Justice for Jena 6

Six young black men from a Jena, Louisiana high school can spend up to 22 years in prison for a racially motivated school fight. The story is very similar to the Jim Crow era where the police, judges and the courts where used to keep the black folks “in their place.” Unfortunately it is sad to see that Jim Crow racism still exists in the 21^st century.

In September 2006, a black high school student in the small Louisiana town of Jena, asked the principal for permission to sit under a "whites only" tree. The principal said he "didn't care where students sat." The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses in school colors hanging from the tree. The superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," and gave the students who hung the nooses only a light punishment of three-day suspension, which resulted in more Black students to sit under the tree in protest. Then District Attorney Reed Walters came to the high school and told the students he could "take [their] lives away with a stroke of [his] pen."

As racial tensions in Jena increased, Reed Walters did not take any action in response to several cases of violence and threats against black students. However after another white student called several black students "nigger", and was beaten up as the result, six black students were charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first person to face trial was Mychal Bell who was convicted this July, thanks to an all white jury. Fortunately last Friday a Louisiana appeals court overturned the aggravated-battery conviction of Mychal Bell. The District Attorney now has the option of trying Bell and his friends for attempted murder as an adult or aggravated battery as a juvenile. Each student if convicted could face up to 22 years in prison for just a school fight.

Unfortunately Jena 6 is not the only example of today’s Jim Crow justice. The town of Paris, which calls itself “The best small town in Texas,” convicted Shaquanda Cotton, a 14-year-old black freshman to seven years for shoving a white teacher's aide in 2005, till a special conservator ordered her release this March. In another example, the Douglas County of Georgia convicted Genarlow Wilson of molestation and sentenced him to 10 years for engaging in consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Genarlow, now 21 still remains in prison while the state appeals his case.

The actions of District Attorney Reed Walters are a disgrace to justice. Mr. Walters should drop all charges against the young men awaiting trial. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco should act immediately and prevent the sentencing of Mychal Bell, even through a pardon if necessary. The District Attorney has refused to protect the rights of Jena's Black population and has turned the police and courts into instrument of oppression. The state of Louisiana must investigate the conduct of District Attorney Reed Walters, whose actions are a blatant and unacceptable abuse of power, to begin the process of healing in Jena and to make sure this injustice never happens again.

From Austin Texas: Happy Birthday Troy Davis!

More videos are posted at Troy Davis TV

HOW WE SAVED KENNETH FOSTER JR.

And How We CAN End the Death Penalty!

Date:	Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Time:	7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:	UT Campus, NOA 1.126
Street:	Wichita and one block north of Dean Keaton
City/Town:	Austin, TX
	View Map

This is an open house designed for interested people to meet the folks involved in the successful struggle to save Kenneth Foster, Jr. from execution. Bring questions and ideas about how you can join with the CEDP in our ongoing fight to
stop all executions!

Speakers include Beverly Fisher (cousin of Kenneth), Kenneth Foster Sr. (Kenneth's father) and Bryan McCann (CEDP member and penpal of Kenneth)

Happy Birthday Troy Davis!!!

A few weeks ago we started the first ever youtube campaign to save life of a death-row inmate. We asked everyone who has a webcam to record a statement and upload it to YouTube saying why Texas Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should stop the execution of Kenneth Foster on August 30, 2007. Later that week Gov. Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster's sentence.

There is a new youtube campaign, this time for Troy Davis. October 9th is Troy’s birthday and in celebration of this occasion NCADP is asking all of his supporters worldwide to send him a video birthday message and to post that message on YouTube.

The Troy video project is simple. Using a webcam, camera phone, camcorder or any other recording device, simply record a positive video of 60-seconds or less wishing Troy a ‘Happy Birthday’ while reaffirming to the state of Georgia that innocence matters.

With so many Troy supporters around the world, we want these messages to be lively and creative. Feel free to sing it, rap it, play it, draw it, dance it, paint it, shout it from the roof-tops. What you say or how you say it isn’t important. What’s important is that you just say it!

Please keep these messages positive and refrain from bad language and controversial statements that could be viewed as inflammatory. We don’t want to upset people - we just want to show the world that Troy has global support in his fight for justice.

After you’ve recorded this message, please post it on YouTube using this link:

http://www.youtube.com/groups_layout?name=NCADP&join&invite

(If you go there right now, you will see that a half dozen videos already are up, including several from NCADP staffers and one especially creative video by Amnesty International.)

Let’s not only give Troy a “Happy Birthday,” let us also speak loud and clear in one voice that Innocence Matters!

Texas Journey Founders Tour October 18-28, 2007

Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing Founder’s SueZann Bosler, Sam Reese Sheppard, Marietta Jaeger Lane, George White and Bill Pelke are celebrating the Journey’s 10^th anniversary with Texas Journey Founder’s Tour

The Founder’s Tour follows the October 12-18 Texas Journey of Hope in Houston. The Tour will travel from Houston, to San Antonio, to Austin to Waco, to Dallas/Ft. Worth and back to Houston.

Joining the Journey Founders Tour will be singer songwriter Charlie King and from

Uganda, Edward Mpagi Edmary, exonerated death row inmate.

The Journey Founders will speak at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, St. Edwards University in Austin, Baylor University in Waco, and Southern Methodist University in Dallas and will participate in the “8^th Annual March to Stop Executions” in Houston on October 27^th. The Journey of Hope website www.JourneyofHope.org will be posting more information on these and other events.

If you would like for the Journey Founders Tour to come to your church, school or group please call or email me. There are still some open dates

Toll free 877-9-24GIVE (4483) or email Bill@JourneyofHope.org

Bill Pelke, President Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing

Sept 19 Panel Discussion at UT-Austin on "The Death Penalty in America: A Fading Practice?"

Historian David Oshinsky won the Pulitzer Prize for his book on the campaign to wipe out the most feared childhood disease of the 1950s—polio. He will speak on his current project, the history of capital punishment in the U.S.

Panelists:
John Butler
Sheldon Ekland-Olson
George Forgie
Camille Parmesan
Michael Starbird

Discussion guide (PDF, 54KB)

Personal words by Tony Medina

Hello,

In a matter of a few weeks, I will have been trapped on death row for 12 years. TWELVE YEARS! I never even imagined I would be alive this long. Ofcourse, I never thought I would live past the age of 21… and in a way I didn`t.

