Press Conference on Willie Pondexter, Scheduled to be Executed on March 3

February 25,

Contacts: Gloria Rubac 713-503-2633
Njeri Shakur 713-237-0713

Press Conference on Willie Pondexter, Scheduled to be Executed on March 3;
Why Pondexter Deserves Clemency, Why Texas Should Halt This Execution

Friends and advocates of Willie Pondexter will hold a press conference at 11:00 AM at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3815 Live Oak, on Thursday, February 26, five days before his scheduled execution, to demand that he be given a stay of execution until his civil rights lawsuit can be ruled on by the Federal Appeals Court for the 5th Circuit.

Harvard law students were detained by Polk County sheriffs last month when they tried to visit ta correction officer at his home in Livinston, the town that houses death row. They were working on Pondexter's clemency appeal but were not able to complete their work. They were threatened with arrest if they returned to Livingston.

Pondexter's advocates include Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, whose statement will be read and made available.

According to one attorney working on Pondexter's case, "If there was ever anyone in Texas that deserves clemency, it is Willie Pondexter. He is a changed person who has spent nearly half his life on death row and maintained an exemplary disciplinary record."