Trial in error

Why Joseph Nichols' execution must be stopped

The state's flip-flops on testimony have made a mockery of the system

By ANDREW LUBETKIN

Capital punishment is always a controversial issue. A fair trial should not be. Joseph Nichols' execution should be halted.

The murder of Claude Shaffer Jr. at Joseph's Delicatessen near downtown Houston on Oct. 13, 1980, was a heinous crime by any measure, but if Joseph Nichols is executed by the state as planned on Wednesday, it will also be a terrible injustice. Nichols has been on death row since 1982, convicted of firing the single bullet that killed Claude Shaffer.

At Nichols' trial, the state knew that Nichols did not shoot the single bullet that killed Claude Schaffer, because the state had previously tried and convicted Willie Ray Williams for firing the same single bullet. In January of 1981, Williams, who had confessed to shooting Shaffer, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death as the shooter. Williams has since been executed. According to the trial transcripts, the state argued: "Willie Williams is the individual who killed Claude Schaffer. That's all there is to it. It is scientific. It is complete. It is final and it is evidence."

Six months after Williams' conviction, Joseph Nichols' first trial began. Nichols was tried as an accomplice under the law of parties, through which a person can be held criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another under certain circumstances. The jury found him guilty but hung in the punishment phase. After the trial, the prosecutor questioned some of the jurors at a local bar. They stated they were reluctant to impose the death penalty because, as the prosecutors had admitted, Nichols was not the shooter.

Six months later, in February 1982, Nichols' second trial began. This time the state changed its story, and Nichols was tried as the shooter and not the accomplice. He was convicted and sentenced to death. In complete contradiction to the state's previous argument, the trial transcripts reveal that the state contended: "Willie Ray Williams could not have shot [Shaffer]. And I submit to you from this evidence [Nichols] fired the fatal bullet that killed the man in cold blood and he should answer for that."

The prosecution further argued: "You should think about justice when you think about this case. Is it fair and equal for Willie Williams to sit up there on death row when this man [Nichols] planned the whole thing and fired the fatal shot?"

It is an undisputed fact that a single shot killed Shaffer. For their convenience, Harris County prosecutors changed the facts from day to day and case to case, making a mockery of our justice system. This apparently doesn't matter to the state of Texas, as it refuses to give Nichols a new trial.

The state also suppressed evidence favorable to Nichols' defense. There were two witnesses to the crime, Cindy Johnson and Teresa Ishman. Johnson was the state's star witness because she testified to witnessing the entire murder. However, Ishman informed the police that Johnson "could not have seen the fatal shot being fired, because she (Johnson) was hidden in the bathroom when the shooting started." The state suppressed the identity and location of Ishman from the defense so that she could not testify at the trial.

The state of Texas now claims her testimony would not have made a difference and does not matter. If the state doesn't think Ishman's testimony would have altered the outcome of the trial, one has to wonder why they hid her true identity and whereabouts from the defense — and further, why they refuse to grant Nichols a new trial, one in which the jury hears both witnesses, instead of just one.

Joseph Nichols' court-appointed appellate attorney was shamefully negligent. After two years and being granted 11 extensions for filing an appellate brief, Nichols' attorney ignored the orders of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He was held in contempt, arrested and put in jail. Nichols' appellate brief was written by his attorney while incarcerated. His attorney was so inept he was ultimately disbarred, but the damage to Nichols' case was done. The state doesn't think this matters either, even though the U.S. Constitution guarantees its citizens effective counsel.

Capital punishment is always a controversial issue, a fair trial shouldn't be. It is simply outrageous that Nichols' attorney was in jail while writing his trial brief. It is also fair to conclude that the judge who failed to replace Nichols' counsel had little regard for due process, much less a human life. The state deliberately misled the jury by claiming two people fired the same bullet. That is simply dishonest. Finally, suppressing the identity of a witness whose testimony directly contradicts that of the only other witness is the ultimate corruption of justice.

According to the state of Texas, none of these issues matters. If a human life and the U.S. Constitution don't matter, what does? Joseph Nichols deserves a new trial.

Nichols is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. Anyone who feels these issues do matter should immediately contact the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the governor's office. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, only Gov. Rick Perry can stop this terrible injustice now.

Published with author's permission. Lubetkin, a native Houstonian, is a documentary filmmaker. He can be e-mailed at alubetkin@gmail. com.

Take Action:

Tell Governor Perry to Stop Execution of Joseph Nichols (AI Online Petition)

In addition to sending Gov Perry an email, you can leave him a phone message at: 512-463-2000, fax him at 512-463-1849 (his fax line is often busy, so just keep trying) or write him at:

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Act today to stop the execution of Joseph Nichols

On Wednesday, Joseph Nichols is scheduled to be executed in Texas for firing the single bullet that killed Claude Shaffer in 1980, despite the fact that the state has already executed another man, Willie Williams, for firing that same bullet.

Williams pleaded guilty to the crime, admitted firing the bullet, and was sentenced to death. Nonetheless, the same prosecutor then argued in Nichols' trial that it was Nichols who fired the bullet, and obtained another death sentence. Williams was executed in 1995.

Don't let Joseph Nichols become the second man to die for one bullet »

International Death Penalty Abolition Day

"DEATH PENALTY FOUNDATIONS CRUMBLING"

Celebrating 160 Years Without Death Penalty

With judicial, legislative or executive moratoriums on executions in place in at least eight states, March 1st, 2007, International Death Penalty Abolition Day, brings with it not only a celebration of the past but an indicator of the future. The death penalty in the United
States is on its way out.

Executions have been suspended, literally, from coast to coast, as Florida and California grapple with the question of how to prevent botched lethal injection executions. Other states have joined them in suspending executions: Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee. Indeed, more than one third of the nation's approximately 3,350 people on death rows across the U.S. are in states where a moratorium exists on carrying out the death penalty.

Abolition Day 2007 is the 160th anniversary of the date in 1847 when the State of Michigan officially became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty.

"People in the United States are beginning to take a hard look at how our criminal justice system is failing," said Bill Pelke, Chairman of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and Founder of The Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing. "As a former
supporter of the death penalty who has lost a loved one to murder, I know that anyone who examines the system from a non-emotional standpoint will find that economically, socially and morally, the practice of the death penalty is bad public policy. Billions of
dollars have been spent on the deathpenalty in this country since 1972, for a net result of 1063
executions. This is hardly a good return on that investment. Alternatives to the death penalty exist that punish severely while protecting society, without more killing."

