"Dear Texas ColorOfChange.org member,
Thursday, the state of Texas plans to execute a man who it knows without a doubt did not commit murder. This is not justice--it's insanity. Newspapers all over the state agree that this would be a serious mistake and have called on the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare Kenneth Foster's life.
Can you take a few minutes to make two phone calls to do the same?
Please call the Governor at 512-463-2000 and the Pardons and Paroles Board at 512-406-5852 and ask them to spare Foster's life. Then email http://us.f505.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=calls@colorofchange.org to let us know that you did.
On August 15, 1996, Maurecio Brown got out of Kenneth Foster's car and killed Michael LaHood. When the shots were fired, 19-year-old Foster was in the driver's seat, over 80 feet away, and had no idea that that LaHood was about to commit murder. Foster was no angel that night. Earlier, he had drunk beer, smoked marijuana, and waited while Brown and other friends got out of his car to rob people at gunpoint, twice.
Brown was executed on July 19, 2006 for LaHood's murder. If Foster didn't kill LaHood, why is Texas trying to execute him? It's the "law of parties," which states that a person can be held responsible for a crime committed by someone else. Texas is the only state where the law of parties applies to capital cases, where someone can be executed because of someone else's actions. In this case, the prosecution claimed that Foster was guilty because he "should have anticipated" the murder.
In 2005, a U.S. District Judge ruled that the Law of Parties had been misapplied, violating Foster's Eighth and 14th Amendment rights, and overturned his death sentence. But a federal circuit court overruled that decision, so now Foster's fate is in the hands of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Unless the Pardons Board acts, Foster will be killed by the state for failing to read Maurecio Brown's mind.
The Pardons Board rules today. If they recommend commutation of Foster's death sentence, Gov. Perry decides Foster's fate. The Pardons Board rarely commutes sentences, and Governor Perry, citing strong support in Texas for the death penalty, did not uphold the only commutation recommended during his term (he has overseen 159 executions since 2000).
Even though the odds are against Foster, we know that public pressure can make a difference. Every ounce of pressure could help.
Again, please call the Governor at 512-463-2000 and the Pardons and Paroles Board at 512-406-5852. Email us at http://us.f505.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=calls@colorofchange.org to let us know that you did. And pass this on.
Thank You and Peace, "
Gabriel, thanks for e-mailing me this important story.
Now everyone please stop reading and get on the phone.
Brotha Field, I'll get on this right away. I'll make sure I start my day with this tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAngie
Thanks Angie!
ReplyDeleteField,
ReplyDeleteI've a serious-assed legal sort of question. This is a no-shit serious question.
If the government kills people who are guilty of no crime (or at least not guilty of the crime for which they have been executed), and the government KNOWS the people executed were not guilty, then can we fairly presume the government is not legitimate?
Now, I know, the usual answer is that a revolution is never legally justifiable. In theory, we are always supposed to stay within the system to "reform" it. That said, I note that those who formed the government of the United States originally had to have revolted against what must have been widely perceived as lawful government. Not legitimate, perhaps, but lawful. [After all, no one in power is going to pass a law that says, "Yeah, OK, feel free to revolt and shit."]
At what point, counselor, are we the people free to remake the government of the United States with or without the sanction of those who control the status quo?
Field - Action-oriented post. Thanx for sharing this information with your blog audience. I had similiar post a little earlier. I didn't have the phone number for the governor though. Call & pray.
ReplyDeletepeace, Villager
neil bitch I feel your passion. But at this point the only revolution we can start is with the ballot box. People need to understand the importance of voting, and of making the politricksters they elect accountable.
ReplyDeletePoor people and people of color will never catch a break in this country's legal system because it's set up against them. Trust me, lady justice ain't blind. Not yet, and sure as hell not in Texas.
Those assholes in the Texas legislature and court system need a stiff boot up the ass. We need to elect Presidents who will appoint jurist who know what the f**k they are doing. The President makes appointments to these lower courts and on the Supremes, and he or she should be made accountable.
Everyone knows that innocent people have been executed in the past, and sadly, it will keep happening until we (the people) get up off of our asses and start making our voices heard.
Villager. Thahnks for the link to your post, and thanks for all the work you do with the Afrospear.
Stay up.
Just goes to show that when it comes to Negroes, its always open hunting seasons in Amerikka. Whether its Katrina (non)clean up, the Jena Six, Sean Bell in NYC, the Newark 3, the Philly murder rate or this cat that Governor Ken Doll wants roast on Ol' Smokey -- (White) Americans like their darkies the way Mike Vick likes his dogs, tortured, violent monstrosities or just plain dead.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of Mr. Vick, could someone inform our illustrious NAACP that there are Black men dying and waiting to die in our legal systems for crimes they did not commit? How about we pool our resources to fight for Black people who could use the vast resources of our vanguard civil rights organizations? Let that overpaid idiot athlete fend for himself against the self righteous tree hugging jackass white soccer moms over at PETA and the Animal Liberation Front.
