Hudson, Lucy, 03:27 PM 11/30/00, Gary Graham's age
X-From_: lhudson@aspensys.com Thu Nov 30 15:27:20 2000
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
From: "Hudson, Lucy" <lhudson@aspensys.com>
To: "'rpetersen@utsa.edu'" <rpetersen@utsa.edu>
Cc: "'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"'garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"Altman, Robert"
<raltman@aspensys.com>,
"'y-streib@onu.edu'" <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: Gary Graham's age
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:27:02 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
Dear Dr. Petersen:
I received your inquiry about Gary Graham's age. I researched my source
y g y g y
documents to discover why we claimed Graham was 17 at the time of the crime.
He was born on September 5, 1963, not 1960, according to his own statements
(see attached Internet letter from him) and according to The Juvenile Death
Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes,
1, 1973 - June 30, 2000, an ongoing compendium of such information
January
maintained by Professor Victor Streib. He lists Graham as a juvenile at the
time of his death row crime. An article in the Washington Post on the day
following Graham's execution listed him as 17 at the time of the crime.
Please share with me the source of your information about Graham's date of
birth.
<<Save Gary Graham.htm>>
Lucy Hudson
Project Manager
Juvenile Justice Resource Center
2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K
Rockville, MD 20850
301-519-5447
301-519-5600 (fax)
Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\Save Gary Graham.htm"
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Hudson, Lucy, 03:32 PM 11/30/00, Death Penalty information requ
X-From_: lhudson@aspensys.com Thu Nov 30 15:32:24 2000
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
From: "Hudson, Lucy" <lhudson@aspensys.com>
To: "'v-streib@onu.edu'" <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: Death Penalty information request
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:32:13 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
Dr. Streib:
I received this email and sent her an answer, copying you. I wanted you to
see her email to me so that you would appreciate the answer I sent to her.
JUVENILES AND THE DEATH PENALTY was released (I will forward the
announcement to you) and it's been a very popular item, I'm told. I think we
might expect to receive more questions similar to Dr. Petersen's.
Lucy Hudson
Project Manager
Juvenile Justice Resource Center
2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K
Rockville, MD 20850
301-519-5447
301-519-5600 (fax)
atta Original Message-----
| From: Rebecca Petersen [mailto:RPETERSEN@utsa. edu]
| Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 1:36 PM
| To: 'lhudson@aspensys.com'
| Subject: Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Preventi on
written by Lynn Cothern, I noticed on page 2 that Gary L. Graham was listed
as a juvenile who committed his crime at the age of 17. I am not sure if
this is correct. To my knowedge of executions here in Texas and regarding
juveniles, I am fairly certain that Gary L. Graham was aged 20 at the time
of his offense for which he was found guilty and then sentenced to death.
He was born on 9/5/60 and committed the crime in May of 1981, which would
place him at age 20 of his offense, not 17. However, I do know that he did
shoot 2 people and raped a women at the age of 17.
|
| Regarding this recent report entitled, "Juveniles and the Death Penalty”
|
|
So, I am wondering: Where did you receive the information that he was 17 at
the time of the offense for which he was convicted and executed for?
I think there may be some conflicting numbers/reports here.
Let me know...thanks!
KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKKKKKEKKKKEEK
Rebecca D. (Becky) Petersen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Criminal Justice
University of Texas-San Antonio
6900 North Loop, 1604 West
San Antonio, TX 78249-0655
(210) 458-5602
rpetersen@utsa.edu
|
|
|
> ----- Original Message-----
> From: Amy Callaghan [SMTP:CALLAGHA@OJP.USDOJ.GOV]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 10:01 AM
> To: RPETERSEN@utsa.edu
> Cc: lhudson@aspensys.com; raltman@aspensys.com; Kim Budnick; Eileen
> Garry
> Subject: Re: Lynn Cothern
>
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streibf@onu.edu>
Hudson, Lucy, 03:32 PM 11/30/00, Death Penalty information requ
VVVVVVVVV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV
Good morning Dr. Petersen,
Please direct any questions on the Death Penalty Bulletin to Lucy Hudson
at the Juvenile Justice Resource Center. Lucy was the primary person
responsible for the production of the Bulletin and will be able to respond
to any inquiries about the death
penalty and the Bulletin. Lucy's email address is
lhudson@aspensys.com and her telephone number is 301-519-5447.
Thank you,
Amy Callaghan
Juvenile Justice Program Specialist
I am trying to reach Dr. Lynn Cothern, from the Juvenile Justice Resource
Center who co-authored the Juveniles and the Death Penalty report this
month.
Would you happen to have a phone number or email address for her?
Please let me know...thanks!
KKK KEKE KKK KKK KK KKK KK KKK KKEKKKKEEK
Rebecca D. (Becky) Petersen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Criminal Justice
University of Texas-San Antonio
6900 North Loop, 1604 West
San Antonio, TX 78249-0655
(210) 458-5602
rpetersen@utsa.edu
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Rebecca Petersen, 02:32 PM 11/30/00, RE: Gary Graham's age
X-From_: RPETERSEN@utsa.edu Thu Nov 30 15:32:24 2000
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
From: Rebecca Petersen <RPETERSEN@utsa.edu>
To: "'Hudson, Lucy'" <lhudson@aspensys.com>
Cc: "'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"'garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"Altman, Robert"
<raltman@aspensys.com>,
"'v-streib@onu.edu'" <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: RE: Gary Graham's age
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 14:32:16 -0600
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0)
I have seen his date of birth as both 1960 and 1963.
I received this information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
See here:
KEKE KKK KKK KKK KKK K KKK KKK KKK KKK KK
Rebecca D. (Becky) Petersen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Criminal Justice
University of Texas-San Antonio
6900 North Loop, 1604 West
San Antonio, TX 78249-0655
(210) 458-5602
rpetersen@utsa.edu
> ---- Original Message-----
From: Hudson, Lucy [SMTP:lhudson@aspensys.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 2:27 PM
To: 'rpetersen@utsa.edu'
Cc: ‘'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'; 'garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov'; Altman, Robert;
'v-streib@onu.edu'
Subject: Gary Graham's age
Dear Dr. Petersen:
I received your inquiry about Gary Graham's age. I researched my source
documents to discover why we claimed Graham was 17 at the time of the
crime.
He was born on September 5, 1963, not 1960, according to his own
statements
(see attached Internet letter from him) and according to The Juvenile
Death
Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes, January
1, 1973 - June 30, 2000, an ongoing compendium of such information
maintained by Professor Victor Streib. He lists Graham as a juvenile at
the
time of his death row crime. An article in the Washington Post on the day
following Graham's execution listed him as 17 at the time of the crime.
Please share with me the source of your information about Graham's date of
birth.
<<Save Gary Graham.htm>>
Lucy Hudson
Project Manager
Juvenile Justice Resource Center
2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K
Rockville, MD 20850
301-519-5447
301-519-5600 (fax)
<< File: Save Gary Graham.htm >>
VVVVVVVVVV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu> 1
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Hudson, Lucy, 03:39 PM 11/30/00, RE: Gary Graham's age
X-From_: lhudson@aspensys.com Thu Nov 30 15:39:52 2000
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
From: "Hudson, Lucy" <lhudson@aspensys.com>
To: "'Rebecca Petersen'" <RPETERSEN@utsa.edu>
Cc: "'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"'garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov'" <garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov>,
"Altman, Robert"
<raltman@aspensys.com>,
"'v-streib@onu.edu'" <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: RE: Gary Graham's age
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 15:39:37 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21)
Dr. Petersen:
I will look into this and get back to you.
Lucy Hudson
----- Original Message-----
From: Rebecca Petersen [mailto:RPETERSEN@utsa. edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 3:32 PM
To: 'Hudson, Lucy'
Cc: 'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'; 'garrye@ojp.usdoj.gov'; Altman, Robert;
'v-streib@onu.edu'
Subject: RE: Gary Graham's age
I have seen his date of birth as both 1960 and 1963.
I received this information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
See here:
http: //www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/000696.
KKK KK KK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKKKKKKE
Rebecca D. (Becky) Petersen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Criminal Justice
University of Texas-San Antonio
6900 North Loop, 1604 West
San Antonio, TX 78249-0655
(210) 458-5602
rpetersen@utsa.edu
----- Original Message-----
From: Hudson, Lucy [SMTP:lhudson@aspensys.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 2:27 PM
To: 'rpetersen@utsa.edu'
Cc: 'callagha@ojp.usdoj.gov'; 'garrye@ojp.usdoj}.gov'; Altman, Robert;
'y-streib@onu.edu'
Subject: Gary Graham's age
Dear Dr. Petersen:
I received your inquiry about Gary Graham's age. I researched my source
documents to discover why we claimed Graham was 17 at the time of the
crime.
He was born on September 5, 1963, not 1960, according to his own
statements
(see attached Internet letter from him) and according to The Juvenile
Death
Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes, January
1, 1973 - June 30, 2000, an ongoing compendium of such information
maintained by Professor Victor Streib. He lists Graham as a juvenile at
the
time of his death row crime. An article in the Washington Post on the day
following Graham's execution listed him as 17 at the time of the crime.
VVVVVVVVVVV VV VV VV VV VV VV
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streibf@onu.edu>
Hudson, Lucy, 03:39 PM 11/30/00, RE: Gary Graham's age
VVVVVVVVVVVV VV
Please share with me the source of your information about Graham's date of
birth.
<<Save Gary Graham.htm>>
Lucy Hudson
Project Manager
Juvenile Justice Resource Center
2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K
Rockville, MD 20850
301-519-5447
301-519-5600 (fax)
<< File: Save Gary Graham.htm >> |
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streibf@onu.edu> 2
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The Scotsman, June 24, 2000
Copyright 2000 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
The Scotsman
June 24, 2000, Saturday
SECTION: Pg. 14
LENGTH: 931 words
HEADLINE: HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF CONDEMNS EXECUTION
BYLINE: Stephanie Nebehay In Geneva And Jeff Franks In Huntsville
BODY:
THE UN human rights chief Mary Robinson said yesterday that the United States had disregarded
international conventions in executing Gary Graham for a crime he committed as a youth.
Ms Robinson, a former president of Ireland, also revealed that she had written to the Texas
governor, George W Bush, appealing for a stay of execution for Graham, who died protesting his
innocence after being administered a lethal injection on Thursday night.
"I believe the execution of Mr Graham ran counter to widely accepted international principles and to
the international community's expressed desire for the abolition of the death penalty," Ms Robinson
said.
A lawyer who has repeatedly opposed the death penalty especially for juvenile offenders, Ms
Robinson noted that Graham had been convicted of a murder committed when he was 17. That ran
counter to the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said.
The 36-year-old African-American, also Known as Shaka Sankofa, maintained to the end his
innocence in the 1981 crime in Houston.
Ms Robinson also released her letter to Mr Bush, dated Wednesday 21 June, which concluded:
"While I acknowledge the seriousness of the crime for which Mr Sankofa was convicted and feel the
deepest sympathy for the victim and his family, I urge you to exercise your authority to order a stay
of Mr Sankofa's execution."
The case sparked national debate in the US on Mr Bush's support for capital punishment. Mr Bush,
the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, is under fire for the 135 executions that have
taken place in Texas in the five years he has been governor. He said he backed Graham's execution
and believed that justice was being done because Graham was guilty.
Graham fought the guards who took him to the execution chamber and his final words before a
lethal injection took effect were defiant: "They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me
tonight."
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In an angry, rambling, six-minute-long statement that called on black Americans to resist
"genocide" by the state of Texas, Graham, an African -American, maintained his innocence in the
1981 murder of Bobby Lambert, 53.
"This is a lynching. I did not kill Bobby Lambert," he said, comparing himself to the black leaders
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, jun. "We will have 100 more years of this kind of lynching if we
do not do something fast."
"I was chosen for this genocide. This is part of the genocide we as black people have endured in
America," he added, according to reporters allowed to witness the execution.
Graham resisted prison guards who took him from his cell. In a highly unusual move, witnesses said
Graham was handcuffed to the trolley where the injections were delivered and his head was held in
restraints.
State prison spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said, "True to his word he did resist ... It took about 30
seconds to remove him from the cell and maybe an additional 60 seconds to strap him to the
gurney."
His execution was watched by the civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and by a
tearful Bianca Jagger, the former wife of rock singer Mick Jagger and an activist with Amnesty
International. "I wept uncontrollably. I was witnessing a state-organised murder," Mr Jackson told
CNN afterward.
Mr Bush told reporters at the state capitol in Austin yesterday: "After considering all of the facts I'm
confident justice is being done. May God bless the victims and the families of the victims and God
bless Mr Graham," Mr Bush said.
Mr Bush, who under Texas law could not intervene in the execution, said the board "thoroughly
reviewed" the case before giving it its stamp of approval.
Ms Robinson said the Convention on the Rights of the Child forbade carrying out the death penalty
for crimes committed by youths. She added the pact, ratified by 191 countries, was "one of the most
universally ratified human rights instruments".
The US has signed but not ratified it but Ms Robinson said in her letter to Bush that as a signatory,
the US was "obliged not to violate the spirit and intent of the treaty”.
"The Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly stipulates that capital punishment shall not be
imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age.
"The overwhelming international consensus that the death penalty shall not apply to juvenile
offenders stems from the recognition that young persons lack maturity and judgment and thus
cannot be expected to be fully responsible for their actions.
"More importantly, it reflects the belief that children and juveniles are more susceptible to change
and thus have a greater potential for rehabilitation than adults," she added.
Mr Bush noted that Graham admitted to "at least ten armed robberies of 13 victims," two of them
shot and one kidnapped and raped at gunpoint and had brought his case before 33 judges prior to
his execution.
Graham was sentenced to die for the 1981 shooting of Mr Lambert outside a Houston grocery store
largely on the testimony of a single eyewitness.
Graham's last-minute flurry of appeals ended when two courts, including the US supreme court,
refused his final bid for a stay of execution.
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The supreme court, by a 5-4 vote, turned down Graham's request for a stay of execution anda
federal jud
board ong
ge in Austin, Texas, later rejected defence lawyers' attempts to sue the state's parole
rounds that it had violated Graham's civil rights. At that point, Graham's lawyers gave up
their legal fight. - Reuters
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Terms: gary graham and date(geq (06/21/2000) and leq (06/24/2000)) (Edit Search)
s Limited
2000 Times Newspap
The Times (London)
—
June 23, 2000, Friday
SECTION: Overseas news
LENGTH: 699 words
HEADLINE: Death row killer's final pleas fail
BYLINE: Ian Brodie in Washington
BODY:
Gary Graham was waiting to die early today after all last-minute legal moves failed and the Texas
Governor, George W. Bush cleared the way for his execution to go ahead.
The execution had been put on hold minutes before he was due to die last night, after the US
Supreme Court narrowly rejected Graham's plea to intervene in a case that provoked national
controversy because he was convicted on the evidence of one eyewitness and was at the mercy of
Mr Bush, who is running for President.
The justices voted 5-4 to turn down his request for a stay of execution, causing a postponement of
ten minutes beyond the appointed time for his death by lethal injection for a 1981 murder that
Graham claimed he did not commit. Graham had been due to die at midnight British time.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also rejected a final plea from Graham's lawyers that he was
convicted on shaky evidence and had had an inept defence lawyer.
Even then, there was yet one more appeal to come in the case for which Graham was sentenced for
shooting a man outside a Houston supermarket during a robbery when he was 17.
It was a Civil action against the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had earlier denied
Graham, 36, a temporary reprieve or a commutation of his sentence, leaving Mr Bush no option but
to let the execution go forward.
Mr Bush was legally powerless to stop the execution once the board had voted against any halt. He
said he was upholding "the law of the land". |
The Texas Attorney-General's office said that if the new motion could not be resolved before
midnight there would be an automatic 30-day delay, but in the end that, too, failed.
Graham had said he would fight "like hell" against his executioners. Indeed, he did struggle violently
as guards tried to move him to a holding cell next to the execution chamber, but as the hours wore
on yesterday, he was more calm, pacing the room and turning down the offer of a last meal of his
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choosing.
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Fifteen more men are due to be executed in Texas before the election, an average of almost one a
week, meaning that capital punishment will not go away as a volatile campaign issue. The Bush
camp will "spin" the issue as evidence of his showing strong leadership. His political foes will
question the quality of Texas justice and the risks of innocent men dying.
Among the demonstrators massing outside the prison in Huntsville were rival groups of the New
Black Panthers, calling for clemency, and a handful of Ku Klux Klan who supported the death
penalty. Some of the crowd were armed, which is not illegal in Texas, but police tried to break up
the protests. .
Before returning to the quiet of his office at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, Mr Bush, the Republican
presidential candidate, had talked sombrely about the Graham case during a campaign stop in Los
Angeles after days of being heckled by opponents of capital punishment.
"The reason I support the death penalty is because I believe it saves lives," he said. "The death
penalty is not an easy subject for a lot of folks, but I'm going to uphold the laws of the land and if it
costs me politically, it costs me politically." Although support for the death penalty is softening, two
thirds of Americans are in favour and Mr Bush's lead over Al Gore, his Democratic opponent, is
increasing. It was 49 to 41 per cent in a poll yesterday by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News.
Mr Bush reiterated that as far as he was concerned there had not been one innocent person
executed during his governorship, a period of 5 1/2 years in which 134 people have been put to
death, by far a modern-day record for any state.
The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights activist, criticised Mr Bush, saying the Graham case
contradicted his presidential campaign message of "compassionate conservatism". Appearing with
Mr Jackson at a news conference in Houston was Bianca Jagger, representing Amnesty
International. "The death penalty is being applied in the United States as a fatal lottery," she said.
LINKS
www.essential.org/orgs/dpic/ Death Penalty Information Centre
www.tdcj.state.tx.us/ Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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une 23, 2000
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
# View Related Topics
June 23, 2000, Friday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 5; National Desk
LENGTH: 1807 words
HEADLINE: WITH BUSH ASSENT, INMATE IS EXECUTED
BYLINE: By FRANK BRUNI with JIM YARDLEY
DATELINE: AUSTIN, Tex., June 22
BODY:
With Gov. George W. Bush's backing and his somberly stated belief that "justice is being done,"
the State of Texas tonight executed Gary Graham, who had been convicted for the 1981 murder of
a man outside a Houston supermarket.
The execution was carried out even though 5 of the 18 members of the Bush-appointed parole board
argued against it and the United States Supreme Court divided sharply over the issue, declining to
review the case by a 5-to-4 vote.
When the moment of Mr. Graham's execution finally arrived, Mr. Bush did not merely issue a written
statement but spoke to a crowd of reporters in a solemn voice that contradicted his often
light-hearted nature. His facial expression and his words matched his tone.
"This is a responsibility I take very seriously," Mr. Bush said, reading from a statement, "because
the final determination of innocence or guilt is among the most profound and serious decisions a
person can make. I recognize that there are good people who oppose the death penalty. I have
heard their message and I respect their heartfelt point of view."
