The effort to end the death penalty for people convicted under the Law of Parties got a big boost yesterday by all the people who came to Austin for Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty to speak to their elected representatives. We will post more about Lobby Day later.

Right now, we want to again ask people to watch the video of last Thursday’s hearing in the Subcommittee on Capital Punishment of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. If every legislator would listen to this testimony, the Law of Parties bill would surely pass. It is fundamentally unjust to sentence people to death who has not killed anyone; even most people who support the death penalty do not want it used for people who do not kill. The testimony in this video brings that point home in the voices of family members of people who have been sentenced to death even though they never killed anyone.

You can watch the video of the hearing by clicking on this link, which will stream a video file to your computer. It is powerful stuff. You will remember it for a long time. As Shakespeare wrote, “if you have tears, prepare to shed them now.”

The father of Kenneth Foster starts speaking at around minute 23. Later, Kenneth’s grandfather also testfies. The girlfriend of Randy Halprin gives her moving testimony at around the one hour point.

The sister of Jeff Wood, Terri Been, starts her powerful testimony at around minute 32. Terri does a wonderful job explaining to the committee the injustice of the Law of Parties. Terri spends part of her testimony reading a statement by Jeff Wood’s young daughter and telling how hard it has been for her niece to have a father on death row even though he never killed anyone. Terri tells the committee how her niece attempted suicide when they learned the date of her father’s schedule execution. The execution was stayed within hours of being carried out, but Jeff remains on death row.

More information on the Law of Parties is found on various websites, including

http://www.randyhalprin.net

http://www.freekenneth.com

http://www.savejeffwood.com

http://www.texaslawofparties.com

Judge Keller Answer

Tuesday March 24, 2009
Texas State Capitol
11th and Congress
Austin, Texas

Register for Lobby Day!

People from across Texas are coming to Austin on Tuesday, March 24, for a Death Penalty Reform Lobby Day to speak with legislators about the injustice of the Texas death penalty system. Issues to be discussed include the risk of executing an innocent person (HB788), the need for a moratorium on executions (HB 913, HJR 24), abolition of the death penalty (HB 297, HB 682), the Law of Parties (HB 304, HB 2267), and impeaching Sharon Keller (HR 480).

Please register to let us know you are interested in coming to Lobby Day on March 24. Registration is not mandatory, but it will help us make plans if we know how many people to expect. You can also just show up at any of the day’s events.

The Lobby Day will include a press conference at 1 PM and a rally on the South Steps of the Capitol at 5:30. Many family members of people currently and formerly on death row plan to participate in Lobby Day events.

Advocating an end to death sentences under the Law of Parties is the primary focus of the Lobby Day. In 2007, the death sentence of Kenneth Foster was commuted to life by Governor Perry. Foster had been sentenced to death under the Law of Parties even though he never killed anyone. Family members of Kenneth Foster, Jeff Wood and others convicted under the Law of Parties will meet with members of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and other legislators to urge them to approve HB 2267 and HB 304, both of which would end the death penalty under the Law of Parties.

A group of citizen lobbyists will also meet with members of the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence to urge them to approve HR 480, which would create a House select committee to determine if Sharon Keller should be impeached. Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, has until March 24 to send her response to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct regarding charges that she violated her judicial duties by declining to accept an after-hours appeal from a death row inmate in 2007.

Jeanette Popp, whose daughter was murdered in Austin in 1988, will participate in Lobby Day. Two innocent men were convicted of the murder of Ms. Popp’s daughter. Ms Popp’s new book, entitled “Mortal Justice”, was published on March 1, 2009. Her book tells the story of her daughter’s murder, the wrongful convictions of two innocent men, their exonerations, and the eventual trial and conviction of the real killer. Ms Popp visited the real killer in jail prior to his trial and told him that she did not want him to receive a death sentence. He was sentenced to life.

The death penalty was abolished by New Mexico just last week.

