Posts by: "Texas Moratorium Network"

From MyFoxAustin:

Texas has the highest number of executions of any state in the country. With that in mind, hundreds of protestors took the streets of Austin to make a change, but not everyone is happy to see them there.

Hundreds marched through downtown Saturday, protesting the death penalty and the governor they say supports it.

Marchers chanted, “Rick Perry you can’t hide! We charge you with homicide!”

“We just saw the 250th execution under Governor Perry and that includes some controversial executions,” said organizer, Lily Hughes.

Protestors allege that innocent people have been executed in Texas during recent years and brought up controversial executions like that of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham has already been executed, but family is trying to exonerate him from charges that he murdered his three young children. Protesters are also hoping to stop future executions like that of Darlie Routier, the Rowlett, TX mother convicted of murdering her two children in 1996. Her family is reportedly working to retest forensic evidence that they say will prove Routier’s innocence.

I’m telling you this could happen to you. If your children or anybody dies in your home, your grand kids die in your home, do not for a minute think they’re not going to accuse you,” said Sarilda Routier, Darlie Routier’s former mother-in-law.

Media Advisory

13th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty to be Held at the Texas Capitol in Austin Saturday November 3, 2012

The 13th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty will be held Saturday, November 3, 2012 on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol at 2 PM. After a short pre-march speaker’s program, the attendees will march through the streets of downtown Austin with a stop in front of the Texas Governor’s mansion and return to the Texas Capitol to hear more speakers against the death penalty.

The march will be led by 4 death row survivors who each spent many years on death rows around the U.S. for crimes they did not commit. The 4 exonerees are coming to Texas as members of Witness to Innocence, which is the nation’s only organization composed of, by and for exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones. These individuals are actively engaged in the struggle to end the death penalty, challenging the American public to grapple with the problem of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people to death row.

“Other states are reconsidering the death penalty in the face of mounting budget problems and problems in the system that put innocent people at risk of execution. On November 6, California voters will decide whether to retain or abolish the death penalty in California. In 2012, Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty. Juries across the nation, including in Texas, are sentencing fewer and fewer people to death. In Texas last year, only 8 people were sentenced to death, but Texas continues to lead the nation in numbers of executions. The 250th execution since Governor Rick Perry assumed office took place on October 31. Overall, Texas is nearing 500 total executions since resuming executions in 1982 after an 18 year moratorium. Although Texas far outranks other states in executions, more and more Texans are growing uncomfortable with our state’s use of the death penalty and reaching the conclusion that it is a public policy that we can do without”, said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.

After a 12 year campaign by activists and party members, the Texas Democratic Party adopted a platform in 2012 that calls for abolishing the death penalty in Texas. The number of new death sentences nationwide hit a 35 year low in 2011. 
Exonerees speaking will be Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine and Albert Burrell. 

Family members of people currently on death row who will be speaking include Terri Been (sister of Jeff Wood), Delia Perez Meyer (sister of Louis Castro Perez), and Sarilda Routier (mother-in-law of Darlie Routier).
The annual march is organized as a joint project by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations working together with national organizations: Texas Moratorium Network, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Students Against the Death Penalty, Witness to Innocence, Kids Against the Death Penalty, International Socialist Organization, the Texas Civil Rights Project, ACLU-Texas, the Journey of Hope … from Violence to Healing, The Austin Chronicle, NOKOA, Gray Panthers, Democrats for Life, and Texas Democrats Against the Death Penalty.

Support Todd Willingham’s family as they request a pardon for Todd. Call Texas Governor Perry to urge him to pardon Todd Willingham. Say something along the lines of “I’m calling to ask Governor Perry to posthumously pardon Cameron Todd Willingham. Todd was wrongfully executed–despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence–by Texas in 2004, and his final wish was that his name be cleared.”

Call Governor Perry: the number is 512-463-2000.

A petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry and to the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas wrongfully executed an innocent man.

The 13th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty will be Saturday November 3, 2012 at 2 PM in Austin, Texas at the Capitol. Meet at the Texas State Capitol Building on the South Steps (11th and Congress).

If you want to help promote the march, you can download a black and white flyer or a color version and put them up on bulletin boards or hand them out.

There is a bus coming from Houston. Contact Gloria Rubac  at 713-503-2633, if you would like to ride the bus from Houston.

HOUSTON BUS
LEAVES: 9:00 AM from S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3815 Live Oak, Houston 77005
TICKETS: $10, $5 for students, unemployed, and fixed income
RETURN: 8:00 or 9:00 PM that evening
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