Free Greg Wright

Factors in wrongful convictions in Texas

A new report released by The Justice Project, “Convicting the Innocent: Texas Justice Derailed,” analyzes the cases of 39 innocent Texans who collectively spent more than 500 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.  The study focuses on these non-capital crimes as it recommends reforms Texas should implement to improve the quality of evidence used and reduce the risk of wrongful convictions.  Eyewitness misidentification was the leading cause of wrongful convictions in Texas, where only 12% of law enforcement agencies have written procedures to guide the eyewitness identification process.  Many other cases contained faulty or absent DNA or flawed forensics from police crime labs.

Other factors leading to wrongful convictions included false confessions and guilty pleas, suppression of exculpatory evidence, false testimony from informants or accomplices with incentives to lie, false forensic testimony, and unreliable or limited forensic methodologies.   The full report is available here. 

From DPIC

British woman on Texas death row makes final bid to avoid execution

Full story here

"When I began this case, I was pro-death penalty," said Mike Goldberg of the law firm, Baker Botts, which is now representing Carty. "But the facts are so outrageous that my firm is sparing no expense to get Linda Carty a new trial."

Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve said: "It is time for the British to get seriously worried about Linda. She has not come close to a fair hearing so far - her lawyer presented virtually no defence, and no court has since taken her case seriously."

Voices raised against the broken justice system

Two examples of a growing movement for reform of the US justice system which is presently ineffective, unfair, prejudicial and often plain wrong:

New York Times Editorial

Caravan For Justice - website (with videos)
                              - San Francisco Bay View newspaper

The Law of Parties - "if you have tears prepare to shed them"

http://stopexecutions.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-you-have-tears-prepare-to-shed-them.html

Please take time to view the blog entry above and link to video.

Gregory Edward Wright, whose memory we honor by the maintenance of this blog site was executed in spite of his innocence of murder - by the construction used by the Fifth Circuit that he could have been charged and convicted under the Law of Parties. The tragedy of that decision, which came within hours of the execution and much too late to challenge effectively, is felt by us all - friends and relatives - today and every day. This pernicious law must be repealed.

New Mexico governor signs law ABOLISHING the death penalty

Following the New Mexico state Senate passage of legislation to abolish the death penalty by a vote of 24-18., Gov. Bill Richardson signed a bill against the capital punishment into law.

    "I have decided to sign legislation that repeals the death penalty in the state of New Mexico," said Richardson in a statement issued by his office.

    The governor said that his singing of the bill marks the end of a long, personal journey.

    "Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment," he said.

The new law makes New Mexico the 15th state in the United States without the death penalty.
Gov. Bill Richardson said he had decided to approve the legislation because DNA evidence had shown that innocent people had been sentenced to death in the past.

It is only the second to do so since the US Supreme Court reinstated the states' power to impose the death penalty in 1976. New Jersey was the first, in 2007.

New Mexico's repeal legislation will take effect in July and will apply only to crimes committed after then.

"Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect, my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society safe," the Democratic governor said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, former President Jimmy Carter and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish were among those who called on Richardson to sign the bill. The governor also said his solicitation for input from residents received 12,000 responses by phone, e-mail and visits and that more than three-fourths were in favor of repeal.

Roman Catholic Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of the Diocese of Las Cruces said that by repealing the punishment, Richardson "has made New Mexico a leader in turning away from the death penalty with all its moral problems and issues of fairness and justice."

Washington Supreme Court stays Cal Brown's execution

The state Supreme Court stayed the execution of Cal Coburn Brown on Thursday, just hours before he was to die for the murder of a 22-year-old woman. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection early Friday morning at the Washington State Penitentiary. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court, led by Justice Charles Johnson, stayed the execution while Brown's case goes back to Thurston County Superior Court, where another Washington death row inmate, Darold Ray Stenson, was recently granted a May hearing on the constitutionality of Washington state's lethal injection policy. Brown's lawyers contended that it would be wrong to execute Brown before the issue was settled by the court.

"I am incredibly grateful the Supreme Court has granted us this stay," said one of Brown's attorneys, Suzanne Elliott. "It was the right thing to do."

Full report here

ANTHONY CARDELL HAYNES has a rare win in the 5th Circuit

"We REVERSE the district court’s judgment denying habeas relief and REMAND this case to that court with instructions to order the State of Texas to either give Anthony Cardell Haynes a new trial or release him from custody within 180 days of the date of the district court’s order on remand."

With these words, the Fifth Circuit granted relief to ANTHONY CARDELL HAYNES on a Batson claim - racial discrimination employed in the jury selection process.

A Batson challenge involves three steps:
The Supreme Court has outlined a three-step process for determining whether peremptory strikes have been applied in a discriminatory manner. First, the claimant must make a prima facie showing that the peremptory challenges have been exercised on the basis of race. Second, if this requisite showing has been made, the burden shifts to the party accused of discrimination to articulate race-neutral explanations for the peremptory challenges. Finally, the trial court must determine whether the claimant has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination.

NEW MEXICO perhaps close to abolition - send your support of this to Governor Richardson

Details of how to lobby the Governor are here - Amnesty International USA

Luis Salazar was executed in Texas on Wednesday, March 11th 2009

Luis Salazar, 38, thanked friends and relatives for praying for him and asked to be forgiven for the “sins that I can remember”. Rest in peace.
Execution Watch may archive their radio broadcast shortly.

James Edward Martinez was executed in Texas on Tuesday, March 10th 2009

James Edward Martinez was killed by the State of Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal about four hours before the execution. His attorneys had argued they had a new witness who backed Martinez’s claim he was home on the night of the slayings.
Prosecutors said the argument wasn’t new and that a Tarrant County jury didn’t believe the alibi claim at Martinez’s trial. Excuse me. Isn't the finding of a NEW witness, that might give the claim greater credibility, sufficient cause for doubt and investigation in a court of law? No, of course not. Not in Texas anyway. Way too much trouble.............
May he rest in peace.
http://executionwatch.org/  may archive their radio broadcast soon.