As you are filling out your holiday cards this winter, please remember the men and women who will spend the holiday season behind bars. Opening a holiday card and receiving greetings and words of encouragement from you could really mean a lot to someone who has to spend the holidays away from his or her family.Many CEDPers host holiday card writing events, which is a great way to get together in a more casual setting, make plans for the new year, and send some holiday cheer into prison walls.
PRISONER ADDRESSES
Here are some addresses of prisoners we have come to know through our work. You may want to add them to your holiday card list.Death row prisoners:
Kevin Cooper, #C-65304, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974
Darrell Lomax PO Box K-27402 SQSP San Quentin, CA 94974
Keith Doolin #K 13400, S.Q.S.P. (4E-Y-25) Death Row, San Quentin, CA 94974
David Lee Thomas #A-717466#P61185# A-1, Union Correctional Institution, 7819 N.W. 228th St., Raiford, FL 32026-4000
Keith Gavin #Z-665, 3700 Holman Unit 8U4, Atmore, AL 36503
Siddique Abdullah Hasan #R130-559, Ohio State Penitentiary, 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd, Youngstown, OH 44505-4635Rodney Reed #999271, Polunsky Unit, 3872 F.M. 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351
Louis Castro Perez #999328 Polunsky Unit, 3872 F.M. 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351Jeff Wood #999256 Polunsky Unit, 3872 F.M. 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351Rob Will #999402, Polunsky Unit, 3872 F.M. 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351
Christopher A. Young #999508, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351
Carlos A. Hawthorne Jr. #K-67900, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974Correll Thomas P.O. Box P-55743 3-EY-6 San Quentin State Prison San Quentin, CA 94974Beth Markman #0G3739, P.O. Box 180, Muncy, PA 17756
Michelle Tharp #0F6593, P.O. Box 180, Muncy PA 17756
Shonda Walter #OJ8227, P.O. Box 180, Muncy, PA 17756
Darlie Routier #999220 2305 Ransom Road, Gatesville, TX 76528Christopher Erdman #1008950 #6 South 515 Fulton County Jail 901 Rice Street Atlanta, GA 30318Former death row prisoners who continue to be incarcerated, some with life without parole sentences:Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335 SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, PA 17932Kenneth Foster Jr. #1451768 Alfred Hughes Unit Route 2 Box 4400 Gatesville, TX 76597Kenneth Collins #189948, MHC-X-C-7, Jessup, MD 20794Eugene Colvin-El #157345, MHC-X, P.O. Box 534, Jessup, MD 20794Stanley Howard #N71620, 2600 N. Brinton Ave, Dixon, IL 61021*Robert Gattis #188752 Unit-SHU17 JTVCC 1181 Paddock Rd Smyrna, DE 19977Vernon Evans #172357, North Branch Correctional Institution, 14100 McMullen HWY SW, Cumberland, MD 21502John Booth 170-921, North Branch Correctional Institution, 14100 McMullen HWY SW, Cumberland, MD 21502Timothy McKinney #10137763 Shelby County Jail 1-E-21 201 Poplar Drive Memphis, TN. 38103
Friday, December 12, 2014
SEND IN A LITTLE HOLIDAY CHEER TO PRISONERS
Thursday, November 13, 2014
DARBY TILLIS REMEMBERED
By Marlene Martin
Sadly, our good friend and comrade in struggle Darby Tillis—the first exonerated Illinois death row prisoner in the modern era of the death penalty, passed away on Sunday November 10, at the age of 71. He was a steadfast fighter for abolition. After being released from prison in 1987, along with his co-defendant Perry Cobb, Darby spent the entire rest of his life fighting for justice.
We will miss Darby terribly. To many of us, he was a teacher, someone who knew and could explain the criminal justice system from the inside out, and who worked passionately to expose it. Working alongside Darby in the Campaign to End the Death Penalty was an honor.
His full name was Jesse “Darby” Tillis, but we all knew him as Darby.
It was so easy to grow fond of Darby, even with all his quirks and bouts of stubbornness—qualities that must have helped him survive an unjust imprisonment on death row. Darby stood out in every way (it wasn’t just his name that was unique!) There was, for example, his signature attire: He always dressed all in black, often wearing a black cape, even in the summer, along with a black cap and black alligator boots. Instead of using the word prison, he would talk about the “the penitentiary for the poor.” Referring to the corruption in Chicago’s Cook County, he would instead call it “Crook County.”
Darby was certainly one of a kind. For a long time, he drove around in an old limousine, and across the side, he had scrawled, “Thou shall not kill.” But Darby was no joke, and none of what he did was for laughs. He wanted to shock people into paying attention. This is why he once strode through downtown Chicago in an orange prison jumpsuit, complete with chains, carrying a bullhorn calling for abolition—he called these walks “The Death Row Shuffle.” He would do anything to draw attention to this cause. He was all guts, and spit fire.
I heard Darby speak countless times over the years. In his characteristic low, raspy voice, Darby could hold audiences spellbound, telling them about how he had been “kidnapped, used and abused by the Illinois criminal justice system, and how he had been tried five times, “more than any other person in the history of the U.S.” (Actually, along with Darby and Perry, this unique distinction also belongs to the Scottsboro Boys, African American youth from Jim Crow Alabama who were falsely accused of rape.)
I never heard Darby say he spent “nine years” in prison, or “just over nine years.” He always gave people the precise amount of time, each time he spoke: “nine years, one month and 17 days.” Why? I’m not sure, but I think that he wanted to make it clear he knew exactly what had been stolen from him.
He was bitter about the years taken from him—how couldn’t he be—and you could feel that in him. And he wanted people to know those precious moments of his life—each and every day that was stolen—were times that he wasn’t with his mom when she passed or wasn’t able to help his daughter when she needed him. He wanted people to feel that—to try to have some understanding of what having part of their lives stolen is like. And he also wanted to make it known that he was keeping score.
Darby had been sent to prison by Judge Thomas Maloney, who was later found guilty of taking bribes to fix cases and was sent to prison for 15 years. Darby liked to include this fact in all of his presentations, too, since it’s so rare for a judge, prosecutors or police to face any consequences for sending the wrong people to prison or death row. At the end of one interview, Darby asked a journalist how it could be that the system was still doing the same exact thing it did to him all those many years ago—sending the wrong people to prison. He believed a big part of the reason it continued was because those who rule over the system never face any consequences for the miscarriages of justice they help to arrange.
I first heard Darby speak at a forum put on by the International Socialist Organization in the early 1990s. The title of the panel was, “The War on Poverty”—Darby was asked to speak on the connection of the criminal justice system. I was blown away by what I heard.
He was a street preacher, and he had the cadence, confidence and passion of the profession, but he also had something very unique, which was a relentless determination to hold the criminal injustice system accountable for the wrongs it had done to him and to so many others, and that it was still doing. He taught me, along with many others in the abolitionist community, so much about the unfair workings of the criminal justice system and its deep-seated racism.
