Report from the Meeting of Texas Forensic Science Commission

Todd Willingham's name was never spoken aloud at the meeting of the Forensic ScienceCommission Friday in Harlingen. Yet his presence was certainly there, loud and clear. Grits For Breakfast live blogged the meeting.

Members of the Abolition Movement and the Rio Grande Valley chapter each carried bright yellow foam boards with Todd's picture on them and we added different slogans. Sylvia Garza, mother of Bobby Garza, who is on death row under the disgusting laws of parties, was glared at by D.A. Bradley all during the meeting, as her sign read: "Bradley & T.F.S.C.: Stop the Cover-up!"

The whole day became the John Bradley show, as he planned the agenda, and not only that, but had a prepared report for each item on the agenda. He clearly did not want any input from the commission members, and at times this did not sit well, particularly with the commission members NOT appointed last October by Rick Perry.

He wants sole control of the committees he proposed, he want to name which 3 members get to review each complaint presented to the commission and name the chair of the three-member committee. He doesn't want anyone except himself speaking to the media and this did not sit well, although I think it is now policy.

While a couple of commissioners did refer to Todd's case, it was called a "weighty matter that we need to finish working on," and never was his name uttered.

Hopefully some of us can make it to the April meeting in Ft. Worth. Bradley's plan of keeping out of the media spotlight did NOT work, however! He would have had to cross the border, I guess!

Also, our two organizations were invited to do a workshop at the 5th Annual Peace and Justice Gathering in Weslaco on Saturday at the South Texas College. Sylvia and I did ours two times, once in Spanish and the second time in English. We attracted a good crowd (there were three other workshops going on). Both sessions had a number of young people who were interested in attending the Alternative Spring break in Austin and these youth are in HIGH SCHOOL! They just wanted to know if parents could come with them. They belong to a service organization called ARISE! Sylvia spoke with one parent and will be going to their high school to speak to the whole club.

A good two days of action for abolition. Thanks to Sylvia, Mona, Lydia, Janie, and Marisol for their long days of abolition work ! !

Video: 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty

Exonerated death-row inmates and family members of inmates on death-row leaded the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on October 24, 2009 at the Texas Capitol in Austin.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube

The State of the Death Penalty and Governor Perry's 200th Execution

KPFT Open Journal, 90.1 FM (Houston)
or www.kpft.org

Tune in Friday, May 29, 12:05--1:00pm

Hosted and produced by Gloria Rubac

Guests from the Texas Moratorium Network, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas
Death Penalty Abolition Movement with families of Jeff Wood, Howard Guidry, and Juan Ramirez and more.

• Where are we in fighting the death penalty?
• Recent victories nationwide?
• Any good news in Texas?
• How in the hell can one governor execute 200 people?
• Progress at the Legislative?
• Law of Parties update from families
• Why Kenneth Foster won clemency
• INNOCENCE--the reason support for DP is down
• Cases of innocence in Texas--Howard Guidry/Rodney Reed

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

www.protest200executions.com

TDPAM Reports on the Willie Pondexter Press Conference

Dear Friends,

The Abolition Movement had a surprisingly successful press conference today for Willie Pondexter.

If you're in Houston, check out channels 11(CBS), 39 (CW), and 47 (Telemundo). Also the Houston Chronicle came. KTRH 740 AM (Clear Channel) just called and did an interview and said it would air Friday morning.

The Abolition Movement wants to thank everybody who came and spoke and those who were with us for the press conference: Deloyd Parker, Exec Director of S.H.A.P.E.; Dave Hutsell, Vets for Peace; Elizabeth Stein, Producer of Execution Watch; several members of the SHAPE Center Council of Elders; and Njeri Shakur and Bob Gartner with the Abolition Movement.

Also a big thanks to S.H.A.P.E. for setting up and allowing the use of their gazebo and to Dave, the master knot-tier for getting the banner hung.

PRESS STATEMENT

We are here today to talk about Willie Pondexter and to urge Governor Rick Perry to see that the death sentence of Mr. Pondexter be commuted to life in prison. Mr. Pondexter is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on March 3, 2009 for the 1993 burglary and murder of Martha Lennox. He was 19 years old at the time of the crime and had no previous prison record.

A clemency petition has been filed with the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Mr. Pondexter has repeatedly expressed remorse for the 1993 crime in which he took part. During the course of more than 14 years on death row, he has been a helpful, respectful inmate with no disciplinary problems. At least one TDCJ guard has stepped forward to support clemency.

Every human being is capable of change and improvement. Mr. Pondexter has demonstrated remorse for his crime. In
prison, on death row, he has worked daily to be a good and respectful man. The Board of Paroles and the governor should
recognize this in their consideration of clemency. Otherwise, why do we say we have a clemency process?

Under Texas law, only those who represent a future danger to our society can be sentenced to death. Mr. Pondexter has

shown that he does not fit that category. The state of Texas has a responsibility to show mercy on those deserving of it. When they do, it sends a powerful message t o those in prison today that personal conduct matters.

