A couple of months ago, Texas Moratorium Network asked Rep Dutton if he would introduce a resolution honoring the death row exonerees who would be in Austin on the “Day of Innocence” and statewide Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty on March 16. He agreed and here is the video of the resolution passing last Wednesday. Click here to watch the video of the resolution being passed by Texas House of Representatives on the “Day of Innocence”
| 82R12583 MMS-D | ||
| By: Dutton | H.R. No. 829 | |
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| WHEREAS, Six former death row inmates who have been | ||
| exonerated of the crime for which they were convicted are visiting | ||
| the State Capitol on March 16, 2011, the Day of Innocence, in | ||
| support of a moratorium on executions and other related measures; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, These men are among the 138 individuals who have | ||
| been released from death row since 1973, either because their | ||
| convictions were overturned and they then won acquittal at retrial | ||
| or had the charges against them dropped, or because they were given | ||
| an absolute pardon by the governor based on new evidence of their | ||
| innocence; their lives forever changed by their wrongful | ||
| conviction, these six individuals are now working to reform the | ||
| criminal justice system; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Convicted of murder in Texas in 1981, Clarence | ||
| Brandley was just weeks away from his scheduled execution when | ||
| evidence of coerced testimony and blatant racism in his first two | ||
| trials prompted the FBI to intervene; three years later, the | ||
| charges against him were dismissed; Mr. Brandley subsequently | ||
| married, apprenticed as an electrician, and became a Baptist | ||
| minister; his life became the subject of a book, White Lies, and a | ||
| cable TV movie, Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Sentenced to death in Louisiana in 1987, Albert | ||
| Burrell was 17 days away from execution in 1996 when his attorneys | ||
| won a stay; the attorney general’s office dismissed the charges | ||
| against him in 2000, citing “a total lack of credible evidence,” and | ||
| later DNA analysis reinforced that assessment; Albert Burrell | ||
| currently lives and works in Center; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Gary Drinkard was convicted in Alabama in 1995; in | ||
| 2000, the state supreme court ordered a retrial on the basis of | ||
| prosecutorial misconduct, and the following year a second jury | ||
| found him innocent; Mr. Drinkard’s case was subsequently presented | ||
| to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to illustrate the critical | ||
| need that those facing the death penalty have for competent legal | ||
| representation; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Framed for murder, Shujaa Graham was sentenced in | ||
| California in 1976; the state supreme court overturned his | ||
| conviction because the district attorney had systematically | ||
| excluded African American jurors in his first trial; Mr. Graham was | ||
| ultimately acquitted in 1981, and since then he has played a leading | ||
| role in the anti-death penalty and human rights movements; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Ron Keine was sentenced to death in New Mexico in | ||
| 1974 after a witness, under intense pressure from prosecutors, | ||
| fabricated a story about his guilt; the following year, the real | ||
| killer turned himself in, and a new trial for Mr. Keine and his | ||
| codefendants was eventually ordered; before the trial could be | ||
| held, though, a judge threw out the murder indictment on the grounds | ||
| that ballistic tests conclusively linked the confessed killer to | ||
| the murder weapon; freed in 1976, Mr. Keine now owns a business in | ||
| Michigan and is a leader in the campaign to abolish the death | ||
| penalty; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Anthony Graves of Brenham was arrested in 1992 and | ||
| convicted in Texas in 1994, primarily on the testimony of one | ||
| witness who later recanted his story; the Fifth Circuit Court of | ||
| Appeals ultimately overturned Mr. Graves’s conviction in 2006, and | ||
| he was then sent to the Burleson County jail to await his new trial, | ||
| which would be four years in coming; during that time, he was kept | ||
| in solitary confinement; finally, in 2010, 18 years after Mr. | ||
| Graves was first imprisoned, a special prosecutor determined that | ||
| no case against him had ever existed, and the charges against him | ||
| were dropped; and | ||
| WHEREAS, There is no way to restore to these men the years | ||
| they have lost, or to compensate them for the mental and emotional | ||
| anguish they have suffered; notwithstanding the immeasurable pain | ||
| they have endured, however, they have found the resilience to take a | ||
| terrible ordeal and channel their response into constructive | ||
| endeavor; their strength and purposefulness are a testament to | ||
| their remarkable spirit and a continuing inspiration to countless | ||
| fellow citizens; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby honor Clarence Brandley, Albert Burrell, Gary | ||
| Drinkard, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, and Anthony Graves for their | ||
| tenacity in the pursuit of justice and for their significant | ||
| contributions to the debate over an issue of paramount public | ||
| concern; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared | ||
| for these gentlemen as an expression of high regard by the Texas | ||
| House of Representatives. | ||
