Exonerees Leading March to Abolish the Death Penalty

Death row exonerees Gary Drinkard, Ron Keine and Shujaa Graham leading the 2010 March to Abolish the Death Penalty. marchforabolition.org
Upcoming Executions

Upcoming Executions

Click for a list of upcoming scheduled executions in Texas.
Innocence

Innocence

The death penalty puts innocent people at risk of execution.
Todd Willingham

Todd Willingham

Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed under Governor Rick Perry on February 17, 2004.

TMN Benefit July 28 at The Scoot Inn in Austin. Help Us Stop Executions in Texas

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WHO: Texas Moratorium Network
WHAT: “It Came From Austin!!!!” – A Benefit for Texas Moratorium Network and the Save Kenneth Foster Campaign
WHEN: Saturday July 28, 2007 – 8:00 PM
WHERE: The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. 4th, Austin TX 78702
www.eastinns.com
ADMISSION: $5-$10 sliding scale, 21+

TEXAS MORATORIUM NETWORK PRESENTS
“IT CAME FROM AUSTIN”, A LIVE MUSIC/PERFORMANCE BENEFIT
SHOWCASE TO RAISE AWARENESS OF TEXAS DEATH
PENALTY ISSUES.

AUSTIN, TX – Texas Moratorium Network (TMN) is holding a benefit
show to help raise awareness of current death penalty issues in Texas,
raise money to fight the death penalty and gain new members. The benefit
is July 28 in Austin at the Scoot Inn. Show starts at 8 PM.

Fifty percent of the proceeds of the benefit will be donated to the
Save Kenneth Foster Campaign. The State of Texas intends to execute
Kenneth Foster on August 30, despite the fact that he did not murder
anyone. Unlike any other state in this country, Texas utilizes a unique
statute called the Law of Parties which allows the State to subject a
person to death even though he did not kill, intend to kill, help or
encourage anyone to do so.

The other fifty percent of the proceeds will be used for the 8th Annual
March to Stop Executions in Houston on October 27.

Several Austin performers will participate, including the Austin
Chronicle’s winner of 2006 BEST NEW BAND, the Texas Sapphires. There will
also be clowns, dancers, and various other performances.

The show’s sponsors have donated various products and services which will
be raffled to attendees. Diablo Rojo, The Boiling Pot, Antone’s Records
and Epoch Coffee will be donating gift certificates.

EastSide Pies will also donate pizza for attendees.

Bands and Performers:
—————————–
www.thetexassapphires.com
www.invincibleczars.com
www.myspace.com/diasporic
www.laurascarborough.com
www.dampheat.com

Sponsors:
————–
www.diablo-rojo.com
www.theboilingpot.ypguides.net
www.eastsidepies.com
www.epochcoffee.com
www.antonesrecordshop.homestead.com
www.motorblade.com

CONTACT:
Crystal Caviel, Projects Director
512.945.1020
email: Gunstreetgirl@riseup.net
www.texasmoratorium.org

Rally and March for Kenneth Foster July 21 in Austin

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The State of Texas intends to execute Kenneth Foster on August 30, despite the fact that he did not murder anyone. Unlike any other state in this country, Texas utilizes a unique statute called the Law of Parties, which allows the State to subject a person to death even though he did not kill, intend to kill, help or encourage anyone to do so. The Austin Chronicle has an article explaining how new evidence should exonerate Foster as a responsible party to the murder.

RALLY AND MARCH IN AUSTIN
Saturday, July 21, 5:00 PM
Texas State Capitol, south steps

On July 21, join Kenneth’s friends, family and supporters for a march
and rally with speakers, live music, and food to demand that Texas does not
go through with the execution.

Some Speakers and Performers include:

Tasha Foster – Wife of Kenneth Foster and Hip Hop Performer
Nydesha Foster – Daughter of Kenneth Foster
Shujaa Graham – Exonerated Death Row Inmate from D.C.
Welfare Poets – Politically Conscious Music from NY, myspace.com/welfarepoets
Mario Africa – With MOVE, Activist from Philadelphia
Darby Tillis – Exonerated Death Row Prisoner and Blues Musician from Chicago

Plus many more!

