingham told his parents,“Please don’t ever stop fighting to vindicate me.”

Before his execution, Troy Davis told his supporters in a letter,"There are so many more Troy Davises. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this unjust system city by city,state by state and country by country."

Texas has executed 475 people since 1982 (as of Oct 16, 2011). Under current Texas Governor Rick Perry, 236 people have been executed, including some with a strong case of innocence. Twelve people have been exonerated while on death row in Texas, the most recent being Anthony Graves in 2010. Since 1976, there have been 138 death row exonerations in the United States.

A recent CNN poll showed that when given a choice of sentences between life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the crime of murder, more Americans (50%) would opt for the life sentence than for death (48%).

“We will be urging all Texans to join us at the March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 22 in Austin", said Ron Keine, formerly on death row in New Mexico.

 “As they see what the death penalty really means, in my case and others, more and more Texans believe that Texas can do without the death penalty,” said exonerated death row survivor Clarence Brandley, from Conroe, Texas, who has been fighting for compensation from the state of Texas for over twenty years.

Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to the death penalty. The march is a coming together of activists, family members of people on death row, community leaders, exonerated former death row prisoners and all those calling for repeal of the Texas death penalty.

The annual march is organized as a joint project by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations and their allies: Texas Moratorium Network, the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Witness to Innocence, Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing, Texas Civil Rights Project, International Socialist Organization, Amnesty International at The University of Texas, Kids Against the Death Penalty, The Austin Chronicle, NOKOA, Gray Panthers and Democrats for Life.

Perry/Willingham 2012 Sign Spotted in Austin

2011-10-19T22:42:00.002-05:00

"‎They kill people at a record pace + many of them innocent" - Todd Willingham

2011-10-19T01:12:00.000-05:00

"‎They kill people at a record pace + many of them innocent. They do not care about Justice, only feeding the machine," Todd Willingham in a letter addressed "Dear Stacy" in April 2000.

If you think you don't have time to come to the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty this Saturday, then think about what it must be like to be an innocent person on death row and how you wish people would stand up and fight for you. It is too late to save Todd Willingham, but you can save other innocent people who are still on death row. Attend the march!

12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty Saturday Oct 22 at the Texas Capitol in Austin

2011-10-11T22:05:00.001-05:00

The 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty is Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 at the Texas Capitol at 2 PM (on the north side of the capitol).

Special guests this year include 25 death row survivors who each spent many years on death row despite being innocent.

Before his execution,Todd Willingham told his parents,“Please don’t ever stop fighting to vindicate me.”

Before his execution,Troy Davis told his supporters in a letter,"There are so many more Troy Davises. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this unjust system city by city,state by state and country by country."

Texas has executed 475 people since 1982 (as of Sept 23, 2011). Under current Texas Governor Rick Perry, 236 people have been executed, including some with a strong case of innocence. Twelve people have been exonerated while on death row in Texas, the most recent being Anthony Graves in 2010.Since 1976, there have been 138 death row exonerations in the United States.

“We will be urging all Texans to join us at the March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 22 in Austin", said Ron Keine, formerly on death row in New Mexico.

 “As they see what the death penalty really means, in my case and others, more and more Texans believe that Texas can do without the death penalty,” said exonerated death row survivor Clarence Brandley, from Conroe, Texas, who has been fighting for compensation from the state of Texas for over twenty years.

Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to the death penalty. The march is a coming together of activists, family members of people on death row, community leaders, exonerated former death row prisoners and all those calling for repeal of the Texas death penalty.

The annual march is organized as a joint project by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations: Texas Moratorium Network, the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Witness to Innocence, Texas Civil Rights Project, International Socialist Organization, Amnesty International at The University of Texas, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center and Kids Against the Death Penalty.

Photos of "Incendiary: the Willingham Case" Screening to Benefit Charlie Baird for Travis County DA

2011-10-07T01:05:00.001-05:00

Texas Moratorium Network hosted a screening of "Incendiary: the Willingham Case" on Oct 5 at the Violet Crown Cinema in Austin to benefit the campaign of Charlie Baird for Travis County District Attorney. We sold out two auditoriums, after expecting to sell out only one, and we raised a bunch of money for his campaign. Charlie's campaign is gaining momentum!

Logo and Signs of Rick Perry and His Running Mate Todd Willingham

2011-09-26T13:28:00.002-05:00

Rick Perry has a running mate. His name is Todd Willingham.

Perry Willingham 2012

Graphics designed by Patricia Turner for Texas Moratorium Network.

Screening of "Incendiary: The Willingham Case" Oct 5 to Benefit Charlie Baird for DA Campaign

2011-09-21T23:09:00.005-05:00

Texas Moratorium Network is hosting a screening on Wednesday October 5 at the Violet Crown Cinema in Austin of "Incendiary: the Willingham case" about the case of Todd Willingham. We are hosting it as a fundraiser to benefit the campaign of Charlie Baird for Travis County District Attorney. All proceeds go to the campaign of Charlie Baird. Get your tickets now, seating is limited. Charlie Baird needs your support in his race to bring Justice That Works to Austin and Travis County. To learn more about Charlie Baird visit his website www.charliebaird.com.

Please Join The Texas Moratorium Network as they host "Incendiary: A Night With The Filmmakers & Charlie Baird" benefiting the Charlie Baird for Travis County District Attorney Campaign. The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 and the movie beginning promptly at 7:00 p.m. Immediately upon conclusion of the film, the filmmakers and Charlie--who was interviewed for the film--will speak and answer questions.
Time:	Wednesday, October 5th 05:30 PM — Wednesday, October 5th 09:30 PM
Location:	Violet Crown Cinema 434 West 2nd Street Austin, TX 78701
More Info:	Please join the Texas Moratorium Network for a special screening of "Incendiary: The Willingham Case" benefiting the Charlie Baird for Travis County District Attorney Campaign. This award-winning film features an interview with Charlie Baird. The event begins with a reception with the filmmakers and Charlie at 5:30 p.m. followed by the film screening. Immediately after the screening, Charlie and the filmmakers will make a brief presentation and answer audience questions. Only 50 total movie tickets are available, so please get yours today. Please note that, because of limited space in the theater itself, some ticket options and sponsorship options are limited to the reception only.

Victim's Son Objects to Execution of Man Who Dragged His Father to Death

2011-09-21T13:28:00.000-05:00

"You can't fight murder with murder," Ross Byrd, 32, told Reuters late Tuesday, the night before Wednesday's scheduled execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer for one of the most notorious hate crimes in modern times.

"Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can't hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn't what we want."

Brewer is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. today in Huntsville, Texas.

Call Governor Perry to register your opposition to executions 512 463 2000.

More from the AP:

An avowed white supremacist, Brewer, 44, was one of three white men convicted of capital murder in the kidnapping and killing of Byrd Jr., in June 1998.

John King, another white supremacist, is on death row awaiting an execution date. Shawn Berry is serving a life sentence.

Brewer would be the 11th man executed in Texas this year. In Georgia, the execution of Troy Davis, convicted of killing a police officer, is scheduled for the same night.

If both executions go forward, Brewer and Davis would be the 34th and 35th executions in the United States in 2011.

In Texas, a vigil in Huntsville began at midnight with civil rights activist Dick Gregory.

PROTESTS

Gregory has joined Ross Byrd and Martin Luther King III in the past to publicly protest Brewer's execution.

Ross Byrd, a recording artist studying for his MBA at nearby Stephen F. Austin University, said Tuesday that he wouldn't attend the execution but will "be there in spirit."

He says he doesn't want to "waste my time" watching anybody die, even a man who killed his dad.

"Life goes on," said Byrd, who has a son. "I've got responsibilities that I have every day. It's not on the front page of my mind. I'm looking for happy times."

Cleve Foster received a stay of execution from U.S. Supreme Court

2011-09-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

Cleve Foster just got a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. No execution in Texas today. The high court granted the stay of execution for Foster about 2-1/2 hours before he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection around 6 p.m. local time in Texas.He was convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman he met in a bar in Fort Worth.

The justices in the brief order gave no reason why they granted the stay and said his execution will be delayed while it considers his appeal.

Rally to Stop Execution of Troy Davis: Friday, Sept 15 at the Texas Capitol

2011-09-15T10:27:00.000-05:00

Stop the Execution of Troy Davis: Solidarity Rally in Austin!

Friday, September 16th at 5:30 PM

Texas State Capitol, 11th and Congress

Organized by Campaign to End the Death Penalty-Austin

Troy Davis was sentenced to death in Georgia for the 1989 killing of police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. His sentencing was in spite of the fact that there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, nor was a murder weapon ever found. He was convicted solely on the testimony of 9 witnesses.