On January 17, 2009, two Harvard Law students who were interning at Texas Defender Service and helping to investigate
Mr. Pondexter's case for clemency were pulled over and unlawfully detained by Deputy Sheriff Terry White of the
Polk County Sheriff's Office, after attempting to lawfully interview a correctional officer whom counsel for Mr.
Pondexter believed had relevant and favorable evidence for Mr. Pondexter's clemency application. With his execution date one week away, Mr. Pondexter's attorneys are filing an appeal with the Fifth Circuit of a civil rights lawsuit which demonstrates how the State is interfering with Mr. Pondexter's ability to put facts in front of those who will decide his fate.

We are outraged and alarmed at the high number of executions already carried out just in 2009—eight executions in just six
weeks! Willie Pondexter would be number nine. And another half dozen executions are already scheduled in our state.
Last year Texas carried out a full 50% of all US executions.

We call for a halt to all the scheduled executions until the legislature can decide what to do with this criminal justice crisis

in Texas.

• We have innocent people being exonerated every week.
• We have crime labs that do not work.
• We have DA’s that withhold exculpatory evidence at all

costs even though this is illegal.

• We have a chief judge of Texas’ highest criminal court

who is facing impeachment for closing the court when a man’s life was at stake.

• We have Harvard law students threatened with arrest for doing their job.

ALL executions must stop until we can figure out how to have a fair and just system.

February 26, 2009

Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement

713-503-2633

Abolition.Movement@hotmail.com

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."

Ramsey Clark awarded UN Human Rights prize

Dear Friends,

This is wonderful news about Ramsey Clark. This past summer when I contacted Ramsey about the Jeff Wood case, he did not hesitate when asked to write a letter to the governor and the Board of Pardons.

Ramsey was the attorney for my friend Carlos Santana who was executed by the state of Texas in March of 1993. After witnessing Carlos' murder, I remember thanking Ramsey for all the work he had done for Carlos, who was convicted under the law of parties. He told me that Carlos was dead because he was poor and didn't have a good attorney at his trial. That is why we must stop the death penalty, he told me.

The ruling class hates Ramsey because he turned his back on them and has never looked back. Whether it is the death penalty or the genocide against Iraq or the threats against Iran, Ramsey will not tolerate injustice.

At our January meeting, we should all sign a card for him congratulating him on this award. I know he is not concerned about awards, but there is no one more deserving and we should thank him for all he does.

Ramsey is from Texas. His father Tom, was on the US Supreme Court. Ramsey was the US Attorney General under LBJ, I think. After that he totally did an about face and has stood with the poor and oppressed of the US and the world.

Gloria

International Action Center

Congratulations to Ramsey Clark

Ramsey Clark receives UN Human Rights Award 2008

International Action Center founder Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General and internationally renown human rights defender, received the respected United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 10 December 2008.

The announcement of the award was presented by the President of the General Assembly, Miguel d´Escoto Brockmann, who is one of the five members of the selection committee. The award is made every five years to five human rights defenders whose life's work has been outstanding. It is presented on December 10, International Human Rights Day, every five years

At the UN Press Conference after accepting the award, Ramsey Clark emphasized the UN's role in ensuring world peace reminding journalists that “The greatest threat to human rights is war.”

The award is given to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Previous recipients have included Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Reverend Dr. Martin L. King.”

Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto said “As we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we acknowledge the tireless work and invaluable contribution of these individuals and organizations that have fought to see the rights and freedoms embodied in this historic document become a reality for people in all corners of the world.”

“These awardees constitute symbols of persistence, valour and tenacity in their resistance to public and private authorities that violate human rights. They constitute a moral force to put an end to systematic human rights violations.”

The UN announcement described Ramsey Clark as “a veteran human rights defender and rule of law advocate, played a key role in the civil rights and peace movements in the US, and more recently has spoken out against abuses committed in the name of “counter-terrorism.”

The International Action Center, founded by Ramsey Clark in 1992 is known internationally for its major role in the anti-war movement in the U.S. and its actions in the forefront of extending solidarity to countries and peoples facing U.S. attack and threats.

The many activists and the large all-volunteer staff of the International Action Center along with hundreds of people who have worked with him over many years extend their enthusiastic congratulations to Ramsey Clark for his tireless and courageous efforts. This United Nations Human Rights Award is well deserved.

We remain committed to solidarity with peoples and countries under U.S. attack. We are determined to continue developing ever wider opposition to U.S. policies of endless war, expanding militarism, racism and growing poverty for millions. Si se puede!

A Terrible Loss

Dear Friends,

There was a murder in Houston on Saturday night. It was the sister of death row activist and a founder of PURE, Harvery Tee Earvin. Also murdered was his sister's god child.

His family will bury Savannah, as she was called, on this Saturday at 11am.

Please keep Tee in your thoughts. If you want to send a card, his address is:

Harvery Earvin #000577
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South, Livingdston, TX 77351

Or come by SHAPE tonight for our holiday card siging. We will have a sympathy card there that folks can sign.