Darby was at ground zero in the fight to win the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, which we achieved in 2011. He also traveled on our national speaking tours on many occasions, rousing the audience and imploring people to join him in the fight against this injustice.
He talked tough, and he was, but he was also deeply compassionate, caring and gentle. I don’t think there was a single time that I talked with Darby when he didn’t first ask how my family was.
He befriended family members who had loved ones in jail. He spent time with Martina Correia and Virginia Davis, the sister and mother of Troy Davis, the innocent Georgia death row prisoner who was executed in 2011. Darby drove to Atlanta to be with them for one of Troy’s last execution dates. He sat with them, prayed with them and gave them comfort in an impossible time.
When Mark Clements, a victim of Chicago police torture, was finally released from Illinois prison after 28 years, he said it was Darby who took him under his wing, mentored him and looked after him. They became very fond of one another and spent a lot of time together. As Mark says, “He supported me—he encouraged me to stand up against wrong.” Losing Darby leaves a “hole in my heart which will never be able to be filled,” Mark said.
Several times, when Darby spoke at the Campaign to End the Death Penalty’s annual conventions, he paid tribute to the work of the campaign, speaking thoughtfully and poetically about our accomplishments and why it was so important to stay the course.
It was through the Campaign that Darby would meet Cathy McMillan, who was fighting on behalf of her brother. Darby spent the last several years close to Cathy, whom he adored.
In later years, even when it was difficult for him to walk, he would still come out for events.
At the final big rally for Troy Davis in Atlanta, Darby was with us among the 3,000-person rally. He spoke to the audience and performed a rousing song he wrote for Troy Davis, titled “Let’s Fight Together.” The song pleaded with the authorities to do the right thing and free an innocent man. The lyrics were beautiful and the music upbeat, holding out the promise that we could win. Darby was incredibly talented as a songwriter and harmonica player, and he absolutely loved the blues. You couldn’t go on a road trip with Darby without him popping in the CD he recorded during the trip.
One of the last times I saw him was when he spoke out at a rally in Chicago to call for justice for Trayvon Martin. Darby could always be counted on to help in the struggle.
After the decades-long fight to win abolition in Illinois, Darby was careful to point out that the victory shouldn’t just be laid at the feet of Gov. George Ryan, who first put a moratorium on the death penalty and then cleared death row by granting clemency to every prisoner. Nor should the lawyers and journalists get the credit solely—he reminded us that it was also pivotal what activists did. This is how he put it when I asked him about how we won abolition for an article for Socialist Worker newspaper:
“We worked hard to get the ear of Governor Ryan, we got exonerated and family members out there, and he heard their pleas. We kept on and got the ears of the politicians to see our point, and as a result, we have destroyed this dinosaur. It shows that when we stand together and don't give up, we can win.
It's so different now compared to when we first started. People used to look at us like we were the culprits. Now they see us, and they want to stand with us. They say, "Hey, can I hold that picket sign?" and "Keep up the good work." People can see that the death penalty is senseless--it won't cure the ills in society. They can see the corrupt and flawed nature of the system.”
I asked Darby what we abolitionists should say in a situation where the guilt of the defendant is certain. Here’s how he responded:
“I used to say I would kill him myself if I saw him do it. But I have had a change of heart on that. You have to look beyond the person to understand why they did what they did. In some of these communities in Chicago, they're so barren, so desolate--they're like a desert. When I go there, I feel nothing but pain and hurt. It feels deadly--there's such a lack of resources.
When you grow up and live in a community like that, you become subhuman, because you live like you're in a combat zone. Police are cruising around, and young men are out on the street with nothing to do in miserable circumstances. Just like the soldiers coming back from Iraq who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, so do the people in these desolate, crime-ridden, cop-patrolled communities.
They're battlegrounds, and you don't hear any of the politicians saying anything about it. These problems need to seriously be addressed and not just by a program or two--it needs to be deeper than that.”
The article ended with a quote from Darby giving instructions to activists about what’s next: "We have to align ourselves with people who want to build a safe and sound society. We've shown people what we can do when we come together. We can get justice if we work hard.”
One of the best ways we can remember Darby is to bring a bit of his spirit into our fight for justice today. One of the last struggles he was concerned about was that of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed, who faces an execution date in Texas on January 14. He had befriended Sandra Reed, the mother of Rodney and spoke of her as “an angel who was wounded by a system that doesn’t give a damn about poor, colored people.” Darby wasn’t able to attend the Campaign’s convention this year in Texas, but he was there in spirit the whole time.
To learn more about the fight for Rodney, please go to our website at www.nodeathpenalty.org.
Darby would be proud to know we will carry on with this fight, standing tall, and feeling him holding us up from behind.
Sadly, our good friend and comrade in struggle Darby Tillis—the first exonerated Illinois death row prisoner in the modern era of the death penalty, passed away on Sunday November 10, at the age of 71. He was a steadfast fighter for abolition. After being released from prison in 1987, along with his co-defendant Perry Cobb, Darby spent the entire rest of his life fighting for justice.
We will miss Darby terribly. To many of us, he was a teacher, someone who knew and could explain the criminal justice system from the inside out, and who worked passionately to expose it. Working alongside Darby in the Campaign to End the Death Penalty was an honor.
His full name was Jesse “Darby” Tillis, but we all knew him as Darby.
It was so easy to grow fond of Darby, even with all his quirks and bouts of stubbornness—qualities that must have helped him survive an unjust imprisonment on death row. Darby stood out in every way (it wasn’t just his name that was unique!) There was, for example, his signature attire: He always dressed all in black, often wearing a black cape, even in the summer, along with a black cap and black alligator boots. Instead of using the word prison, he would talk about the “the penitentiary for the poor.” Referring to the corruption in Chicago’s Cook County, he would instead call it “Crook County.”
Darby was certainly one of a kind. For a long time, he drove around in an old limousine, and across the side, he had scrawled, “Thou shall not kill.” But Darby was no joke, and none of what he did was for laughs. He wanted to shock people into paying attention. This is why he once strode through downtown Chicago in an orange prison jumpsuit, complete with chains, carrying a bullhorn calling for abolition—he called these walks “The Death Row Shuffle.” He would do anything to draw attention to this cause. He was all guts, and spit fire.
I heard Darby speak countless times over the years. In his characteristic low, raspy voice, Darby could hold audiences spellbound, telling them about how he had been “kidnapped, used and abused by the Illinois criminal justice system, and how he had been tried five times, “more than any other person in the history of the U.S.” (Actually, along with Darby and Perry, this unique distinction also belongs to the Scottsboro Boys, African American youth from Jim Crow Alabama who were falsely accused of rape.)