Then he recited a series of heinous crimes attributed to Mr. Graham and noted that Mr. Graham had
confessed to some of them. He said Mr. Graham's case, over the 19 years since the murder for
which he was executed, had been reviewed "more than 20 times by state and federal courts" and by
33 judges. Mr. Graham had neared an execution in 1993 but was granted a reprieve by Gov. Anne
Richards, a Democrat.
And he said he backed the board's vote this afternoon to authorize the execution. "After considering
all the facts," he said, "I'm confident that justice is being done."
The Graham case attracted a remarkable amount of national and even international attention, for
many reasons.
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Questions arose about the testimony of the sole witness in the case as well as the fact that his
court-appointed lawyer provided only a nominal defense. In addition, several jurors later expressed
doubt that they would have convicted him if they had been aware of certain facts and testimony
during the trial.
Many legal experts cast Mr. Graham's case as a perfect example of all that was wrong with the
judicial system and the death penalty, though many others noted that his appeals were been lodged
in dozens of courts and been considered by an even larger number of judges as he avoided
execution for nearly two decades.
Mr. Graham's execution was delayed nearly two hours as his lawyers mounted last-minute appeals
that took state officials by surprise.
Mr. Graham, 36, died at 8:49 p.m. central time, becoming the 135th person put to death in Texas
since Mr. Bush became governor five and a half years ago. That statistic, combined with Mr. Bush's
prominence as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, partly explained why the case |
received such scrutiny from news organizations. |
Earlier in the week, Mr. Bush had said that if the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles authorized Mr.
Graham's execution, he had no power to grant Mr. Graham a reprieve, an interpretation of Texas
law with which some legal experts disagreed. But Mr. Bush made no mention of that tonight as he
endorsed the board's decision.
His demeanor suggested a sensitivity not only to the passions that Mr. Graham's case had inflamed
but also to his own need to project an impression of approaching such responsibilities with the
utmost thoughtfulness and seriousness. Mr. Bush's campaign advisers said they are conscious of and
have discussed the importance of his tone and bearing when discussing the death penalty, but they
said his decisions in each case were never subjected to political considerations and were entirely his
own.
And, indeed, there is little evidence that Mr. Bush's fervent advocacy of the death penalty carries
any political risks. Though recent polls have shown some softening in public support of the death
penalty, the surveys also show that roughly two-thirds of Americans still favor it.
"T don't think the ground has shifted remarkably," said Linda DiVall, a Republican pollster. "I don't
think he's got any problem. I think he's showing the proper sensitivity."
Mr. Graham's execution had been scheduled for 7 p.m. after the pardons board declined by a vote of
12 to 5 to grant a request for clemency and the Supreme Court declined to hear a last-minute
appeal.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M.
Kennedy and Clarence Thomas voted to reject the appeal. Justices John Paul Stevens, David H.
Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer voted to order the execution postponed.
A third appeal was denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in Texas. But
just before 7, Mr. Graham's lawyers filed still another one, this time a civil lawsuit against the board
of pardons. Though it, too, was ultimately rejected by Judge James Nowlin of Federal District Court,
the legal maneuver caused yet another delay.
Judge Nowlin called the civil action "an extremely tardy effort to delay the execution."
As the appeals worked through the courts, Mr. Graham remained in a holding cell only steps from
the death chamber, accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Bianca
Jagger, a representative of Amnesty International.
Mr. Graham made a statement before his execution. "I die fighting for what I believed in. The truth
will come out," he said. His final words were: "They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me."
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He died with one eye shut, one eye open, looking at Rev. Jackson. He appeared to have resisted. He
had a bruise on his arm and his head restraint had come off. He was handcuffed to the gurney.
As Mr. Graham was led out of his cell at 8:20 p.m., five guards struggled to subdue him and needed
a full minute to get him strapped to his gurney, said to Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.
Bobby Hanners, a witness to the execution and grandson of the victim, said, "My heart goes out to
the Graham family as they begin the grieving process. I also pray that Gary Graham has made
peace with God but I truly believe justice has been served."
The board of pardons authorized Mr. Graham's execution today despite clear disagreement among
the 17 members who voted today, 5 of whom recommended that Mr. Graham's sentence be
commuted to life in prison. On the separate matter of whether Mr. Graham should be given a
conditional pardon, all 17 members voted no. Only a simple majority of board members is required
to allow an execution to proceed.
David R. Dow, a professor of law at the University of Houston, said the last-minute uncertainty that
descended over Mr. Graham's execution reflected how sophisticated his lawyers were and how
sensitive Mr. Bush and the State of Texas were to the intensity of attention to the case.
Under different circumstances, Mr. Dow said, the state might have gone ahead with the execution,
because Mr. Graham's lawyers had already exhausted all the traditional arguments in all the usual
venues.
The case also came as the capital punishment debate deepens, provoked by advances in DNA
technology, studies that question the fairness with which the death penalty is administered and the
emergence of Mr. Bush, who presides over a state that executes more inmates than any other, as a
presidential candidate.
The governor had maintained that he was treating this case no differently than any other and that
any action taken or not taken would be impervious to political considerations, immune to protests
and unaffected by a campaign that has pivoted on his self-portrayal as a sensitive, compassionate
conservative.
"It's not a lot of hand-wringing," said one adviser. "But everyone recognizes that the environment
has changed now that he's running for president." The adviser added that there was some concern
-- though not too much yet -- that the attention to the death penalty was at times eclipsing other
Campaign issues.
Had Mr. Bush taken any kind of action to stop Mr. Graham's death, it would have been the second
time this month that he had intervened to halt an execution in defiance of the board's
recommendation. Before June 1, he had never done so, although he did concur in 1998 with the
board's vote to commute the death sentence of Henry Lee Lucas, a confessed serial killer, to life in
prison.
Several political analysts said one challenge before Mr. Bush was not to come across as vulnerable
to public pressures or unsteady in his convictions. Mr. Bush has repeatedly assailed Vice President Al
Gore as someone who bends too readily with the political winds.
"The most important thing for him to do is remain consistent," said Don Sipple, a Republican
strategist. Mr. Sipple said he believed it was voters' impressions of Mr. Bush's constancy that
explained the high marks he received in many recent opinion polls for his leadership skills.
Several analysts said public support for the death penalty was strong enough for Mr. Bush to rest
assured that he was on the right side of the issue. Mr. Gore also supports the death penalty and has
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been reticent to challenge Mr. Bush on the brisk rate of executions in Texas.
Under Texas law, the governor has extremely limited discretion if the board authorizes an execution.
All the governor can do under those circumstances is grant the inmate a one-time reprieve of 30
days, though that time often grows as the inmate undertakes new court appeals.
But Mr. Bush said that in this case he could not do even that. A 64-year old clause in the Texas
Constitution says that the governor "shall have the power to grant one reprieve in any capital case,"
and only one reprieve. Mr. Bush and lawyers for the state have interpreted that to mean that
because Governor Richards had granted Mr. Graham the reprieve in 1993, Mr. Bush was unable to.
But other legal experts said the constitution could be interpreted as permitting one reprieve per
governor, not per inmate. "It's plain old ambiguous," said Mr. Dow, noting that no court in Texas
had ever considered the language.
Mr. Graham was convicted for the May 13, 1981, murder of Bobby Lambert in the parking lot of a
Houston grocery store. His conviction provoked little fanfare at the time, but his case gradually
attracted the attention of death penalty opponents.
His advocates argued that Mr. Graham's trial lawyer, Ronald Mock, put up a lackluster defense and
scarcely investigated the case. No physical evidence linked Mr. Graham to the scene, and ballistics
tests found that a .22 revolver confiscated from him did not match the murder weapon. His
conviction rested on the testimony of a woman sitting in her car, Bernadine Skillern, who saw the
killer as he confronted and shot Mr. Lambert about 30 feet away.
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Photos: Protesters against the death penalty gathered outside the Texas death chamber
in Huntsville yesterday as lawyers desperately sought to spare the convicted killer Gary Graham
from execution. (F. Carter Smith/Corbis Sygma for The New York Times); "I'm confident that justice
is being done," Gov. George W. Bush said. (Associated Press); Gary Graham (pg. A18)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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The Washington Post, June 23, 2000
Copyright 2000 Zhe Washington Post ~~
The Washington Post
* View Related Topics
June 23, 2000, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A0O1
LENGTH: 1274 words
HEADLINE: Texas Executes Graham After Appeals Fail; Death Penalty Case Dogs Bush In His Bid
for Presidency
BYLINE: Paul Duggan , Washington Post Staff Writer
DATELINE: HUNTSVILLE, Tex., June 22
BODY:
Texas executed Gary Graham tonight, 19 years after he was implicated in a murder by one witness,
a stranger who said she glimpsed his face during a robbery. The state pardons board denied him
clemency earlier in the day, sealing Graham's fate in a life-or-death legal drama that played out
against the backdrop of Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign.
Graham, who had vowed not to go quietly to his death, kept his word. Officials said it took 30
seconds for five corrections officers to haul him out of a holding cell in the death house at the state
prison here, and about a minute to carry him into the lethal injection chamber a few steps away. He
was strapped to the gurney with extra restraints and, after his angry, rambling, six-minute final
statement, the chemicals flowed.
"You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't stop the revolution," Graham said. "The revolution will
go on... you are the people that must carry that revolution on in order to liberate our children
from this genocide and from what is happening here in America tonight."
Graham, who again proclaimed his innocence tonight, was pronounced dead at 8:49 p.m. local time,
ending his nearly two decades on death row and closing one of the most contentious death penalty
cases of Bush's 5 1/2-year tenure.
"After considering all the facts, I am confident justice is being done," Bush said at the state Capitol
in Austin shortly before the exection, which was delayed for about 2 1/2 hours by a last-ditch flurry
of appeals by Graham. "May God bless the victims of these crimes, their families and Mr. Graham,"
Bush said.
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Graham was 17 in 1981 when Houston police charged him in the shooting death of a man during a
stickup in a grocery store parking lot. Defended at his trial by an allegedly incompetent attorney,
Graham was convicted solely on the testimony of a woman who said she saw the killer's face for a
few seconds through her car windshield. Opponents of capital punishment say Graham's case belied
Bush's frequent assertion that Texas's vigorous death-penalty system is fair and mistake-free.
The state Board of Pardons and Paroles voted this afternoon not to recommend clemency for the
36-year-old Graham. Without such a recommendation from the board--which consists of Bush
appointees--the governor was legally powerless to stop the execution.
|
Board Chairman Gerald Garrett said members "are fully aware of the responsibility we have in
rendering our votes as part of the executive clemency review process. I can say, unequivocally, that
the board's decision not to recommend clemency was reached after a complete and unbiased review
of [Graham's] petition and evidence submitted."
Had a majority of the pardons board voted in Graham's favor, the case would have landed on the
governor's desk, forcing him to make a difficult political choice.
By agreeing with a clemency recommendation and sparing Graham, Bush might have appeared to
be giving in to anti-death penalty activists who have made Graham's case a cause celebre in a
growing campaign to abolish capital punishment. By disregarding the board's pro-clemency vote
and allowing the execution to take place, Bush might have been accused of stubbornly acting
against the interests of justice.
Bush, the presumptive Republican nominee, was dogged by anti-death penalty protesters during a
three-day California campaign swing this week.
"I support the board's decision," Bush said in a brief public appearance in which he did not answer
questions. "Mr. Graham has had full and fair access to the state and federal courts," including the
U.S. Supreme Court, which voted 5 to 4 tonight not to halt the execution.
After visiting with Graham earlier today, Jesse L. Jackson said that Bush should have exerted
influence on the pardons board in Graham's favor. Noting that the 18 members owe their $
80,000-a-year jobs to the governor, Jackson said "a nod" from Bush to the board could have
resulted in a vote for clemency. Bush's office has denied he has such influence.
Jackson said he and other Graham supporters sought a meeting with Bush, to no avail. "The
governor will not accept our calls," he said.
Jackson was among the witnesses to Graham's execution tonight, along with Al Sharpton, a civil
rights activist and founder of the National Action Network; and Bianca Jagger, an anti-death penalty
activist and a former wife of rock star Mick Jagger. Other witnesses said Graham's final statement
was an angry tirade against a racist justice system and the "genocide" of black people.
"This death, this lynching, will be avenged," he said in portraying himself the victim of a wrongful
execution. "It must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder."
Not since Karla Faye Tucker's execution on Feb. 3, 1998, drew worldwide attention and a crush of
protesters to Huntsville had a Texas death row prisoner been the focus of as much public debate as
Graham has in recent days.
In the case of Tucker, the first woman put to death in Texas since the Civil War, the major issue was
philosophical--whether the state should execute an admitted killer who committed her crime while
addicted to drugs, then was Spiritually reborn on death row.
Graham's case highlighted issues that are central to the larger debate over capital punishment
nationally, including what death penalty foes contend is the unreliability of eyewitness testimony in
many trials, the incompetence of court-appointed lawyers for many capital defendants, and the
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unfairness of recent laws meant to speed condemned inmates through the appeals process.
Graham's 19-year-old case reached its climax during the presidential campaign, when Texas's death
penalty system, by far the busiest in nation, has been under a news media microscope for months.
Graham's execution was the 222nd in Texas since capital punishment was restored in 1976, and the
135th execution since Bush took office Jan. 17, 1995.
Bush has repeatedly said he is confident that no innocent prisoner has been executed here during
his tenure, prompting reporters to scour Texas's death penalty records. Graham's supporters say
neither a judge nor jury fairly reviewed evidence of his innocence.
The testimony of one witness led to his conviction. She picked Graham out of a police lineup and
identified him as the killer after he was arrested for unrelated crimes. He later pleaded guilty to
committing 10 armed street stickups and shooting two people in May 1981, but always denied
committing the parking lot killing, which occurred that May 13.
Two other witnesses, both employees of the grocery store, were never called to testify at the trial or
even interviewed by Graham's court-appointed trial lawyer. In affidavits accompanying Graham's
clemency petition, both witnesses said they have since looked at Graham's 1981 mug shot and are
certain he was not the assailant.
Because their accounts came to light more than a decade after the crime, appeals courts declined to
hear them, citing recent Texas and federal laws that were meant to speed death penalty appeals.
Those laws greatly restrict the introduction of new evidence in such appeals.
On one corner outside the prison, about 400 protesters, many of them behind the banner of the
United National Black Front, listened as speakers denounced Bush. "Free Shaka Sankofa!" they
chanted, using the African name that Graham adopted on death row. About 100 yards away, a few
dozen Ku Klux Klan members and sympathizers, some hooded and robed in white, some in
camouflage, some waving Confederate battle flags, cheered for Graham's end.
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Los Angeles Times June 23, 2000, Friday,
€ 2000 Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
* View Related Topics
June 23, 2000, Friday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 10; National Desk
LENGTH: 1456 words
HEADLINE: TEXAS EXECUTES CONVICTED MURDERER IN CASE SURROUNDED BY CONTROVERSY;
CRIME: A DEFIANT GARY GRAHAM DIES AFTER SEVERAL LAST-MINUTE APPEALS FAIL. HIS
CONVICTION SPARKED NATIONAL DEBATE AND BECAME AN ISSUE IN GOV. BUSH'S CAMPAIGN.
BYLINE: CLAUDIA KOLKER and MEGAN GARVEY, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: HUNTSVILLE, Texas
BODY:
Gary Graham, declaring, "This is what happens to black men in America," died by lethal
injection Thursday night after a protracted last-ditch legal battle and clear evidence of a struggle
before he entered the death chamber.
At the end of a sultry, anxious day on which the Texas parole board refused to block his execution,
Graham, 36, was put to death at 8:49 p.m. CDT.
He had galvanized international attention with his claim of innocence, which mushroomed into a
major political issue in Gov. George W. Bush's campaign for president.
Observed by supporters of his victim and anti-death penalty activists, including the Rev. Jesse
Jackson, Graham entered the room bound by black Velcro wrist restraints, handcuffs and a head
restraint that fell loose as he spoke. "It was very obvious from the way he looked that he put up a
struggle," an Associated Press pool reporter said.
Graham gave a final rambling, angry statement, insisting he did not kill Bobby Lambert near a
Houston supermarket 19 years ago. Facing Lambert's grandson from his gurney, he urged
supporters to take his case to an international tribunal, calling his execution a lynching that was
"part of the genocide .. . that we as black people have endured in America."
Fixing his gaze on Jackson, Graham finally was injected. One eye remained open after he died.
"Texas is not a safer state tonight," said Jackson afterward. "Ours is not a safer nation. This way of
solving problems is barbaric."
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Down the street, behind wooden barriers, about 500 protesters received the news as police
helicopters roared over head. Although a few members of the group had vowed violence if Graham
were executed, the crowd instead seemed stunned and dejected.
Graham's lawyers filed appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals, but both turned him down. That led to another appeal to a federal judge in Austin, delaying
the execution past its scheduled time of 4 p.m. CDT.
More than two hours after Graham had been scheduled to die, Gov. Bush, looking tired and serious,
repeated previous statements he has made about his mandate to uphold the laws of his state,
saying the "final determination of guilt or innocence is among the most profound and serious
decisions a governor can make."
Bush then reviewed the facts of Graham's case, from the jury's decision in 1981 to his lengthy
appeals, and said he supported the decision of the parole board to allow the execution to take place.
"After considering all the facts, I am confident justice is being done," Bush told reporters in Austin.
"May God bless the victims and the families of the victims and may God bless Mr. Graham."
Graham, the focus of debate from political candidates, pro- and anti-death penalty activists,
celebrities and public officials, had vowed to "fight like hell" en route to his execution. He resisted
transportation to the death house Wednesday night so fiercely it took several officers to shackle him.
The U.S. Supreme Court--by a vote of 5 to 4--denied a clemency petition for Graham, submitted
immediately after the parole board issued its decision. Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer would have granted a stay, the court said.
Graham's attorneys made a vain effort to halt the execution through a civil suit filed against the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, alleging that the secret practices of the board, which meets
behind closed doors, violated Graham's civil rights. Such an appeal has been tried before in a
handful of Texas cases--the last time before a 1998 execution--although none has succeeded.
After a U.S. district judge dismissed the suit, officials from the Texas attorney general's office
contacted Graham's attorneys and were told they planned no further appeals.
In the late afternoon, a crowd of about 500--including students, black activists, barefoot young
people and a few protesters with face paint and masks--milled around outside the imposing brick
prison here. Police using crime tape and wooden barriers kept the partisans separated.
Present at the prison were about 20 Ku Klux Klan members. At one point, a group of several
hundred, including the New Black Panthers and the New Black Muslims, some carrying registered
weapons, strode down a street and gathered at the edge of downtown. Protesters chanted "Free
Shaka Sankofa!"--the name Graham adopted to reflect his African heritage. In the late afternoon,
some demonstrators rushed a police barricade; police in riot gear arrested six people.
