Press Release: Former Harris County D.A. Carol Vance Cancels Book Signing at Popular Book Store

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Former Harris County D.A. Carol Vance Cancels Book Signing at Popular Book Store;

Activists Had Planned to Protest Regarding Lies, Omissions and Misinformation in his recently published Book, Boom Town D.A.

Civil rights veterans who lived and struggled through the 1960’s and 1970’s, along with members of Houston’s progressive community won a victory when just one day before Carol Vance was to do a book reading and signing at Murder by the Book on Bissonett, he abruptly canceled, citing “extenuating circumstances.”

“He obviously felt that he did not want to face those of us who knew Lee Otis Johnson or those who were at TSU during the police riot in 1967 or those that were comrades with Carl Hampton,” said Ester King.

King worked in Mississippi during the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement and has been a leading figure in Houston’s African American community for over 40 years.

Also planning to attend the book signing was African American attorney Bobby Caldwell, who worked the other side of the court room and defended Johnson and others that Vance wrongly prosecuted.

“We have a statement from Anthony Pierce, wrongfully sent to death row in 1978, despite no forensic evidence and only faulty eye-witness identification,” said death penalty abolitionist Tim O’Brien. We wanted to read his statement and let people know that Anthony is innocent and still needs our support 33 years later. If the cops’ own test shows he didn’t fire a gun, then he did not kill anyone.”

Momentum built for the protest, as hundreds of leaflets, e-mails, Face Book messages and phone calls were made. Young people who had heard about Jose Campos Torres were planning to walk the picket line with those who remembered the day his body was found in the bayou and the cops who were never prosecuted by Carol Vance.

“We hope Vance will reschedule, but doubt that will happen. In the meantime, problems with racism and injustice in the criminal justice system in Harris County continue, Texas has two executions scheduled and we still have our work cut out for us,” said Gloria Rubac, an organizer with the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement.

Houston Sends Someone to Death Row for First Time Since 2007

Harris County (Houston) today sent someone to death row for first time in two years. Death sentences have been declining for more than a decade across the country, but now there is one more. The last time Harris County sent someone to death row was November 2007. 


According to a report from the Death Penalty Information Center (PDF), in 1994, a total of 328 people were sentenced to death in the U.S., but in 2009 only 106 people were sentenced to death in the U.S. In Texas, only 9 people were sentenced to death in 2009. During the 1990s, Texas averaged 34 death sentences every year. 










Video from KTRK in Houston:





From the Houston Chronicle:

A Harris County jury has sentenced to death a man convicted of killing a Houston police officer.

Jurors deliberated for about three hours before deciding that Mabry Joseph Landor III should be put to death by lethal injection for killing officer Timothy Abernethy.

Landor was convicted last week of murdering Abernethy during a December 2008 footchase though a north Houston apartment complex. Landor told jurors he ran because was on parole and did not have a driver's licence when Abernethy pulled him over for a traffic stop. He denied killing the veteran officer.

Witnesses testified Landor hid behind a wall and shot Abernethy as he ran by, then walked up to him and shot him though the head at close range.

After the punishment was announced, Abernethy’s son took the stand and addressed Landor.

"From the bottom of my heart and with all sincerity I do forgive you," said Timothy Abernethy Jr.

The 21-year-old, his voice shaking at times, also said he was praying for Landor’s family and children.

"It sucks but I wish them the best."

Abernethy’s widow also took the stand, first to express sympathy to Landor’s mother, then to address Landor.

"Mabry, like TJ said, we forgive you," Stephanie Abernethy said. "So you don’t take that to prison with you."

She also said she was going to be praying for him and his family, children and friends.

"I’m sorry you had to go through this."

Stephanie Abernethy also thanked the jury.

"Thank you for doing the right thing today," she said. "I believe the right thing was done, I do."

Landor's family could not be reached for comment immediately after the punishment was read.

His friends, however, said the jury's decision was unfair.

"He was a good man, a very good man," said Ray Gatlin, 33, one of Landor’s best friends. "He loves his kids. Even though they may gave him the death penalty, he is still going to be blessed." He thought the punishment was unfair.

"He still looked good. They give to him what they gave him and he still looks good. He’s a strong man, just misunderstood."

Qwana Singleton, 29, said he was also upset by the verdict.

"I don't like it. I don’t like what happened either to the officer," Singleton said. "But two wrongs don’t make a right."

He said the way Landor was portrayed during the trial and by the media was misleading. "He’s a good dude, kind of quiet.

"If it was the truth, I wouldn’t be over here supporting him," Singleton said. "But even if he did do it, you know, accidents happen. I don’t think they have the right to kill somebody."

One juror said jurors could not find any mitigating circumstances to prevent Landor from getting the death penalty.

"The state’s evidence was overwhelming," said juror No. 9, who did not want to identify himself.

He said the case was very emotional. The most difficult part, he said, was when the family of the slain police officer forgave Landor.

Landor's defense attorney told jurors during closing arguments this morning that he was a controllable inmate who, if spared death, at 29 would spend the rest of his life being punished on a daily basis for what he did.