Lobby Day Schedule

10 AM – Noon: Lobbying Training Workshop Location:
University of Texas at Austin Sanchez Building (College of Education) in the Cissy McDaniel Parker Dean’s Conference Room. This is a short 7-8 minute walk from the capitol. Google map of route from capitol to training location.

1 PM: Press Conference in the House Speaker’s Committee Room 2W.6 in the Capitol

2 – 5 PM: Group lobbying visits to legislative offices

5:30 PM: Rally on the South Steps of the Capitol

Sponsored by: Sponsored by Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Austin Chapter, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas CURE, the Student Prison Caucus, the Eye & Tooth Project: Forum Theatre on the Death Penalty, Kids Against the Death Penalty, People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER) and the Friends Meeting of Austin.

Flyer for Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty March 24 Austin Texas

Members of the Subcommittee on Capital Punishment

Robert Miklos, Chair of Subcommittee on Capital Punishment
District 101 (Dallas County-part)
Email for for Miklos
Phone: 512-463-0464; FAX: 512-463-9295

Wayne Christian, District 09 (Shelby, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Sabine, Jasper Counties)
Email for for Christian
Phone: 512-463-0556; FAX: 512-463-5896

Joseph Moody, District 78 (El Paso County-part)
Email for for Moody
Phone: 512-463-0728; FAX: 512-463-0397

Pete Gallego
Email for for Gallego
Phone: 512-463-0566; FAX: 512-263-9408

Terri Hodge (Sponsor of Law of Parties bill, so no need to contact her)

The Dallas Morning News has an editorial today on the Law of Parties and the death penalty. Tomorrow, we will be down at the capitol for the Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty talking to legislators about the Law of Parties.

From the DMN editorial:

Conventional wisdom suggests that the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst criminals – those who commit the most heinous murders.

But in Texas, we sometimes execute accomplices, people who never pulled the trigger and who might have been only peripherally involved in a crime. The law of parties permits the court to hold someone criminally responsible for the acts of another.

Incredibly, an accomplice can be put to death for the triggerman’s crime. That accomplice might not even get his own trial, as Texas allows joint trials in capital cases.

But proposed legislation would change that.

Several lawmakers are pushing for needed reforms that would guarantee a defendant’s right to his own trial in a death penalty case. Other bills would rule out sentencing an accomplice to death using the law of parties.

This common-sense legislation, which got a hearing Thursday in a House subcommittee, would ensure that defendants in capital cases have their own day in court and are not punished for another’s actions. Even death penalty proponents should welcome these safeguards.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has shown little hesitancy about the death penalty, expressed concerns about simultaneous trials in 2007 when he blocked Kenneth Foster’s execution and reduced his sentence to life in prison. The governor urged the Legislature to look at the issue.

Foster, who drove the getaway car during a robbery spree that turned deadly, faced a legal double whammy. He was tried with the shooter and was sentenced to die under the law of parties. Even though Foster was sitting yards away in his grandfather’s rental car when his partner in crime fired the gun, the jury determined that Foster intended to kill or “should have anticipated” a murder.

Adopting this legislation would send the message that Texas no longer plans to impose the ultimate punishment for crimes that someone else committed. These bills, as well as one filed by Rep. Harold Dutton, would take aim at let’s-make-a-deal gamesmanship that pits defendants in capital cases against one another.

Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, has until March 24 to answer charges that she violated her judicial duties by declining to accept an after-hours appeal from a death row inmate in 2007. Michael Richard was executed after Keller broke the rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals by not forwarding the request by Richard’s lawyers to the duty judge. She falsely claimed that the CCA closed at 5 PM.

Keller requested, and received, an extension to a 15-day response deadline after the State Commission on Judicial Conduct filed the charges in February.

The next step in the process — appointing a sitting judge to serve as special master for Keller’s trial — will take place after her response is filed.

Also on Tuesday, March 24, citizens from across Texas will gather at the capitol for a Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty. They plan to meet with more than 90 legislative offices, including all the members of the committee to which Lon Burnam’s resolution to create a select committee to investigate possible impeachment articles against Keller has been referred.