Organizers of "Abolition Day" events point to the State of Michigan as an example that viable alternatives to the death penalty exist. "They got rid of the death penalty because they found that they could not trust themselves to use it fairly, and they learned too late that they had killed an innocent man," said Pelke. Michigan has been without the death penalty for 160 years. The first act of their new legislature whenMichigan became a state was to abolish the death penalty.

"Politicians owe it to the people of this country to take a serious look at the alternatives to the death penalty already in use across this country," said Pelke. "Violent criminals can be punished, and society protected, through the use of long-term prison sentences before a convicted person can be considered for parole. It works in Michigan and in other states like California, which has the oldest 'Life Without Parole' (LWOP) statute in the country. Except for
those who have been exonerated, not one of the people sentenced to LWOP has been released. We are saying to the people of our country, 'Don't make us become that which we deplore. Don't kill in our names. We can do better.'"

FOR A LISTING OF SOME OF THE EVENTS SCHEDULED ACROSS THE UNITED
STATES, as well as background information on Abolition Day, please visit CUADP.org and click on the Abolition Day Banner.

Maryland vs. Texas

Kudos to Gov. O'Malley of Maryland and shame on Rep. Aaron Pena and the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence

While Texas republicans debated expanding the death penalty to repeat child molesters, the Maryland governor, Martin O'Malley testified in support of the Death penalty Abolition bill. According to the Washington Post:

The issue, one of the most divisive facing the General Assembly this year, drew pleas from people on both side of the issue during separate hearings conducted by House and Senate panels. But far more people turned out to support repeal, with nearly 30 people signing up to testify in favor of the bill in the Senate.

Governor O'Malley also had a column on today's Washington post:

Human dignity is the concept that leads brave individuals to sacrifice their lives for the lives of strangers. Human dignity is the universal truth that is the basis of ethics. Human dignity is the fundamental belief on which the laws of this state and this republic are founded. And absent a deterrent value, the damage done to the concept of human dignity by our conscious communal use of the death penalty is greater than the benefit of even a justly drawn retribution.

The proposed "Jessica's Law" sponsored b y Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball passed out of the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence today and will be considered on the Texas House floor very soon. According to Rep. Aaron Pena, "The House bill does not include the Senate's minimum 25-year mandatory sentence for first-time offenders."

Also San Antonio Express-News had another editorial that called for the review of the Death Penalty system rather than expanding it:

But the death penalty isn't the right way to go. Even some child advocacy groups oppose the death penalty as an option in cases of child sexual abuse. Because abuse is so often committed by someone within the family circle, the practice could deter family members from reporting abuse and could prompt predators to kill their victims to avoid punishment, they argue.

Picture: Gov. Martin O'Malley asks for the repeal of the death penalty Wednesday as he gives testimony before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. (Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Moratorium Now!

If you live in Texas, please contact your state senator and state representative and ask them to support a moratorium on executions. You can use our automatic email system (only for Texas residents), or you can find out who your Texas representatives are, and write them from their own websites or call them on the phone. If you live outside Texas, the best way for you to help us right now is by donating money for Lobby Day on March 13, so we can afford to bring some exonerated people to testify.

While executions have slowed in other states, the torrid pace continues in Texas. So far in 2007, there have been five executions in the U.S. and four of them were in Texas. Through March, there are seven more executions scheduled in the U.S. and six of them are in Texas. In many states, executions have recently been halted because of challenges to the lethal injection process, but not in Texas.

Nevertheless, we believe when hearings are held in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee that we can convince them to support a moratorium. There are 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans on that committee. The chair is a Democrat. The last time that this committee was controlled by the Democrats, in 2001, it approved a moratorium proposal. We think they will do it again when they hear how Texas may have executed three innocent people: Ruben Cantu, Cameron Todd Willingham and Carlos De Luna.

Save the date of March 13, which is the date for the Death Penalty Issues Lobby Day and "Day of Innocence" at the capitol.

Death Penalty discussion

Click on Image for Color Flyer/Map

For more info contact Dave Atwood

• Sam Milsap, fomer Bexar county Prosecutor
• Clarence Brandley, exonerated Texas DR prisoner
• Deloyd Parker, SHAPE Center
• Nicole Casarez, UST Innocence Project Coordinator
• Brandon Dudley, Chief of Staff for Sen. Ellis

Presented by

KPFT Radio, SHAPE Center, & Houston Peace & Justice Center

FREE ADMISSION

Donate to the 2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break

Help us put on the 2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break in Texas March 12-16, 2007. There will be five days of activism, training and education against the death penalty. It is aimed at high school and college students, but the workshops and activities are open to the general public. There will be a Death Penalty Issues Lobby Day on March 13, when we will be at the Texas capitol urging legislators to stop executions.

There is also a Direct Action Day.

This is a great project that will have a large impact on young people as well as policy-makers, both of whom will learn about how problematic the death penalty is.

Your financial contribution will help us in many ways, including bringing workshop presenters to the event, including people exonerated from death row and family members of murder victims and paying for housing for the students participating in the program.

Texas leads the nation by far in number of executions. Texas performed 45 percent of all the executions in the United States in 2006. Twenty-four people were executed in Texas 2006. There were 53 executions in the U.S. in 2006. Since the U.S Supreme Court ruling in 1976 that allowed executions to resume after a four-year period during which they were considered unconstitutional, there have been 1062 executions in the United States. Texas has performed 383 of those executions, which amounts to about 35 percent of the national total. According to the 2000 census, Texas has only 7.4 percent of the nation's entire population.

As of Feb 14, there have been five executions in the United States in 2007 and four of those executions have taken place in Texas. While many other states have put executions on hold, Texas continues at its usual torrid pace.

Help us stop executions in Texas!

Go to change.org to donate online.

Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ speaks at the UCC

Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents, an internationally known opponent of the death penalty has accepted Bishop Aymond’s invitation to speak in Austin on Wednesday, February 14, 2007. Sr. Helen will be at the University Catholic Center, at 2010 University Ave. (corner of University and 21st adjacent to the U.T. Campus) at 3:30 p.m. Sr. Helen will be joined by Linda White, a member of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation. Linda’s daughter was murdered. Come hear why the Catholic Church and murder victim’s family members stand in opposition to the death penalty. For more information contact Michelle Goodwin at

Stop Execution of Joseph Nichols

By Nancy L. Bailey, TCADP board member

Joseph Nichols is scheduled for execution by the State of Texas on March 7, 2007. His only hope is that the Parole Board and Governor's office grant him clemency.