I never heard Darby say he spent “nine years” in prison, or “just over nine years.” He always gave people the precise amount of time, each time he spoke: “nine years, one month and 17 days.” Why? I’m not sure, but I think that he wanted to make it clear he knew exactly what had been stolen from him.
He was bitter about the years taken from him—how couldn’t he be—and you could feel that in him. And he wanted people to know those precious moments of his life—each and every day that was stolen—were times that he wasn’t with his mom when she passed or wasn’t able to help his daughter when she needed him. He wanted people to feel that—to try to have some understanding of what having part of their lives stolen is like. And he also wanted to make it known that he was keeping score.
Darby had been sent to prison by Judge Thomas Maloney, who was later found guilty of taking bribes to fix cases and was sent to prison for 15 years. Darby liked to include this fact in all of his presentations, too, since it’s so rare for a judge, prosecutors or police to face any consequences for sending the wrong people to prison or death row. At the end of one interview, Darby asked a journalist how it could be that the system was still doing the same exact thing it did to him all those many years ago—sending the wrong people to prison. He believed a big part of the reason it continued was because those who rule over the system never face any consequences for the miscarriages of justice they help to arrange.
I first heard Darby speak at a forum put on by the International Socialist Organization in the early 1990s. The title of the panel was, “The War on Poverty”—Darby was asked to speak on the connection of the criminal justice system. I was blown away by what I heard.
He was a street preacher, and he had the cadence, confidence and passion of the profession, but he also had something very unique, which was a relentless determination to hold the criminal injustice system accountable for the wrongs it had done to him and to so many others, and that it was still doing. He taught me, along with many others in the abolitionist community, so much about the unfair workings of the criminal justice system and its deep-seated racism.
Darby was at ground zero in the fight to win the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, which we achieved in 2011. He also traveled on our national speaking tours on many occasions, rousing the audience and imploring people to join him in the fight against this injustice.
He talked tough, and he was, but he was also deeply compassionate, caring and gentle. I don’t think there was a single time that I talked with Darby when he didn’t first ask how my family was.
He befriended family members who had loved ones in jail. He spent time with Martina Correia and Virginia Davis, the sister and mother of Troy Davis, the innocent Georgia death row prisoner who was executed in 2011. Darby drove to Atlanta to be with them for one of Troy’s last execution dates. He sat with them, prayed with them and gave them comfort in an impossible time.
When Mark Clements, a victim of Chicago police torture, was finally released from Illinois prison after 28 years, he said it was Darby who took him under his wing, mentored him and looked after him. They became very fond of one another and spent a lot of time together. As Mark says, “He supported me—he encouraged me to stand up against wrong.” Losing Darby leaves a “hole in my heart which will never be able to be filled,” Mark said.
Several times, when Darby spoke at the Campaign to End the Death Penalty’s annual conventions, he paid tribute to the work of the campaign, speaking thoughtfully and poetically about our accomplishments and why it was so important to stay the course.
It was through the Campaign that Darby would meet Cathy McMillan, who was fighting on behalf of her brother. Darby spent the last several years close to Cathy, whom he adored.
In later years, even when it was difficult for him to walk, he would still come out for events.
At the final big rally for Troy Davis in Atlanta, Darby was with us among the 3,000-person rally. He spoke to the audience and performed a rousing song he wrote for Troy Davis, titled “Let’s Fight Together.” The song pleaded with the authorities to do the right thing and free an innocent man. The lyrics were beautiful and the music upbeat, holding out the promise that we could win. Darby was incredibly talented as a songwriter and harmonica player, and he absolutely loved the blues. You couldn’t go on a road trip with Darby without him popping in the CD he recorded during the trip.
One of the last times I saw him was when he spoke out at a rally in Chicago to call for justice for Trayvon Martin. Darby could always be counted on to help in the struggle.
After the decades-long fight to win abolition in Illinois, Darby was careful to point out that the victory shouldn’t just be laid at the feet of Gov. George Ryan, who first put a moratorium on the death penalty and then cleared death row by granting clemency to every prisoner. Nor should the lawyers and journalists get the credit solely—he reminded us that it was also pivotal what activists did. This is how he put it when I asked him about how we won abolition for an article for Socialist Worker newspaper:
“We worked hard to get the ear of Governor Ryan, we got exonerated and family members out there, and he heard their pleas. We kept on and got the ears of the politicians to see our point, and as a result, we have destroyed this dinosaur. It shows that when we stand together and don't give up, we can win.
It's so different now compared to when we first started. People used to look at us like we were the culprits. Now they see us, and they want to stand with us. They say, "Hey, can I hold that picket sign?" and "Keep up the good work." People can see that the death penalty is senseless--it won't cure the ills in society. They can see the corrupt and flawed nature of the system.”
I asked Darby what we abolitionists should say in a situation where the guilt of the defendant is certain. Here’s how he responded:
“I used to say I would kill him myself if I saw him do it. But I have had a change of heart on that. You have to look beyond the person to understand why they did what they did. In some of these communities in Chicago, they're so barren, so desolate--they're like a desert. When I go there, I feel nothing but pain and hurt. It feels deadly--there's such a lack of resources.
When you grow up and live in a community like that, you become subhuman, because you live like you're in a combat zone. Police are cruising around, and young men are out on the street with nothing to do in miserable circumstances. Just like the soldiers coming back from Iraq who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, so do the people in these desolate, crime-ridden, cop-patrolled communities.
They're battlegrounds, and you don't hear any of the politicians saying anything about it. These problems need to seriously be addressed and not just by a program or two--it needs to be deeper than that.”
The article ended with a quote from Darby giving instructions to activists about what’s next: "We have to align ourselves with people who want to build a safe and sound society. We've shown people what we can do when we come together. We can get justice if we work hard.”
One of the best ways we can remember Darby is to bring a bit of his spirit into our fight for justice today. One of the last struggles he was concerned about was that of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed, who faces an execution date in Texas on January 14. He had befriended Sandra Reed, the mother of Rodney and spoke of her as “an angel who was wounded by a system that doesn’t give a damn about poor, colored people.” Darby wasn’t able to attend the Campaign’s convention this year in Texas, but he was there in spirit the whole time.
To learn more about the fight for Rodney, please go to our website at www.nodeathpenalty.org.
Darby would be proud to know we will carry on with this fight, standing tall, and feeling him holding us up from behind.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Darby Tillis, Exonerated Death Row Survivor from Illinois Dies at 71
Darby Tillis, a death-row survivor who spent more than nine years incarcerated in Illinois, including four years on death-row, passed away at the age of seventy one. Darby was living in an old limousine in the streets of Chicago. Severely wounded by his experience on death-row, he traveled around the country telling the story of his wrongful conviction to anyone that would listen. In 2007, he took a bus ride from Chicago to Austin to support the successful campaign to save Kenneth Foster Jr. He never failed to mention that the judge who convicted him "is doing fifteen years in a federal penitentiary." I recorded this video of him performing his signature song at the same 2007 rally for Kenneth Foster.
