The Texas Forensic Science Commission has posted their agenda for the Jan 29th meeting in Harlingen, Texas. It is clear from this agenda, which mentions that the meeting after this one will be in April, that Rick Perry has successfully quashed and covered up the investigation into Texas’ execution of an innocent person until after the March primary election. Perry replaced the old chair of the commission with his hand-picked puppet, John Bradley, in October, shortly before the commission was to discuss a report written by a fire expert hired by the commission to investigate the arson fires involved in the Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis cases.

It is not mentioned in the agenda whether Bradley will allow members of the public to deliver comments to the Commission at the meeting.

TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION – AGENDA
January 29th, 2010 – 9:30 A.M.
Courtyard Marriot
1725 W. Fillmore Avenue at Expressway 83
Harlingen, TX 78550
Telephone: (956) 412-7800 Fax: (956) 412-7889

During this meeting, the Commission may consider and take action on the following items. The Commission shall have morning breaks and a brief lunch break:

9:30 A.M. – OPENING REMARKS BY BRADLEY AND SENATOR HINOJOSA

ADOPTION OF MINUTES FROM JULY 24th, 2009 MEETING

INTRODUCTION BY EACH COMMISSIONER

PRESENTATION ON TFSC HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF WORK OF CHAIR SINCE LAST MEETING

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON TFSC POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON CREATION OF TFSC GENERAL COUNSEL POSITION

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON CREATION OF CONSULTANT POSITION FOR ONGOING TFSC PROJECTS TO STUDY FORENSIC TESTING BACKLOGS (See Senate Interim Chair No. 6)

ASSIGNMENT OF PENDING COMPLAINTS AND CASES BY CHAIR

SCHEDULE/LOCATION FOR FUTURE MEETINGS (April, July, and October)

ADJOURN

This YouTube contest run by the State Bar of Texas could be a good contest to enter for people who want to address their contest questions from a death penalty perspective. Answer one of two questions in a 30 second video: 1) Why are lawyers important to our society? or 2) How is the court system important to our society?

For instance, one obvious reason why lawyers are important is to prevent innocent people from being executed or to prevent people from being executed who were convicted and unjustly sentenced to death under the Law of Parties even though they did not themselves kill anyone.


Prizes will be awarded in three categories 1) a $500 scholarship for entrants younger than 18; 2) $500 cash for entrants 18 and older; and 3) $500 cash for the People’s Choice Award. Contestants can post their videos at www.youtube.com/group/texansonjustice. The deadline for entries is April 1. 

$500 scholarship for under 18 winner /  $500 cash prizes for 18 and over and the People’s Choice Award (One video from among all categories will receive a “People’s Choice” award, based on the total number of views on YouTube between January 15, 2010, and the day the State Bar submits the videos for judging.) Winners also receive an expenses-paid trip to the awards presentation in Austin in April 2010 Starting Jan. 15, 2010, upload your video to our 2010 Contest Group on YouTube

Create a 30-second video, similar to a public service announcement, that answers one of these questions: Why are lawyers important to our society? How is the court system important to our society? This contest is open to residents of Texas and attorneys licensed to practice in Texas. To enter: 1. Read and agree to the contest rules. 2. Make a video. Be creative! 3. Complete our online entry form starting on Jan. 15, 2010. 4. Submit/post your video to www.youtube.com/group/texansonjustice starting Jan. 15, 2010. Videos must be 30 seconds long or less. The deadline for entries is April 1, 2010. 5. Mail an original copy of your video on DVD or videotape to YouTube Contest, c/o State Bar of Texas, Attn: Judy Marchman, 1414 Colorado St., Austin TX 78701. Include your name and YouTube username on the copy. If you are under the age of 18, be sure to submit a signed parental permission form

Below is a report from Terri Been, the winner of Texas Moratorium Network’s drawing to receive a phone call from Sister Helen Prejean. Terri received the call from Sister Helen last night. Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing and thank you especially to Sister Helen Prejean for supporting the work of Texas Moratorium Network by agreeing to make a phone call to the TMN supporter who won the drawing.

TMN held the drawing online on the TMN Facebook page, on Amazee and on the TMN blog.

When she called, she was actually on her way home from a death row visit in Louisiana. We spoke of several topics with regard to the abolition movement, and then she asked me about my brother’s case. (Jeff Wood) We also talked briefly about the efforts of the Kids Against the Death Penalty and their being asked to speak in Geneva; she then mentioned that she would also be at the 4th World Congress next month in Geneva, and looked forward to meeting us if we were able to raise the money.

Our phone conversation lasted about half an hour, but she called back a second time (while I was in class) and spoke with 7 of the KADP members separately, (who were together to protest tonight’s execution of Gary Johnson) as well as to my husband, Steven. They were all very excited to speak with her, and were thankful for the additional call, which was a surprise to us all!

She assured me that there was a reason she and I were able to connect; and I am looking forward to working/collaborating with her in the future; not only for the sake of my brother, but for all who are affected by this barbaric form of “punishment”. She is truly an inspiration, and I can not thank her enough for her time. Further, I would like to thank Scott Cobb from the Texas Moratorium Network not only for this amazing opportunity but also for being an instrumental part in the effort to save my brother’s life.

I know that together, we can, and will win the fight for abolition!