In 1980, Joseph Nichols and Willie Williams were convicted of capital murder for the death of Claude Schaffer. Joseph had just turned 19 at the time of the offense and in the company of the older Willie Williams, when the two attempted to rob a deli in Houston, Texas. Joseph panicked and ran out the deli after Schaffer went for a gun and shots were fired. Willie Williams put one foot outside the deli but decided to return to the deli to complete the robbery. Williams shot Schaffer, crouching behind the counter but as yet unhurt, with one bullet to the back and left with the cash box. Schaffer would die from one single gunshot wound. Joseph was running down the street when the shooting took place. Williams admitted to shooting Schaffer and it was proven at his trial that he was the sole shooter. . The prosecutor in the Williams trial went to great lengths to prove that Willie Williams acted alone and his gun only fired the one fatal shot that pierced Mr. Schaffer. The medical examiner’s testimony supported Williams’ testimony.

At the time of the crime there were 2 women employees in the store One was in the ladies room toward the back of the store; the other was out front. As the shooting started, the other woman attempted to enter the ladies room, but couldn’t get in. However, the woman who had been in the rest room told police that she had been out front at the time of the shooting and that both men fired guns. She testified to that in court. The other woman, who was an actual witness the crime, gave a false name because of outstanding warrants in Louisiana. The prosecution did not make her real name or location available to the defense although they had obtained the correct information shortly. Therefore, she was not available to testify.
The jury in Joseph Nichols' first trial would not sentence him to death because he was not the shooter. Because the vote was split, the result was a mistrial according to the law at that time. In order to guarantee a death sentence in his second trial, the Harris County district attorney's office switched arguments; they argued that Joseph Nichols was the sole shooter and not Willie Williams. The medical examiner altered his testimony to support the state’s new version of the crime. Again the woman who had actually been in the bathroom testified. Again, the prosecuter failed to give the defense information about the real name and location of the other witness. The jury rendered a guilty verdict and sentenced Joseph Nichols to death . Willie Williams was executed by the state of Texas in 1995.

The issue of the concealed witness is a clear example of prosecutorial misconduct (Brady violation). The above issues including the Brady violation and information given by the witness finally located by Nichols' appeals attorneys as to the actual facts of the case were presented to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the 5th Circuit and the US Supreme Court. In spite of this evidence, none have granted Nichols relief, leaving him with no other avenues for appeal other than clemency.

Nichols’ attorneys are submitting a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and to the Governor asking that clemency be granted. Joseph Nichols has a loving family who is requesting that support letters be sent to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Governor. This is a message from Joseph's mother, "Joseph and we his family have always been prayerful, mindful and felt sorrow daily for the Shaffer family's loss. We thank you for your prayers and support now and through the years. God Bless"

As most of you know, in Texas, the Governor cannot commute a sentence without the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Therefore there should be a letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that they recommend clemency to the Governor, and a letter to the Governor asking that he grant clemency, commuting Joseph's sentence to life.
We sympathize with the victim's family. Grief does not discriminate between persons. There is no winner when someone dies. Killing is wrong regardless of who does it. But Joseph Nichols didn't kill anyone. Joseph has always been a model prisoner, a compassionate and spiritual man who loves life. Joseph is no longer the spontaneous youth he was when the crime occurred. Joseph deserves a chance to live. Joseph has been on death row for almost thirty years, more than enough to pay for attempted robbery.. Joseph did not kill anyone and the jury on the first trial saw this because the true facts came out in the testimony of Willie Williams. The second trial was based on lies, and that is why the jury sentenced Joseph to die. Justice is not served when facts are distorted.

Nichols’ attorneys are submitting a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and to the Governor asking that clemency be granted. Joseph Nichols has a loving family who is requesting that support letters be sent to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Governor. As most of you know, in Texas, the Governor cannot commute a sentence without the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Therefore a letter should be sent to the Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that they recommend clemency to the Governor, and a letter to the Governor asking that he grant clemency.

Please use the facts presented above in your letters to both the BPP and the Governor. Failure of the courts to address the types of problems in Joseph’s case is major grounds for clemency. Although historically, Texas governors have not seen mercy as having a role in deciding whether to grant clemency, they have occasionally gone on record as saying that clemency is the “fail safe” for omissions during the judicial process. Please acknowledge in your letters that a crime was committed with the loss of a life and causing pain to the family of the victim. Include in your letter any other reasons that you feel should be considered when making a decision about whether this man’s life should be terminated or spared.

These letters must reach the Governor and the BPP by a week before the scheduled execution, so do it as soon as possible.

Here is the contact information:

How to address the envelope:

Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, TX 78757

Address your letter to:

Rissie Owens and other Board Members
Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, TX 78757

Dear Board Member:

Ms. Ramirez, the clemency coordinator will fax your letter to each board member. Please do not try to send individual letter to each board member at their individual office. They will be mishandled if you do that.

Letter to the governor:
Rick Perry
Governor, State of Texas
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Dear Governor Perry:

Death Penalty Debate at UT-Austin

This is video of the debate between the UT Austin Chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty and Young Conservatives of Texas on January 29.

The debate was in the Oxford style, with alternating speakers from each side debating a resolution that the death penalty be abolished. Each side also had a "questioner" who asked one or two questions from the other side, designed to point to the weaknesses in the opposing side's argument. In the middle of the debate, there was a short break in which audience members made comments and asked questions.

The yays won 114 to 43 on the resolution to Abolish the Death Penalty!
Duration: 75 minutes

Do Not Execute James Jackson!

James Jackson is scheduled to be executed by Texas on Feb. 7. He was convicted in the April 1997 murders of his wife and two stepdaughters in Harris County.

The state of Texas should not execute James Jackson. Executing Jackson would constitute the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Furthermore, during the sentencing phase of Jackson’s trial, the judge did not allow his family to testify about how executing Jackson would affect their lives. Also, there is a question as to whether or not Jackson’s initial arrest was legal.

Please write to Gov. Rick Perry on behalf of James Jackson!

Quote of the week

All creatures kill -- there seems to be no exception. But of the whole list man is the only one that kills for fun; he is the only one that kills in malice; the only one that kills for revenge.
-- Mark Twain

Remembering Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins, the irreverent nationally syndicated columnist from Texas who rankled conservatives and delighted liberals, died late this afternoon after a seven-year battle with breast cancer. She was 62.

Molly Ivins has written several pieces criticizing the death penalty and here is one of her columns about the execution of Gary Graham in 2000.

A mock-ery of a death penalty trial
June 21, 2000

The Supremes are probably right about prayer at football games in the Santa Fe School District case, but you must admit that there's a slight cultural gap here. The court's decision noted that the Fifth Circuit had ruled that students could offer prayers at graduation, but not in the far less solemn and extraordinary setting of a football game. That's all they know about Friday nights.