Maybe I better start over. My name is Tony Medina. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the SOUTH SIDE, where I made the mistake at the age of 12 of getting involved in the gang life. Where I lived at, this wasn`t a big deal, since so many others were also living this life. I guess that the gang gave a me a feeling of acceptance that I was craving without even knowing it. In later years I tried a couple times to leave this lifestyle, which I recognized was hurting me, but the street`s call always drew me back into the gang/criminal life.

By the time I turned 21 in November 1995 I knew for sure that I had to make a change, and make it permanently. While I was incarcerated for 11 months, I`d had 2 beautiful children. I now had a son and a daughter that needed me, that needed a father. So I followed my heart, and made good on the decision I had made earlier to leave the gang life behind me. I got a job in the Orthopedic field and was doing good. But some of the young gang members I left behind did not like my new life.

December 31, 1995 was suppose to be a good night for me, NEW YEAR`S EVE. I was set to close out a old year, sealing away my old life, and celebrate a new year and a new future as a different person. I had hopes and dreams for myself … something that for years I did not allow myself.

My car was being repaired and my sisters` car quit on us earlier that evening, so i made the choice to celebrate the New Year`s holiday with my cousin and some old friends from the gang. I felt that I had succeeded in finally breaking away, so did not feel one night would do any harm. It was a decision I have regretted for the last 12 years and which has put my very life in danger.

I still remember like it was yesterday, the sound of the Judge`s voice, as I stood in the courtroom on August 1, 1996 and heard him tell me I was sentenced to death. THAT I WAS SENTENCED TO DIE BY LETHAL INJECTION. It didn`t seem real. How was it possible I`d been found quilty and sentenced to die for a crime I did not commit? The truth is very simply. My trial lawyers, who were being paid for by the state, by the same people who wanted me on death row, did NOTHING to prove I was innocent. This IS NOT just my opinion. EVERY attorney or law student who I have talked to and who has read the facts in my case, says the same thing. The lawyers who prepared my state appeal found witnesses and evidence that prove I am not quilty… Evidence and witnesses that could easily have been presented at trial if my lawyers there were working for me and not the state.

But, even though my attorneys have found the evidence to prove I do not belong on death row, I am still here. Last month I saw 4 men get carried off to their own deaths, this month there are 2 more execution dates, and next month 4. Including a man I consider a brother. If I am going to avoid becoming a victim of Texas` murder machine, I NEED HELP.

The Texas “justice” system hates to admit they made a mistake. Once we are on death row, it is very hard for us to prove our innocence. This is how they designed their system. It is stacked from day one against those of us who do not have the money to fight them. Texas would prefer to execute a innocent man and sweep the facts under the rug then admit they allowed the wrong person to be sent to death row. This is a FACT. Look at Ruben Cantu, Carlos DeLuna, or Todd Willingham… All of them innocent men who have been executed by Texas.

In 2001 as my appeal lawyers investigated my case for the writ they were to file, they discovered several key pieces of evidence that was not presented during my trial. They proved not only that someone else committed this crime, but that the police and D.A. knew it and suppressed evidence that pointed to this person.

In my almost 12 years on death row I have personally witnessed hundereds of men fighting their appeal while struggling everyday to find someone to help them. A few of them, after years, did succeed in finding some solid help, unfortunately it was too late to do them any good.

For me the opposite is true. I am at a pont in my fight right now that if I can find the help I need I have a VERY GOOD chance of saving my life. My state appeal was filed on November 21, 2001, but has not yet been ruled on.

So I still have time, BUT I NEED HELP NOW! I need people who will step forward and help me keep from being murdered by Texas for someone elses crime.

All I want is a second chance. Another chance to be a father to my (now) 3 children. Another chance to share my story with young kids and help them hopefully avoid the same mistakes I made with my life and assure them they can have a life outside of gangs and crime. All I want is a chance to have a life, to be treated as a human being again and not like a animal as I am treated everyday in this concrete tomb.

You can give me that chance. The chance at a new trial. I hope and pray you will consider giving me your support. I have been trying to find some magic words that would convince you to help me, but all I can come up with is the simple truth. I DID NOT COMMITT the crime that put me on death row, and I need YOUR help to have a chance of one day returning to my family.

Thank you for letting me speak to you, I hope my words will convince atleast one of you to help me…

Tony Medina
- www.tony-medina.info

Anthony Medina
# 999204
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351
USA

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled in favor of two death-row inmates. The court overturned a conviction and threw out a death sentence. Judge Sharon Keller wrote the dissent in these two cases again. According to Houston Chronicle,

The court said John Allen Rubio's conviction and death sentence four years ago
were improper because statements from his common-law wife, Angela Camacho,
whose three daughters he was convicted of beheading, erroneously were allowed
into evidence.

A new sentencing hearing was ordered for Raymond Deleon Martinez, convicted of
fatally shooting Houston bar owner Herman Chavis.

The court also upheld the conviction and death sentence of Travis Trevino
Runnels for the 2003 fatal stabbing of a supervisor at a state prison in
Amarillo. Runnels, from Dallas, was serving a 70-year term for aggravated
robbery when he attacked 38-year-old Stanley Wiley.

And the court dismissed an appeal from another death row inmate, Steven
Staley, who challenged an order last April from his trial judge that he must
take anti-psychotic medication. Staley, convicted in the 1989 slaying of Fort
Worth restaurant manager Robert Dorsey Reed during a robbery, argued it was
unconstitutional for him to be ordered to take drugs that would restore his
competency and make him eligible to be put to death.

In the Rubio case, three statements Camacho made about the slayings -- two in
writing and one on a videotape -- were offered into testimony by a police
officer at Rubio's trial. The trial judge, over objections from Rubio's
lawyers, allowed the testimony.

"Given Camacho's unique position as both accomplice to the crime and direct
witness to (Rubio's) motivations, her specific, detailed testimony obviously
had great significance," the court said.

The judges in the majority also noted Camacho herself was facing indictment
for capital murder when she talked with police.

"Obviously, then, she could have been under some pressure to modify her story,
given her own participation in the murders," the court said. "That is
precisely the type of issue (Rubio) was not able to address on
cross-examination.

In a dissent written by Sharon Keller, the appeals court's presiding judge,
and joined by two other judges, Keller said while admitting Camacho's
statements into evidence was an error, it was harmless because the jury
rejected Rubio's defense that he was legally insane.

"It is difficult to see how cross-examining the interrogating officers, who
can only speculate as to Camacho's motives and influences to testify, would
have anywhere near the same effect as cross-examining Camacho herself."

