The Austin American Statesman has poked its head out from under the rock where it normally lives and is publishing a two-day, multi-article series by Chuck Lindell on the failures in the Texas habeas corpus appeals process. The series has one article that concludes that “by failing to ensure quality death penalty appeals, Texas risks a backlash from the U.S. Supreme Court that could put its capital punishment system in jeopardy”.

In the same edition of the Statesman in which the series begins, Sunday Oct 29, 2006, the Statesman endorses all the state-wide Republican candidates in non-judicial races. Then the Statesman tries to ram its choices down voters’ throats by saying, “this ballot is so long, you might want to clip this and take it with you to the polls”. No thanks, American-Statesman, Texas needs a change in leadership, so we won’t be following your irresponsible endorsement recommendations.

By endorsing Rick Perry, the Statesman is ensuring that the problems in the death penalty system will continue and that innocent people will continue to be at risk of execution.

7th Annual March to Stop Executions
“Innocent People Have Been Executed”
Saturday, October 28th, 2006
Austin, Texas

10 AM – 3 PM Brunch by Inside Books Project (300 Allen Street) $5 All you can eat, kids free (more info on brunch below)

Noon – Press conference with speakers from march, including family members of Cameron Todd Willingham (602 West 7th Street) call 512-689-1544 for more info

1:00 – 1:30 PM Prayer Service at University Catholic Center (2010 University Ave at 21st Street)

3 PM Meet at Texas Governor’s Mansion (between 10th & 11th Streets on Lavaca)

3:30 March down Congress Ave to Austin City Hall Plaza for a Rally Against the Death Penalty

We encourage everyone to make signs and banners and bring them to the march.

Speakers and special guests include: Five members of the family of Cameron Todd Willingham, an innocent person executed by Texas. A family member of Ruben Cantu, another innocent person executed by Texas. Darby Tillis, who was exonerated from death row in Illinois. Sandra Reed, mother of Rodney Reed, an innocent man still on death row in Texas. Sandrine Ageorges from France. Jeanette Popp, mother of a murder victim. Howard Guidry. Other speakers to be announced soon.

Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise our voices together and loudly express our opposition to the death penalty.

Get on the Bus From Houston: Bus tickets are $20.00. The bus leaves the SHAPE Harambee Building Sat morning at 10 AM and will pick up at Macy’s at Memorial City Mall on the way out of town at 10:30 AM. The bus will return to Houston by 9 PM. Call or email TDPAM in Houston to reserve a seat or buy a ticket for a student, a senior or a person on fixed income who wants to go. AbolitionMovement@hotmail.com or call 713-503-2633.

Flyers for download: Main Flyer and a Houston Flyer (with bus info)

Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas
Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement, Texas
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Committee to Free Frances Newton, Inside Books Project, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Journey of Hope, International Socialist Organization, Capital of Texas Democrats For Life (CTDFL), Democrats For Life of Texas (DFLT), Death Penalty Reform Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, Victims of Texas, Amnesty International, Texans for Peace, Austin Mennonite Church, CodePink Austin, El Pasoans Against the Death Penalty, Students Against the Death Penalty (the national group), Libertarian Longhorns, Catholic Longhorns for Life, the Social Justice Committee of the University Catholic Center, Howard Guidry Justice Committee, The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Friends Meeting of Austin, The Texas Civil Rights Project,
National Black Law Students Association, American Civil Liberties Union – Central Texas Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Gray Panthers, peaceCenter, San Antonio, Dominican Sisters of Houston, Friends of Justice, TX CURE, S.H.A.P.E. Center (Houston), National Black Police Association, Catholics Against Capital Punishment, Austin Center for Peace and Justice, Equal Justice USA, Houston Peace Forum, PFLAG Houston (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Community Involvement Committee of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, University of Texas at Austin Chapter of Amnesty International, Civilians Down, Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Israel, Houston Peace and Justice Center, The Austin Chronicle, Resistencia Bookstore

To become a sponsor or get involved, email us at: admin@texasmoratorium.org.
Or call us at: 512-302-6715.

