Upcoming Executions
Click for a list of upcoming scheduled executions in Texas.
Innocence
The death penalty puts innocent people at risk of execution.
Todd Willingham
Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed under Governor Rick Perry on February 17, 2004.

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From the Houston Chronicle:

Through the busy streets of downtown, families and friends of death row prisoners shouted and chanted in unison Saturday afternoon at an anti-death-penalty march.

Participants held up signs and posters with faces of their loved ones, some of who they said had been wrongfully convicted. Others said their relatives never had a fighting chance because of their race or their income level.
All agreed that Texas’ death penalty system is broken.

“We got a system that is used against the poor, the innocent as well as the guilty. It’s used against people who are so mentally ill that they don’t even know what’s going on,” said Gloria Rubac, a Houston activist and member of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement.

To date, Texas has executed 517 inmates, more than any other state in the U.S. since the re-establishment of the death penalty in 1976 after the Gregg v. Georgia case. The first man to be executed after that ruling was Charles Brooks Jr. in 1982.

Flawed system

Rubac led the March to Abolish the Death Penalty, which is in its 15th year, and encouraged participants to shout out against the “flawed Texas prison system.”

“Death row, hell no,” she clamored into a megaphone to more than 100 protesters who had taken over several of the streets in Houston.

Rubac said that the prison system is flawed because it disproportionately targets minorities and the poor.

A total of 273 death row inmates are currently serving time in the Texas prison system, according the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Nearly 70 percent of the inmates on death row are black or Hispanic, with just 29 percent being white.

Marilyn Grant, 54, and mother of Paul Storey, a felon who has been on death row for six years said the system is flawed for another reason.

“If you sentence a person to death, there is no option to rehabilitate him,” said Grant.

Grant said she just wants her son back. She wishes she could tell him that everything is going to be OK.

“It’s a mother’s job to protect her child, to console him,” said Grant. “I haven’t touched my son in years.”

Another voice heard at the rally was that of Rodrick Reed, 45, brother of death row prisoner Rodney Reed and member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. He said the conviction of his brother has affected his entire family.

“If my brother is on death row, I’m on death row,” he said. “I know in my heart of hearts that he is innocent.”

Shared punishment

Supporters of Rodney Reed believe that sufficient evidence exists that could potentially lead to finding the actual murderer of the woman he is convicted of killing.

Rodney Reed has been on death row since 1998 when he was convicted of murdering Bastrop woman Stacey Stites.

In April 1996, Stites disappeared from her home in the early morning hours. Her body was later found in a wooded area seven miles outside of the city limits. According to the Travis County Medical Examiner, she was strangled to death.

Only one bit of evidence connected Reed to Stites – semen found inside her body was a match to Reed. Police could not connect Reed to the vehicle Stites had used the morning of her disappearance, according to relatives.

In July, Reed received a Jan. 14, 2015 date of execution. Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed to allow additional DNA testing to be conducted. Now Rodrick Reed and his family are fighting to appeal the execution date.

“I’ve been punished for the last 17 years for something that my brother didn’t do,” said Reed. “I have to live with that.”

The 15th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty was held Saturday October 25, 2014 in Houston, Texas.

We gathered at 3:00 pm at Little Tranquility Park on Capitol and Bagby and at 4:00 we crossed Bagby and lined up at the Old Hanging Tree to march to M.E.C.A. at 1900 Kane Street.

We will rallied on the basketball court at M.E.C.A.

The Free Rads Second Line Band marched with us to abolish the death Penalty!


The 15th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty is Saturday October 25, 2014 in Houston, Texas.

We gather at 3:00 pm at Little Tranquility Park on Capitol and Bagby and at 4:00 will cross Bagby and line up at the Old Hanging Tree to march to M.E.C.A. at 1900 Kane Street.

We will rally on the basketball court at M.E.C.A.

More details and a flyer will be coming soon.

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Rodney Reed is an innocent man on Texas death row who was recently given a January 14, 2015 execution date. 

Join his family and supporters as we rally at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Saturday August 23, 2014 at noon, to say “DROP THE DATE! TEST THE DNA!” 

RSVP on Facebook.

Family and supporters will also gather later that afternoon to talk about next steps for the fight to save Rodney. We encourage everyone to attend the meeting to share ideas and find out how you can contribute to the fight to save an innocent man.

 

Rally at the Texas State Capitol at Noon.

Community Organizing Meeting
Willie Mae Kirk Branch (formerly Oak Springs Branch)
3101 Oak Springs Dr
2:30pm

Please help spread the word!

Hosted by We Demand Justice: Free Rodney Reed and Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

1044147_666622310087684_4752910220897268040_nJustice for Rodney Reed!

Innocent Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed was issued an execution date of January 14, 2015. Rodney’s family and supporters do not accept this date and will continue to fight to see Rodney freed! Now is the time to get involved in the fight to save Rodney Reed!

Attend a rally at the Bastrop County Courthouse as we show Bastrop County DA Brian Goertz that this sentence is not supported by our community.

Thursday, July 24 1t 11 AM.

Bastrop County Courthouse 804 Pecan Street, Room 105, Bastrop, Texas 78602

Hosted by We Demand Justice: Free Rodney Reed and Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

DeliaThe Road to Livingston directed by Erick Mauck and Chelsea Hernandez will have its Houston premiere  Sunday, July 13, 2014, at 3:00pm, at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, 3903 Almeda Road 77004.  Sponsored by Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement.

Featuring Delia Perez Meyer, who has taken this road every week to visit her brother, Louis Perez, on death row in Livingston. She will be present for Q & A.

“The Road to Livingston” tells the story of Texas Moratorium Network board member Delia Perez Meyer, who is fighting to prove the innocence of her brother Louis Castro Perez who is on Texas death.

After ten years, Delia Perez-Meyer still makes the four-hour drive every week to Livingston, Texas to visit her brother on death row. At first saddened and frustrated by this journey, Delia discovers others unwillingly involved in the prison system who help bring her to a place of redemption and hope. Under the shadow of death, bonds are forged and families made along the road to Livingston.

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