Today, we delivered the clemency letter written by Rep. Dutton and signed by other state representatives to Governor Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The letter was signed by Dutton, Mike Villareal, Eddie Rodriguez, Donna Howard, Alma Allen, Terri Hodge and Ruth Jones McClendon.
Also, Sylvester Turner, Helen Giddings and Dora Olivo are sending their own letter tomorrow.
Also, we know that Elliot Naishtat, Lon Burnam and Jessica Farrar wrote their own letters earlier and sent them to the Governor and the BPP
So, we have 13 confirmed Texas state representatives who have signed letters in support of clemency for Kenneth Foster.
A couple of other state legislators have told us that they may write their own letters tomorrow to the Governor, but they are not confirmed, so we won’t mention their names.
We have just heard that the Board of Pardons and Paroles has delayed their decision on Foster until 1 PM on Wednesday. They had planned to announce it by the 28th, but now they are taking one extra day.
That means there is still time for other legislators to write the Board of Pardons and Paroles and ask them to vote in favor of clemency for Kenneth Foster. Clemency could take the form of commuting the sentence from death to life in prison or some other term of imprisonment, or the BPP could recommend a stay of execution, so that Foster can try to find a court to hear the new evidence that supports his factual innocence, which is what three members of the Court of Criminal Appeals would like to see. They would like him to be able to pursue his factual innocence claims.
Please take a moment and call your own elected state representative or senator now and leave a voice mail for them asking them to write their own letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and send it to the BPP tomorrow, August 28.