This is the article from the Houston Chronicle. Tee's family doesn't know a motive or who did this yet.

Home invasion deaths trouble NE Houston residents
By ALLAN TURNER

First came gunshots in the night. Then came police sirens, popping
camera flashes, the investigators' hubbub and, finally, uneasy quiet as
the night's victims, Letha Perkins and her 13-year-old goddaughter were
trundled into a waiting ambulance and taken to the morgue.

By Sunday morning, only yellow tape surrounding the crime scene at 7528
Sandra remained. And by Monday, when Perkins' relatives arrived to
straighten the house, even that was gone.

All that remained in the wake of the Saturday homicides -- the area's
second and third in less than two weeks -- were puzzlement and fear.
Fear, residents said, has been an unwelcome guest in the northeast
Houston neighborhood ever since crack cocaine made its appearance.

"This used to be a safe neighborhood," Perkins' sister, Paulette Levan,
said Monday. "We all grew up here. My mother lived right on the corner.
Now it's changed."

On Nov. 25, she noted, robbers killed a clerk at a convenience store on
Crosstimbers less than a mile from the Perkins home. Police on Monday
said the killers of Onyemaobi Okorafor remained at large.


Suspicious people

Perkins, 51, a retired charter bus company employee, apparently shared
a sense of unease. Late on the Wednesday before her death, she
telephoned police to report suspicious people near her home. Later, she
told neighbors that strange men had knocked on her door shortly before
midnight. No arrests were made.

Perkins lived in a well-kept green frame house, easily the most lavish
residence in an otherwise modest neighborhood. The Perkins home is only
a block away from two churches.

About 11 p.m. on Saturday night, nearby resident Charlie Peters heard
the pop of gunshots.

He wasn't surprised.

"I didn't pay no attention," said Peters, a disabled Vietnam vet. "This
area is drug-infested. It happens all the time."

Another resident, Andrea Foots, was sleeping on a sofa in her front
room when she heard the gunshots.

Her immediate concern was for the safety of a daughter, who had chosen
precisely that moment to pull into the family driveway.

"I told her to get into the house right away. Someone was out there
with a gun," Foots recalled. "I woke up Sunday and there was crime
scene tape all over Ms. Perkins' house. I knew the shots were close,
but I didn't know they were that close."

Foots said she was only casually acqainted with Perkins, but she
befriended Perkins' goddaughter.

"She was a sweet little girl," Foots said, saying that the Key Middle
School student was a close friend of her daughter, Aaliyah. "She was a
member of the dance team, the Cougarettes."

Houston Independent School District officials confirmed that the slain
girl had attended Key Middle School. Counselors on Monday visited each
classroom and made themselves available for one-on-one consultations
with youngsters.

School and medical examiner's officials declined to identify the girl,
pending official confirmation of her name.

At Perkins' home Monday, family members clustered and talked. One woman
sat on the front porch steps, cradling her face in her hands.

"It's Christmastime," said Peters, who paused from his work on a
refrigerator to glance toward Perkins' kin standing in a knot in the
driveway. "Her family ought to be gathering for the holidays. But those
people, now they're going to be gathering for a funeral."

Attorney general defends actions in investigation of affair between judge, DA

Friends,

It is interesting and strange, in my opinion, that the Texas Attorney General gives the perception that he cares about the Charles Hood case and the picture of total unfairness that it gives to justice in Texas. And never mind the fact that it is totally illegal for a judge and a DA to be having an affair while working on the same case.

If Abbott was really on the justice ball, he would file some kind of charges on both Judge Holland and former DA O'Connell for violating the constitution of the state of Texas. And then he would make sure that Charles Hood had a new trial with an impartial DA and judge who were not romantically involved with each other.

Just another example of how this system if BROKEN. Let's shut it down!!

Gloria

(mark your calender--only 9 days until the 9th Annual Texas March to Stop Executions)

Attorney general defends actions in investigation of affair between judge, DA

11:07 AM CDT on Friday, September 26, 2008

By DIANE JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News
djennings@dallasnews.com

The state's top lawyer said Thursday that he had expected Texas courts to "step up and do the right thing" by investigating an affair between the judge and prosecutor in the trial of condemned killer Charles Dean Hood.

Only when they didn't, did his office publicly intervene in a case that he says "has called into question the integrity" of the Texas justice system.

Attorney General Greg Abbott's unusual public comments came as he responded to criticism in the formal court petition filed Thursday by Mr. Hood's attorneys seeking a new trial because retired Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell admitted having a relationship that the defense says tainted Mr. Hood's right to a fair trial.

The case has drawn attention from legal ethicists and death penalty opponents who say it has given the Texas criminal justice system a black eye.

Mr. Abbott said that though his office filed a "friend of the court" brief urging investigation into the allegations a few days before Mr. Hood's latest scheduled execution date in September, his office had been working behind the scenes since the allegations were first raised in court months earlier.