The issue is not likely to disappear: Texas is scheduled to execute an average of one man a week
through election day, and a new poll this week showed that public opinion in the state has begun to
shift.
On Thursday, the state's 18-member Pardons and Paroles Board, reviewing juror affidavits and an
array of other information, voted against a stay of execution, commutation to a life sentence or a
pardon for Graham.
The Bush-appointed board voted 14 to 3 against a reprieve, 12 to 5 against commutation to a life
sentence and 17 to 0 against a conditional pardon. One member of the 18-member board was on
administrative leave and did not vote.
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"I can say, unequivocally, that the board's decision not to recommend clemency was reached after a
complete and unbiased review of the petition and evidence submitted," board Chairman Gerald
Garrett said, hours before the execution was to take place.
In Graham's case, the pro-death penalty Bush has been unable to exercise even his limited powers
of clemency. A Texas governor may only grant one 30-day stay of execution in any given case,
though the governor may grant commutations of sentences or pardons with the recommendation of
the state board. But former Gov. Ann Richards had already granted Graham a 30-day stay, so Bush
could not take part in this week's decision, his staff said.
Arrested for the 1981 murder of 53-year-old Lambert, Graham was convicted largely on the
testimony of a single eyewitness. Since then, although that woman has emphasized her certainty of
Graham's guilt, other witnesses not included in Graham's trial have contradicted her description of
the killer.
This week, three of the jurors who condemned Graham to death signed affidavits saying they would
have voted differently if they had seen the full range of evidence. Graham pleaded guilty to 10
robberies but said he was innocent of the murder.
In the hours leading to the execution, Graham refused meals but met with Jackson, whom he
designated as his spiritual advisor. He also met with his stepmother and Bianca Jagger of Amnesty
International.
In the weeks before his death, Graham's fate seemed to crystallize a whole spectrum of
controversies. Virtually unreported when it was handed down, the death sentence came in the
middle of the bloodiest year in Houston history, with 701 murders. Other Texas death row inmates
have been executed this year, but Graham's case had long been adopted by the anti-death row
community.
In addition, Graham's sentence soared into public awareness as supporters publicized new doubts
about the witness testimony and Bush voiced total confidence in the 134 executions conducted in his
5 1/2-year tenure.
Vice President Al Gore, pro-death penalty but largely silent on the Graham issue in recent weeks,
offered a guarded commentary Thursday. During a campaign swing through the Minneapolis-St.
Paul area, Gore once again refused to comment on the impending Texas execution, adding that he
would support governors who temporarily suspend the death penalty if evidence of errors surface.
"T've always assumed that the mistaken convictions were extremely rare. .. ," Gore said. "Even
those of us who support the death penalty have an obligation to say, 'Hey, let's make sure this is
applied appropriately and correctly.’
"Because if it's not, it's not only the horrible tragedy of somebody innocent being executed, it's also
a tragedy to have the person who actually committed the crime still loose and posing a threat to the
public."
In Texas, a majority of residents believe the state has executed an innocent person, according to a
Scripps Howard poll published Thursday. The survey showed that 57% believe the state has
mistakenly put someone to death and 87% believe death row inmates should have free access to
DNA tests that might exonerate them.
Yet, like the governor, 73% of those surveyed strongly favor the death penalty. Nationally, support
for capital punishment has fallen to 66%, the lowest level in 19 years, according to a separate
Survey.
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Times staff writer Matea Gold, with the Gore campaign, contributed to this story.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Gary Graham's daughter Deidra Hawkins cries after parole board vote.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Associated Press
LANGUAG
E: English
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THE STATESMAN (INDIA) June 23, 2000
Copyright 2000 FT Asia Intelligence Wire
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2000 The Statesman (India).
THE STATESMAN (INDIA)
June 23, 2000
LENGTH: 608 words
HEADLINE: Texas executes black convict, ignores protests
BODY:
WASHINGTON, June 23. - A Black man, who was the focus of an international campaign against the
death penalty, drawing protests from celebrities and activists, was executed in Texas yesterday
evening after exhausting all avenues for a pardon.
Gary Graham was convicted for the 1981 murder of a man in a Houston supermarket parking lot
based on a single eyewitness's account, and with no physical evidence.
During a day's flurry of appeals and reviews, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which ha
s the
power to recommend his pardon to state Governor George W Bush, first rejected his appeal at 2
p.m. This was followed by rejections by a federal judge and the US Supreme Court, which turned
down his appeal by a 5-4 decision.
Graham's case was reviewed over 20 times by various courts over his 19 years in prison. The
desperate attempts to stay the execution yesterday delayed his death by more than two hours.
was put to death at 8:49 p.m.
He
Graham proclaimed his innocence right up to the moment he was put to death by lethal injection at
Huntsville, widely known as the execution capital of the world. Texas has executed more people than
any other state in the USA, with 221 deaths since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty in 1976.
Graham, 36, was the 135th person to be put to death in Texas since Mr Bush became Governor
five-and-a-half years ago.
Although Mr Bush's supporters have been insisting that the execution will not make any difference to
his candidacy for President, others point out that the country's growing opposition to death pen
will put him at a disadvantage in the presidential race.
alty
After Graham's appeals were exhausted, Mr Bush told reporters in Austin that he had an oath to
uphold the laws of the state. "This is a responsibility I take very seriously because the final
determination of innocence or guilt is among the most profound and serious decisions a person
make," he said.
Can
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The high-profile case had several celebrities opposed to the death penalty lining up on Mr Graham's
side, including actress Susan Sarandon who won an Oscar in 1995 for her role in the movie Dead
Man Walking about a death row inmate. Other celebrities sat in on the execution, including Rev.
Jesse Jackson and actress Bianca Jagger who represented the human rights group Amnesty
International. Mr Jackson, who prayed with Graham earlier in the day, said he "wept uncontrollably"
through the execution. Mr Graham's stepmother and some journalists were also present at the
execution.
Two Associated Press journalists gave a chilling description of the execution as it was carried out. Mr
Graham, they said, insisted he was innocent until the last minute, likening the execution to a
lynching and called the death penalty a holocaust for Black Americans.
"This is murder," he said. "I die fighting for what I believed in. The truth will come out." Mr Graham
died with his eyes on Rev. Jackson who prayed with him in his final moments, they said.
Graham kept his word to "fight to the end". The journalists who witnessed the execution noticed he
was tied up with Velcro belts and was handcuffed A witness even reported to have seen bruises on
his hands, obvious signs of resistance.The biggest argument against the death penalty comes from
DNA testing - since it was introduced in the '80s, 87 death row inmates have been found innocent of
the crimes they were to be executed for.
One such former death row inmate said five eyewitnesses had claimed he killed a girl in Baltimore
before he was declared innocent by DNA evidence.
DESIKAN THIRUNARAYANAPURAM, STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
LANGUAGE: English
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National Public Radio (NPR), June 23, 2000
Copyright 2000 rights reserved. No quotes from the materials
contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This
transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further
information, please contact NPR's Permissions Coordinator at (202) 414-2000.
National Public Radio (NPR)
View Related Topics
SHOW: MORNING EDITION (11:00 AM on ET)
June 23, 2000, Friday
LENGTH: 573 words
HEADLINE: EXECUTION OF GARY GRAHAM FOR MURDER HE CLAIMED HE DID NOT COMMIT
ANCHORS: BOB EDWARDS
REPORTERS: JANET HEIMLICH
BODY:
BOB EDWARDS, host:
This is NPR's MORNING EDITION. I'm Bob Edwards.
Last night, shortly before 9:00 Central time, and after nearly three hours of delays, the state of
Texas executed Gary Graham. Graham was convicted of fatally shooting a man outside a Houston
supermarket in 1981. No physical evidence connected him to the killing. The state instead relied on
the testimony of one eyewitness. Graham's case generated wide publicity. Civil rights groups and
celebrities from around the world rallied to his cause. Janet Heimlich reports how one of the longest
and most contentious death row cases in the nation came to a close.
JANET HEIMLICH reporting:
Throughout the 19 years that Gary Graham lived on death row, he always maintained he didn't kill
Bobby Lambert. Weeks before his execution day, Graham said he would fight prison officials if they
tried to execute him. When it was time to be taken to the death chamber, Graham had to be
securely restrained to the gurney. Larry Fitzgerald is with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Mr. LARRY FITZGERALD (Texas Department of Criminal Justice): True to his word, he did resist.
That resistance started at approximately 8:20. It took about 30 seconds to remove him from the cell
and maybe an additional 60 seconds to actually strap him to the gurney.
HEIMLICH: The Graham case has been particularly controversial. The quality of his defense at trial
has been questioned. For example, the attorney presented no witnesses prior to the sentencing
phase. Also, Graham's appeals lawyers have said that at least two people who were at the crime
scene Saw the killer and say it wasn't Graham.
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Outside the prison in Huntsville, where Graham was executed, thousands of protesters descended.
While there were no riots, six people were arrested for breaking through police lines. Outside the
mansion of Texas Governor George W. Bush, about a hundred and fifty people protested. One of
them, Rick Akin(ph), says he doesn't think all the evidence has been heard in the Graham case.
Mr. RICK AKIN (Protester): I think it's just ridiculous to think that there's not real reasonable doubt
as to this man's guilt, to put it mildly. And it offends me deeply that we, as a people, will sanction
the killing of an individual under those circumstances.
HEIMLICH: But Texas Attorney General John Cornyn maintains that Graham was guilty. An
eyewitness, Bernadine Skillern, who identified Graham as the killer, provided strong evidence for
the state. Cornyn doesn't put much stock in the people Graham's attorneys say could have cleared
him.
Mr. JOHN CORNYN (Texas Attorney General): Ms. Skillern is the only eyewitness who actually saw
Mr. Graham shoot Mr. Lambert. None of the other purported eyewitnesses actually saw that happen
by their own testimony. .
HEIMLICH: Still, some criticize Cornyn for how he handled the case in front of the media. His office
has admitted that some statements the attorney general made were inaccurate. One example is
what Cornyn stated on ABC's "Nightline."
(Soundbite from "Nightline")
Mr. CORNYN: Indeed, after Mr. Graham's lawyers identified these supposed eyewitnesses some 12
years after the trial in this case, they were heard by a judge in open court and found to lack
credibility.
HEIMLICH: In fact, those people have never been allowed to testify. The controversy surrounding
the Graham case has created a challenge for Bush. The presidential candidate has been forced to
defend the Texas criminal justice system and the way it deals with capital crimes. While on the
campaign trail recently, Bush has been heckled by death penalty opponents. But even though
Graham is dead, questions about the case are likely to fuel further criticism about how the state
carries out the ultimate punishment. Graham was the 135th person to be put to death under Bush's
watch and that pace isn't expected to slacken. The state plans to execute an average of one inmate
a week from now until Election Day. For NPR News, I'm Janet Heimlich in Austin.
LANGUAGE: English
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The Houston Chronicle June 23, 2000, Friday
Copyright 2000 The Houston ehranicie publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
* View Related Topics
June 23, 2000, Friday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1448 words
HEADLINE: Graham executed after struggle;
Inmate maintains his innocence to the end as appeals run out
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: SALATHEIA BRYANT, LISA TEACHEY, MIKE TOLSON, RONNIE CROCKER, JOHN W.
GONZALEZ, TONY FREEMANTLE, ALAN BERNSTEIN, STEVE LASH
DATELINE: HUNTSVILLE
BODY:
HUNTSVILLE - Gary Lee Graham, who transformed from just another death-row convict to a cause
celebre in the anti-death penalty movement, was executed by injection late Thursday after a day of
prison-side protests and a frenzied round of 11th-hour legal maneuvering.
"IT would like to say, I did not kill Bobby Lambert," Graham said in an angry, rambling six-minute
statement from the gurney. "I'm an innocent black man being murdered today. What is happening
here is an outrage."
Officials said Graham had to be taken by force from his cell and into the death chamber. During the
struggle, he tore the paper uniform he was forced to wear for refusing a strip search the day before.
He had an additional restraint around his head.
Covered with a white sheet, the 36-year-old inmate appeared nervous as he rushed through his final
statement. He was pronounced dead at 8:49 p.m. He died with one eye partially open, facing the
witnesses.
"My heart goes out to the Graham family, as they begin the grieving process," said Lambert's
grandson, Bobby Hanners, who witnessed the execution. "I also pray that Gary Graham has made
peace with God. But I truly feel that justice has been served."
After media and other witnesses entered the Huntsville Walls Unit, where the death chamber is
located, about 8:15 p.m., protesters began chanting, "Thou shalt not kill."
When the witnesses emerged afterward, shortly before 9 p.m., the crowd turned silent. Uniformed
officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety raised their riot shields and stepped toward
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them in a line. Behind them were Texas Department of Criminal Justice officers with visored
helmets, batons and plastic "flexicuffs."
Then the crowd turned suddenly toward the officers and began shouting, "Shaka was innocent" and
"Long live Shaka," using Graham's adopted name of Shaka Sankofa. One protester held a U.S. flag
upside-down. Another man, holding a large cardboard syringe, burned an effigy of Texas Gov.
George W. Bush and shouted, "Die, die, die."
The execution brought to a close a long-running legal drama and ended a difficult day for Houston
attorneys Richard Burr and Jack Zimmermann. Since 1993, the pair has worked to bring what they |
call new evidence before a jury.
In numerous appeals, they have attacked the eyewitness account of Bernadine Skillern, who was a
customer at the Safeway supermarket where the May 13, 1981, murder occurred. They also brought
forward witnesses to the crime who were not called to testify in the original trial.
At an afternoon news conference in Zimmermann's Galleria-area office, both men appeared
emotional.
"We as a state, because of human error, human frailty and no will to acknowledge our own frailty,
are about to put to death man who is innocent," Burr said. "There is no greater miscarriage of
justice, or travesty, or horror that a state can do to one of its citizens than this."
A strong majority of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused at midday to recommend
issuing a reprieve or commuting Graham's death sentence. The board unanimously rejected a
conditional pardon for Graham.
The Supreme Court later ruled 5-4 against a last-minute stay.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M.
Kennedy and Clarence Thomas voted to reject the appeal.
Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer voted to
order the execution postponed, presumably to give the court more time to consider his appeal.
But the execution was delayed more than two hours as attorneys filed a civil lawsuit in Austin, which
was denied.
Bush, forced into uncertain political territory by the Graham case, said he supported the parole
board's decision.
"He's had full and fair access to the courts," Bush said. "After considering all the facts, I'm sure
justice is being done. May God bless all the victims, and may God bless Mr. Graham."
For 19 years after Lambert's slaying, Graham steadfastly maintained his innocence. That ignited a
variety of legal challenges over the years and criticism of the Texas criminal-justice system.
On Thursday, it also sparked often-intense protest outside the death chamber at the Huntsville Walls
Unit.
Graham supporters and anti-death penalty protesters began gathering by 11 a.m. and sweltered in
the heat. They beat drums, chanted slogans and criticized Bush in a series of mostly peaceful
demonstrations throughout the afternoon.
Among the protesters was Deidra Hawkins, Graham's 19-year-old daughter, who is pregnant with
her second child, Graham's third-grandchitd:-She thanked her father's supporters and urged the
crowd, "Don't stop protesting because he's gone."
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About 6 p.m., the originally scheduled time of the execution, several protesters ran into a restricted
area directly in front of the prison waving flags and shouting "Free Shaka Sankofa." Eight people
were arrested; seven for disorderly conduct and one for aggravated assault of a public servant.
Witnesses for the victim were Hanners; Justice for All president Dianne Clements; Rick Sanford, a
1981 Graham robbery victim; and Roe Wilson, an appellate specialist with the Harris County district
attorney's office.
"This is the end of 19 years of legal battle, where Mr. Graham was vigorously and legally
represented," Wilson said afterward. "He was given every consideration for his claims. It was time
for this to be carried out."
It was Graham's eighth execution date, according to prison officials. He was the 23rd inmate
executed this year in Texas.
"We will prevail," Graham said before his death. "Keep marching. Black power. Keep marching.
Black power. They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight."
Then he went silent.
Witnessing the execution on Graham's behalf were Minister Robert Muhammad of the Nation of
Islam in Houston, his spiritual adviser; the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton; and celebrity
Bianca Jagger, a vocal foe of the death penalty. She left the execution in tears.
Earlier, Muhammad told supporters to think of the day as a celebration for Graham and nota
funeral.
"His life is not in vain. Through his life he has called the whole world to look at Texas. He represents
everything we've marched for, chanted for, lost our jobs for and got arrested for," Muhammad told
about 60 Houston protesters as the group prepared to board a bus for Huntsville at the SHAPE
Community Center.
"All of it has come down to this little boy born in Fifth Ward, Texas. The little high school dropout.
Through all of this, our brother has evolved into a freedom fighter."
On Wednesday night, Graham struggled briefly with five prison guards at the Terrell Unit in
Livingston when his visitation period ended at 5 p.m. Graham was surprised when officials began
shackling his wrists, ankles and waist to move him to the death house in Huntsville.
The move was a Surprise to Graham who thought he would be returning to his cell on death row in
Livingston.
"We were attempting to put that apparatus on him yesterday," said prison spokesman Larry
Fitzgerald. "But as soon as we unshackled his hands to move them from the back to the front that's
when he started to struggle."
Fitzgerald said five officers subdued Graham.
"The struggle was very short-lived. It probably was only a minute or so," Fitzgerald said. "We were
able to put the restraints on him. He was then carried to the van... We did not actually use an
extraction team because he never really got into the cell."
Fitzgerald said there was extra security as Graham was brought to Huntsville; the van carrying him
was escorted by state troopers and a helicopter. Graham arrived at the Huntsville Unit before 6:40
p.m.
Fitzgerald said Graham was checked immediately after the incident and was not injured. Graham
did not say anything during the struggle or on the drive to Huntsville.
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He refused every meal since breakfast Wednesday, requesting only coffee. He did not request a last
meal.
"He does not want to eat in fact on the table of those who would kill him," said Jackson, who visited
with Graham on Thursday and witnessed the execution.
Because Graham resisted the move his visitations were limited Thursday. In the morning he saw
family, spiritual advisers and a lawyer.
Under the clemency petition process for Graham the board considered a reprieve, commutation and
conditional pardon. The board voted 14-3 not to recommend a reprieve. It voted 12-5 not to
recommend commutation and 17-0 not to recommend a conditional pardon. Board member
Brendolyn Rogers-Johnson was on administrative leave because of a death in the family and did not
vote.
GRAPHIC: Photos: 1. Eloise McClendon of Huntsville reacts to news that the U.S. Supreme Court
did not grant a stay of execution for Gary Graham on Thursday. In the background, Quanell X,
leader of the New Black Muslim Movement, addresses demonstrators outside the prison complex in
Huntsville (color); Mugs: 2. Gary Graham (color); 3. Bobby Lambert (b/w, p. 16); 1. Christobal
Perez / Chronicle
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
NOTES: Chronicle reporters Lisa Teachey, Mike Tolson and Ronnie Crocker in Huntsville; John W.