“He will never, ever, live as a free man again. He will never be able to be a father to his three children,” defense attorney Hattie Shannon said. “He will die in prison. ... This 29 year old will never breathe free air again, that means Mabry Landor for the rest of his natural life will think about (this). ... That is extreme punishment.”

Inmates added to Texas death row, by year: 

• 1974---8
• 1975---17
• 1976---23
• 1977---23
• 1978---39
• 1979---21
• 1980---23
• 1981---22
• 1982---28
• 1983---21
• 1984---21
• 1985---33
• 1986---40
• 1987---35
• 1988---32
• 1989---31
• 1990---28
• 1991---29
• 1992---31
• 1993---34
• 1994---42
• 1995---43
• 1996---37
• 1997---35
• 1998---43
• 1999---47
• 2000---28
• 2001---30
• 2002---35
• 2003---28
• 2004---25
• 2005---15
• 2006---11
• 2007---15
• 2008---9
• 2009---9

If You Hire an Attorney, You Won't be Sentenced to Death

If you hire a lawyer, the chances are you won't be sentenced to death in Houston.

University of Denver Criminologist Scott Phillips reviewed 504 capital indictments over three decades in Harris County, Texas, and found that defendants who hired lawyers for the entire trial were never sentenced to death -- and were more likely to be acquitted.

The results of his study, published over the summer in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, are truly stunning. Since nearly all defendants facing the death penalty in Harris County were poor, Phillips argues that his results further demonstrate the arbitrariness of capital punishment. If a defendant's family and community is able to pool resources to hire an attorney, the paid attorney might be better equipped to investigate a case or to bring bargaining power to the table against a district attorney.

He makes clear that his findings aren't an indictment of appointed attorneys, but of the system that straddles those attorneys with thin resources in a death penalty case. Something clearly went wrong for results this drastic.

Phillips also came up with some significant findings on race and capital punishment, which he published in the American Constitution Society's journal, Advance.

Phillips found that the race of a defendant played a significant role in whether he or she was charged with death. This is no surprise to people following capital punishment issues, of course, but Phillips makes some interesting recommendations for prosecutors' offices to avoid this disparity. He praises the Harris DA's office for eliminating the race of a defendant from the memo used to determine whether to seek the death penalty. Other markers, however, still indicate race and play a role in the decision, he says.

Phillips suggests that prosecutors' offices go further than just removing race -- they need to "be vigilant" and remove victim information, neighborhoods, school names and other possible identifiers. This is a commendable -- but unrealistic -- idea.

Phillips' research is important, but I believe it further proves that the death penalty is cruel and unusual. I don't think it's possible to remove the arbitrariness of race, socioeconomic background or myriad other factors that lead the most vulnerable to our death row. Abolishing capital punishment is the only way to address the inherent injustice in the system.

Via ACSblog and Dallas Morning News Crime Blog.

Houston Chronicle: DNA déjà vu

Thats title of today's editorial by Houston Chronicle about Harris County's crime lab.

How hard can it be to run a forensic lab according to the rules? The many episodes of the CSI television dramas usually get it right, but at the Houston Police Department's crime lab, the real-life employees can't seem to get their act together.

After a scandal erupted six years ago, exposing botched handling of evidence that led to wrongful convictions of defendants and required the expenditure of $5.2 million for an investigation by a special master, the lab's management and facilities were rebuilt from the ground up. That hasn't prevented the lab's controversial DNA section from once again being shut down due to improper handling of evidence and the issuance of a critical internal report.

The DNA section chief, Vanessa Nelson, resigned after accusations she had coached technicians to pass skills tests.

As reported by the Chronicle's Roma Khanna, Nelson told investigators the operation was "clearly out of control" and plagued by staff morale problems that "will succeed in destroying the lab we worked so hard to create if they proceed on their current course." Her concerns were backed up by investigators' interviews with employees, who spoke of confusion on how to register complaints and doubts that superiors would act on them. Nelson listed a series of evidence problems at the facility, including a sample switch, contamination and botched paperwork to verify a chain of custody for materials.

Almost as alarming as the reports of new problems is the explanation of the crime lab's director, Irma Rios, for how they occurred. She described them as "growing pains" that were being dealt with as they popped up. Responsibility for many of the issues cited, such as bad staff morale and failure to set up a reporting system for misconduct, relate directly to top management. Instead, Rios focused on contamination of evidence, saying it was solved by "an intense cleaning of the lab."

Waiting for mistakes to happen before taking action is only a formula for more problems and controversy. The latest missteps indicate that to thoroughly exorcise the lab of its demons, the cleaning might need to extend beyond counters and equipment to upper management, as well.

The Economist: America's most vengeful prosecutor - You've got mail

Here is a recent article by the Economist Magazine about former Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal.

The death penalty's favourite district attorney resigns

The biter bit

HARRIS COUNTY, which encompasses Houston, is the most populous in Texas. Its district attorney is among the most powerful prosecutors in America. During seven years on the job, Chuck Rosenthal earned a ferocious reputation. His office prosecuted hundreds of thousands of cases and asked for the death penalty more often than did any other county in America.