Delayed execution

Mr. Abbott pointed out that his office also was closely involved in the decision not to execute Mr. Hood on an earlier date, in June. On that occasion, Mr. Hood was twice taken to the death house as attorneys and judges wrangled long into the night. Mr. Hood's execution did not go forward despite being cleared by the courts.

"Our office was involved and advising on that process," Mr. Abbott said. He declined to clarify the role played because "it may arguably be protected by attorney-client privilege."

At the time, prison officials said they canceled the execution since they didn't have time to carry it out before the death warrant expired at midnight.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed the decision was made "after consulting with the attorney general's office."

The petition said Mr. Abbott’s last-minute actions before the September execution date “raise serious questions about his commitment to justice in this case.”

“That’s just rhetoric," Mr. Abbott said. “It sounds like a lot of lawyer hot air.”

Mr. Abbott, who supports the death penalty, said he has not read the depositions in which the judge and prosecutor admitted having a long-standing intimate relationship.

He declined to comment on whether Mr. Hood deserves a new trial, but he said he felt strongly the allegations should be explored before the sentence is carried out.

"A real triggering event was when it was learned that a hearing was set to look into this matter days after the execution was set," he said. It was then that the former Texas Supreme Court judge took public action.

Apparently, some members of Mr. Abbott's own staff were unaware of his efforts in the Hood case. After the attorney general's office filed the "friend of the court" brief urging investigation into Mr. Hood's claims, an assistant attorney general who had been representing Judge Holland filed a complaint against him with the State Bar of Texas.

"That's what happens when people shoot first and ask questions later," Mr. Abbott said.

"The person filing the complaint had no information about what me or the office had done months before representation of the judge was undertaken. We, including me personally, had already taken action in this case months before Judge Holland contacted our office for representation."

He said that when he learned the assistant attorney general had undertaken representation of Judge Holland, his office immediately told Judge Holland she needed to hire her own attorney.

The relationship

Mr. Hood was convicted in 1990 for killing Tracie Lynn Wallace and Ronald Williamson in Plano. He claims he deserves a new trial because "Judge Holland created an appearance of impropriety and an impression of possible bias."

The petition filed Thursday seeking a new trial shed more light on the relationship between Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell. According to the petition, Judge Holland told attorneys it began in 1982 and ended in 1987; Mr. O'Connell recollected it started in 1984 or 1985 and did not end until 1991 or 1992.

The two apparently remained good friends even as the romance waned. As late as 1991, they traveled to Santa Fe together, and Mr. O'Connell attended Judge Holland's family reunion that same year.

The depositions reportedly said both parties professed their love for each other during the relationship. Mr. O'Connell said Judge Holland talked about getting married, but Judge Holland denied that.

Both parties said they kept the relationship secret. "Their sexual encounters took place at each other's homes when their spouses were away," according to the petition.

According to the petition, Judge Holland said during her deposition it was "absolutely not" improper for her to preside over the Hood case. Her attorney has said the romance was not going on at the time of Mr. Hood's arrest and trial.

Neither he nor Mr. O'Connell's attorney could be reached for comment.

Mr. Hood's lawyers also declined to elaborate on the petition, which in addition to taking Mr. Abbott to task, called the conduct of "the current District Attorney and his minions ... troubling."

“Their actions have been marked by overzealousness that calls into question their adherence to their duty ‘that justice shall be done,’” the petition said.

John Rolater, the assistant district attorney for Collin County who fought to avoid the deposition of Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell, declined to comment on the petition, citing pending litigation.

“Matters like this should be resolved in the court, not in sound bites,” he said.

TRIBUTE: Stanley Tookie Williams, 1953-2005.

The organizing committee for the 9th Annual Texas March to End Executions will be showing the excellent documentary TRIBUTE: Stanley Tookie Williams, 1953-2005.

The event will be a fundraiser for the march and there is a $5 suggested donation (though no one will be turned away for lack of funds). Come out and see a good movie and
support a good cause!

When: This Thursday (10/2) @ 8.30pm

Where: Antidote Coffee Shop - 729 Studewood just north of i-10 in the Heights.

Who: You and all your friends!

What: This 66-minute film--TRIBUTE: Stanley Tookie Williams, 1953-2005--is a powerful documentary that examines death row prisoner, Crips gang co-founder, children's book author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley Tookie Williams.

The international campaign for clemency to save him from death by lethal injection ended on December 13, 2005, at 12:35 a.m. when he was pronounced dead after clemency was denied by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. TRIBUTE includes scenes from a staged reenactment of that execution.

The reenactment--as well as TRIBUTE--were produced and directed by writer Barbara Becnel and producer Shirley Neal, longtime friends of Stanley Tookie Williams. It was based on their real-life experience at San Quentin's death chamber witnessing his botched execution--it took him 35 minutes to die. The two women filmed the staged reenactment,
enabling TRIBUTE to offer a very intimate view of capital punishment.

'We created and staged a play that replicated the execution because we wanted people to see exactly what the State of California does in the middle of the night in the name of the people of the State of California,' explains Barbara Becnel.