More info: cedpaustin@gmail.com
More info about Kenneth¹s situation: http://www.freekenneth.com

******************************

National call-in / fax day on Friday, July 20
Contact Gov. Perry and tell him, “Don’t execute Kenneth Foster, Jr.!”

Tel (800) 252-9600 (Texas callers)
(512) 463-1782 (Austin and out of state)
Fax (512) 463-1849

************************************
Join the Save Kenneth Foster Campaign
Get involved with our letter and petition drive and help organize
events for Kenneth. Come to our weekly meeting ever Wednesday at
various local libraries. This Week:

Wednesday, July 17 at 7PM
Cepeda Branch Library at Pleasant Valley and East 7th Street
************************************
Facing execution for driving a car

THE STATE of Texas plans to execute Kenneth Foster Jr. August 30 for
the 1996 murder of Michael LaHood Jr.

What makes Foster’s case unique is that he killed no one–and the state of
Texas is first to admit this.

How is this possible? Texas’ Law of Parties, adopted in 1974, allows
prosecutors to hold all those present legally responsible for a crime.
Because Foster was driving the car carrying Mauriceo Brown the night Brown
shot LaHood, prosecutors were able to try Kenneth as if he was the
shooter.

Brown, who was executed in July 2006, admitted to shooting LaHood, but
claimed it was in self-defense. He also insisted that Foster, who remained
in a car 80 feet away from the shooting with the radio on and windows
rolled up, didn’t know he had left the car with the gun.

What you can do

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty will hold a July 20 phone/fax blast to Gov.
Rick Perry’s office. Call 800-252-9600 (Texas callers) or 512-463-1782
(Austin and out of state), and send faxes to 512-463-1849.

A rally is planned for July 21 at 6pm at the state capital building in Austin.

For more information on Kenneth’s case and the struggle of Texas death row
prisoners against executions and rotten conditions, see the Free Kenneth
Foster and DRIVE Movement Web sites.

You can also write Kenneth to voice your support:

Kenneth Foster Jr.
#999232
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351

In addition to being railroaded onto death row by the Law of Parties,
Kenneth is a founding member of the Death Row Inner-Communalist Vanguard
Engagement (DRIVE), a group of brave death row inmates who organize
protests for abolition and better living conditions on Texas’ death row.

As Kenneth says, “We are neither violent nor passive. We are combative. We
are resisters. We are diverse activists, but more than anything else, may
we be looked upon as men who embraced the sacredness of life and sought to
assert the full measure of their humanity in the face of those that would
seek to destroy it.”

Last week, Kenneth’s criminal lawyer, Keith Hampton, submitted a new
appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. If the court refuses to
grant Kenneth relief, his supporters will then turn to the Board of
Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry for clemency.

After Kenneth’s execution date was announced in May, a broad coalition
called the Save Kenneth Foster Campaign was formed. The Austin and Corpus
Christi chapters of Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP), along with
Kenneth’s family and lawyers, as well as other anti-death penalty groups,
have been holding weekly meetings to build a movement around this case.

The coalition held a petition and literature table at Austin’s Juneteenth
festival on June 19. This annual commemoration of emancipation from
slavery provided an excellent opportunity to reach out to the community.
The coalition got over 200 signatures on the petition to the Court of
Criminal Appeals.

Texas is on track to perform its 400th execution since 1982 this summer.
The case of Kenneth Foster Jr.–a Black man sent to death row for driving
a car–is a testament to how rotten Texas’s machinery of death truly is.

58 Percent of Americans Want a Moratorium on Death Penalty

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Newsweek is reporting in this week’s issue that 58 percent of Americans now support a moratorium on executions because of “growing concerns about making sure the innocent aren’t sentenced to death”. Here in Texas, there have been reports in the last two years that three people have been executed in Texas who were probably innocent, Ruben Cantu, Cameron Willingham and Carlos De Luna.