But for such a moralist, Mr Rosenthal had big personal lapses. On February 15th he resigned after weeks of controversy concerning e-mails that included love notes to his secretary and racist jokes. Mr Rosenthal stepped down hours after a rival filed a lawsuit that would have forced him out. “The particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment,” he wrote.

Many Houstonians agreed with Mr Rosenthal's assessment of his judgment. Over more than 30 years at the DA's office, he often ran into trouble. He set off firecrackers in a stairwell and endorsed one judge because “she looks great in jeans.” In 2002 he went before the Supreme Court to argue in favour of upholding Texas's ban on gay sex. The eventual ruling, Lawrence v Texas, is considered a landmark for gay rights.

Most troubling was Mr Rosenthal's enthusiasm for the death penalty. He considered it “God's law”, and asked for it whenever possible. His most controversial case came in 2001, when Andrea Yates drowned her five children in her bathtub. She claimed that her children “were doomed to perish in the fires of hell” and was eventually found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Though thwarted in that case, Mr Rosenthal got 36 people sent to death row. Since America resumed the death penalty in 1976, Harris County alone has accounted for a quarter of Texas's executions. Rick Perry, the Republican governor, will probably replace Mr Rosenthal with another judge who supports the death penalty. Almost anyone, however, will be more moderate.

Houston Chronicle: Welcome Pause

Houston Chronicle has an editorial today welcoming Harris County's DA decision to stop executions while Supreme Court is reviewing constitutionality of Lethal Injection.

In the nation's capital of capital punishment, death will take a holiday.

In an overdue decision, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson confirmed that her office will suspend requests for execution dates for death penalty convicts until the U.S. Supreme Court hears a Kentucky case challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection. Wilson asked a judge to suspend a February date for the execution of convicted murderer and rapist Derrick Sonnier.

At present 122 prisoners from Harris County are on death row. Texas executes more prisoners than any other state, and since lethal injection began here in 1982, about a quarter of those executed came from Harris County.

In late September the Supreme Court announced it would review the legality of lethal injection, the predominant method of execution in the United States. Later that same day, Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, refused to accept a last-minute plea for a stay from former Harris County resident and murderer Michael Richard. He was executed hours later.

Since then, Supreme Court justices have granted stays to halt executions around the country, the last coming Wednesday in the case of a Mississippi prisoner, Earl Berry, convicted of murdering a woman two decades ago. The high court has sent a clear signal that it will stop all planned lethal injections until it rules on the issue next year.

Now that the Lone Star State's punishment machine is temporarily halted, citizens should consider questions that go beyond whether lethal injection is excruciatingly painful to its recipients and violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment:

Why is the death penalty imposed so much more frequently in this state — and Harris County in particular — than in the rest of the country? Are Texans really proud that our state is one of the leading practitioners of government-sponsored executions on the planet?

Worldwide, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in practice, and 93 have proscribed it by law. Amnesty International notes that only six countries accounted for nearly 90 percent of the executions last year: China, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States. Is this the company we wish to keep when it comes to judicial standards?

Given the high volume of death sentences sought by Harris County prosecutors, instances of tainted evidence and the demonstrated lack of highly competent attorneys representing some defendants, is the risk of executing an innocent person unacceptably high? Chronicle reporting on the execution of a San Antonio man who was convicted of a killing as a teen strongly indicates another man committed the crime.

In next year's Harris County judicial and district attorney contests, these are issues the candidates should discuss in detail and which voters should thoroughly consider.

In the meanwhile Richard Kinky Friedman is one of the more than 1200 Texan who has signed on to the complaint against Judge Sharon Keller .
You can sign the complaint too, just click here.

Lonnie Johnson 100th Harris county execution

Tuesday night Texas executed Lonnie Johnson, who became the 100th person executed from Harris County. Texas Moratorium blog has more details on Lonnie Johnson's case. According to Houston Chronicle,

The Tomball murders occurred during a racially charged summer as a campaign in neighboring Montgomery County to free Clarence Brandley from death row moved toward success. Brandley, a black high school janitor condemned for the 1980 rape-strangulation of a 16-year-old white student, was released from prison after almost 10 years.

Austin attorney Jodi Callaway Cole last week launched an appeals strategy at state and federal levels arguing that prosecutors withheld investigators' reports and other documents that could have buttressed Johnson's claim of self-defense.

Countdown to 400 // Harris Co. 100

Impending Texas Execution List:

Name Date Texas # since 1982 # under Gov. Perry

Gilberto Reyes June 21 396 157
Patrick Knight June 26 397 158
Rolando Ruiz July 10 398 159
Lonnie Johnson July 24 399 160
Kenneth Parr August 15 400 161
Johnny Conner August 22 401 162
Daroyce Mosley August 28 402 163
John Amador August 29 403 164
Kenneth Foster August 30 404 165
Tony Roach September 5 405 166
Clifford Kimmel September 20 406 167
Heliberto Chi October 3 407 168

*************************************************************

NOTE:-----IMPENDING 100th execution from HARRIS COUNTY (HOUSTON)
Lonnie Johnson is now scheduled to become the 100th person put to death
after being sentenced in Harris County if he is executed on July 24.

Source: Rick Halperin