TRIBUTE includes provocative eulogies by Snoop Dogg, Tony Robbins and Louis Farrakhan--speaking at the memorial service of Stanley Tookie Williams--and never-before-seen footage of his ashes scattered by Becnel and Neal in Soweto, South Africa. This was his last wish.

Save Jeff Wood event and execution of Rodriguez

PLEASE, we need more folks to sign up to go to Austin on Saturday for a noon rally for Jeff Wood. Jeff's execution date is next Thursday and we really need to take it up a notch. Folks will meet on 11th street in front of the Capitol and we will march on Congress to 6th Street and then come back up Congress to the Capitol for a Rally.

Jeff is innocent, a victim of the Law of Parties and there are a few things you can do to help.

1. If anyone is in contact with any Texas House members about writing a clemency letter, you can let any House member know that they can contact Elliott Naishtat's office and sign on to the clemency letter that he is drafting and planning to send next week. This must be done on Thursday as on Friday the family will take all letters to the Board of Pardons and Paroles which will decide clemency. Of course, if any state rep wants to write their own letter, they can do that instead of signing on to Naishtat's.
   
2. Senator Ellis has not signed a letter for Jeff yet, so it is unlikely other Senators will write one, but you could ask.
3. If you know anyprominent people, ask them to contact the Board and governor. We already have letters from Sister Helen Prejean, Susan Sarandon and Ramsey Clark.
4. Come with us to Austin Saturday. We will leave from SHAPE at 8 AM.
5. Make your own calls to the Board and the governor.
6. Write letters to the editor about Jeff.

For all pertinent information, see www.savejeffwood.com.

Also, we will go to Huntsville on today, Thursday. Please join us. If you cannot go to Hutnsville, listen to the kPFT News at 5:00 PM and them on the Internet listen from 6:00-7:00 to KPFT's HD2 station for Ray Hill's Execution Watch, produced by Elizabeth Stein and Otis Maclay.

Here's the scoop:
EXECUTION WATCH will air 6-7 p.m. tomorrow, Aug. 14, when the state is scheduled to kill Michael Rodriguez.

The program, which will provide commentary on and live coverage of this latest state-sponsored homicide on KPFT HD-2 90.1 FM Houston, or on the internet, where streaming will start promptly at 6 p.m. CDT at http://www.kpft.org and http://executionwatch.org.

Rodriguez will be the eighth prisoner put to death this year and the second of two this week in the most active death penalty state in the U.S. On Tuesday, Leon Dorsey was executed. Two more are to die next week

Rodriguez will also be the first surviving member of the so-called Texas 7 -- all of them now on death row -- to be executed. He and six others were involved in the slaying of a police officer following a prison escape that prompted a nationwide manhunt.

They were captured in Colorado in January 2001 after some six weeks as fugitives. One killed himself as authorities closed in.

Ray Hill will host, Gloria Rubac will provide live coverage from outside the death chamber in Huntsville, and attorney Jim Sinclair will provide legal commentary.

Special guests will be Billy Wayne Sinclair, who spent seven years on Louisiana's death row, J.C. Mosier, administrative chief of the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office and a former Houston Police officer, and Brian Olsen, executive director of the correctional officers' union, which has blamed a host of recent prison problems, including escapes, on under staffing.

Rodriguez was condemned because he was a party to the slaying, regardless of who pulled the trigger. Another law-of-parties defendant, Jeffery Wood, is scheduled for execution Aug. 21. That means the state of Texas is set to execute two people in one week's time who did not kill but, rather, were condemned under its controversial law-of-parties statute.

One reason Rodriguez's execution comes relatively soon after the crime for which he was condemned is that he is a death-penalty volunteer.

At the time of his escape, Rodriguez was serving life for arranging the murder of his wife. He worked for more than a year to convince the courts he was competent to drop his appeals and volunteer for execution. A judge signed off in September on his decision to die.

Rodriguez will be the 413th prisoner to be executed since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982 and the 174th since Rick Perry became governor in 2001. His will be the 20th execution in the United States this year and the 1119th overall since the nation resumed executions Jan. 17, 1977.

Heliberto Chi execution report from Huntsville, Texas

Fellow Abolitionists,

Tonight, Texas again did the unthinkable---it ignored the international law that guarantees someone arrested in a foreign country the right to see a representative of their country or origin. And, not only did they thumb the nose at international law, but also at a treaty signed by the US and Honduras back in 1927, ironically called some thing like the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce.

Heliberto Chi was pronounced dead at 6:25 PM. His cousin Edgardo witnessed his execution, along with representatives of the Honduran Embassy and the Honduran Consulate. Edgardo waved at the family as he crossed the street to enter the death house.

His mother and brothers, along with 15-20 members of their extended family stood outside of the death house in the intense heat, with not even one cloud for a little shade. They were with us abolitionists before and during the execution.