Darby and Perry Cobb were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the 1977 murder and armed robbery of the owner and an employee of a hotdog stand on the north side of Chicago. They were arrested three weeks after the crime when a witness, Phyllis Santini, went to the police with a story implicating them. Both men professed their innocence. It took three Cook County jury trials for prosecutors to convict Tillis and Cobb. The first two trials ended in hung juries. The third resulted in convictions and death sentences, but the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the case based on judicial error. The two men were acquitted at the fifth trial in 1987 after Michael Falconer, a Lake County prosecutor, came forward after reading an article about the case by Rob Warden in the Chicago Lawyer. Falconer said the state’s chief witness against Mr. Tillis and Cobb had confided to him that the crime actually was committed by another man, her boyfriend. Fourteen years later, as a result of petitions brought by the Center on Wrongful Convictions and the MacArthur Justice Center, Governor George Ryan granted Tillis and Cobb pardons based on actual innocence.actual innocence.
Darby and Perry Cobb were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the 1977 murder and armed robbery of the owner and an employee of a hotdog stand on the north side of Chicago. They were arrested three weeks after the crime when a witness, Phyllis Santini, went to the police with a story implicating them. Both men professed their innocence. It took three Cook County jury trials for prosecutors to convict Tillis and Cobb. The first two trials ended in hung juries. The third resulted in convictions and death sentences, but the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the case based on judicial error. The two men were acquitted at the fifth trial in 1987 after Michael Falconer, a Lake County prosecutor, came forward after reading an article about the case by Rob Warden in the Chicago Lawyer. Falconer said the state’s chief witness against Mr. Tillis and Cobb had confided to him that the crime actually was committed by another man, her boyfriend. Fourteen years later, as a result of petitions brought by the Center on Wrongful Convictions and the MacArthur Justice Center, Governor George Ryan granted Tillis and Cobb pardons based on actual innocence.actual innocence.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Execution Watch: Miguel Paredes, Oct. 28
Miguel Paredes
On Tuesday, Texas is slated to carry out its last execution of 2014, that of Miguel Paredes.
Last month, Paredes gave Execution Watch an interview, which we will broadcast in its entirety. This edition of the show will air in Houston on the HD3 channel of KPFT FM because the station is in fund drive. As always, a live stream of the show will be accessible worldwide at http://executionwatch.org > Listen.
MIGUEL PAREDES, Convicted of acting with John Saenz and Greg Alvarado in 2000 to shoot and kill three members of a rival gang in San Antonio. Paredes, who joined the Pistoleros prison gang before he was 17, was one of 20 children born to poor, Mexican-immigrant parents. The family moved to the west side of San Antonio when Paredes was a boy. After going to death row, he contributed Part 3 of a series called, "Letter to a Future Death Row Inmate." The text of the letter he wrote and a link to his his artwork are at http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com/2010/09/letters-to-future-death-row-inmate-part.html
SHOW LINEUP
Host: RAY HILL, an ex-convict and activist who founded, and hosted for 30 years, The Prison Show on KPFT. His internet radio show airs Wednesdays, 2 PM CT, at hmsnetradio.org.
Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator, retired attorney and native Texan who has seen capital trials as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. Also, Houston criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY, LARRY DOUGLAS, MICHAEL GILLESPIE & JACK LEE.
Featured Guest: MIGUEL PAREDES, the condemned man, who gave an interview to Execution Watch last month. The results will broadcast unedited and uncut. A videotape of the interview, and of the show’s live radio broadcast, will air soon on Houston MediaSource, http://hmstv.org/.
Reporter, Outside the Death House, Huntsville: PAT HARTWELL, member, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, www.abolitionmovement.org.
Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, founder and former board member, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, www.tcadp.org.
NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On Jan. 14, Texas plans to kill RODNEY REED, one of nine Texas executions already scheduled in 2015. Execution Watch will air coverage of each.
PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa [at] gmail.com.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Otis Maclay.
VIDEO PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Pirtle.
THEME: By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Poems from death-row
More several individuals have asked for the poems which were read at Willie Trottie's execution. Two of the poems ("judge ye not" and "good bye"), were written by Eugene Broxton (TX #999044), a close friend of T-Rock's. Eugene and T-Rock have been friends for many years (Eugene entered in 1992, and T-Rock in 1993. Both were convicted out of Harris County). Ker'Sean Ramey (#999519) wrote "stand up to injustice". Ker'Sean has been a friend of T-Rock's since he entered death row out of Jackson County in 2007.
"JUDGE YE NOT" (Read by Auntie Cynthia)
Have you walked in the shoes
Of the person you judge,
Have you shared their most
Intimate thoughts,
Have you known of the tears,
The doubts and the fears,
Or the battle that person
Has fought?
Have you shared in the secrets
That lie in the heart,
When they don't understand,
They condemn off hand
But trusting in me,
Your eyes confide,
Holding nothing,
Telling no lies,
Then suddenly I was startled,
At my own reflection,
Your eyes mirrored
My imperfection,
So, who was I looking at?
Who did I really see?
Was it you?
Or was it me?
Or am I you?
And you are me?
Of the person you judge,
Have you shared their most
Intimate thoughts,
Have you known of the tears,
The doubts and the fears,
Or the battle that person
Has fought?
Have you shared in the secrets
That lie in the heart,
When they don't understand,
They condemn off hand
But trusting in me,
Your eyes confide,
Holding nothing,
Telling no lies,
Then suddenly I was startled,
At my own reflection,
Your eyes mirrored
My imperfection,
So, who was I looking at?
Who did I really see?
Was it you?
Or was it me?
Or am I you?
And you are me?
Written by Eugene Broxton #999044 in 1996
"GOOD BYE" (Read by Momma T)
Saying goodbye is never easy
But moving on
We all must do
Going on with our lives
Not just talking about it
But seeing it through
Move on,
My love,
Move on,
And live,
You have,
Much more to give
Now it's time I must go
It's not easy to say good bye
But it's time
So I say good bye
Know my love for you is true
And as long as you live,
My love will be with you
But moving on
We all must do
Going on with our lives
Not just talking about it
But seeing it through
Move on,
My love,
Move on,
And live,
You have,
Much more to give
Now it's time I must go
It's not easy to say good bye
But it's time
So I say good bye
Know my love for you is true
And as long as you live,
My love will be with you
Written by Eugene Broxton #999044 July 2010
"STAND UP TO INJUSTICE" (Read by Pat after the bell was rung 20 times)
Stand up to injustice,
and let it be known.
You will not tolerate it,
even from the king on his throne.
