Sunday, September 18, 2011

Back-to-back executions loom in Texas



Cleve "Sarge" Foster, top, and Lawrence Brewer


By Elizabeth Stein
Producer, Execution Watch



Sarge Foster has cheated death for the third time this year. A spokesman for the U.S. Supreme Court said this afternoon that Foster was granted a stay of execution pending a hearing on his petition for a Writ of Certiorari -- a request that the High Court review the decision of a lower court.

Foster was slated to be put to death tonight, based on his conviction for participating in a crime in which another man has admitted killing a woman. The Supreme Court has granted Foster two other stays for execution dates set earlier this year.

Needless to say, Execution Watch is canceled for tonight. Unfortunately, we are still on for tomorrow, when Lawrence Brewer is slated to be put to death. More at http://executionwatch.org

HUNTSVILLE -- Texas plans back-to-back executions this week.

On Tuesday, the state intends to put to death Army veteran Cleve "Sarge" Foster, whose murder conviction and death sentence have been under attack. The following day, Lawrence Brewer is slated for execution in the dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas.

Barring a stay, Execution Watch will broadcast live coverage and analysis during the hour of each execution, 6 p.m. Central Time, on KPFT FM 90.1 Houston, streaming at http://executionwatch.org > Listen.


CLEVE “SARGE” FOSTER 
A 47-year-old Army veteran, Foster faces his third execution date this year. He was convicted of participating in a 2002 crime in Tarrant County in which another man has admitted committing a murder. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Foster stays in January and April of this year. More background: executionwatch.org > Backpage on Cleve Foster.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: RAY HILL, an ex-convict and activist who founded, and hosted for 30 years, the Prison Show on KPFT. His new show may be heard every weekday on hmsnetradio.org at 2 p.m. CT.

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney, he’s a native Texan and  iconoclast who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution table and the defense table. His guests may include fellow attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: CLEVE “SARGE” FOSTER. At Foster’s invitation, volunteer staffers from Execution Watch went to death row in Livingston and recorded an interview with him. If Foster is executed, the entire unedited, 20-minute interview will air as the show’s featured interview.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a board member and founder of Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,  www.tcadp.org.


LAWRENCE RUSSELL BREWER
Age 43, Brewer is one of three white men convicted of chaining James Byrd, a 49-year-old black man, to the back of a pickup and dragging him to death on a country road near Jasper in 1998. One fall partner also received a death sentence; the other is serving life in prison. More Background: http://executionwatch.org > Backpage on Lawrence Brewer

SHOW LINEUP
RAY HILL, an ex-convict and activist who founded, and hosted for 30 years, the Prison Show on KPFT. His new show may be heard every weekday on hmsnetradio.org at 2 p.m. CT.

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney, he’s a native Texan and  iconoclast who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution table and the defense table. He’ll be joined by fellow attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: DENNIS LONGMIRE, professor of criminal justice, Sam Houston State University, will elucidate the high cost to taxpayers of the death penalty. In this case, the trials alone cost Jasper County a total of $1.02 million, leading to a 6.7 percent property-tax hike.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a board member and founder of Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,  www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On Oct. 27, Texas plans to execute FRANK GARCIA. If it does, Execution Watch will broadcast. Details: executionwatch.org.


PRODUCER: Elizabeth Stein, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Otis Maclay, omaclay @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
INTERVIEW TAPING: Mark Pirtle.
THEME: By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

Execution Watch is on Facebook.







1 comment:

Anonymous said...

mikeysmind



NEW RULES !! Capital punishment can only be carried out after the guilty party digs thier own grave & when there is another guilty party available to throw the dirt over the first grave..... and finally the appeals process only go's on until the next guilty verdict.....Thats right I said it !! Only one guilty death row inmate in prison at a time.