Gonzalez in Austin; Tony Freemantle and Alan Bernstein in Houston; and Steve Lash in Washington
contributed to this story.
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The Dallas Morning News June 23, 2000, Friday
Copyright 2000 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Knight Rid i rvice
e Dallas Morning News
June 23, 2000, Friday
SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS
KR-ACC-NO: K3720
LENGTH: 1729 words
HEADLINE: After series of delays, Texas executes Gary Graham
BYLINE: By Pete Slover and George Kuempel
BODY:
HUNTSVILLE, Texas _ Gary Graham, who went from unknown Houston street criminal to
vociferous icon against the death penalty, was put to death Thursday evening after the Texas Board
of Pardons and Paroles, Gov. George W. Bush and the courts refused to stop his execution.
As hundreds of protesters gathered outside the prison walls, Graham, was pronounced dead at 8:49
p.m..
Handcuffed to the gurney after he refused to cooperate, Graham gave a six-minute final statement
described by a witness as "long, rambling and angry," in which he exorted his supporters to use any
means to fight what he called the "genocide" of black men through the death penalty.
"T died fighting for what I believe in and the truth is going to come out." said Graham, who made
reference to Nelson and Winnie Mandela and professed love to his family. "They are murdering me
tonight."
Before dying with one eye open, fixed in gaze at the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Graham ended his
discourse with the words, "They are murdering me tonight."
The execution was delayed more than two hours while U.S. District Judge James Nowlin in Austin
considered a last-minute writ filed by Graham's lawyers that challenged the earlier parole board
action.
The U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to intervene minutes
before Graham's original 6 p.m. execution time.
Graham became the 222nd person to be executed in Texas since the resumption of capital
punishment in 1976, the 23rd this year, and the 132nd during Bush's term as governor.
In a statement shortly before the execution was announced, Bush said Graham had the benefit of
"extensive due process," including reviews numerous judicial reviews.
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"After considering all of the facts, I am confident justice is being done," Bush said. "May God bless
the victims of these crimes, their families and Graham."
Graham and his supporters insisted to the end that he was not guilty and was wrongly convicted of
the 1981 shooting death and robbery of Bobby Grant Lambert, 53, of Tucson, Ariz., outside a
Houston supermarket.
From death row, Graham had helped manage a publicity campaign that won sympathy from
worldwide supporters, including high-profile activists and celebrities. With Bush running for
president, that effort had reached a previously unseen pitch, attracting a media army to Huntsville
to document the countdown.
Official accounts gave a minute-by-minute rundown of Graham's final day: when he ate, when he
sat on his mattress, when he visited with family, prison chaplain and friends. Even as Graham spent
some of his final hours pacing back and forth in his cell, the battle of words continued.
At an Austin news conference, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn thanked the board for its
deliberations and vote and discounted assertions of Graham's innocence.
"His claims have been reviewed over and over again during those 19 years since he was convicted of
killing Bobby Lambert. All of his claims have been found to be without merit," said Cornyn.
The witnesses to the execution included prison officials, five reporters and five people invited by
Graham: Jackson; anti-death penalty activist Bianca Jagger; the Rev. Al Sharpton; U.S. Rep. Sheila
Jackson Lee; and Minister Robert Muhammad. All of those witnesses were listed as "friends" except
for Muhammad, who was designated as a spiritual adviser.
Graham's mother, who visited him earlier in the day, declined to witness the execution.
"This way of solving a problem is barbaric and we deserve better," Jackson said after the execution,
calling for an overhaul of the criminal justice system.
Seated in a separate observation area were the victim witnesses: Bobby Hanners, the victim's
grandson; Dianne Clements, listed as a family friend but also the president of the Houston crime
victims' group Justice for All; Rick Sanford, also listed as a family friend and the victim of another
1981 gunpoint robbery admitted by Graham.
Also in the room was an assistant Harris County, Texas, district attorney who handled the case.
"My heart goes out to the Graham family as they begin the grieving process," Hanners said in a
written statement, reaffirming his belief in Graham's guilt.
Until early afternoon, Graham's supporters held out hope that he would get relief from the pardons
board, which could have voted to recommend a reprieve, a commutation of Graham's death
sentence to life in prison, or a pardon. This hopes were dashed at about 1:40 p.m., when the panel
announced that it would not recommend that Bush take any action to stop the execution.
Seventeen of the board's 18 members _ all appointees of Bush _ participated in the vote, with one
member away on personal business. The board voted on three motions _ whether to grant a
120-day reprieve, whether to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, and whether to grant a
pardon.
Three members voted for reprieve, five for commutation to a life sentence, none for a pardon.
Shortly after that, Graham's lawyers filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals, an admitted long shot, considering the fact that those courts and others had
turned down several dozen appeals in the past.
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Defense attorney Jack Zimmermann, speaking at an afternoon press conference, said Graham
confronted a "system that chews up and spits out young black men."
Although Bush has long maintained that he could not act to stop the execution without a
recommendation from the pardons panel, defense lawyers sent him an informal plea arguing that
the law isn't that clear.
They said that, contrary to Bush's stated position, the law has never been established on the
question of whether he could still grant Graham a one-time 30-day delay. Former Gov. Ann Richards
had already granted one such reprieve.
"There is no precedent for Governor Bush to grant clemency," an emotional Zimmerman told
reporters. "We have nonetheless lodged a request that he extend his authority to prevent this
miscarriage of justice."
But, Cornyn, as the state's chief lawyer, disagreed.
"Governor Bush has no independent authority to grant clemency to Graham. His hands are really
tied," he said.
The vote by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles followed its traditional method _ votes gathered
by fax from offices around the state.
Gerald Garrett, chairman of the board, issued a written statement and declined to comment further.
"The members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles are fully aware of the responsibility we
have in rendering out votes as part of the executive clemency review process," the statement said.
"I can say, unequivocally, that the Board's decision not to recommend clemency was reached after a
complete and unbiased review of the petition and evidence submitted."
Through the evening, Bush sat in his office monitoring the situation.
At the Governor's Mansion, 50 to 60 death penalty opponents gathered.
As the hour neared for a decision in Graham's case, the climate became tense around the Huntsville
Unit _ also known as the Walls Unit _ where Graham would be executed.
A group of protesters rushed past police barricades, but authorities quickly moved in, taking about a
half-dozen into custody.
When the last-minute legal maneuvering delayed the execution, armed members of the New Black
Panther Party began marching away from their assigned protest area. They were followed by police
in riot gear.
Officials had feared violence after Graham had earlier urged his supporters to the streets. The Ku
Klux Klan and the Panthers had been relegated to separate areas two city blocks apart.
About an hour before the execution, about 20 Klan members _ one in robes and hood _ picketed in
the cordoned area designated "pro-death-penalty." For hours, they shouted back and forth at
anti-death-penalty hecklers, an exchange that raised tensions.
With temperatures exceeding 90 degrees in the windless sun, the protests came in waves, getting
progressively louder and angrier as the afternoon passed into evening. Their fervor exceeded that
noted during the high-profile execution of Karla Faye Tucker in February 1998.
But as the late afternoon turned to evening, the crowd thinned.
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The tension was foreshadowed Wednesday night on death row, where Graham physically resisted
when officials took steps to move him from the Terrell Unit in Livingston to the Huntsville Unit, the
prison that houses the execution chamber, a prison spokesman said.
"As he was being escorted, as he normally would be, back to his cell area, that's when we informed
him that we were indeed going to take him directly to Huntsville," prison spokesman Larry
Fitzgerald said.
Graham wordlessly refused, making it necessary for a team of five guards to shackle him hand and
foot.
While such restraints are standard for death row transfers, an extraordinary caravan of police and
helicopter escorts accompanied the van that carried Graham 40 miles to Huntsville, where he
arrived about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Prosecutors and state officials stand by the lone eyewitness who identified Graham. His lawyers
have offered two witnesses who now say he was not the killer. Graham, then 17, was arrested while
sleeping naked in the bed of a 57-year-old taxi driver he abducted and raped during an admitted
weeklong crime spree.
Graham had refused all meals since breakfast Wednesday, including the traditional final meal made
to order for condemned prisoners, a prison spokesman said.
"He didn't want to eat on the table of those who would kill him," Jackson said. Before the word came
down that the execution would go forward, Jackson commented on Graham's calmness during a
noontime visit.
"There were no tears shed," he said. "He showed amazing strength."
Officials declined to discuss security measures taken in preparation for the crowds of media and the
public in attendance Thursday. They shut down most of the normally public areas in and around the
main prison administration building next to the Huntsville Unit.
They confirmed more than 200 officers from various agencies were on hand.
Dallas Morning News staff writers Terrence Stutz, Chris Lee and Wayne Slater in Austin and Erik
Rodriguez in Houston contributed to this report.
(c) 2000, The Dallas Morning News.
Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
JOURNAL-CODE: DA
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The New York Times, June 22, 2000
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
* View Related Topics
June 22, 2000, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 30; Column 1; Editorial Desk
LENGTH: 259 words
HEADLINE: Decision Time on Gary Graham
BODY:
We seldom comment two days in a row on the same Subject, but the case of Gary Graham, who
is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today in Texas, merits concentrated attention. It has
demonstrated to the nation the serious deficiencies in a capital punishment system that Gov. George
W. Bush defended again yesterday as "fair and just." Mr. Graham's situation has also exposed the
timidity of both Governor Bush and his Democratic presidential opponent, Al Gore, in addressing the
risks of wrongful execution of inmates who have been deprived of fair trials.
All eyes are on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the tiny state agency whose members are
scheduled to vote by phone or fax by noon today on whether to approve Mr. Graham's application
for a full or conditional pardon, a 120-day reprieve to permit a hearing, or a commutation of the
sentence.
The board has now received sound guidance from Rodney Ellis, the president pro tem of the Texas
Senate and the state's third-ranking official. Noting the "serious concerns" that have been raised
about Mr. Graham's conviction for murder based on the testimony of a single witness, and the
contrary testimony of other witnesses, he urged the board to delay the execution pending a hearing
"to consider all of the evidence" before making a recommendation to the governor.
It is not asking too much to insist on a fair hearing, especially when a life is at risk. Perhaps at the
11th hour Governor Bush can demonstrate the leadership that has been missing so far in this case.
http://www.nytimes.com
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CBS News Transcripts, June 24, 2000, Saturday
Copyright 2000 Burrelle's Information Services
CBS News Transcripts
*# View Related Topics
SHOW: THE EARLY SHOW (7:00 AM ET)
June 23, 2000, Friday
TYPE: Interview
LENGTH: 761 words
HEADLINE: REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, GARY GRAHAM'S SPIRITUAL ADVISER, DISCUSSES THE
EXECUTION OF GRAHAM AND HIS CONVERSATION WITH GRAHAM BEFORE HE DIED
ANCHORS: JANE CLAYSON
BODY:
JANE CLAYSON, co-host:
The execution was witnessed by some of Graham's supporters, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson
who is in Houston this morning.
Reverend, good morning to you.
Reverend JESSE JACKSON (Graham's Spiritual Adviser): Good morning.
CLAYSON: You were one of Gary Graham's Spiritual advisers for this execution. What did he tell
you before he died?
Rev. JACKSON: The first thing he said was we had prayer yesterday afternoon and read the 27th
Psalm was, 'I did not kill Mr. Lambert. Iam an innocent man, being murdered and please continue
the struggle to fight for a moratorium on killings, because people who are black and poor are being
killed by the state for political purposes.' And I believe that to be right. The Columbia University
study shows that the killings that continued based upon racial disparity or inadequate legal
representation are wrongful convictions, or they're taken place by mistaken identity.
In this case, he was killed on the strength of one witness. The other two witnesses never faced the
stand. There was never cross-examination. Because these court-appointed judges have more loyalty
to the judge who appointed them than to the poor, in fact, who they represent.
CLAYSON: Texas Governor...
Rev. JACKSON: And even aside...
CLAYSON: Texas Governor George W. Bush has consistently defended the Texas law in this case,
7/13/00 10:56 AM
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saying that the law is just being followed. What is your response to him personally?
Rev. JACKSON: Sometime there is something about un--unjust law. Slavery was the law. It was
morally wrong. Legal segregation was the wr--the law. It was morally wrong. You know, in this
case, these--Mr. Bill--Mr. Bush fought against a bill to get legal support for the indigent. He--he
fought--he vetoed the bill to stop killing the mentally retarded, killing--killing minors. There is this
bend here on looking tough as opposed to being fair. Even yesterday, this idea about the Parole
Board met. The Parole Board did not meet. It did not meet. These 18 people appointed by Mr. Bush,
they make $ 80,000 a year and they do not meet. Through fax machines and e-mails they--they
collect their votes. And because they're his appointees, if he had made an appeal to them, based
upon outstanding question and reasonable doubt, they would have followed his lead. But he offered
no leadership.
CLAYSON: They...
|
Rev. JACKSON: Like Pontius Pilate he tried to wash his hands.
CLAYSON: There were a series of last-minute appeals last night, Reverend. How did Gary Graham
deal with those delays and with the realization that this long fight was--was finally over?
Rev. JACKSON: You know, he was amazingly strong. No--no tears. He felt that his life had become a
galvanizing force that raised the question about the innocent people being killed across the country.
In the last few years, 87 people who would have died on death row presumed to be guilty, walked
free with further investigation. Twenty-three Americans had been killed or--and found to be
innocent through DNA after they--after they died. And in this state, there's a resistance to using
DNA. There's resistance to stopping killing the mentally retarded, or minors or the indigent.
Somehow this killing machine must give way to due--due process, fairness and adequate legal
representation.
CLAYSON: Gary Graham was looking at you, as I understand it, when he died. You had never
wit--witnessed an execution before. What should Americans know about what you saw last night?
Rev. JACKSON: Well, you know, since this is sanctioned by America, the whole press should have
been allowed to see this killing. America should have watched and witnessed this killing. If we're
into this, then let's assume the responsibility for watching it and processing it through our minds. I
think most Americans, even those who agree with capital punishment, also agree with fairness and
they've agreed--they agree with due process and that's not taking place here.
But I want to go a step further. As he looked at me, my heart bled, and I wept. I really could not
stop because I was convinced in my own mind that while he had engaged in some criminal activity
as a 17-year-old youth, this 17-year-old youth, 19 years ago, who never finished high school, could
not afford a lawyer. And he got a lawyer appointed by the judge whose loyalty was to the judge.
And he was pleading for the--he was saying, 'I did not kill Mr. Lambert, I'm an innocent man.'
CLAYSON: Reverend Jesse Jackson, thank you.
LANGUAGE: English
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ABC WORLD NEWS THIS MORNING, June 23, 2000
Copyright 2000 Burrelle's Information Services
ABC NEWS
# View Related Topics |
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 AM ET)
June 23, 2000, Friday
TYPE: Profile
LENGTH: 2171 words
HEADLINE: CONVICTED MURDERER GARY GRAHAM FINALLY EXECUTED DESPITE PROTESTS AND
LAST- MINUTE APPEALS; EXECUTION EYEWITNESSES REVEREND JESSE JACKSON AND AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL'S BIANCA JAGGER AND GRAHAM VICTIM DAVID SPIERS GIVE THEIR VIEWS ON
THE EXECUTION
ANCHORS: CHARLES GIBSON; JUJU CHANG
REPORTERS: MIKE VON FREMD
BODY:
CHARLES GIBSON, co-host:
But first, the top story that we're going to take up, and that is the execution of Gary Graham. 'They
are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight.’ Those were among his final words while he
was bound to the execution gurney, and as we mentioned, executed at 8:49 local time last night.
The 135th inmate to be executed under the watch of Governor George W. Bush in Texas. ABC's Mike
von Fremd is in Huntsville, Texas. Mike:
MIKE VON FREMD reporting:
Good morning, Charlie. There was a last fury of hope for Gary Graham. The hour of his scheduled
execution came and went as his legal team mounted a creative and last-ditch attempt filing a civil
suit. It delayed the execution by two hours and 49 minutes. And during that delay, Graham
supporters put on quite a protest here outside the Huntsville death house.
(VO) As word spread that the execution was being delayed, protesters began breaking through
police barricades. Then the new Black Panthers, which had been warned not to bring their weapons
to the protest site, began brandishing firearms. Riot police scrambled into action to keep order.
Inside the death house, eyewitnesses say Graham spent his final minutes delivering a furious tirade,
proclaiming his innocence, and fighting his executioner.
Mr. LLOYD GATE (Eyewitness): He said that he, Gary Graham, is being murdered today. He said
this was, in fact, a legend. And he said to Bobby Lambert's family, 'I did not kill Bobby Lambert.’
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Mr. MIKE GROCZYK (Associated Press): It was very obvious from the way he looked that he had put
up a struggle. He was restrained with black Velcro restraints.
Mr. GATE: He said, 'This murder has to be avenged. '
Mr. GROCZYK: He thanked his supporters. He expressed love to the Reverend Jackson, Al Sharpton,
Bianca Jagger.
Mr. GATE: Bianca Jagger started crying as he was talking, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson's eyes
were very red.
Mr. GROCZYK: He said, 'Keep marching, black people. Black power.' And he said that twice.
Quite--quite a lot of anger in--in his voice.
Mr. GATE: He also said that there are tapes that are available of him being abused by the prison
officials, him being pepper sprayed by the prison officials. Now, as the drugs were going into his
body, he--he looked over at us, and he just sort of went silent. He died with one of his eyes open
and one of them closed, and he was looking at the Reverend Jesse Jackson when, in fact, he did die.
VON FREMD: Now, the debate over the death penalty is not likely to go to the grave with Gary
Graham. There are 14 more scheduled executions here in Texas before November's presidential
elections. Charlie:
GIBSON: Thanks very much, Mike.
Joining us now from Houston are the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Bianca Jagger, who represented
Amnesty International at the execution.
Reverend Jackson, let me start with you because we heard those press references say he died with
one eye open and looking right at you.
Reverend JESSE JACKSON: It was painful. My heart was bleeding. I was crying. I could not help but
think he was a man who was guilty until proven innocent. He was killed on the strength of--of one
witness. The other two never hit the witness stand. There was never cross-examination because, at
17, he was too poor to hire a lawyer. And the judge gave him a lawyer, and the lawyer was more
loyal to the judge who hired him than to the man who could not afford him. And then on--and then
on yesterday, Charlie, these 18 parole board members, all of them work for Governor Bush. They're
¢ 80,000 a year. They did not meet. They did not meet. They meet by fax machine and by e-mail,
and they did not assume any responsibility for the--even the fact that the ballistics tests showed it
was not Gary Graham's gun. The three jurors said if they had known what they knew yesterday,
they would not have convicted him.
GIBSON: Reverend Jackson, there were a string of last-minute appeals. The United States Supreme
Court voted by the barest of majorities, 5-4, to let this execution go forth. Can you give me some
sense of what those final hours and minutes were like?