Seven of these witnesses have now recanted their testimony and several say they were pressured by the police to identify Troy as the shooter. One of the remaining witnesses was Sylvester Coles, who was initially a suspect and in fact admitted he was carrying the same caliber gun used in the murder half an hour before the slaying took place.

Troy has spent the last two decades on death row for a crime he did not commit. He has faced three execution dates and is now facing his fourth date on September 21st. Please show your support for this innocent man and put public pressure on the Georgia Parole Board to grant Troy clemency.

For more information about the case of Troy Davis, please visit nodeathpenalty.org or visit the CEDP Austin Facebook page at facebook.com/AustinCEDP

Former FBI Chief William Sessions calls for clemency to Troy Davis.

The execution of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die in less than a week, should be halted because of "pervasive, persistent doubts" about his guilt, said William S. Sessions, a former federal district judge in Texas and FBI director under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, in a sharply-worded editorial on Thursday.

"Serious questions about Mr. Davis' guilt, highlighted by witness recantations, allegations of police coercion, and a lack of relevant physical evidence, continue to plague his conviction," Sessions wrote. He urged a state pardons board to commute the sentence to life in prison.

The unusual plea from Sessions, which appears in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is the latest high-profile call for clemency for Davis, whose looming execution has become a lightning rod for national and international criticism. Among those who have called for a halt to the execution, scheduled for Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., are Pope Benedict XVI, former President Jimmy Carter and the leadership of the NAACP and Amnesty International.

Rick Perry Must Be Pressured to Stop Racially Tainted Death Sentence From Being Carried Out Thursday, Sept 15

2011-09-14T14:16:00.001-05:00

UPDATE Sept 15: Duane Buck received a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Atlantic has an article on the Duane Buck execution scheduled for Thursday, Sept 15. Call Rick Perry's office at 512-463-2000 to urge him to stop the execution by using his power to issue a 30 day stay of execution. Buck was sentenced to death after a sentencing hearing in which racist testimony by a witness for the prosecution was allowed to be heard by the jury. This execution is a big test for Rick Perry's national ambitions. Will Perry stop a racially tainted death sentence from being carried out or will he play to the type of potential voters in the Republican Party who clapped in approval at the recent GOP debate at the mention of Texas' then-234 executions (Watch video).

Some of us will be at the Texas Capitol at 11th and Congress in Austin Thursday at 5:30 to protest this execution. Others are going to Huntsville from Houston. There are two more executions set for next week in Texas.

From Andrew Cohen's article for TheAtlantic.com:

The federal trial judge in a case issues her vital ruling before the capital defendant's lawyers have completed their argument. A local prosecutor who helped convict the death row inmate now pleads with the state parole board to give the guy a new sentencing trial. Defense attorneys say that lawyers for the Attorney General's office are lying to the court. And the governor who can help stop this parade of horribles, Gov. Rick Perry, earns public cheers for his chillingly remorseless stand on capital punishment.
Welcome to Texas, to its death penalty regime, and to the excruciating case of Duane Edward Buck.
Buck is scheduled to be executed Thursday in Huntsville for a double murder he committed in Houston in 1995. No one contests his guilt. Instead, his lawyers say that Texas owes him a new sentencing trial because his first one was unlawfully tainted by race. An expert witness at his trial in 1997 impermissibly told jurors that Buck would be more dangerous in the future because he is black. As I chronicled last week, the six other men in Texas whose trials were similarly tainted all got new sentencing hearings after then-Attorney General John Cornyn conceded the state's error in 2000. Buck, however, has not.
Texas now is opposed to Buck's request. It is squeezing him because it can and because it is politically expedient to do so. The state claims that Buck did not timely raise the issue on appeal in federal court. Even though each of the other men were subsequently re-sentenced to death -- and even though that would be a likely outcome in Buck's case -- Texas says the time for Buck's judicial relief has come and gone. Even though the state helped each of the other men vindicate their constitutional rights, it will not do so in Buck's case. At a time when other states are moving away from capital punishment, this is how far to the right Texas has come on the death penalty since 2000.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Buck's clemency request. Here is the extent of the Board's findings and conclusions: "After a full and careful review of the application and any other information filed with the application, a majority of the Board has decided not to recommend a 120-day Reprieve and Commutation of Death Sentence to Lesser Penalty." That's it. The complete document is two pages long -- the cover letter is three short paragraphs ending with the salutation, "Sincerely," by Clemency Director Maria Ramirez.
Buck's fate now is up to Gov. Perry, the man who has proudly overseen the executions of more death row inmates than any governor in American history, and to the federal appeals courts, which only rarely intercede on behalf of capital defendants. The eerie applause for capital punishment at last week's Republican debate tells Gov. Perry that executions are a "winning" issue for him, at least for now, so you can do the math. It doesn't look likely, does it, that Texas will make good on that 11-year-old promise to Buck.
The Judge
Last Tuesday, September 6th, Buck's lawyers went to federal court in Houston to get a stay of their client's execution so the issue of his new sentencing trial could be properly evaluated on the merits. On Friday, to no one's surprise, attorneys for the state of Texas responded by objecting to Buck's motion. But on that very day, September 9th, just a few hours after Texas had filed its brief, and before Buck's attorneys even could reply to it, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore issued anine-page ruling siding with the state and against Buck. The judge declared that Buck's arguments had been litigated before and that there were no new facts or legal issues that required her to change her mind.
It is customary in motions practice for the moving party -- here, Buck -- to have an opportunity to file a "reply" brief answering the "response" brief filed by the other side. This is certainly true in capital cases and especially when the judge is inclined to rule against the litigant who made the motion. Often, there are issues of fact or law which arise in the "response" brief which warrant further attention from the court. A "reply" brief keeps honest those drafting the "response" brief and judges typically allow for reply briefs because it is the moving party, after all, which has the burden of persuading the judge to do something (or to not do something).
With Buck's life on the line, none of that happened here. Instead, inexplicably, Judge Gilmore cranked out a nine-page order in a matter of hours without waiting to see whether any of the representations made by Texas were suspect or not -- without giving the condemned man a full chance to make all of his arguments. This is dubious behavior from a federal judge but perhaps not terribly surprising from Judge Gilmore, a 1994 appointee of President Bill Clinton. Over the years, she has earned the nickname "judicial diva" for her decidedly injudicious conduct on the bench.
David Lat, the respected legal blogger who coined the "diva" phrase in 2007, has helped chronicle the many ways in which Judge Gilmore has reportedly engaged in conduct unbecoming of a federal judge. And what did the federal jurist do in response to her new nickname? Why, she wrote a booktitled "You Can't Make This Stuff Up; Tales from a Judicial Diva." This light-hearted offering followed her first book, which was a coloring book for the children of incarcerated inmates. This is the judge who was in such a rush to kick Buck's case out of her court last week that she didn't even wait for all of the arguments to come in before she issued her order.
The State
The current Attorney General of the Lone Star State is a man named Greg Abbott, a former Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, who evidently figured he'd have more power and prestige as the state's lead attorney than he would have as one of its premier judges. And if the Attorney General thing doesn't work out for Abbott there's always the state house in Austin if Gov. Perry makes it to Washington. Six attorneys general in Texas' history have gone on to become governors.
It is Abbott, and not Gov. Perry, who is ultimately responsible for what state lawyers write and say to federal judges. And in the Buck case, the accuracy and fairness of what Texas said last week to Judge Gilmore, what its lawyers said to try to ensure that Buck is executed on Thursday, is very much in doubt. Buck's attorneys have filed a "Rule 11" motion, in which they seek court-imposed sanctions against the attorneys responsible for filing last week's response. They allege that:

The Assistant Attorney General [Georgette Oden] made factual contentions that are contrary to the evidence, and omitted necessary facts within her knowledge regarding the nature of the cases in which her office had previously confessed equal protection and due process violations.
Specifically, Buck's attorneys say that Texas tried to cover up to Judge Gilmore the facts and procedural history surrounding the similarities between the Buck case and the six other cases which Texas in 2000 conceded were impermissibly tainted by racial testimony. Today's state attorneys know full well how far Texas went back then to ensure that those other men got new trials, Buck's attorneys claim, and yet Texas' attorneys "completely" omitted some of that information when they filed their response in Judge Gilmore's court last week (all the more reason, of course, why good judges tend to wait for all the filings to come before rendering their rulings).
Are Abbott and Texas bound by the promises made by Cornyn? Are they bound by the fact that the other men received their due process? Should the state again be allowed to treat Buck differently after allowing his trial to be unconstitutionally tainted back in 1997? Should Texas' executive branch be "rewarded" with Buck's execution after allegedly making false statements to a federal judge? Did the federal courts ever fully adjudicate Buck's equal protection and due process claims? These are all still open questions less than two days before Buck is scheduled to be executed. Reasonable people may ask: Is this any way to run a death penalty regime?
The Prosecutor
In 1997, Linda Geffin was part of the state's prosecution team which convicted Buck. On Monday, she wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gov. Perry, Attorney General Abbott, and to the prosecutor now in charge of the Buck matter, Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos (whose webpage says she has "dedicated her career to the pursuit of justice"). Geffin, who still works as an attorney for the state of Texas, wrote:
When I read about the clemency petition pending before the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Perry, and about the motion in federal court recognizing that the Attorney General had previously acknowledged the improper injection of race in the sentencing hearing in Mr. Buck's case, I felt compelled to step forward. Mr. Buck committed a terrible crime, and he mustbe punished. But the Attorney General [John Cornyn in 2000] was right when he said that "it isinappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system." It is regrettable that any race-based considerations were placed before Mr. Buck's jury. No individual should be executed without being afforded a fair trial, untainted by considerations of race.
Geffin took a courageous stand. Evidently it wasn't nearly enough. With the Board already having rejected Geffin's argument and Buck's request, Gov. Perry alone now controls Buck's fate, at least as far as Texas is concerned (the federal courts remember still may intervene). The governor could stay the execution for 30 days to allow Buck's attorneys to continue to confer with prosecutor Lykos about their client. Gov. Perry also may ask the district attorney to withdraw the pending execution date or Lykos may do so on her own authority. It all depends, I guess, upon where the district attorney wants her own "pursuit of justice" to take her.
I said it last week and I'll say it again: those who are now evaluating for the first time the presidential hew of candidate Perry would be advised to monitor closely how he handles these death penalty cases. They are indeed a true test, perhaps the truest test, of how a politician maneuvers between law and justice, crime and punishment, and those cornerstone constitutional mandates, like equal protection and due process, which can be as vital as they often are unpopular.

Petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry to Acknowledge Cameron Todd Willingham was Wrongfully Executed

2011-09-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

We will deliver the signatures and comments on this petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is running for president of the United States. A lot of people already signed and we delivered those signatures to Perry in 2009, but we wanted to repost it since Rick Perry is running for president so that more people can sign. It also allows you to leave a comment when you sign. Many people have left great comments, add yours. Click View signatures to read comments.

View Signatures.

This petition was created and written by Texas Moratorium Network. If you have questions, call TMN at 512-961-6389. If you are shocked to learn that Texas has executed an innocent person, please attend the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 22, 2011 in Austin, Texas at the Capitol.

235th Execution Carried Out Today Under Governor Rick Perry; 236th is Thursday

2011-09-13T23:12:00.000-05:00

The lethal injection of Steven Woods today was the tenth this year in Texas, the 474th since Texas resumed executions in 1982 and the 235th since Governor Rick Perry took office in 2000.

More from CNN:

Steven Michael Woods Jr. was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m., 10 minutes after the lethal injection dose began, said Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. It was the 10th execution carried out in Texas this year.
"You're not about to witness an execution. You are about to witness a murder," Woods said before he was injected, according to Lyons. Woods added that his co-defendant was the one responsible for two 2001 killings, she said.
Earlier Tuesday, the state's high court rejected a stay of execution for Woods.
"We're disappointed in the outcome," attorney Brad Levenson said after the court's decision. His office had filed for a stay of execution on grounds of juror bias.
Woods was sentenced to death for the slayings of 21-year-old Ronald Whitehead and 19-year-old Bethena Brosz in 2002. Co-defendant Marcus Rhodes was sentenced to life in prison.
Duane Edward Buck is one step closer to execution after a ruling late Tuesday by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which recommended against granting him clemency.
The ruling was made after Phyllis Taylor, one of Buck's surviving victim's, spoke with the chairwoman of the board earlier in the day.
Taylor was one of three people shot by Buck in 1995 after an early morning argument. Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler were killed when Buck returned to Gardner's home with two rifles and opened fire on his victims. According to Texas officials, Buck shot Gardner in front of her daughter, who begged for her mother's life.
In a statement released after the board's ruling, Buck's attorney, Katherine C. Black, said the recommendation, "fails to recognize what the highest legal officer in the state of Texas has acknowledged: No one should be executed based on a process tainted by considerations of race."
Black is referring to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who was the state's attorney general in 2000, when he spoke of seven death row inmates, including Buck. Cornyn said he believed the inmates had been unfairly sentenced to death based on testimony that was racially tainted by psychologist Walter Quijano, who repeatedly told juries that black or Hispanic defendants were more likely to commit future crimes.
Because of that testimony, six of those seven inmates were granted re-sentencing trials. Buck was not among them.
"We want to make sure people aren't executed based on the color of their skin," Black said.
On Monday, Linda Geffin, a former Harris County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Buck, joined Taylor in calling on state officials to stop Buck's execution.
"The decision as to whether Mr. Buck's execution will go forward now lies squarely with Gov. Perry, who has the power to issue a 30-day reprieve, and District Attorney (Patricia) Lykos, who has the power to ask for a withdrawal of the execution date," Black said.
"We urge Gov. Perry to grant a temporary reprieve to allow all parties involved to work together to ensure that Mr. Buck receives a new and fair sentencing hearing untainted by race-based testimony."
But Perry is not known for his leniency when it comes to the death penalty.
Woods' execution Tuesday night was the 235th for Perry in his 11 years as the governor.

Urge Rick Perry to Stop Execution of Steven Woods on Tuesday Sept 13

2011-09-12T14:30:00.001-05:00

Spiegel has an article on the Steven Woods execution scheduled for Tuesday, Sept 13. Call Rick Perry's office at 512-463-2000 to urge him to stop the execution by using his power to issue a 30 day stay of execution.

Some of us will be at the Texas Capitol at 11th and Congress in Austin tomorrow at 5:30 to protest this execution. Others are going to Huntsville from Houston. There is another execution set for this Thursday in Texas and two more next week.

From Spiegel:

In Texas, Steven Michael Woods is slated for execution on Tuesday, despite considerable doubts about his guilt. The inmate is fighting to have his sentence commuted, but his chances are diminishing. State Governor Rick Perry is considered a champion of the death penalty.
It's a gruesome record, but Rick Perry is proud of it. "Your state has executed 234 death-row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times," NBC's Brian Williams told the Texas governor during this week's presidential debate. Did he ever struggle to sleep at night, Williams continued, "with the idea that anyone of those might have been innocent"?
Before Williams had finished, the auditorium erupted in cheers, even whistles, as if the spectators welcomed this killer number. Then Perry answered grimly: "No sir, I never struggled with that at all." Asked what he made of the applause, he said: "I think Americans understand justice."
This bizarre moment was almost lost in the subsequent coverage of the Republican candidates' debate. For one man, however, it was a bad omen: Steven Michael Woods.
Woods, 31, is incarcerated in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, which houses Texas' death row, a four-hour drive east of the capital Austin. His execution for capital murder is set for Tuesday -- one day after the next Republican debate. It would be the 19th execution this year in Texas alone.
Grave Doubts about Verdict
There's more, though: Woods, his lawyers and his friends insist he is innocent.
There are indeed grave doubts about the verdict. Marcus Rhodes, Wood's co-defendant and a former friend, has admitted to the double murder in question and already been sentenced -- but to life in prison. Rhodes' DNA was found on the weapons, but not that of Woods.
Yet all courts so far have rejected Wood's appeals. Even the US Supreme Court refused to take up the case. Alex Calhoun, Wood's defense lawyer, has now filed a clemency petition with Governor Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, as a last resort.
Woods was deprived of his constitutional rights and convicted based on "false or misleading testimony," Calhoun alleges in the 20-page petition to Perry. Furthermore, the prosecution had "illegally withheld significant evidence."
"I am sure that the Board of Pardons and Paroles will, using their judgment and innate sense of fairness, recognize the injustice and patent unfairness," Calhoun told SPIEGEL ONLINE. However, this sounds like overblown optimism: Since he took office in December 2000, Perry has not once shown clemency in a capital punishment case -- sometimes in spite of doubts. And it is highly unlikely that Woods would be the first person to get it.
Woods' story started as a horrifying criminal case. On May 2, 2001, two people were brutally murdered in a deserted field north of Dallas: Ronald Whitehead, 21, and Bethena Brosz, 19. Whitehead was shot in the head six times, Brosz twice as well as once in the knee. Both also had their throats cut. Whitehead's dead body was found hours later, Brosz was still alive but died 36 hours later in a hospital.
Whitehead was a drug dealer, Brosz a chance acquaintance. The 19-year-old planned to study astronomy. "Beth was just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people," her mother Janet Shires wrote on a memorial website. The suspects in the murders were tried separately. Woods, then 21, was sentenced to death in August 2002. Witnesses had claimed that he had bragged about the murders. His lawyers didn't dispute his presence at the murder scene but named Rhodes the killer.
Before Rhodes' trial could start in January of 2003, he confessed to killing Whitehead and Brosz alone -- without implicating Woods. In a plea deal, he was sentenced to life, not death.
For years Woods has tried to overturn his sentence -- unsuccessfully. Texas law is against him: Even if he had never pulled the trigger or swung the knives, he'd still be as guilty as the killer by his mere presence. In Texas that's called the Law of Parties.
The Polunsky Unit where Woods has been kept since is infamous for its terrible conditions. In 2004, dozens of death-row inmates went on hunger strike to protest their treatment, Woods among them.
'They're Killing the Wrong Person'
The courts weren't impressed. Even a broad coalition of activists for the abolition of the death penalty fighting for Woods hasn't been able to achieve anything. One of them is the Los Angeles student Tali Kaluski, 25. She learned about the case when she was asked to design and print t-shirts for Woods supporters. Woods thanked her in a letter. She visited him in jail in January.
"They're killing the wrong person," says Kaluski. "He's such a shy, quiet person." She says that Woods told her that he was in the car with Rhodes but had no idea then what he had planned. "How can a killer get life and Steven death?" she asks.
By now, the Office of Capital Writs (OCW), a state agency that represents death-row inmates in post-conviction habeas corpus and related proceedings, is working on the Woods case, too. OCW lead attorney Brad Levenson has filed another petition with the Supreme Court to review the verdict. On 44 pages he lists what went wrong during the trial and after. Woods' original lawyers had been "ineffective," the jury "prejudiced," the petition claims.
Insiders have little hope, as time is running out. "The concept of clemency in this red neck, peckerwood state is a hollow illusion, existing only for the sake of providing the appearance of due process," says one lawyer involved, who refuses to disclose his name for fear of angering the courts. "If history is any guide, I fear that Mr. Woods' case will be denied without a second thought."
Even the US media have shown little interest. Capital punishment is no longer a hot-button issue here. "The public is a lot more ambivalent than they had been, say 15 years ago," Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment, told the Website Politico. "They see it as a grayer issue now."
Woods' execution is set for Tuesday, 6 p.m. local time. Tali Kaluski, who now calls herself Woods' "fiancee," is already in Livingston, at least to be closer to him in the final days.

Anthony Graves Responds to Clapping at GOP Debate in Approval of 234 Texas Executions

2011-09-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

Anthony Graves asks "How can you applaud death?" in response to members of the audience at the GOP debate clapping and cheering about the 234 executions conducted under Rick Perry. We need to show the nation a counter example to the clapping at the GOP debate, so please make plans to attend the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty. Come clap for justice, not killing. On October 22nd in Austin, it is our turn to clap and cheer when as many as 20-25 death row exonerees urge us to end the death penalty.

Watch video of people clapping at GOP debate.

From ABC News:

Anthony Graves read in the newspaper about the crowd at the Republican presidential debate applauding the fact that Gov. Rick Perry had authorized 234 executions during his tenure.
“How can you applaud death?” Graves asked.

Graves is one of 12 death row inmates who have been exonerated in Texas since 1973. Five of those exonerations occurred while Rick Perry was governor, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes capital punishment.

“The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place in which when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court if that’s required,” Perry said during the debate Wednesday.

Perry defended the use of the death penalty in his state and told the audience, “I think Americans understand justice.”

But Graves said his mother would not be one of those Americans. Graves spent 18 years in prison and 12 years on death row as a convicted murder. In 2010 his conviction was overturned and he was released.

“He should ask my mother about that, ” he says. “She lost her son for 18 years.”

Graves says he was stunned at the governor’s comments because he was exonerated less than a year ago. “I was exonerated from the very same system that he is boasting about. He’s a politician, but I’m an exoneree and I think I know more about the subject.”

"Scant evidence that he (Steven Woods) killed anyone" says Austin Chronicle

2011-09-08T23:03:00.002-05:00

The Austin Chronicle says there is "scant evidence" that Steven Woods killed anyone. He is scheduled for execution in Texas under Governor Rick Perry on Sept 13. This is a case that likely would have a high chance for a commutation to life in other death penalty states, since the physical evidence does not indicate that the person being executed actually killed anyone while there is clear evidence linking his co-defendant as the killer.

"Unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in to stop it – or the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends and the governor grants clemency (a remote chance) – inmate Steven Woods will be put to death Sept. 13, even though there is scant evidence suggesting that he actually killed anyone. Woods was sentenced to death for a 2001 double murder in The Colony, near Dallas. After his conviction, a co-defendant, Marcus Rhodes, made a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty in exchange for two life sentences. Nonetheless, while there was clear physical evidence linking Rhodes to the crime, there was no such evidence linking Woods. "There is no physical proof linking him to the crime," says attorney Alex Calhoun, who has represented Woods on appeal and who has filed a clemency petition with the parole board, seeking to have Woods' sentence commuted to life. That would be far more equitable, he argues; while that is a good argument against sending Woods to death, it's been the argument in two out of the three cases in which the board has recommended clemency under the leadership of Gov. Rick Perry. Perry only granted clemency in one of those (that of Kenneth Foster), and he said he did so because Foster and a co-defendant had a shared trial, not because Foster literally was not guilty of killing anyone.
Meanwhile, Brad Levenson, director of the state's Office of Capital Writs, responsible for representing indigent death row inmates on appeal, late last week filed a final appeal in Woods' case. In the appeal, Levenson argues that Calhoun rendered ineffective assistance when he failed to pursue in a timely manner evidence that one of Woods' jurors was so biased that his presence on the jury violated Woods' right to an impartial panel. (Should the ineffective assistance claim fail, Levenson argues that the presence of the juror alone should render the Woods verdict unsound.) The appeal comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court announcing that it would hear two cases this fall that relate to the right to effective counsel on appeal. Whether Texas courts will see fit to stay Woods' execution until the high court has an opportunity to weigh in on the topic remains to be seen."

Former Criminal District Court Judge Charlie Baird Will Officially Launch Candidacy Sept 6 For Travis County DA

2011-08-31T14:46:00.000-05:00

August 31, 2011

CONTACT: Charlie Baird Campaign (512) 705-7001 press@charliebaird.com

MEDIA ADVISORY

TUESDAY: Former Criminal District Court Judge Charlie Baird Will Officially Launch Candidacy For Travis County DA

SPECIAL GUESTS: Hon. Morris Overstreet, former judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; Cory Session brother of Tim Cole, defendant exonerated in 299th District Court in 2009 by Charlie Baird

AUSTIN—Charlie Baird will launch his campaign for Travis County District Attorney on Tuesday, September 6, with a speech and rally at Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in Austin.

WHO: Charlie Baird, former district court judge and candidate for Travis County District Attorney

WHAT: Campaign Announcement for Travis County District Attorney

WHEN: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 11:30 a.m. (Doors open at 11:00am for Press)

WHERE: Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, 1156 Hargrave Street, Austin, TX 78702, 512-472-6932

MORE: Print, broadcast, or online media who would like an individual media availability with the candidate should contact the campaign at 512.705.7001.

Live feeds and live stand-ups during noon newscasts are welcome; stations should contact the campaign for information on set-up, equipment placement, etc.

Pd. Pol. Adv. By Charlie Baird Exploratory Committee, Charles F. "Charlie" Baird, Treas. P.O. Box 1242 Austin, Texas 78767

Steven Woods, Claiming Innocence, Scheduled for Execution on Sept 13

2011-08-29T23:36:00.000-05:00

We received the information below from advocates trying to stop the execution of Steven Woods on Sept 13, 2011:

On September 13 2011, Steven Woods (31) is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection by the state of Texas after being wrongfully convicted and confined 24 hours a day for the past 9 years of his life.

Woods maintained his innocence since he was arrested, and he swears that he will keep doing so until he dies.

