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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.

Press Release

May 28, 2002
Noon

TMN Statement on decision by Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refusing to 
stop Napoleon Beazley’s execution

The relatively close 10-7 decision by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles 
not to recommend that Gov Perry commute Napoleon Beazley’s death sentence to 
life in prison reflects a growing unease in Texas with the administration of 
the death penalty. Napoleon Beazley will most likely die tonight, although 
Gov Perry could still issue a 30-day reprieve, but the problems in the Texas 
capital punishment system will not go away. The problems in Napoleon’s case 
that led seven members of the board to vote for commutation are among the 
same problems that make it necessary to halt all executions while Texas 
conducts a comprehensive study of the administration of the death penalty.

“The close vote apparently came down to three things – Napoleon’s status as 
a juvenile offender, the fact that many people on the board do not believe 
he had a fair trial during the sentencing phase and his obvious remorse for 
the murder of John Luttig. Here in Texas, people are belatedly coming to the 
conclusion that judicial decisions should be based on the relevant facts of 
a person’s case and not on the color of a person’s skin. Napoleon is an 
African-American who was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. Such a 
racist death sentence should not have been allowed to stand”, said Scott 
Cobb of Texas Moratorium Network.

“Napoleon’s life was almost saved because of the phenomenal efforts of his 
talented, hardworking appellate lawyers – Walter Long and David Botsford. 
Other people sit on death row in Texas not because they are the worst of the 
worst of all murderers, but because their lawyers were among the worst of 
the worst of all lawyers, especially at the trial level. Texas needs to 
enact a moratorium on executions in the next session of the Legislature so 
that reforms can be enacted to rid the system of incompetence once and for 
all. Let’s judge defendants by their own actions and not by the incompetent 
actions of their lawyers. Let’s make sure that people are not executed in 
Texas because of racism”, said Cobb.

A vigil for Napoleon will be held this afternoon, May 28, beginning at 5:30 
PM at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin (11th & Lavaca).

Texas Moratorium Network has drafted a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles seeking clemency for Johnny Martinez. Nothing so unusual about that, except in this case the mother of the murdered Clay Peterson has also requested a life sentence instead of death. Supprt victim’s rights and contact them too.

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Gerald Garrett, Chairman

Executive Clemency Section
P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station
Austin,Texas 78711

RE: Clemency for Johnny Martinez

May 16, 2002

Dear Mr Garrett:,

I am writing to appeal for clemency for Johnny Martinez, who was convicted 
of murdering Clay Peterson. The mother of Mr. Peterson has already written 
you asking you to spare the life of her son’s killer. The father of the 
victim has also said that he would like to see Mr Martinez spared execution 
because he does “not believe that (his son) would have demanded the Old 
Testament punishment of an eye for an eye, but instead would have followed 
the teachings of Christ to forgive not seven times, but seventy times 
seven.”

Texas should respect the viewpoints of the parents of the murder victim in 
this case. The parents know best what Mr Peterson would have wanted. Please 
vote to commute Mr Martinez’s sentence to life in prison.

Please hold a public hearing, so that the parents of the murder victim can 
appeal to the entire board on behalf of their murdered son. Texas should 
respect the viewpoints of parents of murder victims when they ask for 
clemency for the murderers of their children.

Sincerely,

Scott Cobb

Here’s a second letter from another of our members.

May 17, 2002

Chairman Gerald Garrett
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711

RE: Clemency for Johnny Martinez

Dear Chairman Garrett:

Lana Norris recently wrote you asking that her son’s killer be sentenced to 
life, rather than executed. Clay Peterson’s father also said that he 
doesn’t believe his son, a devout Christian, would have wanted his killer to 
be executed. Both said they were never consulted when the DA decided to 
seek the death penalty against Johnny Martinez.

The victim’s family must be heard. It is not fair nor moral for the state 
to support victims’ families who wish to execute while ignoring the wishes 
of a family that does not want their son’s killer executed.

Texas Moratorium Network appeals for clemency for Johnny Martinez. Mr. 
Martinez had never before been convicted of a violent crime and has never 
been violent in prison. At the very least, please hold a public hearing so 
that the victim’s family may speak to the entire board about its wishes.

Texas Moratorium Network, an organization with a growing support base of 
more than 6,000 people across the state of Texas, is working to establish a 
moratorium on executions, so that a Texas Capital Punishment Commission can 
conduct a comprehensive study of the death penalty system in our state.

Thank you for your consideration,

Sincerely,

Margaret Fehrenbach
Texas Moratorium Network

Editorial Board

Austin American-Statesman

Sunday, May 26, 2002

Napoleon Beazley’s adulthood will be a short one — it began on death row and is scheduled to end there today.