Stand up to injustice,
cause it could happen to you.
And then what would you want
the rest of the world to do?
Stand up to injustice,
in every shape, size and color.
Then come together to stop this
from going any further.
Stand up to injustice,
for you and for me,
'cause one finger can be broken,
but a fist can not be too easily.
Fight this injustice,
whether a woman or a man,
'cause separated we fall,
but United, We Stand.
and let it be known.
You will not tolerate it,
even from the king on his throne.
Stand up to injustice,
cause it could happen to you.
And then what would you want
the rest of the world to do?
Stand up to injustice,
in every shape, size and color.
Then come together to stop this
from going any further.
Stand up to injustice,
for you and for me,
'cause one finger can be broken,
but a fist can not be too easily.
Fight this injustice,
whether a woman or a man,
'cause separated we fall,
but United, We Stand.
Written by Ker' Sean Ramey #999519
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Oklahoma Execution Report Raises More Questions Than Answers
Five points by Gloria Rubac
1. Oklahoma, like Arizona and Ohio who've also botched executions, are experimenting on how to kill people, using live subjects. Looking for the best kill methods on prisoners is WRONG!
2. An attorney for Oklahoma death row prisoners has filed a very detailed, 33-page lawsuit against the Dept of Corrections, the executioners, the doctors, the paramedic, the warden -- 14 people in all. There are eight specific violations of law they are charged with and with the sub-points, they enumerate 124 charges against the listed defendants who botched the execution of of Clayton Lockett last April.
3. The autopsy was done in Dallas and Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott ruled that parts of the results of the autopsy can remain a secret from the public, including the name of the doctor and paramedic and also where the drugs were bought. Gregg Abbott, who is runnig for governor of Texas, has received a very large campaign contributions from a Conroe compounding pharmacist.
4. Oklahoma's written procedures mandate the participation in each execution of a licensed physician. The physician's functions include insertion of intravenous lines into the condemned person and the performance of cut down procedures to gain intravenous access to the condemned person.
5. In a most ironic and factually absurd statement, the prison warden, Anita Trammell, told the investigators that Mr. Lockett was covered with a sheet to "preserve his dignity."
MarchforAbolition.org
IV Misplaced in Oklahoma Execution, Report Says
Jason Holt, left front,
captain of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and Michael C. Thompson, the
public safety commissioner, fielded questions on Thursday.
Credit
Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press
An official report released Thursday about a bungled execution in Oklahoma in April says that an improperly placed intravenous line in the prisoner’s groin allowed the drugs to perfuse surrounding tissue rather than to flow directly into his bloodstream.
The report was ordered by Gov. Mary Fallin after the prolonged writhing and gasping of the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, during an execution that drew global attention to death penalty procedures and problems associated with lethal injections.
Because the groin area was covered with a sheet as the injections began — first a sedative intended to render Mr. Lockett unconscious, and then paralyzing and heart-stopping agents — the doctor and paramedic on the scene did not see the bulge, larger than a golf ball, indicating a procedure gone awry, said the report by Michael C. Thompson, the commissioner of public safety.
1. Oklahoma, like Arizona and Ohio who've also botched executions, are experimenting on how to kill people, using live subjects. Looking for the best kill methods on prisoners is WRONG!
2. An attorney for Oklahoma death row prisoners has filed a very detailed, 33-page lawsuit against the Dept of Corrections, the executioners, the doctors, the paramedic, the warden -- 14 people in all. There are eight specific violations of law they are charged with and with the sub-points, they enumerate 124 charges against the listed defendants who botched the execution of of Clayton Lockett last April.
3. The autopsy was done in Dallas and Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott ruled that parts of the results of the autopsy can remain a secret from the public, including the name of the doctor and paramedic and also where the drugs were bought. Gregg Abbott, who is runnig for governor of Texas, has received a very large campaign contributions from a Conroe compounding pharmacist.
4. Oklahoma's written procedures mandate the participation in each execution of a licensed physician. The physician's functions include insertion of intravenous lines into the condemned person and the performance of cut down procedures to gain intravenous access to the condemned person.
5. In a most ironic and factually absurd statement, the prison warden, Anita Trammell, told the investigators that Mr. Lockett was covered with a sheet to "preserve his dignity."
MarchforAbolition.org
IV Misplaced in Oklahoma Execution, Report Says
An official report released Thursday about a bungled execution in Oklahoma in April says that an improperly placed intravenous line in the prisoner’s groin allowed the drugs to perfuse surrounding tissue rather than to flow directly into his bloodstream.
The report was ordered by Gov. Mary Fallin after the prolonged writhing and gasping of the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, during an execution that drew global attention to death penalty procedures and problems associated with lethal injections.
Because the groin area was covered with a sheet as the injections began — first a sedative intended to render Mr. Lockett unconscious, and then paralyzing and heart-stopping agents — the doctor and paramedic on the scene did not see the bulge, larger than a golf ball, indicating a procedure gone awry, said the report by Michael C. Thompson, the commissioner of public safety.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Drop Rodney Reed's Execution
Stand With Texas Death Row Prisoner Rodney Reed!
DROP THE DATE! TEST ALL THE DNA!
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty, along with the family and supporters of Rodney Reed rejects the decision today to issue a death warrant for innocent Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed for January 14, 2015.
We have long believed in Rodney’s innocence and, during a hearing today in Bastrop County, we once again heard of the multitude of evidence that could prove Rodney’s innocence if given a fair hearing either through a new trial or through the appeals process.
We learned today that the state has agreed to important but limited new DNA testing of some crime scene evidence – and that the defense is asking for even more DNA testing of several other items related to the crime scene.
While important evidence is being tested and interpreted, and while other testing is being considered, it is both irresponsible and cruel for the state to seek an execution date and for the warrant to be issued by any judge. This amounts to torture for both Rodney and his family, who now have to live under the threat of an specific execution date, even as Rodney’s defense team and supporters fight to prove his innocence.
As Rodney Reed’s mother Sandra said about the decision to grant the death warrant, “We’re very disappointed…We were thinking everything was possibly gonna be positive about the hearing today, but it was a very disappointing outcome. But the thing is that we remain to stay strong and especially for him - Rodney is strong and the truth keeps us strong. It’s not over until it’s over.”
Despite the obscene injustice that took place in Bastrop today, Rodney’s family and supporters stand strong in our determination to fight to save the life of Rodney Reed.
Rodney’s defense will continue to work on getting all the DNA tested, as well as still working for appellate relief on issues around the misinterpretation of scientific evidence. There is a chance that the Supreme Court could hear the case - an announcement would likely be made in late October if that were to happen.
And Rodney’s family and supporters have vowed to keep up the fight outside the courthouse. We are planning a rally on July 24th at 11 am outside the Bastrop County Court House to call the State of Texas to account for it’s role in seeking the death warrant and to demand that all the DNA be tested in this case.