Please Support the March by Donating Online to the Special March Account.

You can also donate offline by sending a check to:

Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center

3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251

Austin, Texas 78731

Donations to the march through TDPERC, a 501 (c) (3), are tax-deductible

Attend the Brunch, then head to the Governor’s Mansion for the March to Stop Executions

Saturday, October 28

10:00 am – 3:00 pm

at the Rhizome Collective, 300 Allen Street

3 blocks South of Seventh & 4 blocks east of Pleasant Valley

$5 for adults, kids eat free

Or, skip the brunch and hit the booksale for free.

Ample Parking, with convenient buslines to downtown:

#4 – Bus Link

stops 3 blocks from the Rhizome Collective & 2 blocks from the
Governor’s Mansion

busses every 40 minutes until 6:00, then once every hour until nearly
mindnight

#17 – Bus Link

stops 4 blocks from the Rhizome Collective & at the Capitol

busses every 25 minutes until 7, then once every hour until nearly 11

#100 – Bus Link

Stops 7 blocks from the Rhizome Collective & 3 blocks from the
Governor’s Mansion

busses once every 40 minutes until 10

Silver Dillo – Bus Link

tops 4 blocks from the Rhizome Collective& 5 blocks from the
Governor’s Mansion

busses every 30 minutes until nearly 6

For more information on the brunch, contact Inside Books at 512-647-4803,
insidebooksproject@yahoo.com

The Austin Chronicle endorses J.R. Molina, the Democratic candidate running against Judge Sharon Keller for Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

J.R. Molina
Fort Worth attorney Molina, who has run previously for this court, has lengthy experience as both a prosecutor and a criminal-defense attorney and would bring balance as well as social diversity to the court, which sorely needs it. He has pointed out in the past that criminal appeals court judges too often impose their own law-and-order political priorities on life-and-death decisions, and he can be counted on to bring a fresh and experienced perspective to a court that has been fairly described as the worst in Texas.

And if there were no other reason to vote for Molina, ridding the court of incumbent Judge Sharon “Hang ‘Em High” Keller would be more than enough. For too long, Keller has been a disgrace to the court, and indeed to fair criminal justice in Texas. “She keeps going to the right as far as she can,” noted one observer – not a left-wing or even Democratic critic, but Keller’s Republican opponent in the spring primary. Keller is notorious, even among her colleagues, for arbitrarily bending the law to sustain convictions no matter how unjust. It’s past time Texas voters sent her packing.

A record number of organizations have signed on as sponsors of the 7th Annual March to Stop Executions on October 28, 2006.

The march is organized by people from many different groups working together as the March to Stop Executions Coalition. If your organization wants to be listed as a sponsor of the march, please let us know. The 7th Annual March to Stop Executions Coaliton includes:

Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Committee to Free Frances Newton, Inside Books Project, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Journey of Hope, International Socialist Organization, Capital of Texas Democrats For Life (CTDFL), Democrats For Life of Texas (DFLT), Death Penalty Reform Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, Victims of Texas, Amnesty International, Texans for Peace, Austin Mennonite Church, CodePink Austin, El Pasoans Against the Death Penalty, Students Against the Death Penalty (the national group), Libertarian Longhorns, Catholic Longhorns for Life, the Social Justice Committee of the University Catholic Center, Howard Guidry Justice Committee, The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Friends Meeting of Austin, The Texas Civil Rights Project, National Black Law Students Association, American Civil Liberties Union – Central Texas Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Gray Panthers, peaceCenter, San Antonio, Dominican Sisters of Houston, Friends of Justice, TX CURE, S.H.A.P.E. Center (Houston), National Black Police Association, Catholics Against Capital Punishment, Austin Center for Peace and Justice, Equal Justice USA, Houston Peace Forum, PFLAG Houston (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Community Involvement Committee of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, University of Texas at Austin Chapter of Amnesty International, Civilians Down, Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Israel, Houston Peace and Justice Center, The Austin Chronicle, Resistencia Bookstore

To become a sponsor or get involved, email us at: admin@texasmoratorium.org Or call us at: 512-302-6715.

