The October 2001 newsletter contains information about:
- 2nd Annual March for a Moratorium
- Juvenile offender execution
- Meet your legislators program
TEXAS MORATORIUM NETWORK NEWSLETTER — OCTOBER 2001
Texas Moratorium Network
512-302-6715
Dear Moratorium Supporter,
As we continue to organize for a moratorium on executions in Texas, we are pleased to report that Sister Helen Prejean has agreed to serve on the Texas Moratorium Network Board of Advisors. Sister Prejean is the author of Dead Man Walking and Chair of the Moratorium Campaign based in New Orleans. She is a tireless activist on this issue both nationally and internationally, and we are excited to have her with us.
There is much more to report for October 2001, so let’s get right to it:
2ND ANNUAL MARCH FOR A MORATORIUM LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY!
The 2nd Annual March for a Moratorium is on schedule for Saturday, October 27, 2001, in Austin, Texas. This promises to be the largest public event ever to challenge the death penalty in the State of Texas. Over 1000 Texans are expected to converge of the Capitol to raise their voices for a halt to executions. Come to Austin and be a part of history!
Here are the specifics (for more information, including directions, call us at 512-302-6715, or go to ):
1 pm – Gather at Republic Park (4th and Guadalupe)
2 pm – March to the Capitol
3 pm – Rally at the Capitol
5 pm – Post-event party (Center for Mexican-American Cultural Arts — 600 River Street)
Speakers will include:
Kerry Cook (an innocent man who spent over 20 years on death row)
Rep. Harold Dutton (sponsor of moratorium bills in the 77th Texas Legislature)
Ireland and Rena Beazley (parents of Napoleon, an African-American juvenile offender sent to Death Row by an all-white jury)
Deborah Bell (President of Texas NOW and founder of the Andrea Pia Yates Support Coalition)
Jeanette Popp (mother of Nancy DePriest, for whose murder Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger were wrongly convicted by a Travis County jury)
Jeannine Scott (wife of Yogurt Shop Defendant Michael Scott)
Njeri Shakur (Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement)
Will Harrell (ACLU of Texas)
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In Other News …
1) JUVENILE OFFENDER SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION ON OCTOBER 22nd
In violation of international law, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Gerald Mitchell who was sentenced to death for a crime he committed when he was 17. Executing juvenile offenders is almost universally recognized as a fundamental violation of international law and is forbidden by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which every nation on Earth has ratified except Somalia and the United States. Texas accounts for more than half of all the world’s executions of juvenile offenders in the last ten years. Under Texas law, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has the exclusive power to commute a sentence of death to life in prison.
Please fax or call individual Board members as well. For the appropriate contact information, go to:
For background and talking points on this case, go to:
2) MEET YOUR LEGISLATORS
Passage of a moratorium in Texas depends on our legislators, and getting the support of our legislators depends on YOU. Please try to meet or talk with your elected State Representatives whenever you can. For more information, or to join the adopt-a-legislator program, visit the website ), or contact Brian Evans at 512-479-8094 (email: )
Thank you for your continued support, and we hope to see many of you on October 27.
MORATORIUM NOW!