Terri Been

Gary Johnson, 59, was executed today by lethal injection in Texas for the April 1986 slayings of James Hazelton, 28, and his brother-in-law, Peter Sparagana, 23.

Johnson was the second person executed in Texas in 2010 and the 449th since 1982.

Hank Skinner is the next person scheduled for execution in Texas on February 24, 2010.

TDCJ says Johnson was a former laborer with 8 years of formal education.

Johnson’s attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to keep him from becoming the second prisoner executed this year in the nation’s most active capital punishment state. A clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was turned down last week.

From the AP:

Gary Johnson was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting a ranch foreman and another man who interrupted his burglary of a southeast Texas ranch nearly 24 years ago.
Johnson, 59, was the second inmate to receive lethal injection this year in the state that executes the most prisoners. At least six others have execution dates scheduled for the coming months.

He was condemned for the April 1986 slayings of James Hazelton, 28, and Hazelton’s brother-in-law, Peter Sparagana, 23. The two were gunned down while investigating a call from a neighbor who reported intruders had driven through a chained gate at the Triple Creek Ranch about 10 miles west of Huntsville.

Hazelton’s brother, George, was among who watched Johnson die. He stood just a few feet away and watched through a glass window. He declined to meet with reporters following the execution.

One of Johnson’s brothers, Dell, and a daughter were among witnesses in an adjacent room.
Johnson declined the warden’s offer to make a final statement.

“Just tell my family good bye,” he said. But then, his voice choking with emotion, he urged relatives to tell other family members “what they did was wrong for letting me take the fall for what they did.”

“I never done anything in my life to anybody,” he said.

Eleven minutes later, at 6:26 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.

It took about two years for investigators to assemble their case against Johnson, who once worked at the ranch, and his brother, Terry. The brothers became suspects after the neighbor who saw men drive into the ranch described distinctive brake lights on their truck.

Terry Johnson, 62, took a plea deal with a 99-year prison term. Gary Johnson went to trial on capital murder charges, was convicted and sentenced to death.

“This was not their first nighttime burglary,” recalled Frank Blazek, the prosecutor at Johnson’s trial. “They knew the various pastures and that was part of a pattern they had.”

Hazelton and Sparagana discovered Terry Johnson but didn’t see his brother, who opened fire with a .44-caliber Magnum pistol and shot Sparagana, according to evidence and statements from Terry Johnson. Hazelton tried to run but was caught by Gary Johnson, who once worked for him.

“He put the gun in Hazelton’s mouth,” Blazek said. “Hazelton begged for his life and people across the way, in the nearby pasture, couldn’t see all this but could hear a man begging for his life.”

Shannon Ferguson, the neighbor who called Hazelton about the suspicious truck entering the ranch, and her husband were in a pasture tending to a horse about to give birth.

She said last week she’s always “felt kind of responsible” for the two men being murdered because they wouldn’t have investigated if she hadn’t called. But Ferguson also believes if she ignored the Johnson brothers’ suspicious activity, “I think they probably would have gone on and murdered more people.”

The murder weapon was recovered at the home of another Johnson brother in Union, Mo.
Johnson declined to speak with reporters in the weeks preceding his scheduled execution. Before arriving on death row, he had no previous prison record. Trial testimony showed that in 1972, in his native Missouri, he paid $150 in restitution to a man whose dog he shot and killed. The dog’s owner was a few feet away at the time.

Blazek said investigators found the same slogan etched in concrete outside Johnson’s home and on a T-shirt he was wearing in a photograph: “Kill them all and let God sort them out.”

“It indicated a callousness about human life,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Johnson’s lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, saying he was nearly blind, in poor health and posed no danger to society if he was spared from the death chamber. The court rejected their plea.

Gary Johnson, 59, is scheduled for lethal injection today, January 12, for the April 1986 slayings of James Hazelton, 28, and his brother-in-law, Peter Sparagana, 23.

TDCJ says Johnson is a former laborer with 8 years of formal education.

Johnson’s attorneys went to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to keep him from becoming the second prisoner executed this year in the nation’s most active capital punishment state. A clemency petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was turned down last week.

If the execution is not stopped, it will be the second Texas execution of 2010. Last year, Texas executed 24 people, by far more than any other U.S. state.

Call Texas Governor Rick Perry and let him know that you oppose the death penalty. 512-463-1782 or 512-463-2000. They keep a tally of callers for and against, so be part of the historical record against. If you are shy, you can just leave a voice mail at the 463-1782 number or write an email http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact.

From the AP:

In their appeals to the Supreme Court and to the Texas parole board, Gary Johnson’s lawyers insisted the condemned prisoner was not violent, that he had lost one eye in a prison assault and was blind in another, that his health was poor and executing him would be unconstitutionally cruel.

“It would be an embarrassment to the state of Texas to execute …. Gary Johnson at this time,” David Schulman, one of his attorneys, said in a petition. “He is certainly no threat to anyone.”

State attorneys argued Johnson’s appeal sought new rules to reassess at the time of execution his threat of future violence, rather than accept the judgment of jurors at his trial. They also contended that federal appeals courts have ruled prisoners may be put to death as long as they understand the punishment and why they’re receiving it.

“Johnson’s allegedly deteriorating physical health does not concern his ability to comprehend his impending execution and the reason for it,” Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the Supreme Court.