State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Democrat from Houston who filed a bill in the 2009 Texas legislative session to abolish the death penalty in Texas (HB 682), will speak at the caucus meeting of “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention in Corpus Christi on Friday, June 25, 2010 in Room 225D-E at the American Bank Center.

Also speaking will be Juan Melendez, who spent 17 years, 8 months and 1 day on Florida’s death row for a crime he did not commit.


The anti-death penalty caucus was first founded at the 2004 TDP State Convention by Scott Cobb of Texas Moratorium Network. The Texas Democratic Party has endorsed a moratorium on executions in its party platform at each state convention since 2004.

Jessica Farrar is currently in her 8th term as State Representative of District 148. She was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1994 at the age of 27, and she is the longest serving Hispanic from Harris County in the Texas House of Representatives.

Juan Melendez was exonerated and released from death row on January 3, 2002 after a transcript of a taped confession by the real killer came to light sixteen years after he had been sentenced to death.  At that time, the Supreme Court of Florida had upheld Melendez’s case three times on appeal even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and his conviction rested solely on the testimony of two questionable witnesses: a police informant and a co-defendant who was threatened with the electric chair but who ultimately received a sentence of two years probation after testifying against Melendez.  The actual killer who confessed to more than sixteen people was also a police informant.  Melendez’s story is featured in the internationally acclaimed documentary “Juan Melendez 6446.”

Juan Melendez has been described as “a living testament to the injustice of capital punishment” because his case highlights the myriad of problems that plague the death penalty system and in particular, the high risk and inevitability of executing the innocent.  While his story is unique, the circumstance of being innocent and on death row is shamefully anything but unique. Since 1973, 138 people, including 11 in Texas, have been released from death row with evidence of innocence. 

Melendez will speak at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention at a critical time in Texas when serious questions have been raised about the likely innocence of Todd Willingham, Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna, all of whom were executed by the State of Texas.  Melendez’s evocative testimony will underscore the need for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and a comprehensive examination of the system to determine how, if at all, the system can be reformed to safeguard against executing the innocent and to protect the public from the actual perpetrators who elude punishment each time the system gets it wrong. 

Texas State Democratic Party State Convention event information:

What: “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” Caucus

Date: Friday, June 25

Time: 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Where: Room 225D-E, American Bank Center, Corpus Christi.

Juan Melendez, who spent 17 years, 8 months and 1 day on Florida’s death row for a crime he did not commit, will speak at the caucus meeting of “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention in Corpus Christi on Friday, June 25, 2010 in Room 225D-E at the American Bank Center. 

Also speaking will be State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Democrat from Houston who filed HB 682 in the 2009 Texas legislative session to repeal the death penalty.


The anti-death penalty caucus was first formed at the 2004 TDP State Convention. The Texas Democratic Party has endorsed a moratorium on executions in its party platform at each state convention since 2004.

Melendez was exonerated and released from death row on January 3, 2002 after a transcript of a taped confession by the real killer came to light sixteen years after he had been sentenced to death.  At that time, the Supreme Court of Florida had upheld Melendez’s case three times on appeal even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and his conviction rested solely on the testimony of two questionable witnesses: a police informant and a co-defendant who was threatened with the electric chair but who ultimately received a sentence of two years probation after testifying against Melendez.  The actual killer who confessed to more than sixteen people was also a police informant.  Melendez’s story is featured in the internationally acclaimed documentary “Juan Melendez 6446.”

Melendez has been described as “a living testament to the injustice of capital punishment” because his case highlights the myriad of problems that plague the death penalty system and in particular, the high risk and inevitability of executing the innocent.  While his story is unique, the circumstance of being innocent and on death row is shamefully anything but unique. Since 1973, 138 people, including 11 in Texas, have been released from death row with evidence of innocence. 

Melendez will speak at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention at a critical time in Texas when serious questions have been raised about the likely innocence of Todd Willingham, Ruben Cantu and Carlos De Luna, all of whom were executed by the State of Texas.  Melendez’s evocative testimony will underscore the need for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and a comprehensive examination of the system to determine how, if at all, the system can be reformed to safeguard against executing the innocent and to protect the public from the actual perpetrators who elude punishment each time the system gets it wrong. 

Texas State Democratic Party State Convention event information:
What: “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” Caucus

Date: Friday, June 25

Time: 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Where: Room 225D-E, American Bank Center, Corpus Christi.

Juan Melendez is available for interviews at any time during the convention. He speaks English and Spanish. To schedule an interview, contact Judi Caruso at 505-362-1784.


Juan Melendez is a board member of Witness to Innocence, which is the nation’s only organization composed of, by and for exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones.               

The 2010 platform of the Texas Republican Party endorses the death penalty for people convicted of rape.

In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 7-2 Coker v. Georgia decision that applying the death penalty in rape cases was forbidden by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as cruel and unusual punishment because the sentence was disproportionate to the crime. Coker resulted in the removal of twenty inmates — three whites and 17 blacks — awaiting execution on rape convictions from death rows around the country.

Sexual Assault – Punishment options for rape should include death.

and

Capital Punishment – Properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unencumbered.

Below are photos and a video of the demonstration held at the Texas Capitol on June 14, 2010 to stop the execution of David Powell, which was carried out the next day on June 15, 2010.

Powell is set to die shortly after 6 p.m. for the shooting death of Austin police officer Ralph Ablanedo during a traffic stop in 1978.

While Ablanedo’s family members gathered in Huntsville, where the state’s execution chamber is located, more than three dozen Powell supporters rallied Monday at the state Capitol to urge elected officials to halt the execution.

Organizer Scott Cobb, with the Texas Moratorium Network, said Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was the protest’s main target. “To kill David Powell is not a reflection of our values as Austinites,” he said. “She could really stop this execution.”

But Lehmberg, who has for several months received daily calls and e-mails pleading for Powell’s life, said Monday that she will not intervene by asking District Judge Mike Lynch to withdraw the execution warrant or Gov. Rick Perry to grant a 30-day reprieve.

“My position hasn’t changed, which is that Travis County juries, who are hesitant to ever sentence death, have heard this case three times,” Lehmberg said. “I will not intervene and substitute my judgment for theirs, even if I could.”