In 2005, Jesse Quackenbush, attorney for Johnny Garrett, attended our Anti-Death Penalty Lobby Day and spoke to a rally on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol about how Garrett was an innocent man executed by Texas. Now, Quackenbush has directed a documentary on Garrett’s case. Below is the trailer for the film.

From IndieFlix:

Director: Jesse Quackenbush

Producer: Cinco Rosas

Screenwriter: Jesse Quackenbush

Cinematography: Jesse Quackenbush

Editor: Kyle High

Music: Peter Davison

Cast: Narrated by:Tom Kane

Country: USA

Running Time: 90 minutes

Synopsis:
This documentary takes the “Innocent Man on Texas Death Row” tale to a dark corner feared by all – – proving that an innocent man has been executed by the State.

A clash between good and evil strikes up on the High Plains of Texas when Johnny Frank Garrett, a 17 year old retarded boy is arrested, convicted and ultimately executed for the Halloween night rape, mutilation and murder of Sister Tadea Benz. The 76 year old nun was attacked while she slept in her room at the St. Francis Convent in Amarillo, Texas. Garrett claimed his innocence from the time of his arrest until his dying breath. Sixteen years after Garrett’s execution new evidence rose up from the cold case grave of the Amarillo Police Department proving they executed the wrong man!

During interviews with key players the case of Johnny Frank Garrett unfolds as a recipe for executing the innocent. A death penalty obsessed District Attorney and his lap-dog Medical Examiner, ladder climbing cops, bloodthirsty media, enraged and fearful jurors, incompetent defense lawyers, politicized judges, witch-hunting religious zealots and an ironfisted Governor with national ambitions meld together as perfect ingredients for a plate of government sponsored murder.

In Garrett’s final statement he professed his innocence one last time but did so in a voice driven by hate and vengeance. In his chilling conclusion Garrett promised those responsible for his murder that someday he would have the last word and they would pay for what they had done. For most of Garrett’s enemies “someday” happened long ago.

Regardless of faith, for or against the death penalty, liberal or conservative The Last Word compels viewers to feel not only the collective pain our societal conscience suffers for executing the innocent but also the individual fear of not knowing what margins of error our judges, jurors and executioners will find acceptable tomorrow.

Below is Quackenbush speaking in Austin on Lobby Day.

Houston Indymedia has an interview with the wife of Jeff Wood.

An interview with Kristin Wood, the wife of Death Row Prisoner Jeff Wood, who is scheduled to be executed on August 21 by the state of Texas for a Law of Parties Conviction. This interview is around 9 minutes long.

audio: MP3 at 8.2 mebibytes

Kristin and Gloria Rubac at the Walls Unit

A Petition to give clemency to Jeff Wood Please sign.

HIMC Radio is on the airwaves every Friday night at 90.1fm in Houston and 89.5 in Galveston, and online at www.kpft.org. We are always looking for new volunteers to help us produce the show, get in touch.

The Central Texas chapter of the ACLU sent out this information today. We are glad that CTCLU is closely watching this case.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 24, 2008
Contacts:
Debbie Russell, 512.573.xxxx; president, ACLU-TX Central Texas Chapter (CTCLU);
Stefanie Collins, 512.784-xxxx, member, CTCLU (present at hearing)

—————-CTCLU responds to Fennell plea bargain rejection—————-

COURT SEES NEED FOR FENNELL TRIAL; MORE REASON RODNEY REED NEEDS A RE-TRIAL!

Former Georgetown police officer Jimmy Fennell pleaded guilty on May 20 to one count of kidnapping and one count of improper sexual activity with a person in custody (a disturbingly understated charge). That a District Judge denied the plea bargain provides hope for some justice in this case but the deal exposes the District Attorney’s complete lack of will to adequately hold law enforcement accountable for their crimes when they should be held to higher standards as officers of the law. If Mr. Fennell were an everyday man of color with the same alleged history of violence and stalking, the deal might not have been so giving. In a just system, an officer’s abuse of the power granted to him by the state should move the state to seek at least the same punishment that any citizen would receive.

It seems Judge Carnes saw through the too-lenient deal which reinforces the need for Rodney Reed to have his appeal granted. Fennell was a prime suspect in the murder of Stacey Stites, which Reed sits on death row for. What we now know of Fennell’s pattern of abuse coupled with this recent admission of guilt for such a violent crime should provide the appellate court much doubt as to Reed’s guilt, especially considering the alleged suppressed evidence by former Bastrop DA Charles Penick during that trial.

As indicated by our name, the ACLU-TX Central Texas Chapter is committed to monitoring law enforcement in the central Texas region, not just in Austin. We are currently studying recently submitted open records requests at the Georgetown Police Department. Their hiring of Fennell, in addition to other recent actions by GPD, raises many questions about their policies, patterns, practices and their apparent lack of applying discipline. It also highlights the dangerous lack of information available to departments about misconduct history due to state civil service law limitations.

Please sign petition for Jeff Wood.

Hello.