The evidence supporting Steven Woods' wrongful conviction is overwhelming; provided below is more information that I hope will help you better understand Woods' case:

- In 2002, Steven Woods was convicted for shooting & killing a young couple in Denton County, Texas
- Woods was 21 at the time and had no prior arrests or warrants.
- 3 months after Steven was wrongfully convicted/sentenced to death, 24 year old Marcus Rhodes took responsibility for knowingly and intentionally shooting and killing both of the murder victims, in a Denton County court.
- Rhodes didn't insinuate that Steven in any way, participated/plotted/played any role in the murders.
- There is NO physical evidence or confession that ties Steven Woods to the murder scene.
- No one has reported or testified to having eye-witnessed these murders.
- The murders were committed with Marcus Rhodes' own firearms. (Both registered under Rhodes' name)
- The firearms were found under Rhodes' bed when Police searched his parents' home.
- The weapons only had Rhodes' fingerprints on them.
- The victims' backpacks & their belongings were found in Rhodes' car a few days after the murders.
- The only "evidence" used against Woods were friends of Marcus Rhodes who took the stand, claiming that they heard Woods brag about the murder. This is called "hearsay" & is usually inadmissible in court.
- One "witness", a habitual heroin user & friend of Rhodes' was paid 1000 dollars for his testimony.
-Another "witness" signed a sworn affidavit stating that her testimony was coerced with threats.
-The state tried to use DNA found on a latex glove to convict Woods. The jury was told that the DNA on the glove was Woods', but later in the trial Steven demanded that the glove be tested. The DNA did NOT match Woods'. The glove was stricken from the protocol by Denton County Judge, Lee Gabriels - so that Woods could not use it to prove his innocence in his appeals process.
- The prosecution accused Woods of numerous erroneous claims to which they had no basis. Example: The prosecution lied to the jury claiming that Woods (who they did not know was of Armenian heritage), was a "white supremacist".
-The man who confessed to killing the couple, also confessed to carrying out an additional murder in CA that occurred 2 months prior to the Denton murders. Steven did not participate in that murder, nor did he witness it or get indicted in association with it.
-The actual murderer, Rhodes got a punishment of life in prison with parole.
-Steven Woods got sentenced to death and will be executed on Sept. 13 2011.

More info can be found at www.texaskills.com and we can be reached at justiceforstevewoods@gmail.com

In Unique Move, Charlie Baird Asks Voters What They Think

2011-08-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2011

CONTACT: Charlie Baird Campaign,
Press Office
512.705.7001
press@charliebaird.com

In Unique Move, Charlie Baird Asks Voters What They Think

Says Citizens’ Opinions Should Matter To Politicians

AUSTIN—A month after launching an exploratory committee to consider a run for Travis County District Attorney, former state district judge Charlie Baird’s campaign has taken an unusual step in local politics: asking voters what they think.

Today, Baird launched a large-scale effort to solicit voter opinion on the state of the criminal justice system in Travis County. The launch incudes a full page advertisement in the Austin Chronicle, an online ad buy, ad buys in other Travis County publications such as The Villager and Nokoa, and a web page people can use to submit reform ideas to his campaign.

“In all the years I’ve been involved in Travis County politics, nothing like this has ever been done,” Baird said. “I really want to hear their ideas for making justice work for everyone in Travis County.”

Baird says his unique effort is a serious attempt to reach beyond traditional resources and to get fresh ideas.

“Our political system is one that thrives on new ideas for reform and change. When you have the same people in charge of one office for more than three decades, you don’t really have access to fresh ideas,” Baird said. “In our system, individuals considering a run for office should ask voters about their concerns and for their ideasl for reform,” he said.

“Politicians need to remember that in a democracy the people are in charge, not focus groups. A lot can be learned by listening to the people,” Baird said.

He noted that everyone is encouraged to visit CharlieBaird.com/Reform to submit their ideas or innovations for the justice system in Travis County.

Baird, a former state district judge and former judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, has indicated he would have an announcement concerning whether he will make an official run for the post sometime after Labor Day.

Baird, his wife, Kristin, and their two children, make their home in Austin. He is head of the Criminal Law Section at The Fowler Law Firm in Austin.

- 30 -

Tell Charlie from Charlie Baird on Vimeo.

Petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry to Acknowledge Cameron Todd Willingham was Wrongfully Executed

2011-08-13T12:37:00.003-05:00

We will deliver the signatures and comments on this petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is running for president of the United States. A lot of people already signed and we delivered those signatures to Perry in 2009, but we wanted to repost it on the day that Rick Perry announces he is running for president so that more people can sign. It also allows you to leave a comment when you sign.

View Signatures.

(Note: If you navigate away from this page and return to it, the submit button may disappear, just reload the page if that happens and the submit button will re-appear.)

This petition was created and written by Texas Moratorium Network. If you have questions, call TMN at 512-961-6389. If you are shocked to learn that Texas has executed an innocent person, please attend the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 22, 2011 in Austin, Texas at the Capitol.

2006 Letter from Family of Todd Willingham to Texas Governor Rick Perry

2011-08-13T12:12:00.002-05:00

Accompanied by 300 supporters standing outside the gates of the Texas Governor's Mansion, family members (pictured) of Cameron Todd Willingham delivered a letter to Gov Perry on October 28, 2006 asking him to stop executions and investigate the case of their step son and uncle to determine if he was wrongfully executed. He of course ignored their request and later abused his powers of office to impede the investigation of the Willingham case by the Texas Forensic Science Commission.

The Willinghams were in Austin in 2006 for the 7th Annual March to Stop Executions. The 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty is October 22, 2011 at the Texas Capitol in Austin. Sign a petition here to urge Rick Perry to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas wrongfully executed an innocent man.

Eugenia Willingham slipped the letter, along with a copy of an article from the Chicago Tribune that concluded that her stepson was probably innocent, through the bars of the front gate of the mansion and left it lying on the walkway leading to the front door of the mansion. A DPS trooper on duty refused to take the letter, so Eugenia left it on the walkway. According to a Public Information Request sent to Perry by Texas Moratorium Network, we know that his staff later retrieved the letter and delivered it to Perry's office, however he never responded to Willingham's family.

Below is a copy of the letter
The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
Austin, Texas

October 28, 2006

Dear Governor Perry,

We are the family of Cameron Todd Willingham. Our names are Eugenia Willingham, Trina Willingham Quinton and Joshua Easley. Todd was an innocent person executed by Texas on February 17, 2004. We have come to Austin today from Ardmore, Oklahoma to stand outside the Texas Governor’s Mansion and attempt to deliver this letter to you in person, because we want to make sure that you know about Todd’s innocence and to urge you to stop executions in Texas and determine why innocent people are being executed in Texas.

Todd was not the only innocent person who has been executed in Texas. There have been reports in the media that Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna were also innocent people who were executed in Texas. It is too late to save Todd’s life or the lives of Ruben Cantu or Carlos De Luna, but it is not too late to save other innocent people from being executed. We are here today to urge you to be the leader that Texas needs in order to make sure that Texas never executes another innocent person. There is a crisis in Texas regarding the death penalty and we ask you to address the crisis. Because the public can no longer be certain that Texas is not executing innocent people, we urge you to stop all executions.

Strapped to a gurney in Texas' death chamber, just moments from his execution for setting a fire that killed his three daughters, our son/uncle, Todd Willingham, declared his innocence one last time, saying "I am an innocent man, convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do." Todd is now dead and can no longer speak for himself, so we have come to Austin to speak for him.

Before Todd’s execution, you were given a report from a prominent fire scientist questioning the conviction, but you did not stop the execution. The author of the report, Gerald Hurst, has said, "There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire. It was just a fire."

Another report issued in 2006 by a panel of national arson experts brought together by the Innocence Project concluded that the fire that killed Todd’s three daughters was an accident. The report says that Todd’s case is very similar to the case of Ernest Willis, who was convicted of arson murder and sentenced to death in 1987. Willis served 17 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2004 – the same year Todd was executed. The report says that neither of the fires which Todd and Ernest Willis were convicted of setting were arson. The report notes that the evidence and forensic analysis in the Willingham and Willis cases "were the same," and that "each and every one" of the forensic interpretations that state experts made in both men's trials have been proven scientifically invalid. In other words, Todd was executed based on “junk science”.

Please look into our son/uncle’s case and ask the District Attorney in Corsicana to reopen the investigation into the crime for which my brother was wrongfully executed. You should also establish an Innocence Commission in the next session of the Texas Legislature that could investigate my brother’s case, as well as other cases of possible wrongful executions, such as Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna.

Please ensure that no other family suffers the tragedy of seeing one of their loved ones wrongfully executed. Please enact a moratorium on executions and create a special blue ribbon commission to study the administration of the death penalty in Texas. Texas also needs a statewide Office of Public Defenders for Capital Cases. Such an office will go a long way towards preventing innocent people from being executed. A moratorium will ensure that no other innocent people are executed while the system is being studied and reforms implemented.

We look forward to hearing from you and we pledge to work with you to ensure that executions of innocent people are stopped.

