Houston: Death Penalty Activists to Counter the D.A.’s Charges at Dec. 9 Press Conference

If you are in Houston and are available Thursday morning, please join us at this important press conference to counter the lies of the Harris County D.A.'s office regarding the defense attorneys' motion in the case of John Edward Green, Jr., who is facing capital murder charges.  His attorneys are arguing that the way Texas uses the death penalty is unconstitutional because innocent people have been and will continue to be executed. 

The hearing that was shut down was historic and timely; it was putting one more nail in the coffin of the capital punishment.

December 8, 2010

PRESS ADVISORY

Contact: Gloria Rubac   713-503-2633

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Shuts Down Hearing on Constitutionality of Texas Use of the Death Penalty;

Death Penalty Activists to Counter the D.A.’s Charges at Dec. 9 Press Conference

Clarence Brandley, an African American man who lost ten years of his life on Texas death row due to a wrongful conviction, will address the media on Dec. 9 at 10:00 AM at a press conference at the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center in response to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals shutting down a hearing on the unconstitutional use of the death penalty in Texas.

Brandley, a member of Witness to Innocence, (www.WitnesstoInnocence.org) will respond to the unfounded charges of the Harris County District Attorneys’ office who opposed the pretrial motion in the case of capital murder defendant John E. Green. 

Arrested in 1980, Brandley and another Conroe High School janitor were questioned for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old high school volleyball player, Cheryl Ferguson.  The deputy looked at the two men and pointed to Brandley, saying, “Well someone is going to hang for this and since you are the n * * * er, you’re elected!”  It was ten years and several execution dates later that Brandley finally won his freedom in 1990.

Also speaking will be Lee Greenwood-Rollins whose son, Joseph Nichols, was wrongfully executed on March 7, 2007.  She will explain how Texas law and the Harris County District Attorney allowed her son to be convicted and executed for a murder he did not commit. 

“The D.A. is obviously afraid of the facts being presented in this hearing that show how easy it is to be wrongfully convicted in Texas.  People should know that for every nine people executed in the U.S., one person is exonerated.  Out of 138 exonerations from death row in the U.S., 12 of them have been right here in Texas,” said Abolition Movement activist Njeri Shakur.

The SHAPE Center is located at 3815 Live Oak at Alabama in Third Ward.  The press conference is being organized by the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement.   (http://AbolitionMovememt.org)