Posts by: "Texas Moratorium Network"

Video of Rep Harold Dutton Speaking at Rally at Capitol on the "Day of Innocence"

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Rep Dutton has filed bills to abolish the death penalty and to enact a moratorium on executions and create a death penalty study commission. Watch video of Rep Dutton speaking at rally on the “Day of Innocence” March 16, 2011.

People working to stop executions in Texas spent the day on Wednesday, March 16, lobbying Texas legislators during the “Day of Innocence” and Statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty.

Special guests on the “Day of Innocence” included death row exonerees who together spent many years on death row for crimes they did not commit: Clarence Brandley, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, and Albert Burrell.
“It is time for the Texas Legislature to pass reforms that will protect innocent people from the injustice of wrongful convictions and to stop executions with a moratorium on executions. Participants in the Lobby Day will also advocate for the two bills filed to abolish the death penalty or any death penalty related bill that is important to them, such as the bill requiring separate trials in death penalty cases or the Law of Parties bill”, said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.

Video of News Coverage of "Day of Innocence" and Statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty

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The “Day of Innocence” at the Texas Capitol was March 16, 2011. We visited a record number of offices for a death penalty issues lobby day. We got the Texas House to pass a resolution honoring the visiting death row exonerees. We lobbied for several death penalty related bills. We trained participants in the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break how to lobby on March 15, then the next day they came to the capitol prepared to lobby effectively against the death penalty. The two news stories below illustrate the high level of success of the 2011 Lobby Day.

Students Lobby and Rally Against Death Penalty on Spring Break (watch video)

Day of Innocence Held at Texas Capitol Questions Death Penalty

Text of Resolution Passed by Texas House on "Day of Innocence" to Honor Death Row Exonerees

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82R12583 MMS-D
 
  By: Dutton H.R. No. 829
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, Six former death row inmates who have been
  exonerated of the crime for which they were convicted are visiting
  the State Capitol on March 16, 2011, the Day of Innocence, in
  support of a moratorium on executions and other related measures;
  and
         WHEREAS, These men are among the 138 individuals who have
  been released from death row since 1973, either because their
  convictions were overturned and they then won acquittal at retrial
  or had the charges against them dropped, or because they were given
  an absolute pardon by the governor based on new evidence of their
  innocence; their lives forever changed by their wrongful
  conviction, these six individuals are now working to reform the
  criminal justice system; and
         WHEREAS, Convicted of murder in Texas in 1981, Clarence
  Brandley was just weeks away from his scheduled execution when
  evidence of coerced testimony and blatant racism in his first two
  trials prompted the FBI to intervene; three years later, the
  charges against him were dismissed; Mr. Brandley subsequently
  married, apprenticed as an electrician, and became a Baptist
  minister; his life became the subject of a book, White Lies, and a
  cable TV movie, Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story; and
         WHEREAS, Sentenced to death in Louisiana in 1987, Albert
  Burrell was 17 days away from execution in 1996 when his attorneys
  won a stay; the attorney general’s office dismissed the charges
  against him in 2000, citing “a total lack of credible evidence,” and
  later DNA analysis reinforced that assessment; Albert Burrell
  currently lives and works in Center; and
         WHEREAS, Gary Drinkard was convicted in Alabama in 1995; in
  2000, the state supreme court ordered a retrial on the basis of
  prosecutorial misconduct, and the following year a second jury
  found him innocent; Mr. Drinkard’s case was subsequently presented
  to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to illustrate the critical
  need that those facing the death penalty have for competent legal
  representation; and
         WHEREAS, Framed for murder, Shujaa Graham was sentenced in
  California in 1976; the state supreme court overturned his
  conviction because the district attorney had systematically
  excluded African American jurors in his first trial; Mr. Graham was
  ultimately acquitted in 1981, and since then he has played a leading
  role in the anti-death penalty and human rights movements; and
         WHEREAS, Ron Keine was sentenced to death in New Mexico in
  1974 after a witness, under intense pressure from prosecutors,
  fabricated a story about his guilt; the following year, the real
  killer turned himself in, and a new trial for Mr. Keine and his
  codefendants was eventually ordered; before the trial could be
  held, though, a judge threw out the murder indictment on the grounds
  that ballistic tests conclusively linked the confessed killer to
  the murder weapon; freed in 1976, Mr. Keine now owns a business in
  Michigan and is a leader in the campaign to abolish the death
  penalty; and
         WHEREAS, Anthony Graves of Brenham was arrested in 1992 and
  convicted in Texas in 1994, primarily on the testimony of one
  witness who later recanted his story; the Fifth Circuit Court of
  Appeals ultimately overturned Mr. Graves’s conviction in 2006, and
  he was then sent to the Burleson County jail to await his new trial,
  which would be four years in coming; during that time, he was kept
  in solitary confinement; finally, in 2010, 18 years after Mr.
  Graves was first imprisoned, a special prosecutor determined that
  no case against him had ever existed, and the charges against him
  were dropped; and
         WHEREAS, There is no way to restore to these men the years
  they have lost, or to compensate them for the mental and emotional
  anguish they have suffered; notwithstanding the immeasurable pain
  they have endured, however, they have found the resilience to take a
  terrible ordeal and channel their response into constructive
  endeavor; their strength and purposefulness are a testament to
  their remarkable spirit and a continuing inspiration to countless
  fellow citizens; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas
  Legislature hereby honor Clarence Brandley, Albert Burrell, Gary
  Drinkard, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, and Anthony Graves for their
  tenacity in the pursuit of justice and for their significant
  contributions to the debate over an issue of paramount public
  concern; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That official copies of this resolution be prepared
  for these gentlemen as an expression of high regard by the Texas
  House of Representatives.