Beazley was 17 when a Smith County jury sentenced him to die for killing John Luttig, 63, in a botched 1994 carjacking. When he arrived on death row, Beazley was the youngest inmate there. Now 25, Beazley is scheduled to be executed by chemical injection.


There is no question about Beazley’s guilt. He killed Luttig, a prominent Tyler businessman and father of a federal judge, because Beazley and his gang wanted to steal Luttig’s Mercedes-Benz.

It was a senseless, brutal murder that stunned two quiet East Texas towns. The casual violence in Luttig’s upscale neighborhood sent shock waves through Tyler. And it rocked the sleepy Grapeland community where Beazley was the toast of the town. There, Beazley was known for his promise: president of his senior class; honor student and star high school athlete.

Though there is no question about Beazley’s guilt, his case still raises questions about the death penalty in Texas. Should minors (younger than 18) be sentenced to death? Is Texas’ criminal justice system racially biased? Are death row inmates entitled to effective counsel throughout the legal appeals process? Can murderers be rehabilitated?

Those questions are being raised by some unlikely people. State District Judge Cynthia Kent, who presided over Beazley’s trial, sent a letter to Gov. Rick Perry last year asking him to commute Beazley’s sentence to life. She cited Beazley’s age at the time of the murder. Cindy Garner, the district attorney in Beazley’s home county, also wrote Perry asking for leniency, noting that Beazley had no prior criminal record. A Grapeland City Council member and former warden of death row, George Pierson, also wrote state officials to oppose Beazley’s execution.

Beazley’s case is troubling for other reasons. It shakes our beliefs about family and community. Beazley was from a Christian, two-parent home. A search for answers about how and why a young man in command of his future — voted runner-up for Mr. Grapeland High School — would kill, took us to death row in Livingston. American-Statesman editorial writer Alberta Phillips interviewed Beazley last week, and excerpts follow.


American-Statesman: What was the hardest adjustment about prison?

Napoleon Beazley: It’s different being on death row than being in prison, because you have the other element to think about. That kind of outweighs what’s going on in prison — knowing you are on death row and that you are here to die. When you know you are here to die, you start focusing on ways to live or how you live. That becomes important to you.


You were tried by an all-white jury after blacks were struck from the jury pool. You were 17 at the time of the murder. Do you think you got justice from the legal system?

Justice. That is a big word, a big word. You understand I’m biased, right?

Personally, as far as my growth goes, I can’t sit up and think about those things in those terms, because I have to look at myself and say, “If it weren’t for you, none of those things would have happened.”


What does your case teach us about capital punishment?

You do look at my case and say, “OK, look, these are the problems in the system we need to correct.” But personally, I can’t make that argument for myself. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do that.


Many people have asked you this question, but how did you find yourself at a place where you took a man’s life? You were an honor student with dreams of going to Stanford Law. What happened?

Oh, man. As far as giving details, that is something I really can’t do for you because I don’t want anything I say to come off as trying to justify what happened. There is no justification for what happened. . . . I made a bad choice . . . a very bad choice. A shameful, heinous, senseless — whatever synonym you can think to describe it, it’s all that. I made a lot of bad choices before I got here. That one was the poorest one I made.


If you can’t say why it happened, then when did you cross the line? What went through your mind when you went out carjacking and you shoot and kill a man?

I believe every good act, every heinous thing, is first conceived in thought. Once you plant that seed in your head of what you are going to do, the rest is going through the mechanics. When Cedric Coleman (an accomplice who planned the carjacking) brought this crime to my attention, the details, and he asked , “You down with that?” I told him, “Yeah. I’m down.” That’s when it happened. Not that night (of the murder). But when I said yes to it, because that was my time to say no. The seed was planted.


You’ve talked about how badly you were ridiculed by blacks for “acting white,” for speaking proper English, making good grades and carrying yourself a certain way. Black kids called you “white boy” for hanging with white kids. That affected you?

Yeah, sure. But since coming here, I’ve come to understand that racism only affects us as much as we allow it to. I allowed those things to affect me. But call it isolation. You isolate a group of people to the point where they have no identity. That peer pressure, where you’re not black enough for the blacks, not white enough for the whites and you are left alone. I think that is what causes that feeling of isolation. I didn’t belong.

Before I got here, I spent so much time, so much energy and effort, in doing things so people would like me. Being this and being that, just to fit in. When I got here I learned that I’m going to be myself. For me to come here and do that and have people still like me, it’s a very important lesson to learn.


Are you afraid to die?

I’m not afraid to die. Do I want to die — hell no.

