Posts by: "Texas Moratorium Network"

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the bill to abolish the death penalty in Illinois on Wednesday March 9. This shows that a moratorium is a good strategy to pursue against the death penalty because Illinois started with a moratorium in 2000. Texas should enact a moratorium in 2011, so please register to come to Austin next Wednesday March 16 on the statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty to lobby for a moratorium on executions in Texas.

From the Huffington Post:

CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn intends to abolish the death penalty in Illinois, two sponsors of the legislation said Tuesday.
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough and state Sen. Kwame Raoul told The Associated Press that Quinn’s staff invited them to a signing ceremony Wednesday morning in the governor’s Springfield office.
“It’s going to happen,” Raoul said.
Quinn’s office declined to comment Tuesday about his intentions. He has said he personally supports the death penalty when properly implemented and would make a decision on the bill based on his conscience.
The Chicago Democrat would thrust the state back into the national debate over capital punishment by signing the legislation, which would add Illinois to the list of 15 other states and the District of Columbia without the death penalty. The new law would take effect July 1.
“I’ve heard from many, many people of good faith and good conscience on both sides of the issue. And I’ve tried to be very meticulous and writing down notes and studying those notes and books and e-mails. They’ve really spoken from the heart. I’ve been very proud of the people of Illinois,” Quinn said recently.
Illinois’ last execution was in 1999, a year before then-Republican Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on capital punishment after the death sentences of 13 men were overturned.
Ryan cleared death row before leaving office in 2003 by commuting the death sentences of 167 inmates to life in prison.
If Quinn were to sign the bill, it unclear what he’d do about the 15 inmates currently on Illinois’ death row.

INCENDIARY
the willingham case
WORLD PREMIERE
Saturday March 12th, 4:30 pm
The Paramount Theatre
713 Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas
SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL OFFICIAL SELECTION 2011
Advance tickets available for purchase online here or by phone at (512) 472-5470.
follow up screenings during the festival at the Long Center for the Performing Arts’ Rollins Theater (capacity 220, available tickets sold 15 minutes before showtime):
Thursday March 17th, 12 pm @ the Rollins Studio Theater, 701 West Riverside Dr.  Austin, TX
Saturday March 19th, 5:30 pm @ the Rollins Studio Theater, 701 West Riverside Dr. Austin, TX
Please ‘like’ the film on facebook (link) or follow us on twitter (link) to show support, and receive important updates.
More information, film trailer, links to reviews, interviews, flyers, posters and articles are all available/forthcoming at http://www.incendiarymovie.com.  The film page on SXSW also has maps for screening locations and other info:  http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_FS11063
Other links:  early Feature/Reviews by John Pierson for the New York Times and Evan Smith for the Texas Tribune

Today, Hank Skinner won his Supreme Court case 6-3, so he can continue to seek DNA testing of evidence. At least year’s Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, Hank’s wife, Sandrine, spoke at a press conference organized by the students participating at spring break. It was one week before Hank’s scheduled execution. Last year during spring break, the students also visited legislative offices and got Sen Ellis and Rep Naishtat to write clemency letters for Hank Skinner to Governor Perry. If you want to make a major difference in the effort against the death penalty like last year’s participants, register for this year’s spring break at springbreakalternative.org/deathpenalty.

From the New York Times:

The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for inmates to sue for access to DNA evidence that could prove their innocence.

The legal issue in the case was tightly focused, and quite preliminary: Was Hank Skinner, a death row inmate in Texas, entitled to sue a prosecutor there under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow testing of DNA evidence in his case? By a 6-to-3 vote, the court said yes, rejecting a line of lower-court decisions that had said the only proper procedural route for such challenges was a petition for habeas corpus.

Elizabeth Gilbert will attend and speak to students at the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, which is March 14-18, 2011 in Austin (To register for the spring break click here). Elizabeth will attend on Thursday, March 17, when the program includes a screening at the SXSW Film Festival of a new documentary about the Todd Willingham case –  “Incendiary“.  The film screens at noon March 17 at the Rollins Theater at the Long Center. After the screeening, Elizabeth Gilbert will participate in a discussion about the film and about the Todd Willingham case, along with the fimmakers.  