I've heard a good many proselytizing public prayers offered in this state, as opposed to the "To Whom it may concern: Let no one get injured in tonight's game, Amen" variety, but I doubt you could prove that this increases intolerance. On the other hand, in May, three Santa Fe High students were arrested on accusations that they threatened to hang a 13-year-old Jewish boy, an eighth-grader at the middle school. If true, we would have to say that the three have failed to grasp some of the central tenets of the Christian faith, let alone the principles on which the country is founded.

And now to the case of Gary Graham, who is about to be executed on what has to be the slimmest evidence that anyone has seen in years. It's hard to believe that anyone could be convicted, much less given the death penalty, on the evidence of one eyewitness -- who saw him for maybe a second, from 30 to 40 feet away, at night. The two eyewitnesses who say the killer wasn't Graham got a much better look at the killer and were never heard from at trial, nor were his four alibi witnesses.

This is in part a tribute to Graham's lawyer Ron Mock, a defense attorney who has more clients on Death Row than most prosecutors ever put there. In fairness to Mock, like other public defenders, he had almost no money to prepare a defense. Mock called no defense witnesses. In recent years, he has been disciplined four times for professional misconduct.

Graham is no poster boy for the anti-death-penalty camp. He's a bad actor who belongs in prison -- several violent robberies and a rape. But whether we like it or not, his record doesn't prove that he's guilty of the Bobby Grant Lambert murder for which he is about to be executed.

For that matter, Lambert was a bad actor himself, a known drug dealer -- but that is just as irrelevant as Graham's record. Murder is murder. The relevant precedent here is the case of Henry Lee Lucas, the serial liar, whose sentence Gov. George W. Bush finally had to commute after the state convicted him of a murder that occurred while Henry Lee was out of state.

I've read some moving statements by victims in Graham's other crimes, who understandably want him dead. But I think the question here is simple: Would YOU want to be put to death on the strength of one eyewitness who got a glimpse from 35 feet away at night -- especially if there were better eyewitnesses and alibi witnesses?

(In 1998, a judge ruled that two of the four alibi witnesses who came forward after the trial were not credible -- they are both kin to Graham. But who else are you likely to be hanging out with but your own family and friends?)

If we could all calm down enough to get off our knee-jerk death penalty stands here and try to learn something from this case, there's a really useful change in process that we should consider here. It involves how eyewitness IDs are made.

The one eyewitness against Graham had described him as clean-shaven; she was shown five photographs of possible perps, of whom only Graham was without facial hair. She did not positively ID him from the photos, but the next day, she picked him out of a line-up.

Graham was the only one both in the photographs and the line-up, and experts say that photo spreads can influence line-up ID. There's a better way to do this.

Crow eaten here: In a recent column on the highlights of W. Bush's record as governor, I erroneously reported that Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim, the chicken magnate and tort reformer, had given generously to Texans for Public Justice. Actually, Texans for Public Justice is a public interest group that keeps track of the contributions of major players like Pilgrim. I doubt that Pilgrim was thrilled by the error, either -- apologies to both camp

New Spring Break posters!

Expect too see this poster on your campus very soon!
To download the high quality version click here.

TDCJ's response to Rep. Jerry Madden about the Texas death-row conditions

These are the responses TDCJ sent to Representative Jerry Madden, chairman of the house Corrections Committee regarding the death-row conditions. Unsurprisingly they are useless and don't add too much information.

1) Arts and crafts programs for death row inmates;

In order to ensure maximum security, offenders assigned to Death Row
are not provided access to craft shops. However, they are allowed to
purchase supplies available through the commissary (colored pencils,
paper, etc.) for their use.

2) Circulation of chemicals in ventilation (mainly at women's death
row);

In regards to the Mountain View Unit and ventilation in the Death
Row housing area following the use of chemical agents (as permitted in
the TDCJ Use of Force Plan), chemical agents have not been used in
the building housing death row offenders since March 2006. A review of
recent grievance records also indicates no grievances have been filed
regarding this issue.

Nor are offenders sprayed with any type of "de-lousing" agent upon
arrival at Death Row; such treatments would be administered at an
intake facility prior to the offender's transfer to the Mountain View
Unit.

3) Visitation limitations;

TDCJ is aware of the important role that visitation serves in
maintaining communication between offenders and their families and
friends. However, due to the high level of custody supervision
required for death row offenders, all visits are non-contact. Level I
offenders (most death row offenders are on Level I) are allowed one
general visit per week; Level II offenders are allowed two general
visits per month; and Level III offenders are allowed one general
visit per month. Regular visits last for two hours.

4) Disciplinary measures (i.e. use of SWAT teams and riot gas);

No use of force, to include SWAT teams and riot gas, are used
for disciplinary purposes. Authorized sanctions for violation of
agency rules are described in the disciplinary rules and
procedures for offenders.

However, there are occasions within a correctional setting when it
becomes necessary for staff to use force in order to achieve the
compliance of an offender, or to maintain a safe and secure
environment for offenders and

staff. It is the policy of the Agency that force shall be used only
when

necessary, and only to the extent necessary to gain compliance. If
lesser means have proven ineffective, chemical agents may be
used to gain compliance from an offender who refuses to obey.
After chemical agents

have been used and the situation has been brought under
control,

individuals and the area affected by the chemical agents are
decontaminated as soon as possible. Occasionally, for example when an
offender refuses a direct order to move from one location to
another or to relinquish a weapon, a forced move must be initiated by
a specially trained extraction

team. When the need for the "use of force" arises, the TDCJ has
very

strict guidelines and rules. At the conclusion of any major use of
force, the documentation is reviewed not only by unit administration,
but also by the Regional Director's office, Office of General
Counsel, and the Administrative Monitor for Use of Force. If any
violations are found, appropriate action is taken.

5) Prisoner classification (i.e. the fact that a Texas death row
inmates have no hope of getting out of administrative segregation - while others do);

Offenders receiving a death sentence require the highest level of
custody supervision available in the Correctional Institutions
Division (CID) of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). It
is the policy of the TDCJ-CID to provide a non-punitive status for
death row offenders that involves separation of death-sentenced offenders from the
general population for the purpose of maintaining safety, security, and
order.

While other offenders assigned to segregative status may eventually
be released back into general population, due to the high level of
custody required for death row offenders, they remain separated from
the general population.

6) Visitors' health concerns (e.g. cleanliness of visiting room phones);

All TDCJ units strive to keep visitation areas sanitary and
clean.

Visitors wishing to report unsanitary conditions may ask to speak to
the Duty Warden/Family Liaison Officer at the time of their visit; or,
they may contact the TDCJ-CID Ombudsman Office, P. O. Box 99,
Huntsville, Texas; telephone: ; e-mail:
ci.div@tdcj.state.tx.us The agency will continue to consider additional
means to enhance the sanitation and cleanliness of visiting areas.

