Kenneth Foster, Jr. was sentenced to death in May 1997 for driving a car from which Mauriceo Brown got out and shot Michael LaHood, Jr. Kenneth's case is currently at a critical juncture, as the state of Texas has recently given him an execution date of August 30, 2007. Kenneth could be killed simply because of the gross misuse of the Law of Parties. As the Austin Chronicle has put it, he was in "the wrong place at the wrong time." Kenneth is a founding member of D.R.I.V.E., a group of death row prisoners who organize using methods of nonviolent resistance, to fight for humane conditions on death row in Texas.
Some people prefer to play petty politics than pass good public policy. That was never more evident than what transpired over the last few days regarding the Innocence Commission bill. I wasn't sure who to believe at first about why the bill died in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, since there were conflicting accounts. I found it hard to believe that any elected official would kill a bill out of pettiness, but then I saw that Aaron Peña had redirected a link to a blog critical of him to this Toilet Sounds website where you can hear the sound of a flushing toilet. It was then that I realized that Aaron Peña was probably not the most high-minded person in the Legislature, so he probably was indeed petty enough to vote for a bill and kill it at the same time.Thompson told the Guardian she had six votes for Ellis’s bill and told Peña that on Thursday. She said that at different times during Friday’s hearing the votes were there to pass the bill out but Peña would not bring it up for a vote. She said it was clear he was waiting for members to drift away.Retaliating against political critics by redirecting links to a toilet sounds website is really not the type of grown-up behavior we should be seeing from the chair of an important House committee. In fact, it's kind of scary and disgusting to think that the Chair of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence has the time to put links to toilet sounds on his blog, rather than doing his real job and maybe reading the text of the Innocence Commission bill, understanding how important it is and making sure the bill got out of his committee in a timely manner.
“I had enough votes for a significant period of time during the hearing,” Thompson said. “If you look at Chairman Peña’s actions this session, it is clear he sent the Innocent Commission bills on a slow boat to China.”
The much talked about Innocence Commission bill was brought to a vote today as I had promised. Although some refused to believe me that the votes were not there, as I represented, the votes were not there today and it failed for lack of a majority. There has been some pretty irresponsible behavior by a number of individuals who have been following SB 263. I am sorry to say that some bloggers are very much in this group.The Burnt Orange Report explained their criticism of Peña for bottling up the bill in another post:
It would have been inappropriate for us to ignore this legislation considering it was referred to a committee packed with Democrats and lead by a Democratic Chair (Peña) and Vice-chair, and supported by Democratic leaders in the Senate. Rep. Peña has decided that he will remove his link to us from his site. That's his choice, but we see no reason to engage in such pettiness.The Edinburg News commented on the deletions by writing:
The Burnt Orange Report has always been loyal to Aaron Peña. Now they're starting to question his Republican ways. So what does Aaron Peña do? He deleted their link from his web site. Another blog named Valley Politics was also deleted.Then Peña took his creepiest step yet. He decided to redirect the Edinburg News link to the Toilet Sounds website.
Expect to see more of this. As time gets closer to run for re-election. More and more blogs will be asking more and more questions. Aaron's theory is just ignore and delete. Lol You can do that on cyber space but reality is going to bite you in the butt.
Also posted on Texas Death Penalty blogLast Wednesday night, Tennessee executed Philip Workman despite his claims of innocence. For his last meal on earth, Philip Workman requested that his final meal be a vegetarian pizza donated to any homeless person located near Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. The Tennessee Department of Corrections refused saying they were too focused on the execution procedures. But lots of normal people stepped in and hundreds of pizzas were delivered last week to Nashville's homeless community in Philip Workman's.
Not only Tennesseans responded to Philip Workman's request. Texans also took action. Texas Students Against the Death Penalty in collaboration with House the Homeless and Texas Moratorium Network collected donations from Austinites to purchase pizza. The Pizzas were delivered last Wednesday,May 16, at ARCH (Austin Resource Center for the Homeless). An act of generosity deserves notice and praise, regardless of who it was performed by and the mistakes they made in the past. Philip Workman used his last request to do something nice for homeless people. I thank him for that.
Homelessness and poverty are directly related to the increase in crime rate and the number of people that end up in our prison systems. Recently the U.S. Conference of Mayors released its latest findings on "hunger and homelessness" in America. Unfortunately, more people were homeless in 2006 than they were in 2005.
Among the many disturbing statistics of this year's report: 25% of the residents in emergency shelters were children. One-third of hungry adults were employed. In 86% of the cities, homeless folks had to be turned away from emergency shelters due to a lack of resources. About 74% of the cities saw a marked increase (7%) in the need for emergency food assistance. Over 23% of the requests for emergency food went completely unfilled. The length of time that someone remained homeless increased in 32% of the cities.
Now was Phillip Workman really innocent? We might never know the answer. But I recommend everybody to watch the following short video on the man who was responsible for feeding hundreds of homeless people around the country.
On Wednesday night Tennessee executed Philip Workman despite his claims of innocence. For his last meal on earth, Philip Workman requested that a vegetable pizza be delivered to Nashville's homeless shelter. The Department of Corrections refused saying they were too focused on the execution procedures. But hundreds of normal people have stepped in and hundreds of pizzas were served last night to Nashville's homeless community in Philip Workman's name. Read news reports on CNN and News Channel 4.
It just couldn't be done, boys. A Warden can't be a warden and a killer too. The penitentiary is a place to reform a man, not to kill him.
We are sure that you have some amazing ideas on how to organize, mobilize, and galvanize other students on your campus. As a Campus Progress Student Representative you will be given the unique opportunity to work with students from over one hundred different campuses, and will receive the tools to help you achieve your anti-death penalty goals. Backed by the resources of Campus Progress and the Center for American Progress, Representatives will strive to build strong and sustainable progressive communities across the nation. Campus Progress Student Reps will receive special access to Center resources, including networking opportunities, funding, experts, and media and political guidance.
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