A day after Rubio was convicted for the March 2003 slayings, the same Cameron
County jury decided he should be put to death.

Camacho avoided a possible death sentence by taking a plea agreement two years
ago that sent her to prison with three life terms.

Rubio, 27, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He admitted to
suffocating, stabbing and decapitating Julissa Quezada, 3; John Esthefan
Rubio, 1; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. The children were found dead at the
family's squalid apartment after Rubio's brother called police. The two girls
had been stuffed into a plastic garbage bag. The boy was on a bed.

Rubio had told a judge he wanted to be executed but since then has pursued
appeals. Lawyers raised 12 points of error from his trial. By overturning the
conviction on the first point, judges did not rule on the other 11 and sent
the case back to the trial court.

Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was not in office at
the time of the trial, said he plans to retry Rubio and again seek a death
sentence.

"There is sufficient evidence to uphold a conviction on a new trial," the
prosecutor said.

The appeals court in Austin said while the admission of Camacho's statements
did not automatically merit reversal, "the only real issue in contention at
the guilt-innocence phase was (Rubio's) state of mind." The court said the
primary relevant evidence came in statements from Rubio and Camacho.

"The crucial evidence to rebut (Rubio's) contention that he was not guilty by
reason of insanity came almost exclusively from one source: Camacho's
statements," the court noted. "We can say that her statements likely
contributed to the jury's verdict of guilt, such that the error in admitting
her statements at trial clearly prejudiced (Rubio's) case."

Rubio's trial lawyers said the violence and senselessness of the murders meant
he had to be insane at the time. Rubio blamed a witchcraft-practicing mother
and grandmother casting a spell for causing the children to become possessed,
and his attorneys argued the story was almost too far-fetched for someone with
an IQ of 76 to concoct. As a child, his IQ was measured at 92, which is in the
normal range.

Psychiatrists testifying in the trial said Rubio's chronic drug use,
especially his inhaling of spray paint, contributed to the murders.

Prosecutors suggested it was an overall life of depravity, including
prostitution, drugs and a filthy apartment, that led to a decision to kill the
children.

In a dissent written by Sharon Keller, the appeals court's presiding judge,
and joined by two other judges, Keller said while admitting Camacho's
statements into evidence was an error, it was harmless because the jury
decided Rubio was not legally insane.

"Mental illness can indeed excuse criminal conduct, but only for a narrow
range of offenders," she wrote. "Given the evidence in this case, it seems
clear to me that John Rubio is not within that range."

A fourth judge, Lawrence Meyers, dissented from the majority ruling but did
not join in Keller's opinion.

Polunsky Unit Correspondence

Official Bulletin:

The Texas Board of Criminal Justice approved the revisions to Board
Policy 03.91, Uniform Offender Correspondence Rules on July 13, 2007.
The revised definition of stationery is white, undecorated paper, not
to exceed the size of 8 1/2" X 11", or unstamped white envelopes,
including carbon paper and white envelopes with the offender's
commitment name and TDCJ number preprinted in the return address
portion of the envelope, but excluding any paper with names,
addresses or letterhead, and excluding tablets or writing pads with
stapled binding. (NOTE: Ruled white paper is not considered decorated
and is permitted.)

Effective October 1, 2007, offenders will not be allowed to receive
colored paper from an approved vendor.

Offenders will still be allowed to receive note cards with matching
envelopes and journals with white paper. However, offenders will not
be allowed to receive the yellow legal pads.

Should you have any further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to
contact this office.

Jennifer Smith
Program Specialist
Mail System Coordinators Panel
P.O. Box 99
Huntsville, TX 77342
(936)437-6908

This is a current update on mail for all TDCJ units;

Legal Pads are allowed as long as they are white in color and are the
glued tops. 8 1/2 X 14 are allowed.

All other paper MUST be white in color and no larger than 8 1/2 x 11.

Note Cards are still available MUST be purchased by the inmate. This
will be the next item to go if they begin to have problems with it.

Journals are allowed as long as the paper inside is white.

Quadrille and Carbon paper is still allowed.

All inmates will have to get rid of their colored paper at the end of
the month according to MSCP. I spoke to Jennifer this morning. I
asked what the problem was with the colored paper and was told that
they were having a problem with the women dying their under garments
and other white clothes with the ink from the colored paper.

Polunsky mail room will no longer accept correspondence on colored paper

DRIVE received this message regarding the news that the Polunsky mail room will no longer accept correspondence on colored paper. I'd love to know the rationale behind this brilliant rule.

All:

We, on the outside, who use colored paper to write our letters risk having the letters rejected. They will not be delivered after October 1st.

Also - any letters being held by the guys for sentimental sake will be confiscated as contraband.

To be on the safe side it is recommended that you no longer send colored paper and if your guys are saving your letters it is recommended that they send them to you for safe keeping. Otherwise the letters they are holding will be confiscated and they will get a case written.

Update on Mumia's Pending Appeal

Dear Friends:

We continue to await a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. This complex case was orally argued before a three-judge panel on May 17, 2007, following extensive litigation which included voluminous briefing and motions. In my experience of successfully defending a large number of murder cases involving the death penalty, it was a great day.

It is impossible to know what the federal court ruling will be. If the judges follow the law and fairly apply the U.S. Constitution, we will win. As to when, long ago I projected a decision would be forthcoming this fall; it could come any day. One thing is certain: whomever loses will seek a rehearing and petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

I have previously described the different rulings that the federal court could make. Nevertheless some people have recently sent out e-mail containing false information. Contrary to their claim, the federal court cannot impose a sentence of “life in prison without parole”. Only a jury verdict could result in such an outcome, unless in the event of a penalty reversal the prosecution elected not to seek the death penalty. Likewise the court unfortunately cannot order that Mumia be released, for that would require a new guilt-phase jury trial and a favorable verdict which is certainly our goal. To once more clarify the legal situation, the scenarios of how the U.S. Court of Appeals might rule include:

• Grant an entirely new jury trial of the guilt phase;
• Order a new jury trial limited to the issue of life or death;
• Remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings; or
• Deny all relief.

Racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since Mumia’s 1981 arrest. The issues in this matter concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of an outspoken journalist.

Mumia’s objective is a reversal of the murder conviction and death sentence, and the granting of an entirely new trial. At the end of that jury trial I expect to win and see my client freed so that he can finally go home to his family.

Thank you for your interest in this campaign for human rights.

Yours very truly,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan

2088 Union Street, Suite 4

San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Was an innocent man executed? TRUTH HANGS BY A HAIR!