Rev. JESSE JACKSON: Well, yesterday we had--we met with his mother, Elnora Graham, and we
had prayer together at his cell. Bianca Jagger, Reverend Dauntry and Minister Muhammed and I. I
read to him the 27th Psalm, 'The Lord is my light and my salvation.' He was strong to the end.
There were no tears. He proclaimed his innocence. He said, 'I did not kill Mr. Lambert. I'm an
innocent man being murdered. My case has never been fully heard.' And he continued to struggle.
'Avenge my death,' and what he meant by that was fight for a moratorium on killings. Congressman
Jesse Jackson Jr. has a bill, HR 4162, which would make all these killings, put them on moratorium,
because there is so much evidence of innocent people being killed.
GIBSON: When he--when he said this murder has to be avenged, you just used that quote, "by any
means necessary," by any means necessary...
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Rev. JACKSON: Well, that's just...
GIBSON: Did you take that--did you take that as a call to violence, Jesse?
Rev. JACKSON: No. The state has done--I mean, the state had the option of--of--of commutation. It
had the option of pardon. It had the--the option of reprieve. It chose violence as its way of solving
the problem. He was appealing for a mor--he said, 'Jackson, lead the drive for a moratorium.’ That's
why Jesse Jackson Jr.'s bill, HR 4162--I might add that www. jessejacksonjr.org, is an attempt to
join Governor George Ryan's position, because the system is broke.
I mean, 87 people walked off of death row the last two years who would have been killed had not
they gotten some relief. Twenty-two have been killed--22 have been killed who were--who were
found innocent after they had died. So even those that believe in the death penalty must believe in
fairness.
GIBSON: Let--let me turn to Bianca Jagger, who said, Ms. Jagger, to one of our people yesterday,
you said, 'I'm a reluctant witness to this but I wish to experience the horror so that I can convey it
to others.' It is a difficult thing to watch a man die. Your impressions.
Ms. BIANCA JAGGER: It was, indeed, a very difficult decision to make, but I felt that I wanted to be
there to be able to tell Americans what it's like to kill someone, especially someone where there
were so many reasonable doubts about his innocence. I spoke to him early on during the day, and,
you know, it was amazing to see the hope that he had. He spoke about the following day and the
struggle to establish the moratorium in the United States. To watch him being executed and to
watch him plead, and by the way, I don't think that it's accurate to say that he was rambling. I
thought that he was very clear. You know, he was passionate and vehement and used every breath
until the end to tell us that he was innocent and that he did not kill Bobby Lambert.
GIBSON: Ms. Jagger, many people here, many people believe that justice was done. And there's no
doubt this man committed a very vicious crime spree. Aren't there better cases on which to
challenge capital punishment, or was this done simply to put Governor George W. Bush in the
spotlight?
Ms. JAGGER: Absolutely not. I want to tell you that I have worked on many other cases of people in
death row. This was one of the most flagrant cases of the denial of due process. He was executed
based solely on one eyewitness testimony. That against the background of another seven eyewitness
who said that he did not commit that murder.
GIBSON: I...
Ms. JAGGER: And that's not all. So many overwhelming evidence that could have proven if he had
been in--if he had had due process and had had the right to have a new trial, maybe this man would
have been exonerated, like the 87 people who have been exonerated in the United States since the
reinstatement of the death penalty. Just one.
Rev. JACKSON: Charlie, can I make...
GIBSON: Just a final quick point, Jesse. Go ahead.
Rev. JACKSON: My point is that we went to help Susan Smith in South Carolina, a white woman who
killed her two babies there. We asked for life without parole, and she got it. A young black mana
few days later, who was mentally retarded, they killed him. When I went to get the three soldiers
out of Yugoslavia, they were on death row. When I went to get the American women out of Iraq,
they were on death row. So our--our quest is to be humane and to say 'Revenge is mine, saith the
Lord' is a rather consistent one. The latest Col--the latest Columbia report shows that seven of 10 of
those on death row are either there because of racial profile, incompetent lawyers, or because of
mistaken identity and wrongful conviction. We must end this barbaric system. Americans deserve
7/13/00 10:53 AM
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better leadership. Mr. Bush could have acted, and Mr. Gore should have spoken more forcefully.
GIBSON: Jesse Jackson, I appreciate your being with us.
Bianca Jagger, thank you very much.
And as I mentioned, Gary Graham's execution was not protested by everyone. Earlier this morning,
I had a chance to speak with David Spiers, who was one of the victims of Graham's confessed
weeklong crime spree back in 1981.
Mr. Spiers, as this execution was being carried out, the governor of Texas, George W. Bush, said, 'I
am convinced justice is being done.' Are you so sure?
Mr. DAVID SPIERS (Graham Victim): In my particular case, Charlie, yes, Iam.
GIBSON: Why are you so sure?
Mr. SPIERS: Well, I had--my experience with Gary Graham was on a Saturday evening driving
down the freeway, and I was in the car with my wife and her mom and dad. My car broke down, and
I pulled over to the left lane of the freeway. A Cadillac pulls over. A black gentleman gets out, fairly
good-looking, and offered to give me a ride to a service station. I jumped in the back seat of the car
behind the passenger, and this gentleman reaches over like this and puts a sawed-off shotgun in my
chest.
At that time, I hit the sawed-off shotgun down and slid behind the driver. Well, the sawed-off
shotgun went off in my left leg and severed my left leg. I looked down. My leg was about 16 inches
round, and it was separated. The next thing I notice, I pulled the shotgun away from him. At that
time, I aimed the shotgun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. He ducks, blows out the
windshield. We're driving 100 miles an hour plus down the freeway. Glass is in my face. Blood is in
my face. Flesh is--flesh is all over. And all of a sudden, I notice that he's--his girlfriend in the car
turns around with a .357 and tries to kill me. He says, ‘Finish him off.’
GIBSON: No doubt--no doubt, Mr. Spiers, he was capable of murder, but you have no doubt that he
committed a murder later on.
Mr. SPIERS: The crime spree started when he killed Bobby Lambert. The crime spree started on a
Wednesday. I was shot on a Saturday, and I was number 13 out of 22 victims. And when we were in
the car and he had the shotgun pointed in my chest, he said, 'I'm going to kill you because I've
already killed three or four people, and then when I get done with you, I'm going to go back and kill
my fian--your fiancee and her mom and dad so they can go with you.' So, in my mind, Charlie,
there was no doubt that he was capable of murder.
GIBSON: Last week, you said you would celebrate this execution. Did you?
Mr. SPIERS: No.
GIBSON: You didn't have the champagne that you talked about to celebrate.
Mr. SPIERS: That was more of a figure of speech. As a matter of fact, my heart was saddened just
to see a human being and the ordeal that has gone through was a very horrible, traumatic thing for
me to kind of just go through all this.
GIBSON: Does this case give you pause about the death penalty or does it reaffirm your belief in it?
Mr. SPIERS: Yes, they need to rea--rea--readjust our system. They need to look at it. It maybe not
be the best system, but it's the only system we have. I don't believe in the death penalty or against
the death penalty. I look at each case individually. But let me tell you one thing about the system.
When the system allows people to walk down the street with AK-47s or when you're watching
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national TV in Huntsville last night, and it permits people to burn the American flag and so many of
our forefathers have died to protect that flag, that's what really irritates me, and I think that's
where the system really needs to be changed.
GIBSON: David Spiers, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much.
Mr. SPIERS: Thank you, Charlie.
GIBSON: An interview with David Spiers conducted just a few moments before we went on the air.
The execution of Gary Graham as we said, last night, 8:49 Texas time.
Let's go to the news of the morning. Here's JuJu Chang.
JUJU CHANG, anchor:
Thanks, Charlie.
And good morning, everyone.
LANGUAGE: English
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Terms: gary graham and dateigeq (06/21/2000) and leq (06/24/2000) ( (Edit Search)
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), June 24, 2000
Copyright 2000 Bergen Record Corp.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
# View Related Topics
June 24, 2000, SATURDAY; ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A12
LENGTH: 202 words
HEADLINE: IN EUROPE, TEXAS EXECUTION SPURS OUTRAGE, NOTSURPRISE
COLUMN: INTERNATIONAL
SOURCE: Wire services
BYLINE: FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
DATELINE: BERLIN
BODY:
Europeans reacted with outrage but little surprise Friday to news
that Texas had executed Gary Graham.
Opposition to the death penalty is unanimous among European
governments, and the issue is increasingly one on which Europe has
asserted its independence from America. Because Europeans feel they
share so many values with people in the United States, they are even
more perplexed that the country won't abandon capital punishment, and
people abroad have been campaigning vigorously against the death
penalty.
"It does not fit: The United States presents itself on the one hand
as the world police defending human rights, and on the other side it
carries out the death penalty,"said German lawmaker 1 Sabine
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
She called on the German government to"make this detestable topic
the object of discussions with our American friends."
Though the opposition to Graham's execution was widely expressed on
general principle, critics in Italy, Germany, and Britain, as well as
at the United Nations, said it also violated international law. That's
because Graham was 17, a minor, at the time of the crime for which he
was sentenced to die.
7/13/00 10:49 AM
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LANGUAGE: English
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National Public Radio (NPR), June 24, 2000
Copyright 2000 National Public Radio (R). All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials
contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This
transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further
information, please contact NPR's Permissions Coordinator at (202) 414-2000.
National Public Radio (NPR)
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SHOW: WEEKEND ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (8:00 PM ET)
June 24, 2000, Saturday
LENGTH: 1289 words
HEADLINE: CHRISTY HOPPE, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, STEVE MILLS, CHICAGO TRIBUNE,
AND LAURA KIERNAN, THE BOSTON GLOBE, DISCUSS THE POLITICS OF THE DEATH PENALTY
ANCHORS: SHARON BALL
BODY:
SHARON BALL, host:
Back in the United States, convicted murderer Gary Graham went to his death Thursday night in
Texas, but the political debate over the system of capital punishment lives on. Joining us now are
three journalists who cover criminal justice issues in states where the death penalty is under
scrutiny. Christy Hoppe is a reporter with The Dallas Morning News, Steve Mills is a reporter with
the Chicago Tribune, and Laura Kiernan writes about New Hampshire politics for the Boston Globe.
Welcome to all of you.
Ms. CHRISTY HOPPE (The Dallas Morning News): How are you?
Mr. STEVE MILLS (Chicago Tribune): Thank you very much.
BALL: Christy Hoppe, let's start with you. Two hundred nineteen men and women have been
executed in Texas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Now that's more than any other
state. What is it with Texas and the death penalty?
Ms. HOPPE: Texas, by geography, I think, is in an interesting position. It's still part of the Western
frontier, and yet it shares some southern Bible Belt ideas. And in Texas, the idea is that if you take a
life in a heinous way, you're going to pay with your own life. Texans have always favored this. The
polls in Texas show more people favoring this in Texas than they do nationally. And the politicians
have followed the cue of their voters and their constituency. And they have carried out and decided
to carry out the penalties attached to the death penalty.
BALL: Far to the northeast of Texas, there's New Hampshire, a state that hasn't carried out an
execution since 1939. In fact, the state Legislature recently passed a bill abolishing the death
7/13/00 10:48 AM
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penalty, but, as I understand it, the governor vetoed it.
Ms. HOPPE: That's right.
BALL: Laura Kiernan, you're in New Hampshire, and you write about New Hampshire politics for The
Boston Globe. I gathered that it's viewed as remarkable, this effort by New Hampshire's House and
Senate, to end capital punishment in the state?
Ms. LAURA KIERNAN (The Boston Globe): Well, it certainly is. And this is traditionally a very
conservative state. And as you point out, there hasn't been an execution here since 1939. We don't
have a death row. And I think people who supported the ban on the death penalty felt that because
of those factors, they were able to have here in the past couple of months a very dispassionate
discussion about abolishing the death penalty here in New Hampshire, keeping in mind that
overriding all of that discussion was the fact that our governor, Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and
considered a moderate, had said flatly that she would veto any measure that would ban the death
penalty in New Hampshire. In fact, because she firmly believes that in some extreme Cases, heinous
cases, she believes that the death penalty is warranted.
BALL: And Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune, your governor, George Ryan, put a moratorium on the
death penalty because of several cases of death row prisoners released because of new evidence or
procedural mistakes that came to light. Now, George Ryan's a Republican, and he does favor the
death penalty, but he has ordered a review of Illinois' criminal justice system. What's been the
reaction to the moratorium around the state?
Mr. MILLS: Well, support for the death penalty has slipped a little bit. We did a poll in March, and it
showed that support had fallen to 58 percent from about a year before that where it was in the 60s.
At the same time, the support for the moratorium was pretty overwhelming. Two-thirds--or more
than two-thirds of voters supported that.
BALL: Well, Steve, you and your colleagues at the Tribune have looked into the criminal justice
system in your own state of Illinois and in Texas. And I believe you've just recently, earlier this
month, published an investigative series that examined the cases of 131 of the 135 people put to
death in Texas since Governor Bush took office.
Mr. MILLS: Right.
BALL: What did you find?
Mr. MILLS: Well, what we found was that the system in Texas is as troubled, if not more troubled,
than the system we had in Illinois. The use of defense attorneys who've been disciplined was found
in one-third of the cases. We looked at the kind of evidence that the attorneys put on at sentencing,
and found that in almost a third, 40 of the cases, that defense attorneys put on either one witness or
no witnesses at all. And then, also, the use of some very questionable evidence was pretty prevalent
also.
BALL: Christy Hoppe of The Dallas Morning News, you've read the Tribune's stories. What's been the
reaction to them in Texas?
Ms. HOPPE: It's interesting. Illinois had 11 cases where probable innocence removed an inmate from
death row. In Texas, over a similar period of time, we've had nine people removed from death row
for probable innocence. In Illinois, they looked at it and they said, 'The system is broken if these
people are facing a death penalty.' In Texas, the attitude was different. They said, 'Look, the system
works. These nine people were removed from death row. Obviously a review of their cases showed
that there were problems in the prosecution. '
Ms. KIERNAN: Sharon, this is Laura Kiernan in New Hampshire. You know, that notion of the
possibility of a single mistake, I think was an overriding factor in the decision by both houses in the
New Hampshire Legislature to vote to abolish the death penalty. There was some incredibly
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dramatic testimony while the bill was being debated both from survivors, family members of
victims, who testified very forcefully that they didn't feel that the state should become an
executioner. And on the other hand, though, too, when this debate was talked about on the Senate
floor, there were members who talked about the religious convictions and how they had labored
over this. And one senator in particular had said that it's easy for others to say that this is a bad
thing to do until you're involved yourself; until a member of your family is a victim of a crime.
BALL: You know, the polls of the public seem to reflect a kind of--this sort of mixed view. Support
for the death penalty, but deep concern that no one innocent--no innocents are put to death.
Mr. MILLS: When voters were asked in our poll in Illinois, 'What do you think the penalty should be
in the case of murder?’ and given the choice between the death penalty or life without parole--and
no chance of parole whatsoever--it was virtually even. Forty-three percent favored the death penalty
and 41 percent favored life without parole.
Ms. KIERNAN: It shows a different attitude than Texas. A poll just done this week shows that 72
percent of Texans still favor the death penalty even when confronted with an alternative of life
without parole. And in addition, it also asked Texans if they think the state has ever executed an
innocent person, and 57 percent said that it probably has, and yet the support for the death penalty
remains extremely high at 73 percent.
BALL: Well, we know that this is obviously an issue in the presidential campaign. Christy, let me
address this question to you. Between now and election day, November, 14 more people are
scheduled to be executed in Texas.
Ms. HOPPE: Right.
BALL: What kind of pressure do you think that's going to put on Governor Bush's campaign? And
how do you think he's going to handle it?
Ms. HOPPE: I think it keeps the question alive. And it doesn't just revolve the case of Gary Graham
and how that's been resolved. I think it is--becomes more a question that will follow him as he
campaigns. Governor Bush has been very adamant and unwavering in his support of the death
penalty. Bush very much spoke of his feelings about the death penalty when he was asked about a
Canadian who was facing execution in Texas last year. And he was asked, 'What message do you
think this sends to Canada, that doesn't have a death penalty?' And his answer was very quick and
very sharp. And it says, 'If you're a Canadian, don't come down to Texas and kill someone. '
BALL: Christy Hoppe of The Dallas Morning News, Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune, and Laura
Kiernan, New Hampshire columnist for The Boston Globe, thanks very much for joining us.
Ms. KIERNAN: Thank you.
Ms. HOPPE: Thank you for having us.
Mr. MILLS: Thank you.
LANGUAGE: English
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The Independent (London), June 24, 2000
Copyright 2000 Newspaper Publishing PLC
The Independent (London)
June 24, 2000, Saturday
SECTION: FOREIGN NEWS; Pg. 15
LENGTH: 697 words
HEADLINE: WITH HIS DYING BREATH, GRAHAM TELLS AMERICA: THIS IS A LYNCHING;
TEXAS EXECUTION: OUTRAGE GROWS AFTER APPEALS FOR CLEMENCY IGNORED AND
CONDEMNED MAN EXECUTED WHILE PROTESTING HIS INNOCENCE TO THE END
BYLINE: Andrew Gumbel In Los Angeles
BODY:
GEORGE W BUSH faced international condemnation and widespread accusations that he had put an
innocent man to death yesterday, after Texas ignored a flurry of last-minute pleas on behalf of Gary
Graham and executed him under the full, impassioned glare of the world's media.
Reflecting growing outrage among European nations, the French government declared that pressure
for a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States would be a central plank of its
European Union presidency, which begins next week.
The condemned man, who had vowed to "fight like hell" to stay alive, struggled defiantly to the end,
forcing prison guards to handcuff him and clamp his head as they attached him to the execution
chamber stretcher and inserted the needles with which they administered their lethal drugs.
"This is what happens to a black man - genocide in America," Mr Graham said in a final speech
witnessed by weeping supporters including Bianca Jagger and the Rev Jesse Jackson. "This is
nothing more simple than murder, state- sanctioned murder in America. They know I'm innocent.
They won't acknowledge it."
Outside the prison in Huntsville, Texas, several hundred demonstrators accused Mr Bush, the
American state's Governor, of organising a lynching to further his campaign to win the White House
for the Republican Party this November. "Thou shalt not kill! Thou shalt not kill!" the crowd chanted
in a highly-charged protest that led to clashes with armed police. One man holding a large syringe
burned an effigy of Mr Bush and shouted "Die! Die!".
In his dying moments, Mr Graham said: "We will prevail. Keep marching. Black power. Keep
marching. Black power. They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight." Then he went
silent, one dying eye remaining open and fixed on Mr Jackson and Robert Muhammazd, his spiritual
adviser.
Mr Graham was finally pronounced dead at 8.49pm local time on Thursday - almost three hours
7/13/00 10:47 AM
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after his scheduled appointment with death. Aside from his own physical struggles, his lawyers
spent the day petitioning every authority they could think of, from the US Supreme Court to the
Texas Court of Appeals, and finally a federal civil court judge.