When you die, on your tombstone you have two things; the day you were born and the day you die. There’s that dash in the middle that tells people how you lived. How I live is important to me. Dying is easy. It’s the living that most people find really hard.

I want something positive to come out of this no matter what happens to me. If any blessing doesn’t come to me directly, as long as somebody is blessed by the experience. To me that is important, and that is what I’m focused on.


How have you filled in that dash in the middle?

I used to want to be black . . . I moved away from being what’s black to being what’s human . . . I understand . . . that certain things transcend race and gender, and those things are what I look at now in people.

May 22, 2002

TEXAS—execution

Convenience store killer executed today 

Convicted killer Johnny Joe Martinez was executed this evening for 
fatally stabbing a Corpus Christi convenience store clerk 9 years ago.

In a lengthy final statement, Martinez was apologetic and bitter, blaming his state appointed appeals lawyers for his death. 

“I know I’m fixing to die, but not for my mistakes,” Martinez said. “My trial lawyers, they are the ones who are killing me.” 

Martinez had insisted that his initial appeals lawyers were incompetent and inexperienced and failed to take the proper steps to get him off death row. Late appeals, including some to the Supreme Court this week, were rejected. 

He apologized to the parents of his victim, Clay Peterson. Peterson’s
mother, Lana Norris, lobbied for his sentence to be reduced to a life term. 

“I want to thank you,” he said, referring to Norris. “It meant a lot to me.”

His voice shaking, Martinez said he failed to call his own mother Wednesday. “Tell my mother I love her too. I didn’t call her because I just couldn’t,” Martinez said. 

“I’m fine. I’m happy. I love you all. See you on the other side,” he said before taking a deep breath and slipping into unconsciousness. He was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m., 12 minutes after the lethal dose began. 

Martinez’s case gained notoriety when Norris joined the prisoner in asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare the 29-year-old Kingsville man by commuting his sentence to life in prison. 

The board, in an unusually close 9-8 vote Monday, refused the clemency
request. 

Attempts in the courts earlier this week to stop the execution were
unsuccessful and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a pair of appeals about an hour before his scheduled lethal injection. 

While not violent, prison officials described him as “passively resisting” as he was taken from the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, home of death row, for the 45-mile drive to the Huntsville Unit, where executions are carried out. 

“I’m not going to walk,” Martinez told prison guards. “You’re going to have to carry me.” 

They did, then repeated the procedure when he refused to walk himself into a cell just outside the death chamber. 

Martinez, who worked as a medical care technician at a home for the mentally retarded, said he was drunk and had smoked marijuana at a party when he walked into the store where Peterson was working alone about 3 a.m. July 15, 1993. 

The robbery of $25.65 from the cash register and the gruesome killing of the 20-year-old Peterson was caught on videotape by the store’s security camera (you can view the camera specs on unclutterer.com).

“When you see that, you think: God, what a monster!” Martinez said recently from death row. “I couldn’t watch it. I couldn’t believe it was me… 

“There’s not one day I don’t think about what I did. I wish I could bring him back. To this day, I still can’t believe I did something like that.” 

As shown on the video, Martinez put a knife to Peterson’s throat, got money from the cash register, then attacked him. 

“To this day, I can’t tell you how many times he was stabbed,” Martinez said. 

“He plunges the knife into the guy’s neck 4 times,” Mark Skurka, the
Nueces County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Martinez, said,recalling the images from the tape. “It’s horrible. (Peterson) goes down face first. Johnny Joe Martinez tries to get around him and the guy tries to get back up. And he stabs him 4 more times in the back.” 

The video then shows Martinez running out of the store and a companion in the parking lot driving off without him. 

On the tape, the wounded Peterson climbs to the counter. 

“You see a hand come up and grab the phone,” Skurka said. “He’s talking like he’s drowning. You see his bloody hand… You basically see the guy die on camera. He slips down… You see the blood spurting all over the place. Then it’s deadly quiet until the cops get there. 

“It’s very moving, very riveting. It was very upsetting to the jury.” 

When Martinez gave a confession to police, he said the stabbing came after Peterson struggled. The video disputed the claim. 

“The kid never made a move to resist,” Skurka said. “Johnny Joe Martinez didn’t know there was a security video.” 

In her letter to the parole board, Peterson’s mother urged Martinez, who she met earlier this month in prison, be saved so another mother could avoid losing a son to murder. The rejection left her sad, she said. 

“We will be praying for Johnny and his family,” she said. 

Skurka said it was important to note a jury decided Martinez’s fate. 

“Not the mother, not me,” he said. “12 people apparently looked at the
video and decided this guy was a future danger.” 

Martinez becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 269th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

Martinez becomes the 29th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 778th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

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