The Texas Observer and the Innocence Project fight to preserve evidence that could show if an innocent man was executed.

One strand of hair, a piece of evidence crucial to determining whether Texas executed an innocent man almost seven years ago, is apparently at risk of being destroyed by San Jacinto County officials who are resisting a formal request by The Texas Observer, the Innocence Project, and other criminal justice organizations to make it available for independent scientific testing.

Observer lawyers are calling on San Jacinto County District Attorney Bill Burnett to preserve the hair until a lawsuit determines whether it must be released under state open-records laws. DNA testing might provide a strong indication as to whether Claude Howard Jones was, in fact, innocent of the murder for which he was executed.

full story

Editors of DMN answer questions

Dallas reader wondered why our Aug. 20 coverage of convicted killer Kenneth Foster didn't mention that he was a member of a youth gang. Omitting that information, he thought, made Mr. Foster seem more innocent than he really was.

Assistant Managing Editor Mike Drago says the reporter who wrote the story found trial testimony that indicated Mr. Foster's cohorts may have been members of a gang, but there was no trial testimony that indicated Mr. Foster himself had been a member. Mr. Foster has consistently denied being in a gang. So, in a sense, fairness to Mr. Foster argued against including mention of the gang, if we couldn't explore the question fairly fully. And doing that was going to require some serious space.

Where to spend serious space is the most important question we confront on many stories. In this case, we made a lot of room for the story, and the question of Mr. Foster's motivation and intent was central to the question the story posed for our readers: Should Texas execute him because he was driving the car when someone else shot a robbery victim? (Eventually, Gov. Rick Perry decided not.)

For the sake of completeness, we could have reported the evidence on whether Mr. Foster's comrades were gang members, and his denials of gang membership, and the fact that trial testimony was silent on the question. The debate would have been inconclusive. Vagueness is usually a good reason for omitting things from stories. But in this case it might have mattered to some readers. In retrospect, I wish we had made room for it.

Read more...

A message from Kenneth Foster's attorney

Ruth Massingill at Book People tonight

Date: Sep 6, 2007
Time:7:00 PM
Event: Ruth Massingill - Prison City

Description: Huntsville, TX is the execution capital of the world. In Prison City, Ruth Massingill talks to inmates, guards, local politicians and townsfolk to learn about the effect this dubious distinction has had on Huntsville. Without taking a stance one way or the other on the death penalty, Massingill deftly gives readers an inside look at this city through in-depth interviews and stories of life in Huntsville. Tonight at 7 PM.

Dan Rather Reports: Did Texas Execute Innocent Men?

Dan Rather Reports examines the cases of two convicted murderers in Texas who were sentenced to death after they were identified by eyewitnesses at trial. Those identifications are now in doubt years after the men were executed. Also, a look at the latest in aviation--very light jets.

Death Penalty and Deterrence

The recent round of deterrence studies published over the last six years by economists that declared that an execution prevents between 3 and 18 homicides has been shown to be flawed.
The Justice Gambit has all you need to know about these studies.

Houston Chronicle: Timely judgment

Thats the title of Houston Chronicle's editorial regarding Gov. Rick Perry's decision to commute Kenneth Foster's death sentence. The interesting fact is that Houston Chronicle was the only major paper in Texas that did not take a stance on Kenneth Foster, before his scheduled execution date of Aug 30, 2007.

From his cell on death row, Kenneth Foster didn't pretend to be an innocent. In 1996, Foster drove the car in a nighttime crime spree, ferrying friends to two armed robberies before following a pair of cars into a neighborhood. After Foster's companion got out and shot one of the drivers, the 19-year-old Foster whisked the murderer and his other passengers from the scene.

Repugnant though they are, Foster's crimes did not include the murder of Michael LaHood, a 25-year-old law student. Through an unprecedented turn of events, Foster Thursday narrowly escaped dying for that murder. To the surprise of many, Gov. Rick Perry heeded the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Foster's sentence to life.

The governor's decision did not, however, arise from the "law of parties" — the unique Texas law that holds all participants in a capital crime equally culpable, if it can be proved they "should have anticipated" the fatal outcome. The advocates for reducing Foster's sentence included 13 members of the Legislature, most of whom argued that Foster had no idea a shooting would take place. Foster and his co-defendants testified that while Foster knew of the previous crimes that night, he didn't anticipate murder.

He certainly should have. His friend, after all, brandished a loaded gun. But guesswork about the calculations of an impulsive 19-year-old who was high on marijuana and drunk is too flimsy a basis for execution.

Perry, though, questioned something else: the fairness of a trial in which shooter and driver were convicted at the same time. When the Legislature reconvenes in 2009, lawmakers should act on the governor's recommendation to reconsider the flawed Texas law that allows such dual trials.

Perry's commutation came only hours before Foster was to die. That there was not one question, but two about the propriety of his sentence underscores qualms about the unflinching way Texas imposes the death penalty. Foster would have been the 403rd person to die since the death penalty was restored here.

The case is extraordinary, not just because Foster was saved at such a late hour, but because the governor agreed with the parole board that the sentence was unwarranted. Not required to follow its recommendations, Perry once before rejected the board's 5-1 vote for clemency in the case of a schizophrenic inmate. That prisoner was executed in 2004.

Foster's role in Michael LaHood's death deeply harmed his loved ones and society. Putting Foster to death, however, would have been an unfit punishment for the part he played. The pro-death penalty Perry was wise to acknowledge that, in this case, life in prison was just.

At the same time, Foster's close call — and the multiple questions about the fairness of the sentence — only deepens doubts about other Texas convictions that ended in lethal injection. It took a timely mix of evidence, representation and political leadership to forestall Kenneth Foster's execution. Absent any one of these at the right moment, the miscarriage of justice would have been permanent.

Executing the Insane - The Case of Scott Panetti

In 1984 the Supreme Court ruled in Ford vs. Wainwright, that it is unconstitutional to execute an inmate who is mentally insane. Since this decision the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to find a single death-row inmate incompetent to be executed in Texas. Three months ago the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Panetti v. Quarterman. As Capital Defense Weekly mentions,

The opinion is rather straightforward: Texas failed to afford Panetti a meaningful opportunity to test whether he was competent enough to be executed.

Here is a short documentary produced by Texas Defenders Services that covers the case of Scott Panetti. It is Narrated by Phil Donohue.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Meet Kenneth Foster (Alive!)