Day of Innocence held at Capitol

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Our 2011 “Day of Innocence” and Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty was a huge success. The exonerees were honored with a resolution in the Texas House of Representatives. We visited what will likely turn out to be a record number of legislative offices for anti-death penalty lobby day and we effectively advocated for several death penalty related bills. In a few weeks, we may see the first result of our lobbying today if the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee holds a hearing on the bills we lobbied for today.

Texas leads the nation when it comes to carrying out executions.  On Wednesday, there were a number of calls at the Capitol to end them.
They came from students who held a rally at the steps, Rep. Harold Dutton (D) of Houston, and a number of former death row inmates who were later found innocent.
“No justice system in the world can ever be the best so long as it kills its own citizens,” said Ron Keine who was exonerated.
Keine’s hope is that one day Texas will abolish the death penalty.
“We‘ve got a system that is broken,” he said. He is concerned that too many people have been wrongly convicted and executed.
Terri Been is concerned too.  Her brother, Jeff Wood, was convicted in the 1996 killing of a convenience store clerk.  Been says he is innocent.
“There are so many different things that went wrong with the trial,” Been said.  “It was really one mishap after another.”
Delia Castro-Perez is helping her brother fight to prove his innocence.  He is on death row for the murder of three Austin girls.
“Those were his friends that were murdered, and I think that’s what sometimes people forget,” Castro-Perez said.
Just last week the state of Illinois abolished the death penalty.  In losing it, critics argued the state also lost its strongest deterrent to crime.

The "Day of Innocence" and Lobby Day at the Texas Capitol Wednesday, March 16

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People working to stop executions in Texas will spend the day on Wednesday, March 16, lobbying Texas legislators during the “Day of Innocence” and Statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty. Register online or just come to the Capitol and go to room E2.026 on Wednesday, March 16.

Special guests on the “Day of Innocence” include six death row exonerees who together spent almost 50 years on death row for crimes they did not commit:  Anthony Graves, Clarence Brandley, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, Gary Drinkard and Albert Burrell.

“It is time for the Texas Legislature to pass reforms that will protect innocent people from the injustice of wrongful convictions and to stop executions with a moratorium on executions. Participants in the Lobby Day will also advocate for the two bills filed to abolish the death penalty or any death penalty related bill that is important to them, such as the bill requiring separate trials in death penalty cases or the Law of Parties bill”, said Scott Cobb, president of Texas Moratorium Network.
People interested in participating in the Lobby Day can register online. Registration is not mandatory, but it helps organizers schedule appointments with legislators.
The “Day of Innocence” will be a day we will always remember, a day when we stood side by side fighting against the death penalty with people who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death. Don’t be one of those people who one day “shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here” and fought with us on the Day of Innocence”, said Cobb.
The “Day of Innocence” on March 16 will conclude with a rally at 5:30 PM on the South Steps of the Capitol.

Schedule for the Statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty and “Day of Innocence” – Wednesday March 16, 2011

The main base of operations for the “Day of Innocence” will be room E2.026 in the Texas Capitol

For more information, contact Scott Cobb at 512 552 4743

8 :00 – 9:00 AM Check-in and Meet and Greet at the Texas Capitol in room E2.026. Legislators, staff members, everyone coming to Austin for the Lobby Day and anyone at the capitol and the general public is welcome to attend and meet death row exonerees Anthony Graves, Clarence Brandley, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, Gary Drinkard and Albert Burrell who all spent many years on death row for crimes they did not commit.
9 – 10 AM Lobby Training. People coming for Lobby Day will be trained and given assignments. People who received training before Lobby Day can begin lobbying. Location: Room E2.026 in the Texas Capitol.
Sometime during the day while the House and Senate are in session the death row exonerees may be recognized and honored with a resolution in the Texas House and/or Senate. 
10 AM – Noon Visit legislative offices to lobby legislators and their staff.
Noon – 1 PM Lunch on your own. There is a cafeteria in the Texas Capitol.
1 – 2 PM  Press conference and group photo in Texas House Speaker’s Committee Room 2W.6 at Texas Capitol with death row exonerees and others.
2 – 3 More lobbying visits to legislative offices. 
3:00 – 4:30 PM Panel Discussion on “Innocence and the Death Penalty” with six death row exonerees, Location: room E2.026 in the Texas Capitol. Panelists and guests include exonerees Anthony Graves, Clarence Brandley, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, Gary Drinkard and Albert Burrell who are all innocent people who spent many years on death row for crimes they did not commit.
4:30:- 5:00 Set up for rally and final legislative office visits.
5:30 – 7:00 “Day of Innocence” Statewide Rally Against the Death Penalty on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol. Rally Speakers and other special guests include death row exonerees Anthony Graves, Clarence Brandley, Shujaa Graham, Ron Keine, Gary Drinkard and Albert Burrell.
Lobby Day has been organized since 2003 by several organizations working together, the same ones who also organize the annual “March to Abolish the Death Penalty” each October: Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Austin chapter, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty.
Organizations that would like to participate or co-sponsor the Lobby Day can email admin@texasmoratorium.org or call 512-961-6389.
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