All of them refused to give further consideration to his allegations that he had been woefully
misrepresented by the defence lawyer at his original trial, and that he could produce witnesses to
back up his assertion that he did not kill Bobby Lambert in a hold-up outside a Houston supermarket
in 1981. Repeated attempts to have new evidence admitted in his case have all failed. Earlier in the
day, his petition for clemency had been turned down by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles,
whose 17 voting members did not discuss his case but merely faxed in their opinions from their
homes and offices.
Mr Bush, who had argued he was powerless to go against the recommendation of his own parole
board, spoke a few minutes before the execution saying he backed its decision. "He's had full and
fair access to the courts," Mr Bush said, pointing out that the case had been heard by 33 different
judges over 19 years. "After considering all the facts, I'm sure justice is being done."
Mr Bush has repeatedly asserted that all 135 prisoners executed during his five years as governor
were definitely guilty. However, an opinion poll released this week showed that a majority of
Texans, while supporting the death penalty in principle, do not believe him.
The case can only add to America's growing disquiet on the issue, not least because Mr Graham's
final day - in stark contrast to almost all previous executions - was broadcast blow-by-blow style on
the news networks. Aside from defence lawyers and civil rights activists, his cause was taken up by
several newspapers including The New York Times, which said there should have been "deep
doubts" about his conviction which Mr Bush had effectively ignored.
The execution also drew strong reaction from the United Nations human rights representative, Mary
Robinson, who said Texas was flouting international conventions on the rights of minors. Mr Graham
was just 17 at the time of his arrest.
GRAPHIC: Gary Graham: 'This is nothing more than murder’
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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The Boston Globe, June 24, 2000
Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
# View Related Topics
June 24, 2000, Saturday , THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A2
LENGTH: 635 words
HEADLINE: UN AND EUROPEAN UNION CRITICIZE TEXAS EXECUTION CITE 'CONSENSUS' AGAINST
DEATH PENALTY FOR YOUNG
BYLINE: By Joe Lauria, Globe Correspondent
BODY:
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations joined the European Union yesterday in denouncing the
execution of Gary Graham as an uncivilized act rejected by most of the world.
"The execution of Mr. Graham ran counter to widely accepted international principles and to the
international community's expressed desire for the abolition of the death penalty," said Mary
Robinson, UN high commissioner for human rights.
A letter from Robinson to Governor George W. Bush of Texas on Wednesday noted "overwhelming
international consensus" against the death penalty for juvenile offenders who "lack maturity and
judgment." Graham was convicted of murdering a man in 1981, when Graham was 17.
"More importantly," Robinson wrote, "it reflects the belief that children and juveniles are more
susceptible to change, and thus have a greater potential for rehabilitation than adults."
In 1984, the UN's Economic and Social Council adopted safeguards against the execution of people
who commit a capital crime under age 18.
The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to abolish the death penalty several times.
Islamic countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, have voted in
support of capital punishment.
Robinson said the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child bars capital punishment for crimes
committed by youth. She said the 1990 treaty by 191 nations was "one of the most universally
ratified human rights instruments."
The United States signed but has not ratified it. Robinson told Bush that as a signatory, the United
States was still "obliged not to violate the spirit and intent of the treaty."
Portugal, which holds the European Union presidency until July 1, also criticized the lethal injection
administered by the state of Texas on Graham. "The EU is absolutely . . . against the death penalty,"
7/13/00 10:39 AM
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said a spokesman for the Portuguese mission to the UN. "The EU has tried to convince the US not to
resume capital punishment."
France, which will take over the six-month rotating EU presidency, was stronger in its denunciation.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret said the French consul in Houston intervened
several times on Graham's behalf.
"We are dismayed by the news," she said in Paris. "We especially regret that the authorities | in Texas
knowingly took the risk of putting an innocent man to death."
Gazeau-Secret added, "We will make the campaign for a moratorium on executions in the United
States into one of the themes of our presidency of the European Union."
Another letter to Bush, written by Raymond Forni, speaker of the French parliament, said, "I cannot
believe that the victory you hope for, to lead the largest democracy on Earth, should be paid for
with the blood of your fellow countrymen."
Italy's left-wing daily newspaper II Manifesto featured a photo of Bush on the front cover yesterday
under the headline, "The executioner doesn't let up."
In Germany, the case was avidly followed by the media. "It does not fit: The United States presents
itself on the one hand as the world police defending human rights, and on the other side it carries
out the death penalty," said German lawmaker Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
She called on the German government to "make this detestable topic the object of discussions with
our American friends."
A spokeswoman at the US mission to the UN said that she was not aware of any time when
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke had been confronted on the issue since he became ambassador a
year ago.
Even Yugoslavia, which is led by an indicted war criminal, criticized the execution. "If you look at
Mr. Graham I don't think there was any doubt he was guilty," Belgrade's UN envoy, Vladislav
Jovanovic, said in an interview. "But we do not believe in the death penalty."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, ROBINSON
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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John C. Brittain, 03:12 PM 6/4/2000, Death Penalty Forum at TSU Law
X-From_: jbrittain@TSULAW.EDU Sun Jun 4 16:17:30 2000
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
From: "John C. Brittain" <jbrittain@TSULAW.EDU> .
To: "'v-streib@onu.edu'" <v-streib@onu.edu>
Cc: "'Dolores Angeles'" <d-angeles@nwu.edu>
Subject: Death Penalty Forum at TSU Law School fer
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 15:12:31 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.0.1460.8)
June 4, 2000
Dear Dean Victor Streib:
I received your message dated June 2, 2000 concerning death row inmate Gary
Graham. You requested letters of support for Mr. Graham. The Thurgood
Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University hosted a forum on Mr.
Graham's case on Saturday, June 3, 2000. Please see the news clipping below
from the Sunday Houston Chronicle, June 4, 2000.
Dean John C. Brittain
Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Texas Southern University
3100 Cleburne Avenue
Houston, TX 77004
713/313-1076 tel.
713/313-1049 fax.
e-mail: jbrittain@tsulaw.edu
June 3, 2000, 9:56PM Condemned man is innocent, panel at 'mock trial'
concludes Witness improprieties alleged at Gary Graham trial By ED ASHER
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle A nine-member panel heard evidence at a
"mock trial" in the case of condemned killer Gary Graham on Saturday, then
concluded that he was wrongfully convicted. The panel was assembled by a
group called the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
to hear evidence in cases relevant to the African-American community. An
attorney formerly with Amnesty International told the panel that Graham
had inadequate legal representation at his trial and was convicted solely
on the basis of a suspect eyewitness identification. "The state of Texas
is on the verge of killing an innocent man," attorney Ashanti Chimurenga
told the nine-member panel convened at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law
at Texas Southern University. Graham, also known as Shaka Sankofa, was
convicted and sentenced to death for the May 1981 murder of Bobby Lambert,
53, of Tucson, Ariz. He is scheduled to be executed June 22. The "trial"
at Texas Southern was more like a closing argument. Chimurenga, who has
been following Graham's case since 1993 and is sympathetic to his cause,
was the only person to present evidence. The prosecution's side was not
represented. Chimurenga said only one eyewitness has ever testified that
Graham was the killer. The witness says she saw Graham shoot Lambert in a
store parking lot. But Chimurenga said the witness failed to identify
Graham in a photo array shortly after the shooting. One day after being
shown the array, the witness was brought in for a live line-up and she
identified Graham. Graham was the only person in the live line-up who had
also been in the photo array the day before, Chimurenga said. It is
likely, she suggested, that the witness identified Graham only because she
remembered seeing his picture in the photo array. "This procedure,
riddled with improprieties, is what put Gary Graham on death row,"
Chimurenga said. She said Graham's trial attorney failed to point out the
faulty procedure to the jury and failed to call other eyewitnesses and
alibi witnesses. Prosecutors say they are convinced that Graham received
a fair trial. Although Graham's attorneys argue that no jury has heard new
eyewitness evidence in the case, prosecutors say the new witnesses lack
credibility or their accounts are vague. In addition, prosecutors argue,
the one witness who picked out Graham in Lambert's death has never wavered
in her identification. The panel did not come back with a "verdict." But
at the end of the presentation, the members said there was a consensus
that Graham did not receive a fair trial. "The evidence overwhelmingly
shows a deliberate frame-up, which is all too commonplace," said Geronimo
Ji Jaga, a former Black Panther now living in Louisiana. Another
VVVVVVVVVVVV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV VV
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
John C. Brittain, 03:12 PM 6/4/2000, Death Penalty Forum at TSU
Law
> panelist, Akilah M. Ali of the Republic of New Afrika, a North American
> group, said, "The consensus is indeed that the evidence is not sufficient
> to support a conviction on first-degree murder and the imposition of the
> death penalty." TSU law student Kantaki Auset agreed. "I think he needs
> to be released," Auset said. "If all the evidence were heard in court,
> they would find that he is innocent. He needs to be released, and he needs
> reparations for his time in prison."
[Emphasis added for this message to highlight TSU]
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Steven A. Drizin, Re: ...no subject...
To: "Steven A. Drizin" <s-drizin@nwu.edu>
From: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: Re: ...no subject...
Cc:
Bcc:
Attached:
Hi Steve:
Thanks for taking the laboring oar on all of this. I have added few words (ALL IN
CAPS) to your draft. Otherwise, it looks ready to go. Let me know if I need to do anything
else.
Vic
At 04:25 PM 5/26/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Vic: Thanks again. Could you compose a Dear Colleagues letter which I can
>send around to law school deans in our efforts to get them to sign on?
>Perhaps something like (Feel free to edit this):
>
>Dear Colleagues:
>
> YOUR SUPPORT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP IN THE campaign to spare the life of Shaka Santofa
(a.k.a. Gary Graham), a juvenile offender who is scheduled to be
>executed in Texas on June 22, 2000. THIS COULD OCCUR ONLY IN THE UNITED STATES, SINCE EVERY
OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS ABANDONED THE DEATH PENALTY FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS. AS LEGAL
EDUCATORS, WE NEED TO WORK WITH THE MANY OTHERS ALREADY INVOLVED TO HELP BRING OUR COUNTRY
INTO LINE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD.
As you may know, I HAVE devoted much of my academic career documenting the United States'
experience with executing juvenile offenders. I ALSO HAVE SERVED AS DEFENSE COUNSEL IN KEY
CASES DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AS WELL AS OTHER HIGH
COURTS, AND HAVE TESTIFIED BEFORE SEVERAL CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES. I continue to speak and
write about the issue today
and maintain a website (www.law.onu.edu/faculty/streib) which contains historical
information about the juvenile death penalty as well as demographic information about those
JUVENILE OFFENDERS who have been executed and those who are currently on death row. I BEGAN
THIS RESEARCH OVER A QUARTER CENTURY AGO, AND IT SEEMS THAT WE STILL NEED TO WORK TO PUT THIS
PRACTICE BEHIND US.
>
> As it now stands, the United States stands alone in executing offenders
>under the age of eighteen. No other country has executed a juvenile OFFENDER in the past
seven years and all of the other nations who FORMERLY executeD juvenile offenders, including
Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, have signed international agreements prohibiting
such executions. During the
>past fifteen years, the United States has executed a total of sixteen
>juvenile offenders, half of them in Texas. Of the 70 juvenile offenders
>curtrently on death row, 28 are from Texas. We should lend our voice to
>efforts to stop this shameful practice in Texas and elsewhere throughout the country.
>
> As is made clear in the attached letter, there are other reasons to seek a
>commutation of Mr. Graham's death sentence, most notably that he has a very
>compelling claim of actual innocence which he has been procedurally barred
>from raising in state and federal post-conviction proceedings. Recent
>developments in Illinois, where 13 innocent men have been taken off death
>row, have led to a moratorium on the death penalty and have underscored the
>fallibility of the death penalty system. Overall, approximately one person
>has been exonerated while on death row for every seven who have been
>executed since the death penalty has been reinstated in 1976. In the face
>of such odds, justice demands that government take all reasonable steps
>necessary to allow death row inmates to air claims of actual innocence.
>
> If you are willing to allow your name to be used in connection with this
>letter, please e-mail your name, title, and the name of your law school to
>Steven Drizin, a clinical law professor at Northwestern University School
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu> 1
Steven A. Drizin, Re: ...no subject...
>of Law's Children and Family Justice Center in Chicago, at
>s-drizin@northwestern.law.edu He will make sure that the letter is
>delivered to Governor Bush and the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles.
>
> Thank you for your prompt consideration to this matter. We need to forward
>this letter to the Governor no later than June 8, 2000. If you have any
>questions about Mr. Graham's case or require additional information, please
>contact Mr. Drizin by e-mail at (312) 503-6608 or Stephen Harper, a capital
>defender and adjunct law professor from Miami, Florida at (305) 545-1655 or
>by e-mail at sharper@pdmiami.com. They are coordinating this effort as
>part of a national campaign to abolish the juvenile death penalty in the
>United States.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>
>Victor Streib
DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW
OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
>TITLE
>At 02:01 PM 5/26/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>>Hi Steve:
>>
>> I have provided a few suggested changes to your draft, and my edited
>>version is attached to this message.
>>
>>Vic Streib
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>At 01:43 PM 5/22/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>>>
>>> Attached is a very rough draft of a letter for the deans written by Steve
>>>Harper. We've been given the go-ahead from Dick Burr, Gary's attorney who
>>>is focusing on actual innocence issues and is welcome to others raising the
>>>youth issue. I've made some changes in bold and have left some blanks for
>>>you to fill in. Go at it as much as you want. A separate letter from the
>>>deans should go to the Chair of the Board of Pardons and Parole.
>>>
>>>Thanks for your help in this effort.
>>>
>>>Steve Drizin
>>>Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\grdeans.wpd"
>>>
>>Attachment Converted: "C:\ZDATA\WPDOCS\graham.wpd"
>>
>>
>
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Steven A. Drizin, 03:41 PM 5/26/200, Re: ...no subject...
To: "Steven A. Drizin" <s-drizin@nwu.edu>
From: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: Re: ...no subject...
Cc:
Bcc:
Attached:
Steve:
OK with me. Thanks for doing so much work on getting this letter ready.
Vic
At 03:25 PM 5/26/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Thanks so much for the changes. If you don't mind, I'd like to soften some
>of the Texas-specific comments. I think that Texas prides itself on being
>the world's leader in executions. The Governor and Board may rise to the
>challenge by executing Graham. I also think that we'll be less likely to
>get law school deans to sign if we are too confrontational with Texas
>(Governor Bush). Please advise.
>
>
>At 02:01 PM 5/26/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>>Hi Steve:
>>
>> I have provided a few suggested changes to your draft, and my edited
>>version is attached to this message.
>>
>>Vic Streib
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>At 01:43 PM 5/22/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>>>
>>> Attached is a very rough draft of a letter for the deans written by Steve
>>>Harper. We've been given the go-ahead from Dick Burr, Gary's attorney who
>>>is focusing on actual innocence issues and is welcome to others raising the
>>>youth issue. I've made some changes in bold and have left some blanks for
>>>you to fill in. Go at it as much as you want. A separate letter from the
>>>deans should go to the Chair of the Board of Pardons and Parole.
>>>
>>>Thanks for your help in this effort.
>>>
>>>Steve Drizin
>>>Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\grdeans.wpd"
>>>
>>Attachment Converted: "C:\ZDATA\WPDOCS\graham.wpd"
>>
>>
>
>
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Steven A. Drizin, Re: ...no subject...
To: "Steven A. Drizin" <s-drizin@nwu.edu> v7
From: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu> ~-Jt6 a
Subject: Re: ...no subject... N}
Cc:
Bcc:
Attached: C:\MyFiles\graham.wpd;
Hi Steve: Mg
I have provided a few suggested changes to your draft, and my edited version is
attached to this message.
Vic Streib
At 01:43 PM 5/22/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>
> Attached is a very rough draft of a letter for the deans written by Steve
>Harper. We've been given the go-ahead from Dick Burr, Gary's attorney who
>is focusing on actual innocence issues and is welcome to others raising the
>youth issue. I've made some changes in bold and have left some blanks for
>you to fill in. Go at it as much as you want. A separate letter from the
>deans should go to the Chair of the Board of Pardons and Parole.
>
>Thanks for your help in this effort.
>
>Steve Drizin
>Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\grdeans.wpd"
>
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Draft of Dean’s letter
Governor George W. Bush
State Capitol
P.O.Box 12428
Austin , Texas 78711-2428
[second letter sent to ]
Gerald Garrett, Chairman
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Price Daniel, Sr. Building
209 W. 14th Street, Suite 500
Austin, TX 78701
June 1, 2000
Dear Governor Bush:
We, the undersigned law school deans [and law school professors] write to
express our strong opposition to the execution of Gary Graham, now known as Shaka
Sankofa, scheduled in Texas for June 22, 2000. The execution of Gary Graham, a
juvenile offender who was seventeen at the time of the offense, would be contrary to
basic principles of American justice and clearly established international standards of
decency and law. Our opposition is further strengthened by the fact that Gary Graham
appears to have a substantial claim of innocence which has been procedurally barred
from a full evidentiary hearing in the courts.
We share the view of the American Bar Association and many others that the execution
of persons for crimes they committed while children is unacceptable in a civilized
society. Adolescence is a transitional period of life where cognitive abilities, emotions,
judgment, impulse control and identity are still developing. Indeed, immaturity is the
reason for prohibiting those under eighteen to do such things as vote, enter into
contracts, drink alcohol or make medical decisions. Moreover, adolescents, such as
Gary Graham, who was neglected and abused as a child are even more vulnerable
to damage and dysfunction. In Mr. Graham's case, our concerns are further
heightened by the fact that so little available mitigating evidence regarding youth itself
as well as Mr. Graham’s tragic upbringing was presented to the sentencing jury. (See
Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461).
In continuing to execute juvenile offenders, the United States acts in defiance of
substantial international consensus and law. The last Known execution of a juvenile
offender anywhere other than the United States was in Yemen on July 21, 1993. The
only other such executions in the 1990s occurred in 1992 in Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi
Arabia. Such executions now have ceased around the world, except for in the United
States. All other nations have joined international agreements, such as the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibiting such abuses of the death
penalty. The execution of Gary Graham would further alienate the United States from
the international community and damage our legitimacy as a world leader in the
promotion of human rights. For the past seven years, only in American need children
fear being executed by their own government.
The United States now stands alone in this practice. During the past fifteen years, we
have executed a total of sixteen juvenile offenders, half of them in Texas.
The execution of Gary Graham would make seventeen juvenile offenders, with nine
occurring in Texas. The next closest state is Virginia with three executions of juvenile
offenders. No other state has more than one. Texas is completely out there by itself.
We greatly admire Texas worldwide leadership in so many important social and
economic issues, but we doubt that Texas wants to be the hands-down leader in
executing juvenile offenders, a practice abandoned by literally everyone else.
