The rally for Kenneth Foster last Saturday was probably the best, most well-attended, high energy protest of a pending execution in Texas since the Gary Graham protests back in 2000. Here is a link to a video on Austin’s KXAN. It includes an interview with Foster’s father.

The Daily Texan had this to say:

Friends, family and fervent activists against the death penalty marched down Congress Avenue on Saturday and gathered in front of the Governor’s Mansion to demand that the state not execute Kenneth Foster Jr.

“This case seemed to be an opportunity not only save Kenneth Foster, who is a magnificent human being, but to actually turn the tide in Texas,” said Dana Cloud, UT associate professor and anti-death penalty activist.

On Aug. 30, Foster is scheduled to be executed for the 1996 murder of Michael LaHood Jr. Keith Hampton, Foster’s criminal lawyer, says his client was more than 80 feet away when LaHood was fatally shot by Mauriceo Brown.

Brown, Foster, Julius Steen and Dewayne Dillard were all in Foster’s car, and there was a gun in the vehicle. They had robbed several people at gunpoint during the night of the murder. Brown himself was trying to rob LaHood when he shot LaHood and ran to Foster’s car. Since Foster was a willing accomplice in the robberies, the court found him guilty of attempting to rob LaHood, which inevitably led to his death.

“He did not hurt anybody, and he’s not going to,” said Foster’s 11-year-old daughter, Nydesha.

New 8 Austin says:

A man who never killed anyone but was present when another man did more than 10 years ago in San Antonio is set to die by lethal injection on Aug. 30.

On Saturday, Kenneth Foster’s family and supporters gathered at the State Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion to protest his death row sentence.

When Lawrence Foster heard the verdict handed down to his grandson, he couldn’t believe it.

“This can’t happen. This can’t be true. He should not be responsible for the actions of another individual, especially when he did not know what the intention of the other individual was,” he said.

There is also a video on the News 8 Austin site, so when you go there scroll down to launch the video.

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