Now is the time to get involved in the struggle for justice and to save Rodney Reed! We have seen to many times how innocent people are caught up by an unjust system. People like Anthony Graves, released off death row after years of struggling to prove his innocence, like Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in Texas despite proof of his innocence revealed long before his execution took place.
Or people like Yusef Salaam, who was won his freedom decades after being wrongfully convicted of rape in the infamous Central Park Jogger case in New York. Today Yusef offered these words in support of Rodney, “My brother Rodney, like too many others, has been railroaded onto death row by the racist system of criminal injustice. Corruption and vengefulness has turned Rodney’s life – and that of his family into a living nightmare, one the thousands on death row know all too well – the innocent and guilty alike. We must shout Rodney’s name from the rooftops: we will not let the state of Texas take him from us!
DROP THE DATE! TEST ALL THE DNA!
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty, along with the family and supporters of Rodney Reed rejects the decision today to issue a death warrant for innocent Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed for January 14, 2015.
We have long believed in Rodney’s innocence and, during a hearing today in Bastrop County, we once again heard of the multitude of evidence that could prove Rodney’s innocence if given a fair hearing either through a new trial or through the appeals process.
We learned today that the state has agreed to important but limited new DNA testing of some crime scene evidence – and that the defense is asking for even more DNA testing of several other items related to the crime scene.
While important evidence is being tested and interpreted, and while other testing is being considered, it is both irresponsible and cruel for the state to seek an execution date and for the warrant to be issued by any judge. This amounts to torture for both Rodney and his family, who now have to live under the threat of an specific execution date, even as Rodney’s defense team and supporters fight to prove his innocence.
As Rodney Reed’s mother Sandra said about the decision to grant the death warrant, “We’re very disappointed…We were thinking everything was possibly gonna be positive about the hearing today, but it was a very disappointing outcome. But the thing is that we remain to stay strong and especially for him - Rodney is strong and the truth keeps us strong. It’s not over until it’s over.”
Despite the obscene injustice that took place in Bastrop today, Rodney’s family and supporters stand strong in our determination to fight to save the life of Rodney Reed.
Rodney’s defense will continue to work on getting all the DNA tested, as well as still working for appellate relief on issues around the misinterpretation of scientific evidence. There is a chance that the Supreme Court could hear the case - an announcement would likely be made in late October if that were to happen.
And Rodney’s family and supporters have vowed to keep up the fight outside the courthouse. We are planning a rally on July 24th at 11 am outside the Bastrop County Court House to call the State of Texas to account for it’s role in seeking the death warrant and to demand that all the DNA be tested in this case.
Now is the time to get involved in the struggle for justice and to save Rodney Reed! We have seen to many times how innocent people are caught up by an unjust system. People like Anthony Graves, released off death row after years of struggling to prove his innocence, like Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in Texas despite proof of his innocence revealed long before his execution took place.
Or people like Yusef Salaam, who was won his freedom decades after being wrongfully convicted of rape in the infamous Central Park Jogger case in New York. Today Yusef offered these words in support of Rodney, “My brother Rodney, like too many others, has been railroaded onto death row by the racist system of criminal injustice. Corruption and vengefulness has turned Rodney’s life – and that of his family into a living nightmare, one the thousands on death row know all too well – the innocent and guilty alike. We must shout Rodney’s name from the rooftops: we will not let the state of Texas take him from us!
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
From Texas death row: Two cases of injustice
By: Lily Hughes for the New Abolitionist
The
state of Texas maintains the most active execution chamber in the
nation, amid questionable practices and a host of controversial
executions.
Texas
has executed seven people already this year as of May 2014. The state
has put at least 515 people to death since executions were reinstated in
1982, far more than any other state.
Over
the last 15 years, there have been scandals at DNA labs, and
revelations of judges and lawyers sleeping through portions of capital
cases. Meanwhile, clear evidence of racial bias in sentencing, a lack of
funding for indigent defendants and an assembly line approach to
executions continue to plague the Texas system.
Despite
this, the courts here are known to rubber-stamp death penalty
convictions with little scrutiny. The worst offender is the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas.
The many problems in the application of the death penalty in Texas have undoubtedly led to the execution of innocent people.
While
a only a few people have won exoneration off Texas death row over the
years—Clarence Brandley, Randall Adams, and most recently, Anthony
Graves—many more of those executed are believed to have been innocent.
The
most prominent example is the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was
executed in 2004 for allegedly starting a house fire that resulted in
the death of his three children. However, a forensic review using
updated fire-science investigation methods has revealed that there
likely was no arson, and that the fire was accidental. This evidence was
available before Willingham’s execution, yet Texas authorities chose to
ignore it.
More
recently, the New York-based Innocence Project has been working to win a
posthumous exoneration for Willingham. Lawyers there uncovered new
evidence of a deal for a reduction in charges for a jailhouse informant
who fingered Willingham. In April of this year, the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles once again denied the request for a pardon for
Willingham.
There
are several death row prisoners currently facing execution in Texas
with strong cases for innocence, including the cases of Rodney Reed and
Louis Castro Perez.
Test all the evidence
The case of Louis Castro Perez
The
case of Louis Castro Perez—who, like Rodney Reed, is from central
Texas—has taken a path like Rodney’s case. Louis was sentenced to death
in 1999, convicted of the murders of his friends Michelle Fulwiler and
Cynda Barz, and Barz’s 9-year-old daughter Staci Mitchell.
However,
over the years, Perez’s family, and especially his sister Delia Perez
Myer, have fought to get evidence of his innocence heard by the courts,
including authorizing extensive testing to be done on foreign DNA
samples from several items left at the crime scene.
Perez
was convicted based on the presence of his DNA and fingerprints at the
crime scene. As both the prosecution and defense acknowledged, Perez had
been a guest in the home over the preceding days. According to him, he
left that morning to meet a friend, and when he returned later, he
encountered a badly beaten, yet still alive Cynda Barz at the front
door. He kneeled down to help her, asking what had happened. When he
tried to pick her up, she scratched him. He panicked and put her back
down, leaving a palm print next to her body. Perez then fled the scene.
As
Delia Perez Myer told reporter Rebekah Skelton in 2012, Perez fled
because of an arrest warrant he had for evading child support, “My first
blame is that my brother didn’t dial 911. He didn’t want to get
involved, and he just walked out the door.”
However,
Perez Myer also pointed out that Perez may have fled the scene of a
crime in progress, “We believe the actual murderer was still in the
home, because when Louis left, someone dead bolted the door behind him,”
she said.
When
Perez learned that he was a suspect in the murder, he went down to the
police station himself—he was certain that the evidence would show that
he was not responsible for the crime.