7) Death row health services.

The Department of Criminal Justice, the Correctional Managed Health
Care Committee and the University providers strives to provide all
incarcerated offenders in the custody of the TDCJ, to include death row
offenders, with quality health care. The standard of care is the same for the
entire offender population. If an offender feels he/she is not
receiving adequate medical treatment, the offender may contact the unit
medical department or utilize the offender grievance process.

Remember Tookie!

Picture taken by Katie Fey
Location: Berlin, Germany

Death Penalty Debate

Recent events around the death penalty -- moratoriums in Florida, California, Maryland, and Ohio, as well as a panel's suggestion that New Jersey abolish the practice -- indicate a rupture in political support for the death sentence in the United States. The Austin Chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty and Young Conservatives of Texas will participate in a debate hosted by Longhorns Speak on the topic.

ate:	Monday, January 29, 2007
Time:	7:30pm - 9:00pm
Location:	Jester A121A
Street:	UT Campus (directions)
City:	Austin, TX

2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break

Cross-posted on Campus Progress.

Looking for something to do during spring break this year? Here's an idea: come to Austin, Texas for a week of activism and education against the death penalty as part of the 2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break. The event is open to both high school and college students. Register now.

The 2007 anti-death penalty spring break, organized by Texas Students Against the Death Penalty and co-sponsored by Campus Progress, Amnesty International, Texas Moratorium Network, NCADP and other groups, is designed to to give students something more meaningful to do during their week off, rather than just spending time at the beach or sitting at home catching up on school work. This is the place to be if you want to become a part of the next generation of human rights leaders. Go to the beach to change your state of mind for a week, come here to change the world forever.

Students will participate in workshops led by experienced, knowledgeable presenters who will teach them skills that they can use to go back home and set up new anti-death penalty student organizations or improve ones that may already exist. The skills participants will learn can also be used in other issues besides the death penalty. During the week, students will immediately put what they learn into action during activities such as a Death Penalty Issues Lobby Day and a Direct Action Day. There will be opportunities to write press releases, speak in public, meet with legislators or their aides, and conceive and carry out a direct action.

"This is an historical echo to what happened in the 1960s when people came down to the South during the Civil Rights Movement to help people register to vote, what they called freedom summers. This is very similar to what was going on back then, but here the issue is the death penalty." said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.

Texas leads the nation by far in number of executions. Texas performed 45 percent of all the executions in the United States in 2006. Twenty-four people were executed in Texas in 2006. There were 53 executions in the U.S. in 2006. Since the U.S Supreme Court ruling in 1976 that allowed executions to resume after a four-year period during which they were considered unconstitutional, there have been 1060 executions in the United States. Texas has performed 381 of those executions, which amounts to about 35 percent of the national total. According to the 2000 census, Texas has only 7.4 percent of the nation's entire population.

This spring break was featured last year on mtvU, NPR and the front page of The Huntsville Item. MTV is planning to send their crew to Austin again this year to shoot the spring break for "The Amazing Break," an MTV show featuring alternatives to beer and beaches. Coverage by MTV and other media outlets ensures that the anti-death penalty message of the alternative spring break will reach thousands and thousands of people.

Throughout the week students will participate in workshops and have a chance to talk and eat with people that they probably never imagined they would encounter in their daily lives, such as Shujaa Graham, an African American man who spent 3 years of his life on California's death-row for a crime he did not commit or Renny Cushing, a former New Hampshire state legislator whose father was brutally murdered or Christina Lawson, whose husband was executed by the state of Texas in 2005.

Other speakers include Moresse Bickham, who was on death row when the Furman v Georgia decision was announced in 1972 abolishing the death penalty on grounds that it violated the U.S. constitution. Another ruling four years later allowed executions to resume. Bickham was released in 1996 and at 89 is now the oldest living survivor of the Furman v Georgia decision.

Participation in the Annual Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break is an invaluable experience. Participants will come away with firsthand knowledge of the anti-death penalty movement and a new understanding of how they can affect public policy. Plus, they will an opportunity to form new friendships that could last a lifetime. During the spring break students will have plenty of free time to enjoy Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World. The famous SXSW Festival is the same week as spring break, so if anyone is interested they can attend some of the films or music events during their free time.

Thanks to contributions from Campus Progress, Resist Foundation and other groups there is no participation fee for the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break except for those people who need housing. If you do not need housing, because you live in Austin or you are making your own housing arrangements, then your participation is free, but please register so we know how many people to expect. Participants are expected to travel to Austin at their own expense and pay for their meals and incidental expenses while in Austin. We will provide some free pizza and snacks a couple of times. Housing is available for a fee of $25. That's right. $25 for all five days. That's $5 a night. Students will stay in rooms with one or two other people at a dormitory near the University of Texas at Austin.

See you in Austin!

Public Radio interview with Audrey Lamm

TSADP essay Contest

Nathan Hays of the Mansfield Timberview High School was winner of the Texas Students Against the Death Penalty's 2006 essay contest. He was ranked 1st place by our judges.

Deadline for entries is Feb 1st, 2007. The TSADP Essay Contest is open to all 11^th and 12^th grade Texas high school students. To participate, you must write an essay explaining why a moratorium on executions is necessary in Texas. Essays are judged on both style and content. The winning essay must demonstrate an outstanding grasp of the death penalty system in Texas. Complete contest guidelines are available on the Web site.

Texas Death Penalty Moratorium: The Time for Action is now

Early in the morning of December 2, 2005, Kenneth Boyd marched from his dimly lit cell in Raleigh, North Carolina, toward a small room dominated by a reclining table and an apparatus for delivering a lethal combination of various poisons. After lying down, a doctor inserted a tube into his arm and stepped back. His last words were to his wife, Kathy Smith, “Look after my son and my grandchildren. God bless everybody in here.” Shortly after that, at 2:15 a.m., he was dead. As the fatal dose of chemicals entered his bloodstream, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000^th person to be executed in the United States since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976. With so many deaths over so many years, America has joined the company of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.[i] Even worse, the death penalty itself has multiple problems, including the ingraining of socially counterproductive values, its unfair application, and the risk of executing innocent people.