Despite rising concern about innocence and the death penalty, the last session of the Texas Legislature failed to create an Innocence Commission. Most commentators, including the San Antonio Express-News, blamed House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chair Aaron Peña for the death of the Innocence Commission bill. Peña should speak to his constituents about the issue. He will likely discover that a majority of them support the death penalty, but they are also worried about innocent people being executed. Peña had the power to reduce the risk of an innocent person being executed, but he failed to act. We can only hope that another innocent person is not executed before the Legislature convenes again in 2009.

The most recent probable execution of an innocent person in Texas was in 2004, so this is an ongoing problem that should have been dealt with in the last session. Shame on you, Mr Peña.

UT Student Wins Prize for Anti-Death Penalty Activism

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The Daily Texan reported today that Hooman Hedayati, president of Texas Students Against the Death Penalty and a board member of Texas Moratorium Network, has received national recognition for his activim. Hooman will be traveling to Washington D.C. where United States Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) will present him with an award during the lunch portion of the Campus Progress National Conference on June 26, 2007.

This year, the sandy spring break beaches did not entice anti-death penalty activist Hooman Hedayati, a UT government junior, and for that he won Campus Progress’ Student Issue Campaign of the Year.

Hedayati and other students held a seven-day alternative spring break with exonerated inmates and rallied in front of the Governor’s Mansion to promote their campaign with his Texas Students Against the Death Penalty organization.

He was motivated to start the organization after hearing about the case of Ruben Cantu, whose 1993 execution has been revisited because of new evidence. The possibility of there being innocent inmates on death row prompted him to act.

“I started reading articles and books on the subject, and then my freshman year, I started the organization,” Hedayati said.

About 50 students from UT and other universities attended, Hedayati said.

Over the past two years, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty has received $2,000 in grants, said Pedro de la Torre, an associate manager of organizing and outreach for Campus Progress and a UT alumnus. Since the organization is a member of Campus Progress, an agency that supports youth in activism and journalism, it receives many benefits. Training for students is available by request and includes a workshop to teach students about media relations.

Hedayati also showed a talent in media relations, de la Torre said. MTV and National Public Radio attended the spring break.
“I’m honored to be recognized, and I hope that by winning this award, we will be able to have a bigger program,” Hedayati said.

Cathy Henderson Wins Reprieve

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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gave Cathy Henderson a reprieve and sent her case back to the trial court. The AP says “Judge Tom Price, in the lone concurring statement, said he thought Bayardo’s affidavit proved to him no rational juror could have found Henderson guilty “to a level of confidence beyond a reasonable doubt.” Here is the court’s opinion. As usual, Sharon Keller filed a dissenting opinion.

More from the AP

Condemned inmate Cathy Lynn Henderson won a reprieve Monday from a divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that will keep her from being executed this week for the slaying of a 3-month-old child in her care.

Henderson, 50, was scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the death of Brandon Baugh, whose skull was bashed in while she was baby-sitting him. His body was buried in a wine cooler box as she fled the state more than 13 years ago.

The state’s highest criminal court voted 5-3, with one judge not participating, to send the case back to the trial court to examine arguments that Henderson was innocent of capital murder and that constitutional errors led to her conviction.

In an appeal filed late last month, Henderson’s lawyers said new scientific evidence bolstered the baby-sitter’s contention the child died when she accidentally dropped him and his head struck the concrete floor at her home in Pflugerville, a north Austin suburb.

A medical examiner who testified for the prosecution in 1995 that Brandon’s death could not have been an accident submitted an affidavit with Henderson’s appeal that he believed scientific tests not available a decade ago now show his conclusion was incorrect.

“Had the new scientific information been available to me in 1995, I would not have been able to testify the way I did,” said Dr. Robert Bayardo, the now retired chief medical examiner in Travis County.

Because Henderson’s appeals had been exhausted, her lawyers needed to convince the courts their latest appeal introduced new evidence.

A court majority agreed.

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