Regarding
the DNA evidence, there was unknown DNA identified on a rag wrapped
around a knife at the scene of the crime, as well as on a towel near one
of the victims. Crime scene investigators admitted under oath that the
Austin Police Department sent this material to the Department of Public
Safety (DPS) and asked them to only look for Perez’s DNA.
In
addition, Crime Scene Specialist Michelle Thompson testified at trial
that three possible murder weapons were found at the scene of the crime:
a Comal (a flat cooking griddle), a telephone cord, and a pair of
pantyhose. None of these items held any evidence of Perez’s DNA or
fingerprints.
More
recently, new laws in Texas have made access to DNA testing by
prisoners much easier, and that may lead to a breakthrough in the case.
More DNA evidence has been discovered and other evidence that hasn’t
been tested before has been made available to the defense.
Delia
Perez Myer told the New Abolitionist, “It wasn’t until recently that
our new attorneys and the Innocence Project based in New York were able
to secure permission from the Western District of the Federal Courts to
allow further DNA testing.” While results of that testing are not yet
available to the public, it’s hoped that they may bolster Perez’s claim
of innocence.
Perez
Myer pointed out further issues in the conviction of her brother: “It
is clear and evident that there were many errors in his case, including
prosecutorial misconduct, withholding of exculpatory evidence, serious
issues with the Travis County Medical Examiners not having their
licensing in order and retracting statements made during our
investigations; problems at the DNA Labs at the Texas Department of
Public Safety—and, of course, the more than 40 fingerprints found at the
crime scene that didn’t match Louis.”
Also,
like the Rodney Reed case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has
recently released an opinion denying relief to Louis Castro Perez.
His
latest appeal was based on an issue of ineffective assistance of
counsel. The 5th U.S. Circuit had previously rendered a judgment denying
Perez relief. His lawyer then had 30 days to respond. However, she
failed to respond to a 30-day deadline for filing a new motion with the
district court. In fact, this attorney received notification of the
deadline and, without alerting Louis or the other consulting attorney on
the case, decided on her own not to respond to the motion, effectively
abandoning her client.
In
March 2012, after being made aware of the error, the court granted a
motion to allow Perez to reenter the appeal that his lawyer should have
made. However, in March of this year, the 5th U.S. Circuit vacated that
order and decided to let the original judgment of denial of relief
stand. Unless the 5th U.S. Circuit reconsiders that decision, Perez’s
case will go on the U.S. Supreme Court.
As
Perez Myer says of her brother’s case, “It is imperative that we move
forward with our innocence claim and find the true perpetrator in this
triple homicide from September 1998 where Louis’ friends Michelle Cynda,
and Stacey were so heinously murdered. We must ensure that no other
family go through what we have been through, having a wrongfully
convicted loved one sent to our torturous death row here in Texas.”
Over
the next few months, activists in Austin, alongside Perez Myer, will be
working to put together a screening of a new movie, The Road to
Livingston, which documents her visits to her brother on death row and
their relationship over the long years he has spent on death row.
Perez
Myer continues to speak around the country and the world about her
brother’s case, and to fight against the death penalty for everyone.
Seventeen years fighting to be heard
The case of Rodney Reed
On
December 4, 2013, about a dozen family members and supporters of Texas
death row prisoner Rodney Reed stood in front of the Texas State Capitol
holding signs surrounded by every local media outlet in Austin.
That
same day, down in New Orleans, Reed’s lawyers were presenting oral
arguments to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Rodney’s case had
been denied an appeal by the highest criminal court in Texas and was
being heard for the first time by judges of the 5th Circuit. Because
oral arguments are rarely granted in federal district courts, hopes were
high among Reed’s family and supporters.
Reed’s mother Sandra spoke to the assembled reporters: “Knowing the evidence, knowing the truth keeps us strong,” she said.
For
years, Rodney’s family, legal team, and activists have fought to get
the evidence of that truth heard by the courts: Rodney Reed is innocent
on death row.
Rodney
Reed has been on death row for 17 years, convicted of the 1996 rape and
murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas. Although the state claims
Reed did not know Stacey, many witnesses attested to an ongoing affair
between Reed and Stites, lasting over the course of months. Stites
became engaged to Jimmy Fennell Jr., a police officer in the nearby town
of Giddings, during this time.
On
April 23, 1996, the truck that Stites and Fennell shared was found
abandoned at Bastrop High School in the early morning hours, and her
body was found dumped on a lonely stretch of country road later that
afternoon. She had been strangled, and the remains of a belt were found
next to her body. The subsequent autopsy revealed a small amount of
semen, although there was no clear evidence of bruising consistent with
rape.
One
year later, Rodney was charged with Stites’ murder. He was convicted on
the basis of a single piece of forensic evidence—semen DNA. Reed
admitted to being with Stites over a day before her murder, which
explained the presence of his DNA.
At
trial, the state argued that the semen was deposited just before the
time of Stites’s death, in order to bolster the rape and murder charges.
Reed’s defense has consistently argued that the semen found was much
older than the state claimed.
In
2012, the former medical examiner who testified for the prosecution
refuted the claim he made at trial that the semen had to be less than 24
hours old. In an affidavit for Reed’s defense, Robert Bayardo says that
his forensics findings were “misconstrued” by the prosecution, saying
that “My estimate of time of death…should not have been used at trial as
an accurate statement of when…Stites died.”
Another
medical examiner, Lloyd White examined the evidence in the case for the
Austin Chronicle back in 2002. Speaking to the state’s contention at
trial about when the sperm was deposited he said, “There have been
documented cases where you can recognize the spermatozoa in bodies that
have been dead for days.”
No
other physical evidence connects Reed to this crime. Meanwhile, a
pattern of other evidence links Stites’ fiancé and former police officer
Jimmy Fennell, Jr., to the crime. He was one of the first suspects in
the murder, and failed two lie detector tests when asked if he had
strangled Stites. DNA found on beer cans at the crime scene have been
linked to two police officers—evidence available at trial, which the
prosecution failed to give to the defense.
At
new hearings for Reed in 2006, one witness testified to seeing Stites
and Fennell in the early morning hours of the day of her murder. Another
witness testified while at the police academy together, she had
overheard Fennell say that he would strangle his girlfriend with a belt
if he found her cheating on him—which is how Stites died.
Despite
the fact that the state claimed Stites was killed in the truck owned by
her and Fennell, none of Reed’s fingerprints were found in the
truck—only Stites and Fennell’s fingerprints were present. There was
evidence of body fluid between the passenger and driver seat. Before the
defense could have access to the truck or request further testing of
any of this forensic evidence, the truck was returned to Fennell and he
sold it within days of the murder.
Fennell
is currently serving time, after being convicted of kidnapping and
sexually assaulting a woman he detained while policing in Georgetown,
Texas.