Finally, we are most concerned that Mr. Graham could be executed without the
opportunity to have newly discovered evidence of innocence fully heard and
considered. Mr. Graham ‘s attorneys uncovered substantial and compelling evidence of
his innocence after his first petition for collateral relief had been filed. His successor
petition, based on these new claims of innocence, has been found to be procedurally
barred by both the state and Federal courts. Under these circumstances, justice
requires that the executive branch of government take all steps necessary to ensure
that an innocent man is not wrongfully executed. Recent developments in Illinois and
other jurisdictions have revealed just how fallible our system of justice can be
regardless of good intentions and safeguards.
It is our considered judgment that execution of Mr. Graham would substantially
undermine rather than serve the cause of justice. We urge you to use your power and
influence to spare the life of Mr. Graham and to end the practice of executing juvenile
offenders.
Respectfully yours,
Draft of Dean’s letter
Governor George W. Bush
State Capitol
P.O.Box 12428
Austin , Texas 78711-2428
[second letter sent to ]
Gerald Garrett, Chairman
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Price Daniel, Sr. Building
209 W. 14th Street, Suite 500
Austin, TX 78701
June 1, 2000
Dear Governor Bush:
We, the undersigned law school deans [and law school professors] write to
express our strong opposition to the execution of Gary Graham, now known as Shaka
Sankofa, scheduled in Texas for June 22, 2000. The execution of Mr. Graham, a
juvenile offender who was seventeen at the time of the offense, would be contrary to
basic principles of American justice and clearly established international standards of
decency and law. Our opposition is further strengthened by the fact that Mr. Graham
appears to have a substantial claim of innocence which has been procedurally barred
from a full evidentiary hearing in the courts.
We share the view of the American Bar Association and many others that the execution
of persons for crimes they committed while children is unacceptable in a civilized
society. Adolescence is a transitional period of life where cognitive abilities, emotions,
judgment, impulse control and identity are still developing. Indeed, immaturity is the
reason for prohibiting those under eighteen do such things as vote, enter into contracts,
drink alcohol or make medical decisions. Moreover, adolescents, such as Mr. Graham,
who was neglected and abused as a child are even more vulnerable to damage and
dysfunction. In Mr. Graham’s case, our concerns are further heightened by the fact that
so little available mitigating evidence regarding youth itself as well as Mr. Graham's
tragic upbringing was presented to the sentencing jury. (See Graham v. Collins, 506
U.S. 461).
In continuing to execute juvenile offenders, the United States acts in defiance of
substantial international consensus and law. In the last decade, only five other nations
are known to have executed juveniles [list countries] and of these six countries only
the United States and [ ] persist[s] in executing juveniles. In the past decade,
ee
we have executed more than those five remaining countries combined. The death
penalty for juveniles is expressly prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the American
Convention of Human Rights. The execution of Mr. Graham would further alienate the
United States from the international community and damage our legitimacy as a world
leader in the promotion of human rights.
Finally, we are most concerned that Mr. Graham could be executed without the
opportunity to have newly discovered evidence of innocence fully heard and
considered. Mr. Graham ‘s attorneys uncovered substantial and compelling evidence of
his innocence after his first petition for collateral relief had been filed. His successor
petition, based on these new claims of innocence, has been found to be procedurally
barred by both the state and Federal courts. Under these circumstances, justice
| requires that the executive branch of government take all steps necessary to ensure
that an innocent man is not wrongfully executed. Recent developments in Illinois and
other jurisdictions have revealed just how fallible our system of justice can be
regardless of good intentions and safeguards.
|
|
|
It is our considered judgment that execution of Mr. Graham would substantially
undermine rather than serve the cause of justice. We urge you to use your power and
influence to spare the life of Mr. Graham and to end the practice of executing juvenile
offenders.
Respectfully yours,
ne
Dear Colleagues:
Your support would be a great help in the campaign to spare the life of
Shaka Santofa (a.k.a. Gary Graham), a juvenile offender who is scheduled to be
executed in Texas on June 22, 2000. This could occur only in the United
States, since every other country in the world has abandoned the death
penalty for juvenile offenders. As legal educators, we need to work with
the many others already involved to help bring our country into line with
the rest of the world.
As you may know, I have devoted much of my academic career documenting
the United States' experience with executing juvenile offenders. I also have served
as defense counsel in several key cases dealing with this issue before the United States
Supreme Court, as well as other high courts, and have testified before several Congressional
committees. I continue to speak and write about the issue today and maintain a website
(www.law.onu.edu/faculty/streib) which contains historical information about the
juvenile death penalty as well as demographic information about those juvenile offenders who
have been executed and those who are currently on death row. I began this research over a
quarter of a century ago, and it seems that we still need to work to put this practice behind us.
As it now stands, the United States stands alone in executing offenders
under the age of eighteen. No other country has executed a juvenile offender in the past seven
years and all of the other nations who formerly executed juvenile offenders, including Yemen,
Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, have signed international agreements prohibiting such
executions. During the past fifteen years, the United States has executed a total of sixteen
juvenile offenders, half of them in Texas. Of the 70 juvenile offenders currently on death row,
28 are from Texas. We should lend our voice to efforts to stop this shameful practice in Texas
and elsewhere throughout the country.
As is made clear in the attached letter, there are other reasons to seek a
commutation of Mr. Graham's death sentence, most notably that he has a very
compelling claim of actual innocence which he has been procedurally barred
from raising in state and federal post-conviction proceedings. Recent
developments in Illinois, where 13 innocent men have been taken off death
row, have led to a moratorium on the death penalty and have underscored the
fallibility of the death penalty system. Overall, approximately one person
has been exonerated while on death row for every seven who have been
executed since the death penalty has been reinstated in 1976. In the face
of such odds, justice demands that government take all reasonable steps
necessary to allow death row inmates to air claims of actual innocence.
If you are willing to allow your name to be used in connection with this
letter, please e-mail your name, title, and the name of your law school to
Steven Drizin, a clinical law professor at Northwestern University School
of Law's Children and Family Justice Center in Chicago, at
s-drizin@northwestern.law.edu He will make sure that the letter is
delivered to Governor Bush and the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles.
Thank you for your prompt consideration to this matter. We need to forward
this letter to the Governor no later than June 8, 2000. If you have any
questions about Mr. Graham's case or require additional information, please
contact Mr. Drizin by e-mail or by phone at (312) 503-6608 or Stephen Harper, an Adjunct
Professor of Law at University of Miami Law School at (305) 545-1655 or
by e-mail at harpsk@aol.com. They are coordinating this effort as part of a national
campaign to abolish the juvenile death penalty in the United States.
Sincerely,
Victor Streib
Dean and Professor of Law
Ohio Northern University College of Law
Steven A. Drizin,
04:14 PM 5/30/200, Letters to go out tomorrow
X-From : s-drizin@nwu.edu Tue May 30 17:15:36 2000
X-Sender: sad634@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Unverified)
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.3 (32)
Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 16:14:26 -0500
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
To: sharper@pdmiami.com
From: "Steven A. Drizin" <s-drizin@nwu.edu>
Subject: Letters to go out tomorrow
Cc: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Vic/Steve: Thanks for all of your help. I hope to send the letters out to
Law School Deans tomorrow via e-mail and to work faculty members whom we
know to get their Deans to sign on. I incorporated all of your changes to
the main cover letter but took out the paragraph in the main letter
regarding Texas. After talking to Steve Harper (who spoke with Gary
Graham's attorney, Dick Burr), our feeling is that we do not want to back
Texas in the corner and make the Governor and Board feel that they have no
choice but to execute Graham. I also think that many deans will be
unwilling to sign if we attack Texas (though I plan on doing it every
chance I get in my writing as the election nears). Bottom line is this
letter is not the proper forum even if everything you say is the truth.
The two documents are attached. One in the text and one as an attachment.
Speak now or forever hold your piece.
Thanks again.
Governor George W. Bush
State Capitol
P.O.Box 12428
Austin , Texas 78711-2428
Gerald Garrett, Chairman
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Price Daniel, Sr. Building
209 W. 14th Street, Suite 500
Austin, TX 78701
June 1, 2000
Dear Governor Bush/ Chairman Garrett:
We, the undersigned law school deans write to express our strong opposition
to the execution of Gary Graham, now known as Shaka Sankofa, scheduled in
Texas for June 22, 2000. The execution of Gary Graham, a juvenile offender
who was seventeen at the time of the offense, would be contrary to basic
principles of American justice and clearly established international
standards of decency and law. Our opposition is further strengthened by
the fact that Gary Graham appears to have a substantial claim of innocence
which has been procedurally barred from a full evidentiary hearing in the
courts.
We share the view of the American Bar Association and many others that the
execution of persons for crimes they committed while children is
unacceptable in a civilized society. Adolescence is a transitional period
of life where cognitive abilities, emotions, judgment, impulse control and
identity are still developing. Indeed, immaturity is the reason for
prohibiting those under eighteen to do such things as vote, enter into
contracts, drink alcohol or make medical decisions. Moreover, adolescents,
such as Gary Graham, who was neglected and abused as a child are even more
vulnerable to damage and dysfunction. In Mr. Graham's case, our concerns
are further heightened by the fact that so little available mitigating
evidence regarding youth itself as well as Mr. Graham's tragic upbringing
was presented to the sentencing jury. (See Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461).
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Steven A. Drizin,
In continuing to execute juvenile offenders, the United States acts in
defiance of substantial international consensus and law. The last known
execution of a juvenile offender anywhere other than the United States was
in Yemen on July 21, 1993. The only other such executions in the 1990s
occurred in 1992 in Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Such executions now
have ceased around the world, except for in the United States. All other
nations have joined international agreements, such as the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibiting such abuses of the death
penalty. The execution of Gary Graham would further alienate the United
States from the international community and damage our legitimacy as a
world leader in the promotion of human rights. For the past seven years,
only in America need children fear being executed by their own government.
Finally, we are most concerned that Mr. Graham could be executed without
the opportunity to have newly discovered evidence of innocence fully heard
and considered. Mr. Graham ‘s attorneys uncovered substantial and
compelling evidence of his innocence after his first petition for
collateral relief had been filed. His successor petition, based on these
new claims of innocence, has been found to be procedurally barred by both
the state and Federal courts. Under these circumstances, justice requires
that the executive branch of government take all steps necessary to ensure
that an innocent man is not wrongfully executed. Recent developments in
Illinois and other jurisdictions have revealed just how fallible our system
of justice can be regardless of good intentions and safeguards.
It is our considered judgment that execution of Mr. Graham would
substantially undermine rather than serve the cause of justice. We urge you
to use your power and influence to spare the life of Mr. Graham and to end
the practice of executing juvenile offenders.
Respectfully yours,
Attachment Converted: " "
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
04:14 PM 5/30/2000, Letters to go out tomorrow
1ST STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
May 23, 2000, Tuesday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 17
LENGTH: 367 words
HEADLINE: Killer's backers give protest vow;
Minister says his group plans to pick 'targets of opportunity'
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: SALATHEIA BRYANT
BODY:
A group supporting death row inmate is vowing to hold 30 days of
nonviolent protest, with Enron Field, the Compaq Center, the George R. Brown
Convention Center and The Galleria mentioned as possible sites.
Muslim minister Robert Muhammad called on Christian ministers to preach
against the death penalty and to mention Graham's case in particular.
Muhammad was joined by other civic and religious leaders and local rappers at
a Monday news conference to denounce Graham's scheduled execution and announce
plans, in possibly their final effort, to gain Graham a new trial.
"We will pick targets of opportunity," Muhammad said. "It's going to be no
peace in Houston. You cannot be comfortable going to your soccer games and
living in River Oaks and killing people.
"You want the Olympics in 2012, then give justice. We're going to let them
know Texas may be nice for some but not for all. Something is going to get shut
down around here."
The group vowed to do whatever is necessary to get the attention of the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. George W. Bush.
Graham is scheduled to be executed June 22 for the May 1981 murder of Bobby
Lambert outside a Houston supermarket.
At his trial, a witness never wavered on her identification of Graham as the
killer.
However Graham's appeal lawyers have said they have found witnesses who could
absolve him.
In addition to calling for a letter-writing campaign to Bush, Graham's
Supporters plan mass demonstrations, prayer vigils, civil disobedience, town
hall meetings and a mass voters! registration drive aimed at defeating Bush in
the presidential election.
The Houston Chronicle May 23, 2000, Tuesday
Anti-death penalty activist David Atwood said the group has requested a
meeting with Bush and hope it can be attended by Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza,
leader of the Houston area's 1.4 million Catholics, who has called for clemency
for Graham.
"T want people to understand this is a cause of many," Atwood said. "We're
fighting a monster, an evil (the death penalty), and we need to join in fighting
it. It will be a miracle if we get a meeting with him (Bush) ."
The group has scheduled a rally outside the Harris County Criminal Justice
Center on May 31.
GRAPHIC: Mug: 1. Gary Graham; Photo: 2. Mother Jean Dember, a supporter of death
row inmate Gary Graham, takes notes during Monday's news conference. Graham
supporters are vowing to hold a series of protest of his pending execution.; Ben
DeSoto / Chronicle
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2000
4TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
May 18, 2000, Thursday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 21 Metfront
LENGTH: 614 words
HEADLINE: Gary Graham 11 not face death quietly
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: SALATHEIA BRYANT
DATELINE: LIVINGSTON
BODY :
LIVINGSTON - Gary Graham's sixth execution date is little more than a month
away, but unlike the others, it is all but certain that a lethal dose of drugs
will finally silence him.
"June 22 is certainly on my mind. At the same time, I have tremendous faith
in the brothers and sisters in the community," Graham said in an interview
Wednesday at the Charles Terrell Unit in Livingston. "We have had execution
countdowns before. Once again, the eyes of the world are on Texas."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his latest
appeal, clearing the way for the man who has been on death row for 19 years to
be executed.
Graham, who has begun using the name Shaka Sankofa, still maintains he did
not murder Bobby Lambert in Houston and that he will physically resist being
executed.
"T'm not willing to pay a debt I do not owe. I cannot and will not cooperate
with this lynching," Graham said. "They are going to do what they have to do.
That's why I'm willing to accept gas (pepper spray) ."
Prison spokesman Larry Fitzgerald confirmed that guards did use pepper spray
on Graham after his third refusal to voluntarily move to another cell.
Fitzgerald said it is policy to move inmates when they get an execution date.
"That's true. We did gas him. We'll probably gas him again if he continues to
refuse to cooperate," Fitzgerald said. "That's the way the penitentiary works."
Fitzgerald said prison officials are aware of Graham's statements to resist
execution.
"He's indicated he's not going to cooperate. We will be prepared for it. We
will carry out the orders of the court," Fitzgerald said.
The Houston Chronicle May 18, 2000, Thursday
Graham was 17 when he was sentenced to death for the May 1981 murder of
Lambert, 53, outside a Houston supermarket.
His case has sparked interest on both sides of the death penalty debate.
It has been a cause for Hollywood celebrities and a rallying point for death
penalty foes. Death penalty advocates say it's an example of how inmates
manipulate the system.
Different aspects of Graham's case have been reviewed by state and federal
courts more than 30 times.
His appeal lawyers contend there are witnesses that they've found after the
trial who can eliminate him as a suspect. They say those witnesses haven't had a
chance to be heard in a court.
Meanwhile, with the date looming, Graham supporters have stepped up their
public protest.
Last Saturday, Graham supporters demonstrated outside the Prairie View A&M
University graduation ceremony where Gov. George W. Bush was the speaker. A mass
rally is planned for May 31 and a Muslim minister, Robert Muhammad, has called
for a fast starting Monday.
Anthony Freddie of the Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa Coalition for Justice said
the group is circulating a petition and encouraging supporters to flood Bush and
the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles with e-mails, phone calls, letters and
faxes asking for clemency.
"This is as critical as it can get when you get to the point where there is
no federal jurisdiction to have to step in," Freddie said.
Graham's lawyer, Jack Zimmermann, said he is following leads on other
suspects. He said he is checking into Lambert's background to determine if
anyone had reason to kill him. He still plans to file a petition for clemency by
June 1.
"Obviously we're getting down to the end here. This is extremely difficult 19
years later. But we can't throw our hands up in the air and quit because it's
hard," Zimmermann said.
Because of client privilege, Zimmermann declined to comment on any advice he
may have given Graham concerning his pledge to resist execution.
"He's very frustrated having lived in a cage for 19 years," Zimmermann said.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 19, 2000
Steven A. Drizin, 02:42 PM 5/19/200, Re: Letter for Gary Graham
X-From :
s-drizin@nwu.edu Fri May 19 15:42:56 2000
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Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 14:42:12 -0500
X-PH: V4.4@postoffice.onu.edu
To: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
From: "Steven A. Drizin" <s-drizin@nwu.edu>
Subject: Re: Letter for Gary Graham
Thanks.
Steve Harper and I will get you something early next week.
At 03:37 PM 5/19/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Steve:
>
> I have attached my most recent paper on the death penalty for juvenile
>offenders (written in WP5.1). It has more recent data as well as some of
>my thoughts about this issue.
>
> I look forward to working with you on this letter to law deans around the
>country.
>
>Vic Streib
>Attachment Converted: "C:\ZDATA\WPDOCS\Onupaper. 300"
>
>
Printed
for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
s-drizin@law.northw, Letter for Gary Graham
To: s-drizin@law.northwestern.edu
From: Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu>
Subject: Letter for Gary Graham
Ce:
Bcc:
Attached: C:\document \BKSARTS\Onupaper. 300;
Hi Steve:
I have attached my most recent paper on the death penalty for juvenile offenders
(written in WP5.1). It has more recent data as well as some of my thoughts about this issue.
I look forward to working with you on this letter to law deans around the country.
Vic Streib
Printed for Victor Streib <v-streib@onu.edu> 1
VA 5
Texas Lawyer ' s Death Row Record a Concern
{ OE tbe 7
HOUSTON, June 10 — On death
row at the Terrell unit of the Texas
state prison in Livingston, an hour’s
drive north of here, inmates and
death penalty lawyers refer sardoni-
cally to a place they call the Mock
Wing. This metaphorical prison en-
clave has housed at least a dozen
death row inmates, some already
executed, others awaiting their final
punishment, who shared the same
lawyer, Ronald G. Mock.
Mr. Mock, who was appointed by
| Harris County judges to represent
(indigent defendants in capital cases,
\
6 -{L-Ley fl, St
By SARA RIMER and RAYMOND eee
says he believes he has had more
clients sentenced to death than any
lawyer in the country. One of those
clients, Robert Anthony Carter, 34,
was executed on May 31. On June 22,
another client, Gary Graham, 36, is
scheduled to die by lethal injection
after a 19-year court battle.
In large part because Mr. Gra-
ham’s conviction turned on a single
eyewitness who saw him only fleet-
ingly and at night, his new lawyers
are insisting that he is innocent and
are pressing for a postponement of
his execution and for a new trial. In
earlier pleadings, they also raised
questions about Mr. Mock’s compe-
tency as trial counsel.