By far, the most common argument for the death penalty is that executing criminals deters future aggression. However, the overwhelming amount of evidence suggests just the opposite.[ii] For instance, California experienced a drastic drop in the murder rate while the death penalty was not carried out. From 1907 to 1963, New York encountered more homicides in the month immediately following an execution than before. In addition, the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that police officers are most in danger in regions where executions are most common.[iii] Why do people commit more crimes in response to executions? The answer to that question lies in what the government communicates through executions. First, it sends the message that the most acceptable answer to offenses is by using violence. Second, the government communicates that vengeance is just. Finally, executions convince people that the government decides who lives and who dies. Inevitably, these three signals induce people to commit more crimes and detest authority. Therefore, not only does the death penalty fail to deter crime, but it actually brutalizes the population into acquiring socially counterproductive values.

In addition, the death penalty is applied unfairly. For instance, 202 African American defendants have been executed for the murders of white victims while only twelve white defendants have received a death sentence for the murder of African Americans.[iv] The logical conclusion from this is that the government values a white life over a black life. Furthermore, there is a significant economic bias. For example, almost all defendants facing the death penalty cannot afford their own legal fees. State-provided attorneys are often inexperienced, unpaid, and have absolutely no motivation to fight hard. As a result, the current death row population is comprised of a disproportionate number of economically disadvantaged people.[v] In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the system of executions was “arbitrary and capricious” in Furman v. Georgia.[vi] Although the court later reversed that view, the death penalty in America remains an enemy to unity and equality because it condemns humans to death based on economic status and race.

Finally, the risk of executing an innocent person far outweighs any benefits. Almost 125 people have been released from death row since 1976.[vii] This means that one inmate has been taken off death row for roughly every eight people executed. In addition, the government is often unwilling to review capital cases in order to save time and money, leaving the burden of proving innocence to those outside the system. For instance, journalism students in Illinois were recently assigned to investigate a person on death row. After doing some detective work, they discovered that one of the witnesses had lied at the trial and they uncovered the true killer, who confessed on videotape.[viii] The media has also convinced states to exonerate people on death row in several instances, such as the case of Walter McMillian, who was slated to be executed in Alabama.[ix] However, neither the media nor the informal efforts of concerned citizens can possibly review all of the death row cases. This means that the American public must simply have faith in the criminal justice system, which has already proven itself to be ineffective and prejudiced.

As Kenneth Boyd, closed his eyes for the final time, justice breathed its last breath alongside him. It died because the government sent a message of violence and hypocrisy to its citizens. It died because of the unfair, prejudiced judicial system. It died because the government risked killing an innocent person. Even more, it was all so unavoidable. It is time for our government, which claims to be “of the people, for the people, and by the people” to safeguard the lives of all its citizens and resurrect justice once and for all.

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[i] See “US Carries Out 1000^th Execution,” British Broadcasting Channel Website, 2 Dec. 2005

[ii] See the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab’s Death Penalty Information Center for the High School Curriculum, “Deterrence,” 2004 http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/c/about/arguments/argument1b.htm. Note: Like the rest of the endnotes here, this is the specific source information. For the general reference to the source, see Works Cited.

[iii] For more general information, see “Facts about Deterrence and the Death Penalty,” Death Penalty Information Center, 2006, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=12&did=167. The two sources are cited on that page.

[iv] See the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab’s Death Penalty Information Center for the High School Curriculum, “Arbitrariness and Discrimination,” 2004 http://deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/c/about/arguments/argument1b.htm

[v] See “The Death Penalty in Texas: Lethal Injustice,” Online Documentation Archive. 1 Mar. 1998. Amnesty International, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR510101998. Note: See pages’ endnotes for original references.

[vi] See “ACLU Briefing Paper Number 8: Death Penalty.” Department of Public Education Archives, American Civil Liberties Union, http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/CAF/civil-liberty/death-penalty.aclu

[vii] For more general information, see “Innocence and the Death Penalty,” Death Penalty Information Center, 2006, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6. The source is cited on the page.

[viii] See the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab’s Death Penalty Information Center for the High School Curriculum, “Innocence (In Opposition),” 2004

[ix] See “News and Developments,” Death Penalty Information Center, 2006, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/newsanddev.php?scid=6. Article originally appeared in National Geographic Magazine, January 2006 Edition.

Victim of the Nineties by David Maass

The Death Penalty

Any who commit murder, a punishment should receive,
But not the death penalty, for such is wrong, I believe.
Either killing’s right or wrong, and clearly it isn’t right,
Therefore, the death penalty, we all should dismiss outright.

It’s plain hypocritical, and behaviour that’s askew,
If we’re condemning killing, yet, are involved in killing too.
We’re simply sanctioned killers, who also don’t have the right
To kill another person; and an innocent one, we might.

Two wrongs don’t make a right; that simply, makes us more guilty,
For where is our example, as we know better, don’t we?
Folk can hardly be pro-life, and the sanctity of life sell,
If just like a murderer, they are taking life as well.

When we kill a murderer, they’re hardly punished at all,
For despite their loss of life, they’re outside the prison wall.
You see, it’s behind those walls, that real punishment takes place,
For behind them, just misery, twenty four seven, they face.

Imagine spending your life, locked inside a tiny cell,
However, such punishment, I’m not attempting to sell.
For locking them in a cell, where they will just vegetate,
Isn’t to our credit either, so, let’s rehabilitate.

How we treat the offender, says a lot about us too,
So, mind what you’re endorsing, be careful what you pursue.
Despite what they may have done, we still should act humanely,
Otherwise, we’re no better, we’re acting hypocritically.

But there is another thing, that we should consider too:
What if to the gallows, friend, a judge wrongfully sends you?
Yes, let the murderer live, lest an innocent man die,
And we become a party to, what one could never justify.

By Lance Landall

Quote of the week

According to the L.A. Times, Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to take "a harder stance" on the death penalty. What's a harder stance on the death penalty? We're already killing the guy? How do you take a harder stance on the death penalty? What, are you going to tickle him first? Give him itching powder? Put a thumbtack on the electric chair.
-- Jay Leno

DNA cartoon

Tough on Crime

There is a great editorial in today's Dallas Morning News about the tough on crime politicians in Texas and the so called Jessica's laws:

The worst idea floated in Austin would have Texas join five other states and
allow the death penalty for sex crimes against children. As unforgivable as that
crime is, it doesn't warrant a harsher penalty than simple murder, which brings
five years to life. Execution for sex crimes – the proposal applies to repeat
offenders – would badly warp the proportionality of the state's criminal-justice
code. It also would pose the dangerous possibility of offenders killing their
sexual prey to eliminate witnesses.

The editorial also talks about the problems with the minimum mandatory sentences:

Today's big push for even tougher laws is fraught with risks of unintended
consequences. One example is a proposed new layer of mandatory sentencing: 25
years on the first aggravated sex offense against a child, up from today's range
of two years to life. Experts warn that severe, inflexible sentences rob
prosecutors of the ability to plea bargain; that could result in lost
convictions in cases where prosecutors couldn't get useful testimony from child
victims but had no choice but to go to trial.