All of this and more was presented in Reed’s recent appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court. However, on January 15
of this year, the court upheld the lower court’s decision to deny the
appeal. The federal courts dismissed Bayardo’s new affidavit regarding
the semen DNA , saying that even substantively considered, Dr. Bayardo’s
affidavit would have “little probative value.”
The
5th U.S. Circuit time and time again dismisses various witnesses for
Reed as “not credible,” including witnesses who testified to the affair
between Reed and Stites, and witnesses who linked Fennell to Stites’s
murder.
The
decision by the court was shocking to Reed’s family, as his mother
Sandra said, “simply because all of the truth has been denied over the
past 17 years. The truth has been on the table pointing to someone else,
the DNA on the beer cans implicating two police officers in the very
beginning of this case, which was suppressed at trial.
“Rodney
had an alibi witness. The state said he didn’t, but he did—and the
reason why they could say that is because the judge Towslee denied the
alibi witness to testify. Nothing led to Rodney’s conviction except the
so-called DNA, and we know now that it was old.”
Despite
a mountain of evidence of Reed’s innocence, the courts continue to fall
back on procedural bars to the admission of this evidence. That is why
Reed’s family and supporters continue to try to build public awareness
and outcry against any execution for Rodney.
The
threat of execution and the constant denial by the courts have taken a
toll on Rodney and his family. “Until a person is in our place, you
can’t really describe it,” Sandra said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow—the
corruption and injustice that’s dwelling in my son’s case.”
Despite
this, Sandra said that “Rodney’s handling things very well—he’s
remaining strong for himself. The truth keeps us all strong, and
believing that justice will prevail.”
On February 14
this year, his family and supporters were out in the streets again—this
time picketing the Bastrop County Courthouse, asking the district
attorney to drop the charges against Rodney or grant him a new trial.
“The
best way to go right now is to get the petitions to Bryan Goertz, the
district attorney, and rallying here in Bastrop,” said Rodrick Reed,
Rodney’s brother and his active supporter, “Right now, it’s in his
hands, so I think the best thing to do is make noise here in Bastrop.”
Activists
have plans to go back with our petition for Reed—over 10,000 people
have signed an online version demanding a new trial.
Rodney’s
case is now heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, but despite this, the
state of Texas has already attempted to have an execution date set.
While one hasn’t been set yet, the urgency of the situation could not be
more dire.
Fighting back
These are just two of the cases in which death penalty abolitionists in Texas are fighting to win a hearing.
There
are also the many cases of prisoners sentenced to death under the
unjust Texas “Law of Parties,” where a person can be sentenced to death,
even though they did not kill anyone. Jeff Wood was convicted under
this unjust law and has been on Texas death row for the past 16 years.
There
are cases like those of Hank Skinner, who has fought for years to get
further DNA testing of several pieces of evidence from the crime scene,
only to be told that that some crucial evidence has been lost or
misplaced.
As
Delia Perez Myer puts it, “I am certain that we have executed innocent
men and women in Texas, from Carlos de Luna to Todd Cameron Willingham
and many others. It would be naïve of me to think that Louis is the
first person who has ever been innocent on death row.”
When
asked the most important thing for abolitionists to do right now,
Sandra Reed responded, “We have to be steady and put the fight to end
the death penalty in the spotlight, because there’s too many people
going through what we are. There’s many other mothers out there who are
in my shoes, and we need to find them, to help them.”
The
family of both Reed and Perez, alongside activists in Texas, have vowed
to protest in every way possible any execution dates. Abolitionists
here and around the world will continue to expose the injustices of the
Texas death penalty and demand that the courts and the state of Texas
acknowledge that evidence matters.
Lawmakers
should not turn a blind eye to the innocence of death row prisoners in
Texas. While the mistake of Cameron Todd Willingham cannot be undone, it
can in the case of Rodney Reed and of Louis Castro Perez.
What you can do to help spread the word
Sign and share the petition for Rodney Reed online at change.org.
Organize a screening of the documentary State vs. Reed, streaming online at youtube.com.
Find out about screenings of The Road to Livingston in your area. Follow the film on Facebook.
Check out our solidarity photo campaign for Rodney Reed on Instagram at Justice4Rodney. Send us your own solidarity photo to post to: austincedp@nodeathpenalty.
Get involved with Texas activists who are fighting executions. E-mail austincedp@
Order a bundle of newsletters from marlene@nodeathpenalty.org—do a tabling at your school or in your community to help build support. Share articles from the New Abolitionist online at nodeathpenalty.org.
Become a monthly sustainer and help sustain the efforts of the CEDP! Read more about the sustainer program in the New Abolitionist.
- See more at: http://nodeathpenalty.org/new_Sunday, May 11, 2014
Execution Watch: Robert Campbell, May 13
Robert Campbell
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Oklahoma has put a hold on executions while its method of inducing death is investigated, but Texas intends to go forward Tuesday with executing Robert Campbell using lethal injection.
Execution Watch will provide live coverage online and on the HD3 channel of KPFT FM 90.1 Houston.
RADIO SHOW PREVIEW
Execution Watch
Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 6-7 PM Central Time
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast live on:
KPFT FM Houston 90.1, HD3 Channel (due to KPFT fund drive), and
Updates on Facebook: Execution Watch
TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
ROBERT CAMPBELL, convicted for the 1991 abduction and murder of a woman in Houston. His case made headlines again in 2005, when investigators discovered about 150 pieces of evidence misplaced by Houston Police, including a cigarette butt that was collected at the scene of the murder but never brought to the attention of Campbell's trial attorney. His appellate attorneys were seeking a stay, based in part on the secrecy surrounding Texas's execution drugs, which are from an unknown source.
SHOW LINEUP
Host: RAY HILL, an ex-convict and activist who founded, and hosted for 30 years, The Prison Show on KPFT. His internet radio show airs Wednesdays, 2 PM CT, at hmsnetradio.org.
Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator, retired attorney and native Texan who has seen capital trials as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. Also, Houston criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY, LARRY DOUGLAS, MICHAEL GILLESPIE & JACK LEE.
Featured interview guest: PROF. KEVIN BARRY, Quinnipiac University School of Law, who predicts that the Connecticut Supreme Court, which is poised to be the first court in nearly a century to rule on whether the state may outlaw the death penalty for new crimes yet keep it on the books for those already committed, will allow the executions to go forward. Other states facing the post-repeal dilemma are New Mexico, Maryland, Kansas and Delaware.
Reporter, Outside the Death House, Huntsville: PAT HARTWELL, member, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, www.abolitionmovement.org.
Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, founder and former board member, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, www.tcadp.org.
NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On Aug. 6, Texas plans to kill MANUEL VASQUEZ. If it does, Execution Watch will air.
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Otis Maclay.
VIDEO PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Pirtle.
THEME: By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.
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