The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the mother of an African-American run over to death last month in East Texas does not want her son’s killers to face the death penalty. Jackie McClelland staunchly opposes the death penalty. The prosecutor has said that the murder charges the perpetrators currently face carry a penalty of five to 99 years or life in prison, so, for now, the victim’s mother will get her wish that the death penalty not be on the table, unless the prosecutor decides to seek other charges.

From the DMN

Both suspects were arrested about a week after Mr. McClelland’s death and are being held in the Lamar County Jail, with bail set at $500,000 apiece. Mr. Finley was returned to Texas from Wichita, Kan., where he was captured after a manhunt.

Mr. Hubbard said the case will go to the grand jury in November and the earliest likely trial date is next spring.

While some have called for prosecutors to seek the death penalty, the victim’s mother said she doesn’t believe in capital punishment and just wants justice.

“We want to make sure that anybody that was involved in this gets the right justice, not just a couple of years,” said Ms. McClelland. “I think they should get life without parole.”

More background on the case from the DMN:

PARIS, Texas – With a black man dead and two white men in jail on murder charges, race relations are again under strain in this northeast Texas county seat, still haunted by high-profile lynchings from its distant past and protests over the jailing of a black teenager two years ago.
Also Online

Lynchings part of city’s dark past

Blog: Crime

Motorists found Brandon Demon “Big Boy” McClelland’s mangled body early Sept. 16 in northeast Lamar County, near a curve in a two-lane county road. Authorities first suspected the 24-year-old was the victim of a hit-and-run, killed by a speeding lumber truck.

But suspicions soon turned to the victim’s white drinking buddies: Shannon Keith Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley. Witnesses told police that the men admitted running down Mr. McClelland after an argument. Both suspects maintain their innocence.

District Attorney Gary Young, who is white, said there’s no evidence that the killing was a hate crime. But his office welcomes any information on the case, he said.

That doesn’t satisfy friends and family of the victim and other members of the black community, including a contingent of the New Black Panthers, who suspect a cover-up and see shades of the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. a decade ago in Jasper, Texas.

“Gary Young decided from the start it was not a hate crime,” said Brenda Cherry, who is black and a co-founder of Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality. “They’re not going to do anything to make Paris look bad. That’s the main thing around here.”

The victim’s mother, Jackie McClelland, also believes race played a part in her son’s death, noting the extent of his injuries.

“I think it was a hate crime,” she said. “We couldn’t have an open casket.”

http://www.freegregwright.com
http://www.petitiononline.com/fgew2008/petition.html
http://governor.state.tx.us/contact

# Citizen’s Opinion Hotline [for Texas callers] :
(800) 252-9600
# Information and Referral and Opinion Hotline [for Austin, Texas and out-of-state callers] :
(512) 463-1782

Gregory Edward Wright is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas October 30, 2008.

Governor Rick Perry
Governor of the State of Texas
Office of the Governor
P. O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711

Fax: (512) 463-1849

Gregory Edward Wright is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas October 30, 2008 for the murder of Donna Vick on March 21, 1997 in Desoto, Texas. Mr. Wright was one of two defendants sentenced to death in this case in separate trials. A petition for Commutation of his death sentence or in the alternative, a 180 day Reprieve has been submitted by his attorneys.

We are requesting that letters of support be sent to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking them to recommend these actions to the Governor, and to the Governor asking him to commute the death sentence to life or to grant a 180 day reprieve.

Some of the issues in Mr. Wright’s case have never been considered on appeal because his State Habeas attorney did virtually no work on his behalf leaving these issues unpreserved and preventing them from being raised in further appeals. This attorney is no longer on the list of attorneys approved to represent capital defendants in their appeals.

The other defendant in this case made confessions to the murder to a number of individuals both before the trial and after conviction. However he has never confessed under oath. One such confession was to an individual working at a 24 hour video story on the evening of the murder. The other defendant then asked him to call 911 for him. Both of them made calls to 911, but the tapes, which might have been helpful to Mr. Wright’s defense, have disappeared.

Mr. Wright’s attorneys were unable to find this witness to interview him, and the prosecutor’s office claimed they did not know his whereabouts. An affidavit by this witness confirms that the prosecutor’s office maintained contact with him prior to the trial.

There was another person to whom the other defendant confessed shortly after the murder while driving the victim’s car that the defense was never aware of until after the trial.

The prosecution made an undisclosed deal with another person who testified against Mr. Wright at his trial, providing information not available from any other source that was very damaging to Mr. Wright such as a cheerful demeanor after the murder. Although this witness testified to actions that would have subjected him to a lengthy prison sentence, he was never charged with a crime. Upon questioning by the defense attorney, both the witness and the prosecutor denied the existence of any deal. However testimony during the trial of the other defendant in the murder confirms the existence of a deal made prior to Mr. Wright’s trial.