I sit here stunned: a goofy smile on my face, a tear on my cheek. This must be what victory feels like. Forgive me if I’m not familiar with its near-narcotic euphoria.

For folks who haven’t heard, Kenneth Foster’s death sentence was struck down yesterday by Texas Gov. Rick Perry after a 6-1 recommendation by the Perry appointed Board of Parolees. This is just a tremendous victory for those of us around the world who fought to make sure yesterday wasn’t the day Kenneth was put to death. We must take the time to remember Michael LaHood who lost his life 10 years ago at the hands of Mauricio Brown who was driving in Kenneth’s car. But we also remember the words of Sean Paul Kelly, Michael’s closest friend who opposed Kenneth’s execution. Kelly told the press:

…the execution of a young man who didn’t even kill Mike? That’s not justice. It’s senseless vengeance, a barbarism cloaked in the black robes of justice.

When victories like this occur, every link in the chain matters. Without question, the strongest links in this chain was Kenneth and his family. Kenneth said from the outset, “It’s my belief that if this does not become a political issue then I have no chance.”

That was the plan of action laid out for the DRIVE movement on death row, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and other organizations that worked on his case. We made it political, asking the question over and over why Kenneth should be put to death for driving a car?

It was also the inspiration for a group of athletes and even a couple of sports writers, to stand together and demand that this man not be put to death. I want to take a moment and thank Etan Thomas, Dr. John Carlos, Lee Evans, Toni Smith, Dave Meggyesy, Jeff “Snowman” Monson, Dennis Brutus, William Gerena–Rochet, Neil DeMause, Doug Harris, Lester Rodney, Rus Bradburd and the INIMITABLE Scoop Jackson.

Below is a letter I received from Kenneth a couple weeks back with some of his thoughts on sports and society. I thought when I would eventually publish it, it would be a kind of eulogy. Instead it is a celebration of the struggle so desperately needed to see any kind of progress. It’s also a testament to his spirit. So good people, meet Mr. Kenneth Foster.

In struggle and sports,
Dave Zirin

Dave Zirin is the author of the new book Welcome to the Terrordome (Haymarket). He is a columnist and contributor for Nation Magazine and Slam. He can be reached at: edgeofsports@gmail.com. Read other articles by David.

The Economist: Capital punishment in America, Revenge begins to seem less sweet

The Economist has a long article titled, "Capital punishment in America, Revenge begins to seem less sweet" which suggests that Americans are turning against the Death Penalty. The article ends by mentioning the fact that 30% of the murders in United States are unsolved and how we can solve more murders by abolishing the death penalty.

In Boulder, Colorado, Howard Morton tells a different story. His son Guy disappeared while hitch-hiking in the Arizona desert in 1975, when he was 18. For more than a decade Mr Morton continued to search for his son. Then, in 1987, a retired deputy sheriff read about Guy in a newspaper, and recalled finding a skeleton in the desert in the year he had disappeared. The medical examiner had mislabelled it as belonging to a Hispanic woman, but dental records proved it was Guy. He had been found with a broken knife blade in his chest. The murderer was never caught.

Mr Morton discovered that over 30% of murders in America are unsolved, like his son's. He found out, too, that the states spend millions of dollars putting a handful of murderers to death while detection is under-financed and thousands of murderers walk free. He became an ardent abolitionist. Anyone close to a murder victim “wants the son of a bitch who did it to die,” he says. “But you've got to catch the son of a bitch. That's more important."

A message from the Foster family

Dear Friends, Family and supporters,

Oh my God, where to start. We are estatic, overwhelmed and full of smiles!
Finally the Death row nightmare is over, no more seeing him from behind glass- soon we will be able to hug him. Nydesha will be able to hu him :-)

Without all the hard work from all of you- it would have not been possible. You guys worked around the clock, made the calls, wrote the letters, marched with us, signed petitions, helped us organize, contacted the media and made this cross bareable for us.

We thank God for having you allm we won guys- and all because of the fantastic team work!!!!!


We love you all!

Tasha & Kenneth
Kenneth Sr & Lawrence

Lessons learned from the Kenneth Foster Victory

There are certainly many lessons to learn from the Kenneth Foster victory. The victory was the result of the entire Texas anti-death penalty movement working together, including every anti-death penalty organization in Texas, as well as Kenneth's lawyers and family members and some long-time supporters of Kenneth from other U.S. states and around the world.

One important lesson is that organizing works. In particular, affecting public opinion through grassroots organizing works. Pressuring elected officials works. Texas is not a lost cause, as some people outside Texas sometimes seem to think. Here in Texas, we have known for some time that we are making progress. But, we also know that the national anti-death penalty movement should be investing more time and money in Texas. Investing more financial and other resources into the Texas anti-death penalty effort would pay off in more of the type of successes that we saw with the Save Kenneth Foster Campaign.

The Texas anti-death penalty movement would like to ask for more help from national funders and organizations. Some people do understand that Texas is where a lot of effort should be expended. For instance, we are thrilled that the Journey of Hope is coming back to Texas this fall. But, we need more resources and more help. With increased attention to Texas, we will be able to win more often and we will be able to significantly reduce popular support in Texas for the death penalty and greatly reduce the number of executions that take place here.

Party Time! 5 PM Governor's Mansion

If you are in Austin, please join us at the Governor's Mansion (5 PM) to celebrate this victory.

Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster's death sentence

Aov. Rick Perry accepted a recommendation from the state parole board and said today he would spare condemned prisoner Kenneth Foster from execution and commute his sentence to life.

Foster had been scheduled to die tonight.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement.

"I am concerned about Texas law that allowed capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."

The seven-member parole board had voted 6-1 to recommend the commutation.

Contact the Governor by Telephone and Thank him for this decision!

Telephone

• Citizen's Opinion Hotline: (800) 252-9600
  [for Texas callers]

• Citizen's Assistance and Opinion Hotline: (512) 463-1782
  [for Austin, Texas and out-of-state callers]

• Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000
  [office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST]

• Citizen's Assistance Telecommunications Device
  If you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD), call 711 to reach Relay Texas

Fax

• Office of the Governor Fax: (512) 463-1849

TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY COMMUTES INMATE KENNETH FOSTER'S DEATH SENTENCE

WE DID IT!!! Gov. Perry commuted Kenneth Foster's sentence.

Board votes to spare Texas man set to die tonight

Please contact governor Perry ASAP and ask him to accept Board of Pardons and Paroles decision.