Yours sincerely,

Eugenia Willingham
Stepmother of Cameron Todd Willingham who raised him from the age of 13 months

Trina Willingham Quinton
Niece of Cameron Todd Willingham

Joshua Easley
Nephew of Cameron Todd Willingham

Rick Perry Running For President With Record of 234 Executions, Including Todd Willingham's Wrongful Execution

2011-08-11T15:36:00.002-05:00

The AP is reporting that Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for president of the United States. Perry will be the only person ever to run for president with a record of 234 executions and counting, including the wrongful execution of Todd Willingham and subsequent misuse of gubernatorial power to impede the investigation of a government agency into the case of Willingham.

Texas Set Today to Execute 234th person under Governor Rick Perry

2011-08-10T15:38:00.002-05:00

Martin Robles is scheduled for execution Wednesday August 10 in Texas. UPDATE: Robles was executed.

Call Governor Rick Perry to voice your opposition 512 463 2000.

The lethal injection of Martin Robles would be the ninth this year in Texas, the 473rd since Texas resumed executions in 1982 and the 234th since Governor Rick Perry took office in 2000.

Robles' appeals were exhausted and no late attempts to put off the punishment were in the courts Tuesday, the Texas attorney general's office said.

Texas Witness to Innocence Freedom Ride to Culminate at 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty at Texas Capitol

2011-08-06T01:02:00.001-05:00

Exonerated Death Row survivors from seven states will be taking their powerful message against the death penalty across Texas from October 12th through 19th. They will also be rallying support for the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin, TX on October 22.

Witness to Innocence is the nation’s only organization composed of, by and for exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones. Witness to Innocence members bring a human face to the death penalty, illuminating the unfairness and immorality of capital punishment.

To invite the Texas WTI Freedom Ride to stop in your community, contact Hooman Hedayati at hooman@witnesstoinnocence.org or (210)601-7231, or visit www.witnesstoinnocence.org.

March to Abolish the Death Penalty:

Each October since 2000, Texans and their supporters have gathered in Austin to oppose the death penalty. Once again in 2011, activists, family members of people on death row, community leaders, exonerated former prisoners, family members of murder victims, leaders of faith communities and all those calling for repeal of the Texas death penalty will come together at the Texas Capitol. Join us! Visit marchforabolition.org for more information and to sign on as a sponsor of the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty. Come help build the statewide coalition that will eventually repeal the death penalty in Texas.

The 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty will be held in Austin on October 22,2011 at the Texas Capitol. Join the Facebook event page. Each October since 2000,people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas,the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to the death penalty. The march is a coming together of activists,family members of those on death row,community leaders,exonerated prisoners and all those calling for abolition. The march started in Austin in 2000. In 2007 and 2008,the march was held in Houston. It came back to Austin in 2009 and 2010.

The annual march is organized as a joint project by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations working together with leading national organizations: Texas Moratorium Network, the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement,Texas Students Against the Death Penalty,Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, Kids Against the Death Penalty, and national organizations including Journey of Hope ... from Violence to Healing, and Witness to Innocence.

Mark Stroman executed despite lawsuit by surviving victim Rais Bhuiyan seeking to stop execution

2011-07-20T22:38:00.001-05:00

The video news report below aired on KVUE in Austin at 6 PM on July 20, 2011. Later that night shortly before 9 PM Mark Stroman was executed. Report contains an interview with Rais Bhuiyan, the surviving shooting victim of Stroman, as well as footage of protesters gathered at the Texas Capitol.

Stroman was the 472nd person executed in Texas since 1982, eighth in 2011 and 233rd under Governor Rick Perry.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

The execution was delayed for almost three hours before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals barred a state judge in Austin from considering Bhuiyan's lawsuit to block the lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected appeals earlier in the day.

Bhuiyan, in an unusual step, had asked the courts to halt Stroman's execution and said he wanted to spend time with the inmate to learn more about why the shootings occurred. The native of Bangladesh and a former convenience store worker lost sight in one of his eyes when Stroman shot him in the face.

"Killing him is not the solution," Bhuiyan said. "He's learning from his mistake. If he's given a chance, he's able to reach out to others and spread that message to others."

A federal district judge in Austin rejected the lawsuit and Bhuiyan's request for an injunction on Wednesday afternoon. His lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, where Justice Antonin Scalia turned it down.

From CNN:

"I -- and here I act as a spokesperson for the other victims' families as well -- have been denied our proper voice in the proceedings," Bhuiyan said in the court documents. "We do not wish to see Mark Stroman executed for his crimes. For myself, it is clear that nothing would cause more devastation and pain to the life I struggled to rebuild after the attack than for Mark Stroman to be killed."

Help stop today's execution in Texas of Mark Stroman

2011-07-20T11:02:00.002-05:00

Help stop today's execution in Texas of Mark Stroman! Call Rick Perry today at 512 463 2000 and urge him to listen to Stroman's lone surviving shooting victim Rais Bhuiyan and Stop the Execution of Mark Stroman. Bhuiyan is fighting to stop the execution. You can join the fight too with a phone call of less than 60 seconds.

Please contact Texas Governor Rick Perry to urge him to grant a stay of execution to Mark Stroman, who is scheduled for execution Wednesday, July 20.
Rais Bhuiyan, who survived being shot in the face by Mark Stroman, is urging Perry to stop the execution. Bhuiyan has also filed a still-pending lawsuit to stop the execution. The lawsuit will be heard Wednesday morning. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has already refused to recommend clemency.

Watch a video of Rais Bhuiyan explaining why he does not want Mark Stroman executed.

Call Governor Perry at 512 463 2000.

Someone will answer the phone during office hours. If you call after office hours, you can leave a message.

You can also contact Perry by email using a form on his website, although calling on the phone may make a more immediate impact. You can also both call and email.

If you are in Austin, come to the Texas Capitol at 11th and Congress on Wednesday, July 20 at 5:30 PM to protest the scheduled execution of Mark Stroman and show your support for Rais Bhuiyan. (Facebook event page)

If you are in Dallas, there will be a silent vigil at 5:30 PM on the sidewalk in front of the Frank Crowley Court House, 133 N Riverfront St. (Facebook event page)

Stroman, 41, said he went on a shooting spree in the weeks following the 2001 attacks targeting people of Middle East descent, claiming it was a patriotic response to terrorism. Two men were killed and a third was wounded. Stroman is scheduled for lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville.

In an unusual step, the lone shooting survivor, Rais Bhuiyan, a native of Bangladesh, has asked the courts to halt the execution. In a lawsuit, he argues that his religious beliefs as a Muslim told him to forgive Stroman. He also wants to spend time with the convict to learn more about why the shootings occurred.

Juror now opposes execution of Stroman

"I made a wrong decision," said the North Texas woman, who doesn't want her last name used.

The woman was part of the Dallas County jury panel in 2002 that gave the self-proclaimed, "Arab Slayer", Mark Stroman the death penalty for a killing spree after 9/11 that left two store clerks dead.

"We should not have given him death."

Jennifer says prosecutors neglected to tell jurors that the families Stroman destroyed with his violent rampage did not support sending him to death row.

"We were under the impression that the families wanted the death penalty, so even though I didn't fully support it, I let that pressure me into the decision."

Jennifer has since learned, the sole survivor in the case, Rais Bhuiyan did not support execution for Stroman. Bhuiyan was shot in the face and blinded in one eye by Stroman. Even so, he has been waging a battle to save the killer's life and asking for a face-to-face meeting.

"I would love to give him a hug and say I never hated him," said the Bangladeshi immigrant, who is now a naturalized citizen.

The text below is from an editorial in the Dallas Morning News:
As for the question of whether Stroman should live or die, Bhuiyan has an extraordinary position on that, too: He wants his attacker’s life spared to end the cycle of hatred, violence and death and to afford Stroman the chance to rehabilitate and renounce hate.

Bhuiyan says he has the support of the families of the two men who were fatally shot, Waqar Hasan, originally of Pakistan, and Vasudev Patel, of India.

Think about it: three industrious immigrants working hard to support their families or advance their education. They are targeted by a vicious ex-con out to purify the country of outsiders. Now those hurt by this crime seek to drop the quest for retribution.

Retribution, in fact, is one element of the death penalty that the Supreme Court has cited in allowing its use. With the victims of the Stroman spree now dropping the demand for retribution — vengeance, essentially — the state is left alone in seeking it. Moral authority, though, has fallen away.

This newspaper is opposed to all capital punishment because justice will never be air tight and the punishment is irrevocable, unevenly applied and of questionable deterrent value.