His brother Hernan spoke forcefully on the microphone about the crimes of the US and how his brother was being executed because he was poor. He said that only the poor and Blacks and Latinos were treated this way by the state of Texas. "In this imperial country, there is no justice for the poor, only the rich," he said in Spanish to the crowd gathered outside the death house. He also spoke with Otis McClay on KPFT Radio who was doing the Execution Watch show on KPFT's HUD2 channel. (You can listen to this show on every day that Texas executes someone by going to www.KPFT.org and clicking on the HD2 channel to get the show. I think there may be a photo of Ray Hill to click on. The live show is on from 6-7:00 PM and includes reports from Huntsville as well as discussion with attorneys and family members of those on death row or activists against the death penalty.)

His baby brother, German, who is 17 years old, told me about how their grandmother in Honduras got sick in July and said she was going to die because she could not live and experience the execution of her grandson. And then she did die and was buried by the family. He said she just couldn't bare the thought of knowing that Heliberto would be murdered. So they will take Heliberto back home to Honduras to be buried by his grandmother.

The family was quiet and stoic during the execution.

Then at 6:30 when the witnesses came out of the death house, the cousin, Edgardo came out to the family and nearly collapsed in their arms, sobbing uncontrollably and saying in Spanish that it was over and that Heliberto was with Jesus now, that he was in peace.

About 5-7 Spanish language news media surrounded the cousin and the family, doing interviews and relaying stories to people around the world about Heliberto and Huntsville, the execution capital of the United States.

The baby brother, German, told me that Heliberto was happy and at peace with the execution. He said that Heliberto told him that it would feel good to never have to go back to the Polunsky Unit and live in that hell anymore.

Heliberto's last words were, "Jesus receive my spirit. I love you Edgardo. I appreciate your hard work. Thank you. O.K. Receive my spirit. Thanks, sir."

As we were gathering up banners and signs, many of the Chi family came and thanked all of us for being there and for supporting them. His mom hugged me so tight and told me in Spanish, "Thank you so very much. Your support is so important for our family. Thank you for being here."

When I explained that Kristin Wood, who was standing with me, was the wife of an innocent man set to be executed on August 21, they hugged her also and took brochures about Jeff's case. As they walked away, they were talking among themselves about Jeff and his wife. See Jeff Wood's site.

The highest court of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the highest court of the U.S., the Supreme Court, both are guilty of the legal lynching of Heliberto Chi. So are the governor and all the spineless politicians who allow this medieval ritual of murder to flourish in Texas.

The last time in my memory that two non-citizens were executed in three days was back in 1993 when Carlos Santana from the Dominican Republic and Ramon Montoya from Mexico were executed on March 23 and March 25.

Heliberto Chi, Presente!

-Gloria Rubec

Medellin execution report from Huntsville

Fellow Abolitionists,

This damned state of Texas that thinks it is above international law. It is 12:30 in the morning and a car of us with the Abolition Movement just returned from Huntsville. Oh my god, what a horrible night.

It was raining on and off because of the tropical storm that hit Texas this morning. People started protesting before 5:00 PM. At 6:00 PM we got our hopes up because no witnesses were crossing the street from the prison system's administration building into the death house. That's how we know an execution is going to happen. First 5 media people go across the street, which is blocked off at each corner with yellow crime scene tape. Then the prisoner's family, friends or spiritual adviser or even lawyer, walk across the street, again five people.

So when no one went across at 6:00, we started trying to find out what was happening. Finally a woman with CNN told us the Supremes were considering an appeal and were holding it up.

There were 30-40 people there protesting the execution. In the rain! The Mexican consulate was there and lots of lawyers and their friends as well as Robert Reyna, a well-known investigator. People from Houston, Spring, Michigan, New Jersey, Norway, 2 from Illinois, El Paso and people from right in Huntsville had gathered.

There were about 6-7 TV satellite trucks in the parking lot by where we protest.There were many other reporters from radio and TV and newspapers. CNN is almost never in Huntsville. But besides CNN, there was Houston's NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CW, TV Azteca, Univision, and a TV station from Honduras.

We thank KPF's Prison Program staff Ray Hill and Elizabeth Stein, and Otis for doing the Execution Watch radio show from 6:00 to 7:00 PM on the HD2 Channel. Too bad that it is so hard to find out how to listen. I wish they could put it on their web page all day on the day of an execution.

So tonight Texas had lots of opportunity to show the world just how damn stupid they are. Instead of grabbing the spotlight though, they shared it with the Supreme Court. How nice that both Texas the SCOTUS failed to understand the significance of international law.

Jose's family stayed in Houston. His five witnesses included 4 attorneys and one friend. Outside with us were about a dozen family members of Heliberto Chi who will be the next foreign national to be executed this week. His brother said there were still appeals pending in his case.

When the witnesses came back out of the death house, I think around 10:00, we knew that Jose had been murdered. One of his friends collapsed and was shrieking. Heliberto's family was in tears. It was awful. Certainly none of us condone what Jose and the others did--it was horrific and unconscionable. But what Texas did was just as unconscionable.