* Office of the Governor Main Switchboard: (512) 463-2000

* Office of the Governor Fax: (512) 463-1849

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE — The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended today that Gov. Rick Perry spare condemned prisoner Kenneth Foster from execution and commute his sentence to life.

The vote from the seven-member board was 6-1. The announcement came less than seven hours before Foster was scheduled to be taken to the death chamber for lethal injection.

Perry does not have to accept the highly unusual recommendation from the board whose members he appoints.

There was no immediate response from the governor's office.

Foster was the getaway driver and not the actual shooter in the slaying of a 25-year-old man in San Antonio 11 years ago.

Foster acknowledged he and his friends were up to no good as he drove them around San Antonio in a rental car and robbed at least four people 11 years ago before the slaying of Michael LaHood Jr.

"It was wrong," Foster, 30, said recently from death row. "I don't want to downplay that. I was wrong for that. I was too much of a follower. I'm straight up about that."

Their robbery spree, while they were all high on alcohol and marijuana, turned deadly when Foster followed LaHood and his girlfriend to LaHood's home about 2 a.m. Aug. 15, 1996. One of Foster's passengers, Mauriceo Brown, jumped out, walked up to LaHood, demanded his wallet and car keys, then opened fire when LaHood, 25, couldn't produce them. LaHood, shot through the eye, died instantly.

Brown ran back to Foster's car and they sped away. Less than an hour later, Foster was pulled over for speeding and driving erratically. Foster, Brown, Dwayne Dillard and Julius Steen — all on probation and members of a street gang they called the Hoover 94 Crips — were arrested for LaHood's slaying.

Brown and Foster, tried together, were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Foster was set to die 13 months after Brown, 31, was strapped to the same death chamber gurney in Huntsville for lethal injection.

Foster's execution would make him the third Texas prisoner executed in as many days and the 24th this year in the nation's most active capital punishment state. On Wednesday evening, John Joe Amador, 32, was put to death for the slaying of a San Antonio taxi driver 13 1/2 years ago.

Foster's scheduled execution piqued death penalty opponents who criticized his conviction and sentence under Texas' law of parties, which makes non-triggermen equally accountable for the crime. Foster would join a number of other condemned prisoners executed under the statute, including one put to death earlier this year.

"This is a new low for Texas," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, a human rights organization that opposes the death penalty in all cases. "Allowing his life to be taken is a shocking perversion of the law."

Foster's lawyers were arguing in the courts that statements from Dillard and Steen, who were in Foster's car that night, clarify and provide new evidence that support Foster when he says he didn't know Brown was going to try to rob and shoot LaHood.

"I didn't kill anybody," Foster insisted from death row. "I screwed up. I went down the wrong path. I fault myself for being in this messed-up system."

Foster said he was some 80 feet away from the shooting.

"It's hard for you to anticipate how Brown is going to react," Foster said. "Texas is saying flat out: You should have known better.

"In life, we have hindsight. Texas is saying you better have foresight. They're saying you better be psychic."

Dillard now is serving life for killing a taxi driver across the street from the Alamo two weeks before LaHood's slaying. Steen testified at Brown's trial and received a life sentence in a plea bargain.

Brown testified at his trial the shooting was in self-defense, that he believed LaHood had a gun. Authorities, however, never found another weapon near LaHood's body. Foster did not testify.

"I thought what (Brown) said was good enough," he said from death row.

Mike Ramos, among the Bexar County prosecutors handling the case when it went to trial, said he found Foster's claims unbelievable and was irritated by a publicity effort to spare Foster.

"When you let somebody out of your car with a loaded handgun, what do you expect?" Ramos said. "If he didn't realize it could happen, I think he's a liar."

Last weekend a group of Foster supporters picketed outside an Austin church Gov. Rick Perry attends.

"These guys are rewriting history," Ramos said. "He was far from any kind of angel they're trying to portray."

Ramos said it was clear to him that Foster was "the puppet master pulling all the strings" during the robbery spree.

Nico LaHood, whose brother was killed, said Wednesday he was frustrated that people were willing to believe only Foster's story, which he called "ridiculous and not true."

"I don't know what dynamics are going on that allow us to make the person who is the wrongdoer to become the victim in this case," LaHood said. His brother, he said, was being "lost in the whole thing."

On Wednesday, Amador asked for forgiveness for himself and peace "for people seeking revenge toward me," then was put to death for the fatal shooting of San Antonio taxi driver Mohammad Reza Ayari.

Another execution, the first of five scheduled for September in Texas, is set for next week when South Carolina native Tony Roach faces injection Wednesday for the strangling of an Amarillo woman, Ronnie Dawn Hewitt, 37, during a burglary of her apartment nine years ago.

Dan Rather takes on the Death Penalty

I will leave for Huntsville in a few minutes. Hopefully there will be a positive response from BPP.
I will try to do some audio blogging from Huntsville. In the meanwhile, the word has come out that Dan Rather Reports is going to Examines the Death Penalty Cases of Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna, September 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET

Next Tuesday’s Dan Rather Reports will reveal new details surrounding two capital murder cases in Texas - leading to the executions of two men that may have occurred as the result of flawed evidence.

In “Did Texas Execute Innocent Men?” Dan Rather speaks with key players in the cases of both Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna both of whom died by lethal injection in Texas where more than one-third of the nation’s executions take place.

Kenneth Foster in the spotlight

Apparently Al-Jazeera is interested in Kenneth Foster's case and are planning to send their crews to Texas. London's Independent and LA Times also have some interesting articles. Capitolannex also weights in the United Methodist Church's doctrine against the death penalty.

Very interesting that both Governor Perry and his fellow congregants can so easily look over that chapter in their governing tents. It seems as though Governor Perry’s fellow congregants should have been outside along with the protesters.

The Huffington Post has published Katie Halmer's great letter to Gov. Rick Perry

Dear Governor Perry,

First of all, happy belated 400th execution day! It seems like only yesterday that Texas reinstated the death penalty, and yet you have managed to execute 400 people since 1982. Oops, scratch that, you killed DaRoyce Mosley Tuesday night, so make that 401 people, right? Actually, by the time you get this letter, you may have killed your 402nd inmate, John Amador, scheduled for August 29th. Or you may even have killed the 403rd person, Kenneth Foster, scheduled to die August 30th.

