The Dallas Morning News Crime Blog is reporting that Greg Wright is going to receive a stay of execution. We haven’t confirmed this yet.

From the DMN blog:

Convicted murderer Gregory Edward Wright and his wife Connie Wright, who he married while on death row, have reason to celebrate today. Supporters who champion his cause on a website, www.freegregwright.com, might also want to break out the champaign.

Mr. Wright was scheduled to die Tuesday. The formerly homeless crack-smoker was convicted in 1997 of robbing and fatally stabbing a religious do-gooder who took him into her home and offered him food and a place to sleep.

But his execution is to be postponed, according to an agreement that his attorney, Bruce Anton, said was reached this morning in state district court.

“We’ve agreed to a stay of execution for additional DNA testing,” Mr. Anton said. “The judge is going to modify the execution date and reset it for a later time.”

Mr. Anton said DNA tests have called into question some of the evidence that linked his client to the murder during trial. He also said his client’s co-defendant, John Wade Adams, another former homeless man, has come forward from death row to claim sole responsibility for the killing.

Mr. Wright “was in the home at the time of the murder,” Mr. Anton said. But “he had nothing to do with the murder…”

“The state now is arguing that, well, if he was in the home he must have had something to do with the murder,” Mr. Anton said. “That’s not anything that they alleged at trial. That’s something that they’re saying now, I suppose in an effort to salvage the conviction in some fashion.”

Wright, then 32, was convicted of capital murder in the March 21, 1997, death of John Wade Adams, a 52-year-old DeSoto widow who had taken him in. Prosecutors said he stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and chest.

Afterward, according to trial testimony, he and Mr. Adams stole her Chrysler New Yorker and traded her television, VCR, microwave, color printer, weed trimmer, hand-carried radio and rifle for some crack.

On Sept 10, 2008, the state of Texas is scheduled to execute Charles Dean Hood despite the fact that his trial judge and the DA who prosecuted him were having an affair at the time of Hood’s trial.

Click here to urge Governor Perry to stop the execution of Charles Hood.

Hood’s lawyers say:

Today, a letter from 22 former federal and state judges and prosecutors (pdf) from Texas and across the country was delivered to Governor Perry urging him to grant a 30-day reprieve to Charles Dean Hood who is scheduled for execution on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. The former judges and prosecutors are asking the governor to grant a reprieve to allow the Texas courts to conduct a meaningful review of the allegations of a secret romantic relationship between Judge Verla Sue Holland, who presided over Mr. Hood’s 1990 capital murder trial, and former Collin County District Attorney Thomas O’Connell, who prosecuted the case.

The letter states: “We write because our long experience as jurists and law enforcement officials leads us to believe that justice cannot be served unless the courts are able to consider whether Mr. Hood’s conviction and sentence are invalid.”

Signatories to the letter include: John J. Gibbons, former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; W.J. Michael Cody, former Attorney General of Tennessee; J. Joseph Curran, former Attorney General of Maryland; William S. Sessions, former Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and former Director of the FBI; Kenneth J. Mighell, former United States Attorney, Northern District of Texas; Jay Burnett, former Criminal District Court Judge, Texas; and Sam D. Millsap, former District Attorney, Bexar County, San Antonio, Texas.

The former judges and prosecutors say that “Mr. Hood’s claim appears on its face to have substantial credibility.” In June, a former assistant district attorney who worked in the office with Mr. O’Connell filed an affidavit stating that “[i]t was common knowledge in the District Attorney’s Office, and the Collin County Bar, in general, that the District Attorney…and Judge Verla Sue Holland had a romantic relationship.” Mr. Hood’s trial attorney and a private investigator have also signed affidavits corroborating this claim.

To-date, the Texas courts have refused to consider the charges on their merits or allow an investigation before the scheduled execution. Judge Robert Dry of the 199th Judicial District Court has scheduled a hearing on Mr. Hood’s request to take investigatory depositions of Judge Holland and former District Attorney Tom O’Connell on September 12, 2008 – two days after the scheduled execution.

“It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without ever hearing this critical evidence,” the letter from the former judges and prosecutors states.

Earlier this summer, the nearly 500-member Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and three dozen of the nation’s leading legal ethicists also called Mr. Hood’s conviction into question (pdf). They say the affair constitutes a violation of Mr. Hood’s constitutional rights and must be investigated.

Read more about the relationship in Alan Berlow’s Salon.com article.

