AUSTIN TEXAS, APRIL 15, 2009

RALLY AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY AT UT!

12 NOON ON THE WEST MALL!

AND IN THE EVENING…At UT Austin in UTC Rm. 3.122 at 7 pm.

(On 21st just west of Speedway.)

LIVE CALL IN FROM JOHN BOOTH-EL – MARYLAND DEATH ROW PRISONER, AND FROM TIMOTHY MCKINNEY – TENNESSEE DEATH ROW PRISONER.

And featuring:Sandra Reed – Mother of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed

Kenneth Foster, Sr. – Father of Kenneth Foster, Jr., commuted of Texas death row.

Terri Been – Sister of Texas death row prisoner Jeff Wood, convicted under Law of Parties.

The CEDP is hosting a national tour, “Live From Death Row,” featuring the voices of death row prisoners, live from their prison cell. Death sentences de-humanize the condemned, justifying the state-sponsored murder of the poor, the innocent and people of color. Death rows isolate those sentenced to die, denying them human contact and hope for justice. In our “Live From Death Row” tour, the voices of death row prisoners will reach from behind the walls to share their stories of loss, injustice, struggle, and hope for an end to the death penalty. At a time when the national chorus against the death penalty continues to grow, these voices are critical for the movement on the outside. Live From Death Row Tour stops all over the country have drawn hundreds of people and featured live calls from death row prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal in Pennsylvania and Troy Davis in Georgia. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of a such emotionally powerful and socially important event!

“These are America’s condemned, who bear a stigma far worse than ‘prisoner.’ These are America’s death row residents: men and women who walk the razor’s edge between half-life and certain death.” —Mumia Abu-Jamal, Live From Death Row

CO-SPONSORED BY CEDP-AUSTIN AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL-UT AUSTIN.

Kinky Friedman sent an email out today announcing that he is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Texas in the 2010 primary election. One of his positions is that Texas should abolish the death penalty.

Kinky was one of almost 1900 people who signed Texas Moratorium Network’s complaint against Sharon Keller that we turned in to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in 2007. The Commission charged Keller with misconduct and her trial starts on August 17 in Austin. Kinky also signed the Texas Moratorium Network petition for a moratorium on executions in 2005.

We will be watching to see if Tom Schieffer endorses a moratorium on executions. Schieffer has formed an expoloratory committee to seek support for a run for governor in the 2010 Democratic primary.

The Texas Democratic Party platform has endorsed a moratorium on executions since 2004 when TMN’s Scott Cobb was elected to the platform committee at the state convention and wrote a new section on capital punishment in the party platform.

Below is an undated video of Kinky talking about the death penalty.

The Cleburn-Times Review in Johnson County Texas has an article in today’s paper that says that senior district judge C.C. “Kit” Cooke, who presided over the trial of Richard Wayne Jones, believes Jones may have been innocent. Jones was executed in 2000 in Huntsville.

The third case, in which Richard Wayne Jones was convicted and sentenced to death in Fort Worth in 1987, bothers Cooke to this day.

It contributed to his belief that the death penalty is assessed too liberally in Texas.

Jones, he said, might have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed in 2000.

“Richard claimed innocence forever,” Cooke said. “To be honest, that’s when I started having some doubts about trying capital murder cases. I tended to believe his story. The facts were that he’d been to the penitentiary two or three times. According to his statement [which Jones said was coerced], he decided he was going to kill somebody when he got out.

“He set up a crafts store in Arlington. A petite lady came in to buy yarn so she could knit her brother a sweater. [Jones] picked her out at random. He took her out and raped her and murdered her, then set her on fire.

“When there’s a fire, there is no DNA. So there was no way for the jury to know if he raped her. The jury convicted him. All the way through his appeals, he said he was innocent. An author in England [Wendy Schmid-Eastwood] took up his cause. She wrote a book [“Twisted Truth”] that exerted a lot of influence. She funded his appeal.

“He had the best lawyers, Jack Strickland and Bill Lane at trial level, and I appointed Allan Butcher on appeal. All three were top-notch lawyers who had tried people who were guilty.

“Lane especially did not think he was guilty, and Allan had some real doubts. I got a letter from an inmate saying we were killing the wrong guy, though you always look at those things with a jaundiced eye.

“The case languished a long time [14 years]. Sharon Wilson was the prosecutor. She went to Huntsville for the execution. Richard looked at her and said, ‘Sharon Wilson, you’re killing the wrong man.’ ”

Cooke said he did well by Jones.

“Did I do everything I could? Yeah,” he said. “I’m convinced he had the best lawyers. I did have some doubt [about Jones’ guilt]. I would have been more comfortable if he could have been locked away for life with no parole.”

Ouisa D. Davis, an El Paso lawyer, wrote Friday in the El Paso Sun Times (“Let’s push for moratorium on death penalty in Texas”) why Texas needs a moratorium on executions.

HB 913 is awaiting a vote in the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. That bill would create a two-year moratorium and a commission to study the death penalty. It received a hearing in the Subcommittee on Capital Punishment. If the chair of the full committee schedules it for a vote, it will probably pass the committee and move on to the Calendars Committee.

Under the Law of Parties, a person who “should have anticipated” a murder can receive the death penalty for the actions of another. A person sentenced to death under the Law of Parties has not killed anyone. They are accomplices or co-conspirators of one felony, such as robbery, during which another person killed someone. There is currently legislation pending in the Texas Legislature to prevent this application of the death penalty.

On June 17, 2005, Texas juries were given the option of sentencing capital defendants to life without parole.

On March 18, 2009, New Mexico repealed the death penalty, in favor of life without parole.

In all 36 death-penalty states, juries now have the option of sentencing defendants to life without parole.

The U.S. bishops call us to reflect, saying “The test of whether the death penalty can be used is whether society has alternative ways to protect itself, not how terrible the crime was. Life in prison without parole provides a non-lethal alternative to the death penalty. We cannot tell whether God has a purpose for a person’s life, even one who has committed a terrible crime and must spend his or her life behind bars.”

David Berchelmann, Jr, a 1973 graduate of St Mary’s School of Law, has been appointed to preside over the trial of Sharon Keller.

From the Austin American-Statesman

A Republican district court judge from San Antonio will preside over the trial of Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals who stands accused of violating her duty in a 2007 death penalty case.

The Texas Supreme Court today named Bexar County District Court Judge David Berchelmann Jr. as special master for Keller’s trial, to being Aug. 17 in Austin.

Berchelmann was the first Republican to serve on the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, when he was appointed by Gov. Bill Clements in 1989. At the time, he was a seven-year district court judge, and he returned to the Bexar County district court bench three years later.

“He is highly regarded by both the bench and the bar in Bexar County,” said Wallace Jefferson, chief justice of the Supreme Court.

“The court believes him to be fair and impartial, and he has a rather unique judicial pedigree. He was a member of the Court of Criminal Appeals back in the 1980s, and now he sits on a civil bench. So it’s not a case in which his decisions would routinely go to the Court of Criminal Appeals.”

Jefferson said he consulted with Berchelmann before the court’s decision.

“This is a high-profile case, and we wanted to make sure that for any judge appointed that there was nothing that would preclude them from taking the case on,” Jefferson said.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct in February accused Keller of acting improperly by closing her court to a late appeal by death row inmate Michael Richard in September 2007. Keller denies the charge and has promised to mount a vigorous defense at her trial, which will resemble a traditional civil court proceeding with witnesses, closing arguments and exhibits.