As you know, Kenneth Foster's fate is in your hands. In 1996, when Michael LaHood was fatally shot, of course, the man who pulled the trigger was not Foster, but Mauriceo Brown. And sure, Foster was inside a car at the time of the murder. Sure, 80 feet away from the crime scene, he was unaware of what Brown was up to. And sure, Amnesty International says, "In essence, Kenneth Foster has been sentenced to death for leaving his crystal ball at home. There is no concrete evidence demonstrating that he could know a murder would be committed. Allowing his life to be taken is a shocking perversion of the law." The law of parties allows anyone involved in anyway in a crime to be found as guilty as the person who committed the crime. Texas is unique because it applies this law to death penalty cases. In other words, Texas is so special, it will execute you for a crime it admits you did not commit.

I know you have received letters from leftist anarchist wing bats like Archbishop Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and the European Union, who are trying to bully you into granting a stay of execution. So I wanted to write you my own letter, urging you to hold your ground. Stay strong Mr. Governor! I so admire how you stood up to those EU girly boys, telling them, "230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas."

Who cares what the EU pansies think? When it comes to the death penalty, you are in good company. Some of the most freedom-loving countries-- Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Zimbabwe--have capital punishment. I, like yourself, am a traditionalist and love your argument that "the people of Texas decided a long time ago that the death penalty was a good idea." After all, Texas has a long proud history of old noble decisions going back to the War of Northern Aggression.

And, of course, "Texans are doing just fine governing Texas," representing its people and defending their interests. I think the Texan record speaks for itself. You are number one in percentage of uninsured, and number two in non-immunized children, and teenage pregnancy. You are number five in poverty and child poverty (no fair).

Now some people like to claim the death penalty is racist. OK, of the three men killed this week, two are black and one was Latino. But, out of the 10 upcoming executions, one of them is white.

Governor Perry, when you feel yourself faltering, just remember the strong gubernatorial roots that ground and nourish you. President George Bush, arguably Texas's greatest governor, executed 152 people in his unique caring way. In his page-turning autobiography A Charge to Keep, Bush wrote, "I take every death penalty case seriously and review each case carefully.... Each case is major because each case is life or death." Bush took the cases so seriously, that he would even read the clemency pleas, according to his then legal council Alberto Gonzalez, "from time to time". Signing 152 death sentences was so stressful for Bush, sometimes the poor governor had to resort to impersonating death row inmates' pleas for clemency in order to decompress.

So please listen to reason, Mr. Governor, your own reason:

"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens."

Like sitting in your car and not being clairvoyant.

To tell Governor Perry what you think about Kenneth Foster's case, call 512-463-2000, fax (512) 463-1849 and visit here.

Sincerely,
Katie Halper

Star-Telegram and Express-News

"No Needle" is title of another Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial against execution of Kenneth Foster.

Although his statement could have been phrased a tad more gently, Gov. Rick Perry was on target when he informed the European Union that Texans aren't too concerned about what Europeans think when it comes to his state's use of the death penalty.

Calls from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter to spare the life of Death Row inmate Kenneth Foster Jr. are likely to receive similar dismissals.

But Perry and the state Board of Pardons and Paroles should be listening to what Texans say when it comes to today's scheduled execution by lethal injection of Foster, who did not fire the gun that ended Michael LaHood's life that Aug. 15, 1996, night in San Antonio.

Thirteen members of the Texas House petitioned Perry and the board to commute Foster's sentence to life without parole.

Those voices -- those of legislators who, in the words of their Aug. 23 letter, "are responsible for making the laws of the State of Texas" and "also assume responsibility for protecting our system of justice from mistakes" -- argued that the execution of Foster "is just wrong."

No one who has read the case file can argue that Foster is a complete innocent. He was driving the car that carried the triggerman, Mauriceo Brown, who was executed in 2006 for killing LaHood. Foster was present earlier in the evening when Brown and two other men committed two robberies.

Prosecutors in this case used the state's "law of parties" statutes to hold Foster criminally responsible for the actions of another. Under Section 7.02(b) of the state penal code, if two or more "conspirators" agree to commit a crime and in the process commit another, each conspirator is guilty of the crime committed if the crime was "one that should have been anticipated."

Foster deserves to spend a long, long time -- if not the rest of his life -- behind bars for what he did do that night. But he does not deserve to die -- not today, not at the hands of a state executioner.

Rebeca Chapa has published a column in San Antonio Express-News titled: Lone Star State's broken system metes out irreversible 'justice'

By this evening, unless something dramatic happens at the governor's office, Kenneth Foster will be dead by the state's hand. He will be the 403rd person executed in Texas since 1982.

No big deal, right? We do it all the time. In fact, we've already executed two people just this week, so what's one more criminal?

But here's the rub: Foster didn't kill anybody. He drove the vehicle and was certainly there that night, but he did not take a life. That alone should keep him off death row.

Foster was involved in the 1996 robbery and murder of Michael LaHood Jr. He and three others tailed LaHood and his girlfriend to a home in the U.S. 281-Bitters Road area. The 2 a.m. robbery turned deadly when Mauriceo Brown got out of the car and shot LaHood, the son of a prominent local attorney, at close range in the face.

Brown was executed last year. The two others, Julius Steen and DeWayne Dillard, are serving prison sentences for other crimes that are not related to the LaHood case.

Foster and Brown were convicted together based on the Texas law of parties, which also applies to capital cases. In essence, the jury found Foster guilty because he should have known that Brown was going to shoot LaHood.

But sworn testimony, including from two of his co-defendants, indicates that there was no conspiracy, something the jury would had to have concluded to apply the death sentence to Foster.

No one argues that Foster is an angel. And certainly no one argues that he is innocent of a crime. But executing him is going too far.

"If Kenneth Foster's execution is permitted to go forward, it will mean that the death penalty in Texas predates Old Testament law, which limits one life for a life," Keith Hampton of Austin, Foster's attorney, said Wednesday.

"If you are not deserving for clemency because you killed, and you can't be spared when you didn't, not only is there officially no clemency in Texas, but we've expanded death to bounds not seen since before Moses," Hampton said.

Of course, this comes as no surprise. We do everything big in Texas.

This year, two developments at the Legislature served to further cement that reputation.

On the one hand, we expanded the list of capital crimes to include repeated child molestation. Although child molesters certainly rank among the more heinous among us, even some child advocates oppose the death penalty. Child abuse is often committed within the family circle, which could deter members from reporting abuse if they believe their "loved one" could get the needle.

It also, they say, could prompt predators to kill their victims to avoid identification and subsequent punishment.

On the other hand, legislators decided for the third time against creating an innocence commission designed to review documented cases of wrongful conviction. At least 28 cases of wrongful conviction have turned up since 2001, when a law began allowing inmates to petition for DNA testing.