A lot of emphasis was placed on the testimony of this witness during both the trial and the punishment phase. Failure to disclose a deal rendered the defense unable to point out the bias of this witness. Not only did the prosecution deny a deal but repeatedly insisted that none existed.

Items related to the crime, papers and clothing, such as jeans containing Mr. Vick’s blood, were found in a shack in Desoto. Although the police and the prosecutor were aware that both men had access to this shack, at trial the information was withheld that paperwork belonging to the other defendant was also present, and access was attributed only to Mr. Wright. In the other defendant’s trial, the shack was described as being shared by both men. There remain questions about the ownership of the jeans, which have questionable DNA inside a pant leg, and DNA testing is ongoing. Further testing is being opposed by the prosecution.

The state presented as their only physical evidence against Mr. Wright a partial bloody fingerprint on a pillowcase lifted by a crime scene officer not trained to handle evidence and who has now been indicted for murder in another case and is currently a fugitive from justice. Members of the Dallas Co. Sheriff’s Office with extensive experience and training in fingerprint identification did not find the print comparable to those of any suspects. A retired print examiner, who had worked in the past with the other examiners, testified to the match to Mr. Wright’s known prints without showing the points of comparison and told the jury they would have to take his word for it. A forensic scientist who recently reviewed the materials found that no scientific comparison could be made on the materials submitted at trial.

In conclusion, Mr. Wright did not have a fair trial. Witnesses were hidden, key evidence was suppressed, and testimony was bought and paid for. The State “shopped” for a fingerprint expert who would testify to a match.

There are serious doubts that Gregory Wright is guilty of the crime for which he is scheduled to be executed. There is NO doubt that he did not receive a fair trial

Using the information in this summary and any other factors you think should be considered, please write your letters to the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Remember to include in your letter your awareness of the severity of the crime and the harm done to Ms. Vick and the loss to any of her relatives or loved ones.

From 9th Annual March to Stop Executions Oct 25, 2008 Houston Texas

Clarence Brandley speaking at 9th Annual March to Stop Executions in Houston, Oct 25, 2008. Clarence is an innocent person who spent ten years on death row in Texas before being fully exonerated.

From 9th Annual March to Stop Executions Oct 25, 2008 Houston Texas

From 9th Annual March to Stop Executions Oct 25, 2008 Houston Texas

Bobby Woods received a stay of execution today from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The reason for the stay was not given, but the Austin American-Statesman reported that it likely had to do with Woods’ previous lawyer not adequately representing him by failing to fully present the case of Woods’ mental retardation.

Woods’ previous lawyer was Fort Worth attorney Richard Alley.

Alley, Woods alleged, failed to challenge the prosecutors’ IQ tests as antiquated, did not unearth an easy-to-find test showing Woods’ IQ was 60 and did not collect crucial affidavits from friends and family about Wood’s inability to fully communicate or take care of himself. The new filing has 10 such affidavits.

“Mr. Alley failed in all aspects to adequately represent Mr. Woods,” the petition says.

Alley was featured in a 2006 American-Statesman analysis of court-appointed lawyers for writs of habeas corpus, one of two appeals granted to death row inmates. The analysis found Alley copied large parts of his petitions from previous filings and from other appeals that cannot be considered in a habeas review. A federal court also reprimanded Alley for repeated unethical behavior and poor work on a death penalty appeal in 2002.

Shortly after the newspaper report, the Court of Criminal Appeals removed Alley from its list of lawyers eligible to handle habeas petitions.

Next session, the Texas Legislature should pass a bill to create a statewide office of public defenders to handle death penalty appeals, so that people as incompetent as Richard Alley never again represent anyone appealing a death penalty sentence. An example of such an office in another state is California’s Office of the State Public Defender, which “focuses its resources on post-conviction appellate representation in death penalty cases. The agency currently represents more than 130 men and women on death row in California”.

Of course, Texas also needs competent attorneys at the trial level for people accused of capital crimes, but a public defenders office that handles appeals in death penalty cases would be a start towards what we really need – a statewide defender’s office that is responsible for capital cases from start to finish.

Such a “start to finish” office was endorsed by the Austin American-Statesman in an editorial in 2006 just before the last session of the Texas Legislature:

that office could be financed by a combination of state money now going to court-appointed lawyers handling death row habeas appeals and county dollars that fund lawyers for indigent capital murder defendants for their initial trials. Such an agency could hire lawyers who are experienced and competent in handling death row cases. It isn’t a perfect solution, but far better than what is in place now.

The public and state leaders should be concerned about whether convicted capital murderers are being executed for the right reason — because they are guilty — and not because their lawyers bungled the job.