On Sunday, Aug 21, 2008, Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey wrote,

On June 3, Hood’s lawyers obtained a sworn statement from a lawyer who had worked in the Collin County district attorney’s office at the time of the trial in 1990. The former assistant DA, Matthew Goeller, said it was “common knowledge in the district attorney’s office” that DA Tom O’Connell and Judge Verla Sue Holland were involved in a long-running affair.

The courts have clearly held that the constitutional right to due process includes a trial in which the judge is not, figuratively or literally, in bed with the prosecutor.

The ABA Code of Judicial Conduct provides that “A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Where there is doubt, a judge is obliged to disclose information that lawyers might consider relevant to the question of disqualification.

The judge in Hood’s case did not disclose the affair with the prosecuting attorney.

Charles Hood deserves a new trial in which the judge is not having an affair with the prosecuting attorney.

Please compose a message in your own words. Form letters are not effective.You can also express your sympathy for the familes and loved ones of Tracie Wallace and Ronald Williamson.

You can also leave Governor Perry a phone message at: 512-463-2000, fax him at 512-463-1849 (his fax line is often busy, so just keep trying) or write him at:

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

One of the artists from our art exhibit “Justice for All: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty” is having a major exhibit at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin. The exhibit is an overview of 45 years of work by sculptor Ben Woitena. It runs September 12, 2008 through January 4, 2009. There will be an artist’s talk with Ben Woitena on September 12 from 6 – 6:30pm and an opening night reception from 6:30 – 8:30.

Ben Woitena: A Retrospective (1963-2008) encompasses drawings, mixed media works, and sculptures in cast bronze, stone, various metals and wood dating from 1963 through 2008. The exhibition includes indoor and outdoor sculptures on loan by collectors and the artist, in addition to maquettes of large-scale and monumental public sculptures and photographs of them in situ. Woitena, primarily recognized for his monumental works, is represented in the collections of corporations, individuals, municipalities and museums nationally.

Here is a link to the artwork “Dead Man Walking” by Ben Woitena that was selected by our jury for the death penalty art exhibit.

Time Line, by Ben Woitena, Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas, Terminal “E”, Painted steel, stainless stell & 3M diamond grade reflective material 40x11x33 feet, 2005 (photo by Rick Gardner)

Send a message to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles urging clemency for Greg Wright.

My name is Connie Wright; I am Gregory Wright’s wife. I come to you today to convey the heartfelt gratitude that Greg & I both feel for the outpouring of support you have all shown by signing his petition in an attempt to save his life. I have already forwarded Greg a list of those who have signed the petition and I only wish I could in turn forward you all a photograph of the look on his face when he learned of this show of overwhelming support; I can’t express enough the emotion and gratitude we both feel and a simple thank you seems nowhere near enough.

As you all know Greg has been given an execution date of September 9th in spite of his actual innocence. This has come as a great shock to us and we must now do all within our power to save his life. For this reason I come to you with the humble request for a personal letter requesting the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles grant clemency to stop this execution from taking place so that Greg has a chance to further prove his innocence.

With deepest respect and gratitude to you all,

Connie Wright

Further information about Greg can be found at http://www.freegregwright.com.

On Sept 10, 2008, the state of Texas is scheduled to execute Charles Dean Hood despite the fact that his trial judge and the DA who prosecuted him were having an affair at the time of Hood’s trial.

Click here to urge Governor Perry to stop the execution of Charles Hood.

Read more about the relationship in Alan Berlow’s Salon.com article.

On Sunday, Aug 21, 2008, Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey wrote,

On June 3, Hood’s lawyers obtained a sworn statement from a lawyer who had worked in the Collin County district attorney’s office at the time of the trial in 1990. The former assistant DA, Matthew Goeller, said it was “common knowledge in the district attorney’s office” that DA Tom O’Connell and Judge Verla Sue Holland were involved in a long-running affair.

The courts have clearly held that the constitutional right to due process includes a trial in which the judge is not, figuratively or literally, in bed with the prosecutor.

The ABA Code of Judicial Conduct provides that “A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Where there is doubt, a judge is obliged to disclose information that lawyers might consider relevant to the question of disqualification.

The judge in Hood’s case did not disclose the affair with the prosecuting attorney.

Charles Hood deserves a new trial in which the judge is not having an affair with the prosecuting attorney.

Please compose a message in your own words. Form letters are not effective.You can also express your sympathy for the familes and loved ones of Tracie Wallace and Ronald Williamson.

You can also leave Governor Perry a phone message at: 512-463-2000, fax him at 512-463-1849 (his fax line is often busy, so just keep trying) or write him at:

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428