So ... we want to kill more people, but we don't want to confront information that might indicate we got the wrong guy. (The innocence commission wouldn't have even considered the cases of executed felons, and it still didn't pass!)

In another pathetic case, an El Paso man is sitting on death row despite widespread belief among many close to the case that his confession was coerced as a result of police misconduct. The prosecutor in the case told the Chicago Tribune in 2000 that he would have suppressed the confession if he had known about the misconduct.

Without that confession, Cesar Fierro would not be on death row.

There are hundreds of men, and 10 women, awaiting the final punishment in Texas. And yet we still have violent, horrible crime. Something's not working.

Isn't it time we put an end to yee-haw justice?

Contact BPP members

As you all know we are not going to have an answer until tomorrow from the BPP. What we need to do is contact any journalists or media contacts you have and ask them to call the Board members and ask them what is going on? Why is there even a decision to contemplate? As Keith Hampton mentioned earlier tonight at the Press conference in Austin - If clemency is denied to those who kill and also to those who do not - then who is it for? If they deny it to
Kenneth then they will be making a strong statement that clemency in Texas is truly non existent and the process is strictly a formality. We need journalists to call each member and get on their ass and state this to them and put the heat up a notch - make them know that if they dont do what is right the media will hold them accountable - each individual member (we
will know how each member votes). Below are the phone numbers to each of the board members. They must know they are being watched closely by the media and there
names will be all over the papers if they deliver an
injustice.

Rissie Owens
Phone: (512) 936-6351
Phone: (936) 291-2161

Charles Aycock, Board Member
Phone: 806-359-7656

Linda Garcia
979-849-3031

Jose L. Aliseda,
210-564-3721

Juanita Gonzalez
254-865-8870

Conrith Davis
936-291-2161

Jackie DeNoyelles
903-723-1068

Not the Killer, but Still Facing a Date With the Executioner

Thats the title of Ralph Blumenthal's article on NY Times.

HOUSTON, Aug. 29 — Kenneth Foster has a date on Thursday with the executioner’s needle. Not for killing anyone himself, but for what he was doing — and might have been thinking — the night in 1996 when he was 19 and a sidekick gunned down a San Antonio law student.

Ensnared in a Texas law that makes accomplices subject to the death penalty, Mr. Foster, 30, is to become the third death row inmate this week, and the 403rd since capital punishment resumed in Texas in 1982, to give his life for a life taken.

But unlike most others condemned to death in this state, Mr. Foster, a former gang member and aspiring musician and now a prison poet from San Antonio, is not a murderer in the usual sense. He was convicted and sentenced to die for abetting a killing — 80 feet away — that he might, or might not, have had reason to anticipate.

The gunman is dead, executed last year. Two accomplices are serving life terms.

Now, failing a last-minute reprieve, Mr. Foster, the group’s driver in a robbery spree — who argues that he never was party to the murder — is facing lethal injection. His guilt, affirmed so far in every appeal, including five turned away by the United States Supreme Court, hinges in large part on difficult questions of awareness and intention.

Other states also hold co-conspirators responsible for one another’s criminal acts in a so-called law of parties. But few of those states have a death penalty. And no other state executes anybody on the scale of Texas.

With polls showing capital punishment still enjoying majority support in Texas and around the country, but by dwindling margins, the Foster case has spurred vigils and protests from abroad to the death house in Huntsville, as well as a backlash by victims’ rights advocates who still mourn the law student, Michael LaHood Jr., slain at 25.

It has also blurred concepts of guilt and innocence. If Mr. Foster is not legally guilty of murder, as his lawyer, Keith S. Hampton, and supporters contend, many find it hard to pronounce him blameless.

“I’d hate to use the word ‘innocent,’ ” said his father, Kenneth Foster Sr., a former heroin addict who told a church audience in Houston on Saturday that he used to take his baby son with him on drug runs and petty crimes. He said his son “should be punished to some degree, but not put to death.”

At the heart of the case is Texas’ law of parties, under which those conspiring to commit one felony, like a robbery, can all be held responsible for an ensuing crime, like murder, if it “should have been anticipated.”

In 1982, in Edmund v. Florida, the United States Supreme Court found that the Constitution barred the death penalty for co-conspirators who did not themselves kill.

But five years later in Tison v. Arizona, the justices carved out an exception, ruling that the Eighth Amendment did not forbid the execution of a defendant “whose participation in a felony that results in murder is major and whose mental state is one of reckless indifference.”

According to evidence in the case, on the afternoon of Aug. 14, 1996, Mr. Foster had borrowed his grandfather’s rented white Cavalier and was driving three companions — Julius Steen, Dewayne Dillard and Mauriceo Brown — on a robbery spree through San Antonio. Mr. Steen and Mr. Brown, with Mr. Dillard’s gun, held up four people.

After midnight, they trailed two cars to a street where Mr. LaHood had just driven home, followed by a companion, Mary Patrick. Ms. Patrick and Mr. Steen exchanged some remarks. Mr. Brown took the gun, chased Mr. LaHood and shot him dead. Ms. Patrick later characterized it as a robbery.

Mr. Foster and his companions fled but were soon stopped by the police. Mr. Foster denied participating in the earlier robberies or the shooting, claiming the group had been out looking for clients for his music business.

He was tried with Mr. Brown, who was also convicted and was executed in July 2006. Mr. Steen agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for a life sentence. Mr. Dillard is serving life for a separate murder committed with Mr. Steen.

Mr. Steen testified he did not believe that Mr. Foster had known that Mr. LaHood would be robbed, although Mr. Steen said, “I would say I kind of thought it.”

Later Mr. Dillard testified in Mr. Foster’s appeals, claiming that before they reached the LaHood house, Mr. Foster sought to end the night’s spree so he could return the car to his grandfather. Therefore, Mr. Foster’s lawyer, Mr. Hampton, argued, his client lacked the mindset to be legally culpable for the killing.

Mr. Hampton also contended that Mr. Steen and Mr. Dillard had been improperly withheld as crucial witnesses for the defense, and that mitigating testimony about Mr. Foster’s upbringing had not been presented.

“I was in jail at the time he got arrested,” said Kenneth Foster Sr., adding that a strategy of portraying his son as churchgoing and well-raised had backfired.

“One of the jurors said he should have known better,” the elder Mr. Foster said. “They never called me. If the mitigating evidence had been put on, he never would be on death row.”