Mr. Graham’s is the latest high-
profile death penalty case to focus
attention on Gov. George W. Bush
and how the death penalty is admin-
istered in his state. With their ap-
peals exhausted, Mr. Graham’s law-
yers are asking the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles to recommend
that Mr. Bush grant Mr. Graham
some form of clemency. Last week,
Mr. Bush granted a 30-day reprieve
to another condemned prisoner,
Ricky Nolen McGinn. It was only the
second time during his tenure that he
has stepped in to stop an execution.
%y addition to the innocence claim,
oakes Mr. Graham’s case par-
ste:
Phillippe Diederich for The New York Times
Gary Graham is scheduled to be
executed on June 22 in Texas.
ticularly compelling is that his new
lawyers, and other critics of the
death penalty, are portraying it as a
textbook example of how bad lawyer-
ing sends poor people to death row
here and in other states across the
country. Mr. Mock, who boasted in an
interview this week that he had
Continued on Page 22
P
f)
J
iE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL suNDay, JUNE 11, 2000
One Texas Lawyer’s Death Row Record Causes Concern
Continued From Page 1
flunked criminal law at Texas South-
ern University’s Thurgood Marshall
School of Law, called no witnesses
during the guilt phase of Mr. Gra-
ham’s trial, which lasted two days.
He did not challenge before the jury
the testimony of the single eyewit-
ness who sealed Mr. Graham’s guilty
verdict, although other witnesses
could have provided conflicting testi-
mony. He called only two witnesses
during the penalty phase, when his
job was to persuade the jury to spare
his client’s life.
Mr. Mock, who had only three
years of legal experience when he
took on Mr. Graham’s defense, ac-
knowledged in the interview that he
did almost no investigation of the
case. He knew in his gut, he said, that
none of the witnesses could help his
client. Mr. Mock’s investigator, Mer-
vyn West, as well as his co-counsel,
Chester L. Thornton, both say Mr.
Mock had made it clear that he as-
sumed Mr. Graham was guilty, an
assertion Mr. Mock disputes.
Mr. Thornton said Mr. Graham’s
‘ate had haunted him for 19 years. It
was his first and last capital case. ‘‘I
lave serious questions whether we
resented a fair and adequate de-
ense,’’ he said.
Mr. Mock said that five of his
lients on death row have petitions
ending in court that accuse him of
neffectiveness of counsel. The Texas
3ar Association has reprimanded
lim several times for professional
nisconduct. ‘‘I have a permanent
arking spot at the grievance com-
nittee,’’ Mr. Mock said.
In the 1980’s, Mr. Mock, who drives
| Rolls-Royce and a Harley-David-
on, was one of the top-earning court-
ppointed lawyers on death cases
ere, making by his estimation
120,000 to $130,000 a year. Mr. Mock
aid he stopped handling capital
ases 10 years ago because there
jas not enough money in them.
Harris County, where he practices,
ries more capital cases than any
Executed
CARTER, Robert Anthony. Executed 2000; black male.
WILLIAMS, Willie. Executed 1995: black male.
WESTLEY, Anthony. Executed 1997: black male.
JOHNSON, Curtis Lee. Executed 1992: black male.
BARNEY, Jeffrey Allen. Executed 1986; white male.
NELSON, Peter Daniel. Died awaiting execution.
Ronald G. Mock says he believes he has had more clients sentenced to death than any lawyer in the
country. New lawyers for one of those clients have raised questions about Mr. Mock’s competency.
One Lawyer’s Clients and Death Row
Facing Death Penalty
GRAHAM, Gary. Black male.
PIERCE, Anthony LeRoy. Black male.
SMITH, Roy Gene. Black male.
NEWTON, Frances Elaine. Black female.
HUGHES, Preston. Black male.
McGOWEN, Roger. Black male.
Phillippe Diederich for The New York Times
formance. Mr. Mock’s client, Antho-
ny Ray Westley, was executed in
1997.
Several clients filed complaints
ther county in the state. The countv, against Mr Mock with one claiming
these days and runs a small business
exporting medical equipment. ‘‘I in-
dict the system that creates Ronnie,
and lawyers like him. Judges appoint
lauwrvarce ushn niaw alana urth t¢ha
that they wanted to testify that they
were with Mr. Graham the night of
the murder. Mr. Mock said this week
' that he was too busy to talk to them,
, RP ee en pos tgs Oe mee a
hich includes Houston, has 148 peo-
le, including Mr. Graham, on death
yw. Since executions resumed here
. 1976, Harris County has put 62
20ple to death, making it the juris-
iction with the third-highest num-
=r of executions in the country. Only
1e state of Texas itself and the state
' Virginia have had more.
Like most counties in Texas, Har-
s County does not have a public
efender system. Thus judges, who
re elected, appoint lawyers for the
\digent. While standards have im-
roved considerably, when Mr. Gra-
am and many other death row in-
ates were being tried in the 1980’s
vere were no guidelines for court-
ppointed lawyers. Defense lawyers
nd former judges say that many
idges routinely appointed lawyers
rho moved cases quickly, and that
rere was pressure on lawyers to
ontribute to the judges’ campaigns.
“Cronyism was rampant,’ said
ay Burnett, who presided over capi-
al cases as a district judge in Hous-
on for 14 years and crusaded for the
igher standards that are now in
lace in Harris County, including
ertification and training procedures
or lawyers. But back when Mr.
fock was handling the Graham case
1 1981, Mr. Burnett said, ‘“They were
ppointing people who had no busi-
ess doing capital cases.”
With his easy manner and jokes,
fr. Mock became a favorite of a
andful of Harris County judges,
ome of whom were impressed by
he strong rapport he established
vith clients. Another reason judges
ppointed Mr. Mock, Mr. Thornton
ind other lawyers said, was that Mr.
Miock is black, and with few African-
American lawyers practicing crimi-
1al defense law in Houston in the
980’s, judges were interested in
yromoting what diversity they could.
Richard Trevathan, who was the
udge in the Graham case and is now
n private practice, said, ‘“‘I always
hought Ron Mock was a good law-
yer.’ But a review of Mr. Mock’s
egal career here shows that he was
ailed during jury selection in one
-apital murder trial for failing to file
ourt papers in another case on time
or a condemned client’s appeal. A
ederal judge who later reviewed the
sase during which Mr. Mock was
jailed wrote that his confidence in
he verdict was ‘“‘completely under-
mined’’ because of Mr. Mock’s per-
that he smelled alcohol on Mr.
Mock’s breath during their discus-
sions. Mr. Mock at one time owned 11
bars, including Buster’s Drinkery, a
popular downtown hangout for
judges and lawyers.
“T drank a lot of whiskey,” Mr.
Mock said, talking in his office in
Houston, where the walls are deco-
rated with portraits of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm
X. “I drank whiskey with judges. I
drank whiskey in the best bars. But it
never affected my ability. It never
affected my performance.”
The performance of appointed
lawyers in capital cases has become
A death penalty case
that some call a
textbook example
of bad lawyering.
a subject of national concern. Here in
Texas, which, with 468 condemned
prisoners, has the second-largest
death row population in the country
(California has the largest), Mr.
Bush has vigorously defended the
fairness and professionalism of his
state’s judicial system. He insists
that none of the 131 people executed
during his tenure were innocent.
Governor Bush declined a request
to be interviewed about the Graham
case. His spokesman, Dan Bartlett,
said: ‘‘Governor Bush takes every
death penalty case very seriously.
The governor’s office conducts an
exhaustive and lengthy review pro-
cess of each death penalty case. Hav-
ing said that, we believe it is inappro-
priate for the governor or his staff to
grant an interview in the middle of
this review process.”
The Graham case has put a spot-
light on the way Texas appoints law-
yers to handle death penalty cases
and the woeful performance of
scores of local lawyers, two of whom
slept through parts of several trials
and others of whom have presented
few if any arguments on behalf of
their clients.
“JT don’t indict Ronnie,’ said Mr.
Thornton, who rarely practices law
rules.’’ Defense lawyers and judges
say there are now a number of highly
skilled court-appointed lawyers on
capital cases in Harris County.
Roe Wilson, the Harris County as-
sistant district attorney who is han-
dling the Graham case, said: “I
think Ron did a competent job. By
law you are not guaranteed perfect
or excellent counsel. You’re guaran-
teed competent counsel.”
Talking from a holding cell on
Wednesday, Mr. Graham said the
fact that Mr. Mock was also a black
man had been reassuring. ‘‘I tended
to trust him more,’ Mr. Graham
said. ‘‘I felt like he would stand up
and fight the system.”
Mr. Graham, a high school dropout
who grew up poor with a mother in
and out of mental hospitals, was
charged in May 1981 with fatally
shooting Bobby Lambert, a 53-year-
old white man, during an attempted
nighttime robbery in the parking lot
of a Safeway supermarket.
Mr. Graham was arrested after a
weeklong crime rampage that fol-
lowed the murder of Mr. Lambert,
and he subsequently pleaded guilty
to 10 aggravated robberies during
which he terrorized his victims by
pointing guns at them and threat-
ened to kill them. He shot two of the
victims; one of the men later lost a
leg as a result. Rape charges against
Mr. Graham were dropped.
Shortly after his arrest, a Harris
County judge appointed Mr. Mock as
the lead lawyer in his capital case.
Mr. Thornton, who knew Mr. Gra-
ham and had represented him on
some juvenile offenses, was appoint-
ed his co-counsel.
Mr. West, a former police officer,
was brought in as-the investigator.
While defense investigators in cap-
ital cases routinely spend months
searching for any shred of evidence
that might save their client’s life, Mr.
West said in an interview this week
that he wrapped up his work on the
Graham case in less than a week. “I
had a couple of quick talks with
eyewitnesses and went over the po-
lice report,” he said.
Mr. Mock said Mr. Graham was
unable to tell him where he had been
on the night of the murder. ‘His
position was that he was on a drug
and alcohol binge, and didn’t remem-
ber where he was,”’ Mr. Mock said.
During the trial, two witnesses went
to the courtroom to tell Mr. Mock
helped his client. This contradicts an;
earlier affidavit, used by the state te.
deny Mr. Graham a new trial, in
which Mr. Mock denied knowing of
these witnesses.
At least two eyewitnesses who
might have helped Mr. Graham were
named in the police report. Sherian
Etuk, a child protective services
worker for the state, and Ronald
Hubbard, a postal worker, had been
working at the Safeway at the time of
the murder, and both said they saw .
the killer.
Ms. Etuk and Mr. Hubbard, whose
affidavits are included in Mr. Gra- ™
ham’s clemency petition, both said in’ ~.
interviews this week that Mr. Gra- °
ham was not the man they saw. Mr.
Graham is just under 5 feet, 16 inch-
es tall. Both Mr. Hubbard and Ms.
Etuk said that the man they saw was
under 5-foot-5.
Ms. Wilson, the assistant district
attorney, said Ms. Etuk and Mr. Hub-
bard were sincere but mistaken.
Mr. Mock said this week that he
did not bother to interview the other
eyewitnesses because if he had put
them on the stand, it wouid have
allowed the prosecution to tell the
jury about Mr. Graham’s other
crimes. But Ms. Wilson said that Mr.
Mock was wrong about the law, that
such testimony would not ha ve given
the prosecution that opening;.
No forensics evidence connected
Mr. Graham to the murder, and the
police report contained ballistics evi-
dence showing that the .22-caliber
revolver with which Mr. Graham
was arrested could not have been the
same gun that killed Mr. Lambert.
The case came down to one eyewit-
ness, Bernadine Skillern, a former
school secretary who has never wa-
vered in her identification of Mr.
Graham over the years. “She was
stronger than an acre of garlic,” Mr.
Mock said this week, repeating an
assertion he has made many times.
He did not attack Ms. Skillern’s iden-
tification before the jury, and in his
closing arguments he said she de-
served a standing ovation for her
bravery in testifying.
‘He put on no defense,” said Jack
B. Zimmermann, who is working
with Richard H. Burr on Mr. Gra-
ham’s case before the board of par-
dons and parole. “‘If he didn’t attack
the mistaken identification, there
was nothing for th - 6
roved considerably, when Mr. Gra-
am and many other death row in-
nates were being tried in the 1980’s
here were no guidelines for court-
ippointed lawyers. Defense lawyers
nd former judges say that many
udges routinely appointed lawyers
vyho moved cases quickly, and that
here was pressure on lawyers to
ontribute to the judges’ campaigns.
“Cronyism was rampant,” said
ay Burnett, who presided over capi-
al cases as a district judge in Hous-
on for 14 years and crusaded for the
igher standards that are now in
lace in Harris County, including
ertification and training procedures
or lawyers. But back when Mr.
Aock was handling the Graham case
1 1981, Mr. Burnett said, ‘‘They were
ppointing people who had no busi-
ess doing capital cases.”
With his easy manner and jokes,
Ar. Mock became a favorite of a
andful of Harris County judges,
ome of whom were impressed by
he strong rapport he established
yith clients. Another reason judges
ppointed Mr. Mock, Mr. Thornton
nd other lawyers said, was that Mr.
fock is black, and with few African-
.merican lawyers practicing crimi-
al defense law in Houston in the
980’s, judges were interested in
romoting what diversity they could.
Richard Trevathan, who was the
udge in the Graham case and is now
1 private practice, said, ‘‘I always
hought Ron Mock was a good law-
er.”’ But a review of Mr. Mock’s
2gal career here shows that he was
ailed during jury selection in one
apital murder trial for failing to file
ourt papers in another case on time
or a condemned client’s appeal. A
2deral judge who later reviewed the
ase during which Mr. Mock was
ailed wrote that his confidence in
1e verdict was ‘‘completely under-
1ined’’ because of Mr. Mock’s per-
affected my performance.”
The performance of appointed
lawyers in capital cases has become
A death penalty case
that some call a
textbook example
of bad lawyering.
a subject of national concern. Here in
Texas, which, with 468 condemned
prisoners, has the second-largest
death row population in the country
(California has the largest), Mr.
Bush has vigorously defended the
fairness and professionalism of his
state’s judicial system. He insists
that none of the 131 people executed
during his tenure were innocent.
Governor Bush declined a request
to be interviewed about the Graham
case. His spokesman, Dan Bartlett,
said: ‘‘Governor Bush takes every
death penalty case very seriously.
The governor’s office conducts an
exhaustive and lengthy review pro-
cess of each death penalty case. Hav-
ing said that, we believe it is inappro-
priate for the governor or his staff to
grant an interview in the middle of
this review process.”’
The Graham case has put a spot-
light on the way Texas appoints law-
yers to handle death penalty cases
and the woeful performance of
scores of local lawyers, two of whom
slept through parts of several trials
and others of whom have presented
few if any arguments on behalf of
their clients.
“T don’t indict Ronnie,” said Mr.
Thornton, who rarely practices law
man had been reassuring t
to trust him more,’ Mr. Graham
said. ‘‘I felt like he would stand uf
and fight the system.”’
Mr. Graham, a high school dropout
who grew up poor with a moth n
and out of mental hospitals, was
charged in May 1981 with fatally
shooting Bobby Lambert, a 53-year-
old white man, during an attempted
nighttime robbery in the parking lot
of a Safeway supermarket.
Mr. Graham was arrested after a
weeklong crime rampage that fol-
lowed the murder of Mr. Lambert,
and he subsequently pleaded guilty
to 10 aggravated robberies during
which he terrorized his victims by
pointing guns at them and threat-
ened to kill them. He shot two of the
victims; one of the men later lost a
leg as a result. Rape charges against
Mr. Graham were dropped.
Shortly after his arrest, a Harris
County judge appointed Mr. Mock as
the lead lawyer in his capital case.
Mr. Thornton, who knew Mr. Gra-
ham and had represented him on
some juvenile offenses, was appoint-
ed his co-counsel.
Mr. West, a former police officer,
was brought in as the investigator.
While defense investigators in cap-
ital cases routinely spend months
searching for any shred of evidence
that might save their client’s life, Mr.
West said in an interview this week
that he wrapped up his work on the
Graham case in less than a week. “‘I
had a couple of quick talks with
eyewitnesses and went over the po-
lice report,’’ he said.
Mr. Mock said Mr. Graham was
unable to tell him where he had been
on the night of the murder. ‘His
position was that he was on a drug
and alcohol binge, and didn’t remem-
ber where he was,’’ Mr. Mock said.
During the trial, two witnesses went
to the courtroom to tell Mr. Mock
Ms. Etuk and Mr. Hubbard, wihose
fidavits are @ ded in Mr. Grz
am’s clemency petition, Dou: saad Mm
interviews this week that Mr. Gra
ham was not the man they saw
Graham is just under 5 feet, 18 mmci-
es tall. Both Mr. Hubbard and Ms
Etuk said that the man they Saw was
under 5-foot-5.
Ms. Wilson, the assistamt Gistrict
attorney, said Ms. Etuk an
bard were sincere but mistaken
Mr. Mock said this week that !
did not bother to interview the o
eyewitnesses because if he had put
them on the stand, it would
allowed the prosecution to tell the
jury about Mr. Graham other
crimes. But Ms. Wilson said that Mr
Mock was wrong about the law, that
such testimony would not ha ve given
the prosecution that opening:
No forensics evidence
Mr. Graham to the murder, and the
revolver with which Mr. Graham
was arrested could not have been the
same gun that killed Mr. Lambert
The case came down to one eyewit-
ness, Bernadine Skillern, a f
school secretary who has n
vered in her identification of M1
Graham over the years. “She was
stronger than an acre of l
Mock said this week I
assertion he has made many e
He did not attack Ms. Skillern’s iden-
tification before the jury, and in his
closing arguments he sai
served a standing ovation for
bravery in testifying
‘“‘He put on no defense,”’ said Jack
B. Zimmermann, who is working
with Richard H. Burr on Mr. Gra-
ham’s case before the board of par-
dons and parole. “If he didn’t attack
the mistaken identification, there
was nothing forthe jury to do |
come back with a finding of guilt
The United States Supreme Court
warned in a 1967 case against “‘the
vagaries of eyewitness identifica-
tion,’ arguing that “the annals of
criminal law are rife with instances
of mistaken identification.”
Because Mr. Mock had known of
the eyewitnesses and the ballistics
report, legal technicalities prevented
the lawyers who followed him from
getting a hearing on that evidence.
“Gary Graham’s case lies on the
fault line of the Texas death penalty
system,’’ Mr. Burr said. ‘“‘He had
abysmal trial counsel, who failed to
present stark evidence of his inno-
cence based on exonerating eyewit-
nesses and forensics evidence.
Thereafter, when this evidence was
discovered, the courts all decided
that this evidence was presented too
late to be heard.”’
With the execution of his former
client approaching, Mr. Mock said he
had no regrets about his work on the
Graham case. ‘‘There’s nothing I
could have done that would have
changed the result,”’ he said.
—
5
QQ.
;
)
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