Jose's body was being taken back to Houston and to his family. Unfortunately for the family of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena, this murder will never ease their pain or bring back their loved ones. Perhaps they will be able to heal one day--I hope so.

It is now hard to think about being back in Huntsville the day after tomorrow. Well, it is now early Wednesday morning, so I guess I should say tomorrow. DAMN TEXAS!

In struggle,

Gloria

for the Abolition Movement

Report from the Summit on Wrongful Convictions

Friends,

Six of us with the Abolition Movement went to Austin today for the Summit on Wrongful Convictions sponsored by Texas Senator Rodney Ellis.

Today was an amazing day -- meeting 9 exonerees, meeting the Dallas DA that has the courage to do the right thing, speaking with legislators who agree with us that DA's that commit misconduct should go to jail. We met with Jeff Blackburn, attorney and founder of the Innocence Project of Texas who is working with the Dallas DA and has agreed to work with us to get help for Howard Guidry, an innocent man on death row.

Regina Guidry did an interview with German TV, in German, I assume, about Howard.

The few people not enjoying the day were Roe Wilson, Harris County DA who handles post conviction capital murder appeals. Also Rissie Owens, chair of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Sen John Whitmire made Roe Wilson look like she needed Pepto Bismol, according to Ester King. And Lee Greenwood took both of Rissie Owens hands in hers and spoke to her about her allowing the murder of her son, Joseph Nichols, a man who had killed no one. I hope that keeps Ms. Owens awake tonight and every other night. Looking into the eyes of a mother in pain whose child you have murdered couldn't be easy if you have any sense of humanity. And we don't know if she does or not.

We got a commitment from State Rep. Terri Hodge to attend the 9th Annual March to Stop Executions in Houston on October 25.

Barbara Acuna and I had a long talk with Alejandro Hernandez an exoneree from El Paso who spent 13 years locked up for a crime he did not commit. He was sincerely interested in Barbara's son, Robert, who was the last juvenile sent to death row in the country. He also got to know Cesar Fierro while in the El Paso County jail in 1994. Cesar was there on a bench warrant for a eharing that should have resulted in him being freed from death row, but didn't.

The lunch was delicious and we thank Sharon for getting us name badges which allowed us and Randi with the CEDP in to the opening lunch and introduction session.

I think we made good contacts and allies for furthering our work for abolition and building the movement that is needed to stop the executions for good!

Gloria Rubec,
Death Penalty Abolition Movement - Houston, Texas

More details about the death of Diana Shorthouse

Fellow Abolitionists,

I want to let you all know that one of the Abolition Movement's long-time members and a friend to many of us in the Abolition Movement was murdered. Diana Shorthouse began working with us maybe 10 or 12 years ago. She has not been a regular at meetings for a few years now--probably 4 or 5 years. That's because she became a mother 5 years ago and really focused her time and energy on her precious daughter, Jolie. But she did attend important events and every year spent many, many hours addressing our holiday cards to those on death row in her beautiful calligraphy. This past December she had to cancel doing that at the last minute as she had to have surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Diana was murdered by her estranged husband, Mbaraka, Jolie's father, on April 8. Mbaraka then killed himself. He left his daughter without any parents. She is the real victim. Fortunately, there are many of us who love Jolie and I am sure that Jolie will grow up knowing how wonderful her mother was. The last I heard, she did not know that her father was dead or that he killed her mother. She was told by the school counselor that her mother died.

During the last 3 weeks since Diana's death, we have gone from being totally shocked, to grieving, to trying to figure out how to contact her family in the Netherlands, to worrying about Jolie. Neither Diana nor Mbaraka had any family in the United States. Her family has been gotten in touch with. Jolie was put in Child Protective Services' custody with a nice family in LaPorte, just south of Houston. A dear friend of Diana's, Donna, is Jolie's godmother and is trying to get temporary custody until Diana's family decides what to do.

Some teachers at Jolie's school as well as many of us who are Diana's friends are planning a memorial for both Diana and Mbaraka. For Jolie's sake, it will be for both her parents. But I don't know when this memorial will be. The school principal and the school counselor are working on it with us.

I think Diana's family is coming from the Netherlands this weekend.

Those of us who knew Diana well have decided that she would want cremation and not burial, but the family will make arrangements for that when they come.

At the next meeting of the Abolition Movement, on Tuesday, May 6, we will have our own memorial for Diana at 6:00 before the 7:00 PM meeting. For those of you who knew Diana but are not in Houston, please send any messages that you would want us to read. There will be a bigger memorial later for both of Jolie's parents and their daughter will be there, but ours is just for Diana. Jolie will not be there--it will be just us.

This is such a tragedy for Jolie. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Diana visited and wrote to many on death row over the years. She was totally devastated when her dear friends Emerson Rudd and then Jessy San Miguel were executed. She was a kind, gentle soul who deserved all the happiness in the world. I don't think any of us expected that her life would be so tragically cut short. She will surely keep a special place in so many of our hearts.

Diana Shorthouse, presente!