My name is Terri Been and I am a Texas republican who is AGAINST the death penalty. I am sorry to say that it was not always this way as I was raised to believe in the death penalty; BUT my views changed over 10 years ago when I was thrust unwillingly into the Texas Judicial system; at which time my eyes were opened to the complete injustice of our whole system.

See, I am the sister of a man wrongfully convicted under the law of parties in Texas. This man’s name is Jeffery Wood and he is set to die on August 21st, 2008 for a murder he did NOT commit.

I am writing to you because I am feeling helpless, and I do not know what I can do. These days, I find myself slave to the computer…at first I was a slave to the computer waiting for the worst…to see my brother’s name upon the list of those waiting to be executed. That time has come and gone, but I find myself still a slave to the computer in hopes of finding people who can help us in our fight against the Texas Judicial System.

With the execution date set less than 3 months from now, we are running out of time. We are desperate for exposure with people who have some kind of influence on the public, or people who know other people who may be able to help. If you have any thoughts, ideas, or just anything that may help…please feel free to get in touch with me.

We now have a homepage for Jeff in addition to the online petition that is circulating, (which can be found on his homepage at the following web address: www.freewebs.com/savejeffwood under the how to help section). I humbly ask you to help my family by taking a few minutes of your time to read a few facts regarding Jeff’s case and to sign his petition that we will be sending the governor!

While you are on Jeff’s Web Page, I also ask that you take an extra minute or two to look at the other information we have in the how you can help section. For those of you who are familiar with Kenneth Foster’s case (which is very similar to Jeff’s case) it took their family over 17,000messages to the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to get his sentence commuted to Life. This was accomplished by sending petitions, faxes, letters, and by making phone calls. At this point, I am getting a little worried because we only have 353 signatures on the petition, and while I am eternally grateful for every
single signature.I need more. I need calls, letters and faxes to go along with the petition signatures.

I humbly ask that you help my family. Jeff is my baby brother and he did not kill anybody! Please ask yourselves what you would do if you were in my situation.

While I am trying to save my brother because he is innocent of murder, I am fighting to abolish the death penalty completely. In addition to the protesting and campaigning my family and I have been doing with Capital X lately (not only for my brother, but for all who face the Death Penalty), I wrote an editorial about the death penalty and had it published in the Lampasas and Killeen newspapers. This is posted as a bulletin on my page and is entitled.Are we a leader in Human Rights.
(It is not about Jeff, but the death penalty in general. Please feel free to repost this document if you feel compelled to do so.) Also, please take a few minutes to look at the few videos I have on my page.they are very powerful clips and will make you think…maybe even cry.

If you do decide that you are interested in helping us save my brother’s life; please forward this to as many people as you know. I need at least 1000 signatures on the petition before we can send it in. And again, I am also desperate for letters, and faxes to be sent to the governor and the Texas Pardons and Parole Board as well.

I feel that the more who know about this and participate in it, the better it will be for all inmates who face death, not just my brother. Up until this point, we have done what we have been told to do…’sit back, and let the system work.’ BUT the system has failed my brother,failed his daughter, and failed those of us who love him.Now we are just desperate!

Your help, guidance, and consideration to this matter will be greatly appreciated. ..more than you will ever know!

Please feel free to contact me if you need to, but if you could pass on that info I would be extremely appreciative!

I thank you in advance for your time and attention to this matter! Again, your help will be greatly appreciated! God Bless You All and thank you for all that you do!!!!

In struggle,

Terri Been B.S., M. Ed

Athletic Director

mystrus@hotmail.com

210-887-2190 or 512-556-5674

P.S. I am very tired and worn out, so please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors as I just cannot seem to think these days!

Here is one of the comments from the on-line petition:

(This comment comes from a man whom I do do not know, and he is pro-death penalty, but he was interested enough to do the research on it before he signed it…please read…)

Jun 9, 2008, Jack Kelley, Texas

Yes, I am very much in favor of the death penalty. But this case does not warrant execution. This man was outside of the store in the car, when his partner committed murder inside the store. I researched the case, including Wood’s appeal, on official State of Texas websites. I showed it to an excellent attorney who told me that Wood’s
representation was lacking, and on the merits, this man should not have gotten the death penalty, nor should the death penalty have been upheld on appeal.

Jeff Wood is waiting to die on Texas Death Row with an execution date of August 21st, 2008. Jeff was charged under the Law of Parties, and was not the shooter in this crime. Jeff could not anticipate that a murder would occur.The actual shooter in this case has already been executed by the state of Texas.

Click here to learn how you can help

Below are pictures of Jeff’s family protesting recently in Austin at Rick Perry’s temporary home in Southwest Austin and at the Capitol.

Protesting outside the Governor’s residence in Austin Texas.

Capital X trying to make contact with the Governor via intercom, and security cameras.

Paige (Jeff’s daughter), and her uncle Steven holding up the sign she made in front of the security camera at the Governor’s mansion.

Paige (Jeff’s daughter) disappointed that she did not get to speak to the governor.

Day 3 of protesting for Wood’s Family

Protesting on Memorial day 2008 outside the state capitol