Elizabeth Gilbert is a Houston teacher and playwright who befriended Texas death row prisoner Todd Willingham. Her story is featured in the New Yorker article by David Grann about the case as well at the Frontline Documentary“Death by Fire” (Click to watch online). If it were not for Elizabeth’s involvement in the case, in addition to Todd’s family, Todd Willingham’s innocence likely would never have come to light. Anyone who hears Elizabeth’s story will know that it is indeed possible to make a difference in the world if you only take the time and make the effort.
Elizabeth actively investigated the case on her own. She became convinced of Todd’s innocence and was instrumental in helping his family and lawyer find an expert fire investigator to examine his case. The investigator found no evidence for arson and sent a report to Governor Rick Perry. However, the State failed to halt Willingham’s execution in 2004. Further arson investigations have also found no evidence for arson.

INCENDIARY” is the true story of the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the arson murder of his three children in 1991, and of the resulting scientific, legal and political firestorm that rages today. A potential landmark death penalty case, Willingham’s execution based upon junk science begs re-examinations of other arson convictions, criminal prosecution for obstructors of due process, and a re-evaluation of the law’s ultimate punishment. Equal parts murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama, INCENDIARY documents the haunted legacy of a prosecution built on ‘folklore’.


Frontline has an interview on their website with Elizabeth. Below is an excerpt in which she talks about her meeting with Todd’s former wife Stacy:

Can you describe your meeting with Stacy?
Stacy came in, and I felt that she was very genuine, and I think this was the first time she had really talked to anybody outside [of the official investigation]. … But to me [she] was just like, “Oh, sure, I’ll meet you; I’ll tell you this is the truth.” … I told her I was a writer; I’m from Houston. I interviewed her; I taped her. And she seemed kind of reserved, nervous, just a person who had a lot of tragedy in her life.
I had heard from Todd that her mother had been murdered, and she had been there. So it seemed like her life had been filled with tragedy, … and she seemed genuinely to feel Todd had not done this. … She really convinced me that she felt that an injustice had been done. … She didn’t feel like he was capable of doing that.
So you believe Stacy told the truth?
Yes, I really do.
Do you remember how she said it?
… She cried, and I just remember her saying, “Todd is not capable of doing that,” just acknowledging that he loved his children. I sensed this very pained individual. … After the conviction, and after Todd was on death row, Stacy decided to get a divorce. She didn’t visit him on death row. 
At an event such as the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break March 14-18, with many people from different places coming together for multiple days, it is very useful if the participants can quickly and easily communicate with each other, so we have decided to use the group messaging service Beluga during the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break.
You can download the free Beluga IPhone app or download the free Beluga Android app. The service can also be used without an App on any smartphone by accessing the mobile Beluga website by using the browser, although using the App provides a better experience. Visit the Beluga website for more information.
We think Beluga will be particulary useful when we are at the Texas Capitol lobbying, because we will divide into groups to lobby and people can send texts to everyone updating everyone else about what is happening when they are all spread out over the capitol lobbying. For instance, if you encounter a particularly supportive legislator you could send a text using Beluga and everyone will know immediately about your lobbying success. If you get to take a picture with a legislator, you can send the photo using Beluga to all the alternative spring breakers.
Another way to use Beluga is during your time off to check in with others and see if anyone wants to meet somewhere, or communicate with roommates for any reason.
Beluga is one of the most buzzed about and highly rated new group messaging services. It was recently bought by Facebook. Here is how one article described it:
Beluga is a simple app for communicating with multiple people at once. You create a “pod” (Beluga’s name for a group) of people and each time one of you sends a message, everyone else gets it. It’s a bunch of custom-created group chat rooms. In these “pods”, you can not only share text but also pictures and locations. And not everyone even needs to have a smartphone, as the app accounts for your feature-phoned friends by sending them SMS instead of in-app content”.
Guest speakers include six innocent, exonerated people who spent more than 50 years on death row for crimes they did not commit: Anthony GravesClarence BrandleyShujaa GrahamRon KeineGary Drinkard and Albert Burrell. Anthony Graves is the most recent innocent person released from Texas Death Row. He spent 18 years on death row before he was released in October 2010.
All events are free and open to the public, both students and non-students. The first two days will be held on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin in a room to be announced. The second two days will be held at the Texas Capitol.  The full schedule and a registration form is on the website: www.springbreakalternative.org/deathpenalty

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