Bhuiyan opposes it for far more personal reasons. It’s hard to fathom how he goes out of his way to find redeeming value in the criminal who shot him, but he says his attacker has the capacity to become an evangelist for healing.

Stroman appears to have accepted responsibility for the killings, at least in entries on a blog that supporters help him maintain. His motives and level of remorse are fair game, and people have every right and reason for skepticism.

Bhuiyan has every right and reason to meet with Stroman and judge for himself.
————————-

Rais Bhuiyan (photos below) has said this about the man who shot him in the face:

I forgave [Mark] Stroman many years ago. In fact, I have never hated him. I never hated America for what happened to me. I believe he was ignorant and not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong; otherwise, he wouldn't have done what he did.

Thank you,

Your friends at Texas Moratorium Network

Urge Rick Perry to Listen to Shooting Victim and Stop the Execution of Mark Stroman

2011-07-18T17:05:00.003-05:00

Rais Bhuiyan

Please contact Governor Rick Perry to urge him to grant a stay of execution to Mark Stroman, who is scheduled for execution Wednesday, July 20. Rais Bhuiyan , who survived being shot by Mark Stroman is urging that Stroman not be executed.

Call Governor Perry at 512 463 2000. You can also use Perry's website contact form, or better yet, both call and email.

They will answer the phone during office hours. If you call after office hours, you can leave a message.

Come to the Texas Capitol at 11th and Congress on Wednesday, July 20 at 5:30 PM to protest the scheduled execution of Mark Stroman.

Urge Governor Perry to grant a stay of execution for Mark Stroman.

Just 10 days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working at a gas station in Dallas when he was shot in the face by a man named Mark Stroman.

Stroman was on a shooting spree, targeting people who appeared to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent. Stroman is due to be executed July 20; Bhuiyan, the only survivor of the attacks, is fighting to save his life.

When Stroman entered the gas station, Bhuiyan initially thought it was a routine robbery.

“I opened the cash register, offered him the cash, and requested him not to shoot me,” Bhuiyan tells weekends on All Things Considered host Laura Sullivan. “In reply he asked me, ‘Where are you from?’ And the question seemed strange to ask during a robbery. And I said, ‘Excuse me?’ And as soon as I spoke, I felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face, and then heard an explosion.”

Bhuiyan required medical attention for years after the attack. The bullet hit him on the right side of the face, leaving severe injuries, particularly to his right eye.

“I had to go through several surgeries and finally the doctor could save the eye, but the vision is gone, and I’m still carrying more than 35 pellets on the right side of my face,” he says. “Once I touch my face, my skull, I can feel it’s all bumpy. It took several years to go through all these painful surgeries one after another one.”

From CBS News:

Less than a week before convicted killer Mark Anthony Stroman is scheduled for execution, one of his victims is suing Texas Governor Rick Perry in effort to save the life of the man who tried to take his during a spree of hate crimes following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"Please do the right thing, save a human life, please," Rais Bhuiyan said from the steps of the Travis County Courthouse Thursday, according to CBS affiliate KTVT.

Bhuiyan, a devout Muslim, begged for mercy for Stroman, a death row inmate who shot him in 2001, leaving him partially blind.

"Please, listen to my request and lower Mark's punishment from death to life in prison," he said, "If the Governor of Texas and the Board of Pardons and Parole can listen to the victims when they want revenge, why can they not listen when the victims are asking for mercy?"

Stroman was convicted of killing an Islamic man in the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks, but according to police, he also killed a second man and shot Bhuiyan, who was working at a convenience store in southeastern Dallas. According to KTVT, all the victims were from India and Pakistan.

Stroman believed the U.S. government "hadn't done their job so he was going to do it for them" and retaliate for the terrorist attacks, according to The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"September 11th did a horrible thing not just to the U.S. but to the world, this is a time we can take a new narrative, a narrative of forgiveness, compassion, tolerance and healing," Bhuiyan said. "I never hated him, I was never angry at him, rather I understand what he did was out of ignorance."

Video of Panel Discussion on Todd Willingham Case After Screening of Film "Incendiary: The Willingham Case"

2011-07-15T00:53:00.002-05:00

TribLive: A Conversation About Cameron Todd Willingham from texastribune on Vimeo.

After a recent screening of "Incendiary: The Willingham Case", Texas Tribune's Evan Smith talked about the science of fire and death penalty politics with the filmmakers, Steve Mims and Joe Bailey Jr.; former Forensic Science Commission Chairman Sam Bassett; former Texas Gov. Mark White; and acting Corsicana City Attorney Terry Jacobson.

Click here to watch the panel discussion. Former Texas Governor Mark White makes some good points during the discussion.

Urge Rick Perry to Stay Execution of Humberto Leal in Order to Protect Americans Traveling Abroad

2011-07-06T00:47:00.005-05:00

Please contact Governor Rick Perry to urge him to grant a stay of execution to Humberto Leal, who is scheduled for execution Thursday, July 7.

Call Governor Perry at 512 463 2000.

They will answer the phone during office hours. If you call after office hours, you can leave a message.
Urge Governor Perry to grant a stay of execution for Humberto Leal until the U.S. Congress has time to pass the legislation already filed that would put the United States into compliance with its international obligations to review death sentences in cases in which the person convicted was not allowed to contact their consulate for assistance.

Executing a person who was not allowed to contact his consulate for legal assistance puts all Americans traveling in other countries in danger. Think about the three American hikers arrested in Iran. They would have suffered even more and had more legal difficulties if they had been denied their rights to contact the American consulate.

The text below is taken from the website www.humbertoleal.org:

On July 7, Texas is poised to execute Humberto Leal Garcia,

a Mexican national who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death without ever being informed that he had the right to seek assistance from the Mexican consulate – assistance that in his case would have made the difference between life and death.

American students, tourists, members of our military, businesspeople and aid workers who travel abroad depend on the vital lifeline of consular access. Those who have been wrongly detained overseas often say that the assistance of the consulate is more important than the advice of a foreign lawyer. As in the case of Mr. Leal, their rights to consular access are protected by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations – one of the most widely ratified treaties in the world.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held that Mr. Leal was entitled to a hearing on the consular rights violation in his case. President Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Obama Administration have all acknowledged that the United States is obligated to comply with ICJ's decision.

Congress has now introduced legislation that would require implementation of the ICJ's decision. The bill before Congress has the support of the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.

On July 1, in a rare move, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a stay of execution for Mr. Leal until the end of the Congressional term "in order to allow the United States additional time to meet its international-law obligations." The Solicitor General states that "failure to comply with [the Vienna Convention] will weaken the force of the United States' insistence that other countries respect those rules; an internationally high-profile execution while remedial legislation is pending would greatly exacerbate that problem."

If a court does not intervene or Texas Governor Rick Perry does not grant a stay to Mr. Leal, other nations will be emboldened to violate the consular rights of U.S. citizens arrested in foreign countries, and American citizens traveling abroad will be placed at risk. The case of the three hikers arrested on the Iranian border and charged with espionage is a reminder of the dangers that U.S. citizens face traveling abroad.

Because of these safety concerns, former diplomats, retired military officials, and organizations representing Americans abroad are coming forward to urge Governor Perry to grant a stay and the U.S. Congress to pass legislation which would entitle Mr. Leal to a hearing on the consular rights violation.

If the Mexican consulate had been informed of Mr. Leal's arrest, it would have retained highly qualified and experienced legal counsel. In the absence of consular assistance, he was represented by a court-appointed lawyer who has been suspended or reprimanded on multiple occasions for ethical violations. Mr. Leal's trial lawyers failed to challenge the junk science that the prosecution relied on to obtain a conviction, and they failed to tell the jury about critical facts that could have spared his life—including evidence that he was raped by his parish priest in San Antonio. Mr. Leal is now seeking modern DNA testing to show that he is innocent of the crime. With consular assistance, Mr. Leal would never have been convicted, let alone sentenced to death.

Kerry Max Cook Writes About Randall Dale Adams

2011-07-01T02:23:00.000-05:00

My name is Kerry Max Cook. I am not here to talk about what it took for me to survive twenty-two years on death row as an innocent person. I am here to talk about a man I met while I was on Texas death row also innocent, my friend, Randall Dale Adams.

It was the summer of 1978 when I met a young Randall Dale Adams on cellblock J-21 -- the original death row "wing" where those exiled under a sentence of death were assigned "Ad. Seg," or Administrative Segregation, as prison officials call it.