The article below in the Austin American-Statesman clarifies what Michael Johnson wrote on the cell wall in his blood before dying: “I didn’t shoot him”. Johnson had said earlier that his accomplice David Vest, who received an eight-year prison term in a plea bargain and testified against Johnson, was the killer. Vest was freed in September 2003 after completing his sentence.

Execution-bound convict commits suicide
McLennan County killer slashes neck and arm arteries hours before scheduled execution.
By Mike Ward

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Story link

Friday, October 20, 2006

Condemned McLennan County killer Michael Dewayne Johnson committed suicide early Thursday in his death row cell less than 16 hours before his scheduled execution, prison officials said.

Left behind was a message scrawled in blood on the cell wall: “I didn’t shoot him.”

Authorities said Johnson, 29, apparently used a metal blade or razor to cut his right jugular vein and an artery inside his left elbow about 2:45 a.m. at the Polunsky Unit outside Livingston, east of Huntsville.

At the time, one official said, a nurse was nearby, treating another prisoner, but life-saving efforts proved futile because Johnson lost so much blood so quickly. The official asked not to be identified because of agency policy against speaking to the media and because an investigation into the death is ongoing.

“There was a tremendous amount of blood, very quickly, everywhere,” the official said.

The initial investigation indicated that Johnson likely slit his arm first, wrote the message on the wall and then cut his throat.

Johnson was taken to a Livingston hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 3:40 a.m. An autopsy was scheduled as part of the investigation, officials said.

Prison officials said Johnson left several suicide notes. Officials withheld the contents as part of the continuing investigation.

Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, said Johnson was scheduled to be executed shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday for the Sept. 10, 1995, shooting death of Jeff Wetterman, a 27-year-old convenience store clerk in Lorena, near Waco.

Wetterman was shot in the face with a 9 mm pistol after he helped Johnson and another man, identified by prison officials as David Vest, fill their vehicle with gas, a prison report shows.

Although the report posted on the prison system’s Web site identifies Johnson as the shooter in the attack, his brother, Jack, took issue with that in an e-mail message to the American-Statesman. He said the killer was Vest.

Vest blamed the shooting on Johnson, took an eight-year prison term in a plea bargain and testified against his friend. Vest was freed in September 2003 after completing his sentence, Lyons said.

Lyons said convicts facing execution are placed on a “death watch,” in which they are checked every 15 minutes, within 36 hours of the sentence being carried out. Johnson had been observed by guards about 2:30 a.m., just before he was to be served breakfast, according to Lyons.

“He had visits with his family (on Wednesday) and was scheduled to have another four hours with them today,” she said Thursday. “There was no indication he might try this.”

Investigators were attempting to determine how Johnson got the blade or razor in his cell. Shaving razors are checked out to convicts and then retrieved by guards, under prison policy. Cells of death row inmates are searched when they are moved to a special wing after being assigned an execution date, and their cells are routinely searched for contraband every 72 hours, although officials were unsure when Johnson’s cell was last searched.

Johnson is at least the seventh condemned man in Texas to take his own life since death row reopened in 1974, but no other prisoner has killed himself so close to his scheduled execution time. On Dec. 8, 1999, inmate David Long was executed two days after he tried to overdose on prescription medication.

Lyons said officials could recall no suicide on death row so close to an execution date.

Johnson would have been the 22nd Texas inmate executed this year.

In an interview with The Associated Press two weeks ago, Johnson said he remained optimistic.

“You never know what the courts are going to do,” he said.

Johnson, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, insisted it was Vest who had gunned down Wetterman after the pair, in a stolen car, fled the store on Interstate 35 because they didn’t have the $24 to pay for their gas.

“I never even saw the dude,” Johnson said. Vest “jumped back into the car and we took off. He hollered: ‘Go! Go! Go!’ “