Justice for Rodney Reed Rally at the Texas Capitol

In 1998, Rodney Reed was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacy Stites in Bastrop, Texas. His habeas corpus appeal has been denied. But there is troubling evidence that Reed is innocent of this crime. And there was a pattern of police and prosecutorial misconduct that puts his conviction in doubt: * Although semen found in Stites’ body matched Reed’s DNA, witnesses were available to testify that Reed, a black man, was having an affair with Stites, a white woman. The jury never heard them. There is no evidence that he killed her. * The chain of evidence was broken for DNA evidence that could have bolstered Reed’s claim of innocence. Shipping labels that DPS says were used to ship evidence to California for DNA testing by defense experts do not match shipping company records. Stites’ body was missing for two hours on the night of the murder, showing up at the medical examiner’s office with new bruising. * DNA that incriminates other suspects never made it to the defense. DNA evidence on two beer cans found near Stites’ body match the DNA of Giddings Police officer David Hall (who had been Fennell’s partner) and Bastrop Police officer Ed Samela. The defense thinks that the police officers might have been involved in the murder with Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, Jr., a former Giddings police officer. * Investigators never searched the Giddings apartment shared by Fennell and Stites, and returned Fennell’s pickup truck (which Stites had been driving the day of the murder) to him before doing a complete forensic analysis. * Reed had an incompetent defense lawyer who did not call witnesses who could testify as to his relationship with Stites or provide Reed with an alibi for the time of the murder. How you can help: Rodney Reed sits on Texas’ death row never having had a fair trial. He has a strong case for innocence, and strong evidence that police and prosecutors either bungled his case or framed him deliberately for the murder. Please consider supporting Reed’s demand for a new trial and get involved with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

WE MUST HURRY THERE IS ONLY 1 DAY LEFT!!!!

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have been signing the petition at www.helpnazanin.com and have been spreading the word about the injustice that Nazanin Fatehi is facing in Iran.

Many of you are asking what you can do further?

1. Learn about the case and watch a 30 min documentary called "The Tale of Two Nazanins" at www.bodog.tv

2. Sign the Petition at www.helpnazanin.com

3. Fax or Email a personal message to the Iranian heads of state and Head of the Judiciary pleading with them to release Nazanin. (try to be diplomatic and do not use any profane language) For an idea of what to say you can watch my plea at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYOA9l5rPPc.

Send your messages to:

AYATOLLAH KHAMENEI
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
Email: info@leader.ir
Email: istiftaa@wilayah.org
Fax: 00 98 251 7 774 2228

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

PRESIDENT AHMADNEJAD
President of Islamic Republic
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
Email through website: www.president.ir/email
Phone: 00 98 21 6 649 5880

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

4. Call your local Iranian Embassy To locate it go to www.irantravelingcenter.com/embassy.htm.

Iranian Embassy - United Kingdom
info@iran-embassy.org.uk
Iranian Embassy - Canada
ambassador@iranembassy.org

5. Tell your local media (Newspapers, TV, radio stations, magazines, on-line news)

6. Tell everyone you know (family, friends, schools, blogs, websites) and direct them to www.helpnazanin.com

WE MUST HURRY THERE IS ONLY 1 DAY LEFT!!!!

Peace and love,

Nazanin Afshin-Jam

TSADP Death Penalty Essay contest

Deadline for entries is Feb 1st, 2007

The TSADP Essay Contest is open to all 11^th and 12^th grade Texas high school students. To participate, you must write an essay explaining why a moratorium on executions is necessary in Texas. Essays are judged on both style and content. The winning essay must demonstrate an outstanding grasp of the death penalty system in Texas.

Awards: 12^th Grade Winner $200
12^th grade runner-up $50
11^th grade Winner $200
11^th grade runner-up $50


Complete contest guidelines are available on the Web site.

Happy New Year!

The Year in Death

Taken from Capital Defense Weekly:

WAPO offers “The Year in Death,” a brutal condemnation of the death penalty 2006.

THE YEAR 2006 saw the fewest executions in the United States in a decade, 53. The use of capital punishment has been dropping since 1999, when 98 people were executed. The number of new death sentences is also falling precipitously, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, and the number of people on death row is dropping off as well. At least for now, capital punishment remains in retreat.

Perhaps the most striking indicator of this retreat is the degree to which executions are becoming a local phenomenon. While the preponderance of states have a death penalty, very few use it as a routine feature of their criminal justice systems. This year, 14 states carried out executions, but only six of them — Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia — carried out more than one. Together, these states accounted for 85 percent of executions this year. All by itself, Texas, which executed 24 people, accumulated 45 percent. Over the previous three years, the leading six states for executions accounted for between 70 and 83 percent of executions annually. The less the death penalty gets used, the more it becomes a creature of its heartland: the South, and Texas especially.

Although 38 states and the federal government have the death penalty on their books, only 18 states have executed more than 10 people since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Many states with laws that permit capital punishment use it only rarely — such as Maryland — and some don’t use it at all.

Note that we are expecting January 2006 to be just as eventful with the New Jersey Commission on Capital Punishment’s Report due any day & the SCOTUS’s action on the trio of Texas capital cases due as early as this week.

Ramsey Clark on planned execution of Saddam Hussein, other defendants in Iraq

"The sudden decision of the so-called appeals court in Iraq, which did
not take the time to examine the trial record and defense briefs, has
set the stage for the imminent execution of Saddam Hussein, two other
defendants and the surrender of four other defendants to the Iraqi
government, exposing them to summary executions, torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment - all in violation of U.S. and international
law.

"The decision could take place at any moment. The Iraqi government and
the Bush administration apparently plan to carry out this execution
quickly.

"The great weight of international legal opinion has found the Iraqi
Special Tribunal subject to political pressures, lacking independence and
not impartial, and that the trial failed to provide due process of law
and was unfair. The Iraqi Study Group found political interference with
Iraqi courts 'ruthless.' Executions following such a notoriously unfair
trial will severely harm the rule of law.

"Executions, if they occur in the midst the present violence, are
expected to cause a long term increase in the level of violence causing more
U.S. and Iraqi casualties.

"Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants are in the custody of the U.S.
military in Iraq. They will be turned over to Iraq only on the order of
or with the approval of President Bush. His pending decision will have
long term consequences for the peace and stability of Iraq, and for the
rule of law as a means to peace."

Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has started a ten-part series based on the groundbreaking report, Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind. This series was prepared with the assistance of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights and is running in conjunction with the holiday season.

You can read the first five parts in the NCADP blog.

Florida and California suspend executions

Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said Friday that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. Separately, a federal judge in California extended a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In Florida, medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton said Wednesday's execution of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes — twice as long as usual — and required a rare second dose of lethal chemicals because the needles were inserted clear through his veins and into the flesh in his arms. The chemicals are supposed to go into the veins.

David Elliot, spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said experts his group had contacted suspected that liver disease was not the explanation for the problem.

"Florida has certainly deservedly earned a reputation for being a state that conducts botched executions, whether its electrocution or lethal injection," Elliot said. "We just think the Florida death penalty system is broken from start to finish."

Read the full article on Yahoo News.

Picture: The daughter of Angel Nieves Diaz, Debbie Nieves, left, and her aunt, Nena Nieves, right, cry outside the Florida State Correctional Facility in Starke, Fla. Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006 before Diaz was executed in the prison. A man convicted of murdering the manager of a topless bar 27 years ago was executed by injection Wednesday despite his protests of innocence and requests for clemency made by the governor of his native Puerto Rico. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

Families of homicide victims, executed face similar ef fects

By Kiah Collier
The Daily Texan

Surviving family members of homicide victims and of those who have been executed by the state suffer similar psychological consequences, according to a report released Sunday by Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an anti-death penalty group.

The report, titled "Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind," is based on interviews with three dozen family members of people who have been executed across the nation and recommends that the 2005 United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution condemning the death penalty be adopted in the United States. The report said this ruling should be the basis for giving family members of the executed the same rights as victims of violent crime.

"The report shows that the dramatic consequences suffered by family members of those executed are really more similar to than different from the traumatic experience of having a family member murdered," said Susannah Sheffer, a member of the human rights group.

Hooman Hedayati, Longhorns Against the Death Penalty president and pre-computer sciences sophomore, said the report shows that the death penalty perpetuates a cycle of violence.

"It also shows that the death penalty will not bring the healing and reconciliation that were promised to the murder victim family members," he said.

An organizing board member of the human rights group and contributor to the report Robert Meeropol, was 6 years old in 1953 when his parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for "conspiracy to commit espionage." Meeropol contributed the issue of the impact of state execution on children.

"No one has studied how the execution of an immediate family member impacts children," Meeropol said in the report. "We don't know the effect that having a parent executed will have upon their impressionable lives and the cost society may pay for that impact."

Many see the death penalty as "collateral damage" to families of the executed.

The report offers a list of recommendations for reform including a suggestion to lawmakers to give legal rights to families of the executed in order to provide financial help with paying for medical care, mental health services and funerals after the execution of a family member.

"If our real concern is justice, then we should focus on building the kind of social support network that would give people the opportunity and resources they need to establish a life where they could contribute to society instead of committing these violent acts," said Stefanie Collins, a UT law student and member of the UT Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

The nation is divided on the issue of the death penalty, with about a 50-50 split among respondents when asked whether they generally prefer the death penalty or mandatory life imprisonment for murderers, according to a July ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Student Death Penalty Speech

Student play explores death penalty

By Vianna Davila
Express-News The last words on the convicted killer's lips were, "I love you."

A crowd hovered around him as he prepared to die by injection — the ghosts of the teenage couple he killed; the parents determined to avenge their deaths; and the nun who pledged to be with him as he was executed.

This scene from an execution chamber is being evoked at Providence High School, where, for the past two months, students have been preparing to perform "Dead Man Walking." The show, which also includes Central Catholic High School students, opens tonight.

The play tells the story of death-penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean and the spiritual journey she takes with Matthew Poncelet, a Louisiana death row inmate convicted of murdering teenagers Walter Delacroix and Hope Percy the night they graduated from their Louisiana high school.

Prejean will be at Providence High School on Monday to speak about her work.

The play asks the audience to consider the ultimate act of violence and the price of the death penalty.

It's heavy stuff for the teenage cast members, half of whom performed in the school's production of the musical "The Wiz" last spring.

"At first it seemed really odd and like something we really shouldn't do in high school," said Adrian Bates, 15, the sophomore who plays Prejean. "We've felt some real emotions now that we have gotten into it."

Like the majority of her classmates, Adrian doesn't know anyone in prison, let alone on death row. She is among those who came to the play with strong opinions about the death penalty.

It's "wrong to kill no matter what," she said.

Others are struggling with what they think. That's what Tim Robbins, the actor and director who adapted Prejean's memoir for his movie — also called "Dead Man Walking" — intended when he adapted it again as a play for high school and college students around the country to perform.

Central High School junior Matthew Flores, who helped design the show's lighting, was against the death penalty until a friend's sister was murdered.

Now, he's struggling with the issue again.

"I'm so confused, I don't know which way is up," he said.

A tough issue

"I actually felt like it happened to me," said Jocelyn Stewart, the freshman playing Hope Percy. "I know it's not the actual feeling, but it's close."

The murders are based on those committed by two death-row inmates Prejean counseled in Louisiana, Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Willie. The character Poncelet is a composite of both men.

In the play, Poncelet and an accomplice kidnap Delacroix and Percy from a darkened lover's lane. Delacroix is shot twice in the head. Percy is raped and stabbed 17 times.

Poncelet refuses to admit to the murders, demanding a lie detector test so he can prove to his mother that he's innocent. Only in one of the final scenes does Poncelet confess his role to Prejean.

Darrell Martin, technical director for the school, fired an e-mail to other faculty when he learned about the production.

"From an educational standpoint, it didn't bother me," Martin said. "But from a personal standpoint, I wanted them to see the victim's side of the story."

Victims' rights groups have protested against Prejean.

"She's been very compassionate with them," said Maureen Fenlon, national director for the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. "She can understand their pain."

To prepare for the role of Poncelet's mother, Lucille, sophomore Yasmin Abu-Al-Jaibat, watched programs about prison. She asked questions her mother never expected: Mom, if I go to prison will you come to visit me?

"This is not a conversation (Yasmin) and I would have had before," said Angela Rodriguez, Yasmin's mom.

The play doesn't require the audience to decide what it thinks of the death penalty, Fenlon said. It asks the question, why?

"In the story nobody is getting away without suffering with some aspect of what happened," Fenlon said.

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vdavila@express-news.net

Shrine For Luis

Art installation designed by Baroness Carrie von Reichardt as a tribute to Death Row victim Luis Ramirez.

Soundscape by Paul Blackwood incorporating some of Luis' favourite music and excerpts from KDOL radio's broadcast - the Luis Ramirez Show to mark his execution.