Gloria Rubec

Prison Board to Have Open comments this Thursday

Dear Fellow Activists,

On Thursday, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice will be meeting in Austin and this is one of only two times each year when the public can address this board on any issue they choose. the next one is in July.

This board controls the lives of all those in Texas prisons. This is the board that is denying the men on death row simple things like TV's, a work program, piddling in their cells, religious services, group recreation and so much more. When the rest of the system gets telephones next fall, death row will not be included.

We all know that ever since the men were sent to the Polunsky Unit, things have gone from bad to worse.

The Abolition Movement would like to ask you, particularly those living in Austin, to join us at the board meting on Thursday and speak out about conditions on death row.

Also, Kenneth Foster is in need of help on the McConnell Unit. If no one from Austin or San Antonio can go and speak for Kenneth, please let us know and we will see who from the Abolition Movement can do this. I hope his father or grandfather could come. That would be best!

We have to sign in and give the topic we wish to speak about by 8:45. At 9AM the board will begin its meeting, We cannot all put down death row conditions, so pick a small point of what you want to say and use that. If there are a lot of people speaking on one subject, they will ask for one representative to represent the group.

They cover many boring items, like congratulating someone for this or that and committee reports. but it goes fast as they are all on a per diem and want to have the rest of the day free! Never goes beyond 11AM or noon.

But on this agenda, there is actually something related to death row: something about changing or amending the authorized witnesses to an execution. Don't know what this is about?????

If you can get off work or school, please join the Abolition Movement at 8:45 Thursday. The meeting is at the Austin Hilton Hotel, 400 East 4th Street. We are sending out a press advisory about people speaking out for those on death row. I have emails for Nokia and the Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. If someone has TV and radio or someone else, send it please.

You can see the agenda at the board's web site. Go to www.tdcj.state.tx.us and click on ORGANIZATION and then go down and click on OVERSIGHT and the first item will be the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. Also on this web page www.tdcj.state.tx.us where it says "Quick Links" you can click on the last item which is "Public Presentation and Comments" and you can see the elaborate rules they have to keep any of us from disrupting the decorum of thier "business as usual" meeting.

Hope to see some of you Thursday.

(We will have copies of the resolution that many of us are introducing at Democratic Party Senate District Conventions this Saturday. If you can help with this, also let me know. Even some of us who think the Democrats are just another imperialist party have gotten elected delegates so we can push this resolution for abolition in Texas.)

In struggle,

Gloria
for the Abolition Movement

Report on the 8th Annual March to Stop Executions in Houston

by Gloria Rubec

The organizing committee for the 8th Annual March to Stop Executions thanks everyone who came out yesterday. We feel like we accomplished our goals, educated and motivated activists and energized a new generation for this struggle.

There was a diverse cross section of the Houston community attending the march, which was one of our main goals. For too long the death penalty has been seen as an issue led by a group of very well-intentioned white folks who sometimes have not a clue of the daily realities for the very, very poor, and the African American and Latino communities who are under occupation by the Houston police.

Yesterday shattered that idea because the leaders of this march were from those communities.

This would not have been possible without the months and days and hours and hours of hard work by Ester King, Deloyd Parker, Sherri Clausell, Lee Greenwood, Regina Guidry, Vermila Freenman, Njeri Shakur, Elisha Enard, our young sister, Courtney, and many more.

So many people were involved in making the event a success that I can't mention names. From the web site, to the flyers, to the banners, to the phone calls, to the leafleting, to the emails, to attending and speaking at meetings, to trying to pin down legislators, preachers and community leaders, to generous donations, to organizing transportation from around the state--many people shared the load and did the work. !Muchisimas gracias!

• Hope to see you at the Nov. 6 meeting of the Abolition Movement where we will be having a film and discussion on THE EXECUTION TAPES: GEORGIA'S SECRET AUDIO RECORDINGS OF TWO EXECUTIONS, a film from the July 17, 2007 program of Democracy Now. We will also be planning a fundraiser for Brother Clarence Brandley, making plans for our annual card signing and holdiay treats pot luck on Dec. 4 and our literature / tee shirt table for the first day of KWANZAA on Dec. 26.
• Please sign on the the judicial complaint agianst Judge Sharon "Killer" who told the attorneys for Michael Richard "We close at 5:00." Go to http://www.SharonKiller.com if you have not. You have until Nov. 6 to sign on. Do it now. If you are in the Austin area join the demonstration at Judge "Killer's" home next week.

The Houston Chronicle has a story on yesterday's march/rally, with one picture, in the City/State section of today's paper. Double their numbers and add a few more, cuz we had way more than 200 people!!! Ariel with the UH Sankofa Organization is lookin' serious in the photo.

Five additional photos are also there -- look for the hard-to-find link under "Resources" on that page (next to the camera icon). Great one of Clarence Brandley's sisters, Margaret and Alice!

You can also see photos at Flickr.

I'm sure our friends at Houston Indy Media will have something up before too long. Go to : http://houston.indymedia.org/

The struggle continues!