Death row was a lot of things, but most of all, it was a wild and crazy place, a hate-factory and an austere human repository warehousing every conceivable mental and emotional disorder known to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

As an example, Randall and I would be talking and, without warning, violence erupted from somewhere around us. Once, I witnessed a quick scuffle and then heard the dull thud of a heavy body falling solidly to the concrete floor, met by a guard’s shrill screams, “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” The body of death row inmate Edward King lay prostrate gasping his last breath with a chicken bone protruding from his chest, mortally wounded by a fellow death row inmate - - his best friend. By the time the nurses arrived, Edward King needed only the stale, dirty State-issued dingy sheet to wrap and remove him to await the Walker County coroner’s office.

Randall Dale Adams clearly didn’t belong there, despite having come, at one time, less than 72 hours away from execution. He didn’t suffer from an anti-social, schizophrenic personality disorder, indigenous to a diseased and dangerous mind gone AWOL. Randall Dale Adams was no killer.

Simply put, Randall Dale Adams was a square, an innocent American citizen who fell victim to the antics of a troubled teenager named David Ray Harris. Randall, through twist of fate, got caught in the cross hairs of an overzealous Texas prosecutor. Randall was a naive, quiet and unassuming, kind man who cared about others. Had he not agreed to give David Harris a ride that fateful night, I would not have met Randall on death row and officer Robert W. Wood would still be alive.

The last time I saw Randall was when we met in Austin and testified before the 77th Texas Legislature.

Randall’s ordeal with Texas officials and the fight to clear his name and be recognized was so grueling and intense; he left public life and moved back to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio where he died last October.

In representing Randall in this moment of grief, I think if Randall could have left you with something, it would be this:

“We rightfully legislate laws to honor victims of unspeakable crimes. You didn’t recognize me in life, and maybe you won’t recognize me in death, but I still believe in you, even though your politics sometimes prevents you from believing in me. You don’t have to remember me, but please, for the sake of those who follow after me, please remember my story….”

New York Times Gives Randall Dale Adams the Coverage He Deserves

2011-06-26T20:02:00.000-05:00

Randall Dale Adams in 2001 Calling for a Moratorium on
Executions in Texas

On June 22, we blogged about the death of Texas death row exoneree Randall Dale Adams. Randall will be missed. He was someone who could bear personal witness about the injustice of the Texas death penalty. The power of his voice was evident in 2001 when he testified to a committee in the Texas Legislature for a moratorium bill, helping to convince the committee to vote in favor of stopping executions and studying the system.

The news of Randall's death was picked up by the AP, which said:

"Adams did such a good job of disappearing that his Oct. 30 death from a brain tumor didn't become widely known until Friday, when it was reported by the Dallas Morning News. (His former attorney) Randy Schaffer confirmed his former client's death after speaking to his family. Adams was 61."

Now, the New York Times has a long story about Randall, who died in October 2010. Condolences, memories and tributes can be left here.

June 25, 2011

Randall Adams, 61, Dies; Freed With Help of Film

By DOUGLAS MARTIN, New York Times

Randall Dale Adams, who spent 12 years in prison before his conviction in the murder of a Dallas police officer was thrown out largely on the basis of evidence uncovered by a filmmaker, died in obscurity in October in Washington Court House, Ohio. He was 61.

Mr. Adams had chosen to live a quiet life divorced from his past, and when he died on Oct. 30, 2010, of a brain tumor, the death was reported only locally, said his lawyer, Randy Schaffer. The death was first widely reported on Friday.

The film that proved so crucial to Mr. Adams was “The Thin Blue Line,” directed by Errol Morris and released in 1988. It told a harrowing story, and it had the effect of helping to bring about Mr. Adams’s release the following year.

“We’re not talking about a cop killer who’s getting out on a technicality,” Mr. Morris said when Mr. Adams was set free. “We’re talking about an unbelievable nightmare.”

The story began on Nov. 27, 1976. Mr. Adams was walking along a Dallas street after his car had run out of gas when a teenager, David Ray Harris, came by in a stolen car and offered him a ride. The two spent the day drinking, smoking marijuana and going to a drive-in movie.

Shortly after midnight, a Dallas police officer, Robert Wood, stopped a car for a traffic violation and was shot and killed. The investigation led to Mr. Harris, who accused Mr. Adams of the murder. Other witnesses corroborated his testimony, and Mr. Adams was convicted in 1977.

Sentenced to die by lethal injection, Mr. Adams appealed the verdict, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to overturn it. His execution was scheduled for May 8, 1979.

Three days before the execution, the United States Supreme Court ordered a stay on the grounds that prospective jurors who had been uneasy about the death penalty were excluded during jury selection even though they had clearly said they would follow Texas law.

Gov. Bill Clements went on to commute Mr. Adams’s sentence to life in prison. With the death penalty no longer an issue, the Texas appeals court ruled there was “now no error in the case.”

In March 1985, Mr. Morris arrived in Dallas to work on a documentary about a psychiatrist whose testimony in death penalty cases was controversial. The psychiatrist contended that he could predict future criminal behavior, something the American Psychiatric Association had said was impossible.

In Dallas, Mr. Morris met Mr. Schaffer, who had been working on the case since 1982. The two began piecing together a puzzle that pointed to Mr. Harris’s guilt in the police shooting. Mr. Harris had by then accumulated a long criminal record and was on death row for an unrelated murder.

Mr. Morris and Mr. Schaffer knew from the records that Mr. Harris had bragged about killing a police officer after the shooting but had then recanted and blamed Mr. Adams, and that the pistol used in the killing had been stolen from his father.

Their own investigation revealed that three witnesses had been improperly sprung on the defense and that they had committed perjury in their testimony. Moreover, a statement that Mr. Adams signed during an interrogation was misconstrued as an admission that he had been at the scene of the crime.

With so much evidence seeming to suggest Mr. Harris’s guilt, many Texans believed prosecutors had gone after Mr. Adams and not Mr. Harris because Mr. Harris, who was 16, was too young to be executed under Texas law. In the murder of a police officer, the theory went, prosecutors almost always seek the most severe punishment.

Mr. Schaffer said Mr. Morris gained access to witnesses and others related to the case. “They forgot the script they learned for the trial,” he said. “They told the truth.”

After the movie came out in 1988, the resulting outcry prompted a judge to grant another hearing, something Mr. Schaffer had not been able to accomplish. Mr. Harris recanted his previous testimony, without confessing. In 2004, Mr. Harris was executed for the other murder.

In March 1989, the Texas appeals court ruled Mr. Adams was entitled to a new trial because of the perjured testimony. Three weeks later, he was released on his own recognizance, and two days after that the Dallas district attorney dropped all charges.

Mr. Adams lived a peripatetic life afterward, first returning to his native Ohio, then moving to upstate New York, later returning to Texas, in the Houston area, and finally settling again in Ohio. Mr. Schaffer said Mr. Adams gave speeches against the death penalty and married the sister of a man on death row. He did not know if they were still married at his death.

Mr. Adams’s mother died in December, and he is survived by at least one sister, Mr. Schaffer said.

Mr. Morris went on to make, among other films, “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara” (2003), which won an Academy Award.

Mr. Schaffer said that if Mr. Adams were found to be wrongly convicted under today’s law in Texas, he would get $80,000 for each year of incarceration. At the time his conviction was thrown out, wrongly convicted prisoners could get a lump sum payment of $25,000 if pardoned by the governor. But Mr. Adams was ineligible for the money. He had not been pardoned; his case had been dismissed.

He also did not receive the $200 given to prisoners when they are released on parole or on the completion of their sentences, Mr. Schaffer said. Again, Mr. Adams did not qualify.

In 2001, Randall Dale Adams testified to a committees in the Texas House and Senate and told his story of how he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to Texas death row. His testimony helped convince the committees to vote in favor of a moratorium on executions. Later in 2001, 53 members of the Texas House voted for a moratorium on the floor of the Texas House in a bill filed by Rep Harold Dutton.

This year in 2011, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence again considered a bill for a moratorium on executions, but the committee took no action on the bill. Maybe if the committee members had been able to hear from Randall Adams they would have voted for a moratorium.

Texas Moratorium Network

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Mark Stroman executed despite lawsuit by surviving victim Rais Bhuiyan seeking to stop execution

Help stop today's execution in Texas of Mark Stroman

Urge Rick Perry to Listen to Shooting Victim and Stop the Execution of Mark Stroman

Video of Panel Discussion on Todd Willingham Case After Screening of Film "Incendiary: The Willingham Case"

Urge Rick Perry to Stay Execution of Humberto Leal in Order to Protect Americans Traveling Abroad

On July 7, Texas is poised to execute Humberto Leal Garcia,

Kerry Max Cook Writes About Randall Dale Adams

New York Times Gives Randall Dale Adams the Coverage He Deserves

Randall Adams, 61, Dies; Freed With Help of Film

By DOUGLAS MARTIN, New York Times