"And speaking of Mr. Vick, could someone inform our illustrious NAACP that there are Black men dying and waiting to die in our legal systems for crimes they did not commit? How about we pool our resources to fight for Black people who could use the vast resources of our vanguard civil rights organizations? Let that overpaid idiot athlete fend for himself against the self righteous tree hugging jackass white soccer moms over at PETA and the Animal Liberation Front."
ReplyDeletecappadonna,if you don't mind, tht quote goes on my sidebar.
Remember the song by (who was it, Nina Simone?) "Mississippi, GodDamn!
ReplyDeleteJust switch "Mississippi" with "Texas" and you're singing the same tune.
My sig's already on that petition, and I'm making the call right now.
It's saying something that I live in Texas and I haven't heard anything about this. Glad to see someone is trying to make people aware of issues like this.
ReplyDeleteAlmost reminds me of what's been going on in the killing fields of Philly lately.
"Let that overpaid idiot athlete fend for himself against the self righteous tree hugging jackass white soccer moms over at PETA and the Animal Liberation Front."
ReplyDeleteFYI, white soccer moms are not typically friends to the tree huggers. They drive SUVS and big trucks and overconsume. Most self righteous tree huggers try to avoid overconsumption. And I resent the white implication. What? Only white people can care about the environment? Are black and other people of color free to destroy the earth? Fuck VICK, but FUCK anyone who drives an SUV or big truck ten times harder. FUCKING HOGS!
I just voted for your blog in the Best Political/News Blog category for the 2007 Black Weblog Awards, because you deserve it. And although I see that you unblogrolled me, I still love your blog. It's all love. *lol*
ReplyDeleteaziza, thanks for the love! I delinked you? Your blog must have been inactive for awhile. -You see all these blogs I have on my blog roll- and it was dropped off my blogroll. I will update you tonight when I get home from my 9-5 plantation ;)
ReplyDeleteBTW, how is that "yawdie" you were dealing with?
Kitty, why don't you say what you really think? :)
Called both, left a message with "Goodhair" and talked to actual folks at the pardon board.
ReplyDeleteThere's been enough killing to last all of us for some time. Every right-to-lifer ought be all over this. Hope he makes it.
Field,
ReplyDeleteI totally get where you are coming from (hello Mr. FBI-tard!).
However, may I respectfully point out the Florida 2000 vote "counting" scandals? The Bush v. Gore SCROTUS non-precedent-setting decision? The Ohio 2004 debacle? Everywhere we find Diebold and ES&S hardware, we seem to find that the vote totals unsurprisingly support the status quo. As Stalin reportedly said, "It doesn't matter who votes, what matters is who counts the votes." I'm sure it sounded more democratic in the original Russian (or whatever language he spoke).
Oh, and don't expect any help from the FBI. They prided themselves on tracking down torture-murderers (check out the extras on the recent Silence of the Lambs DVD), but are quite happy to let US citizens torture other people to death without any significant penalty. Of course, they also shoot women in the face without any significant penalty, so what goes around comes around, I guess. Good thing the FBI has infiltrated all those non-violent anti-war groups, eh?
And don't expect any help from the SS. Yeah, I saw those two pics, too. The ones with Michael Douglas as an aging action star and the other one with Clint Eastwood as an aging action star (wtf is it with these people?). Bruce Willis must be next since Ahnold is too busy screwing up California to make another film. But I digress. The SS is not going to help anyone but those in power. After all, if Dick can shoot a lawyer in the face while drunk off his ass and get away with it while you and I would have been in jail, I see nothing there but a very white Praetorian Guard.
I just wish I had some good news.
Keep the faith.
Apparently the good guys win sometimes:
ReplyDeletePerry commutes death row inmate Foster's sentence
Full story at the Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/083107dntexexecution.8544bf20.html
THANKS GUYS FOR ALL OF YOUR CALLS AND E-MAILS TO THE PEOPLE DOWN IN TEXAS!!
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS GOOD NEWS.
WAY TO GO!!!!
I was a little late and called the Parole Board today and was told the good news. I tell you Texas has an express lane to the gas chamber. This happened in 96 and they're already executing. In Georgia we've got more than more inmate who have been on death row for more than 30 years.
ReplyDeleteIt's a barbaric institution in any case and should be stopped, especially if they have been proven to be wrong on more than one occasion.
I heard this story on NPR on the way to work that morning and I could have been physically ill thinking about it. Of course, living in Texas I've become rather numb to the state-sanctioned murder rate -- it's how I deal with it.
ReplyDeleteBut I was never so shocked as I was when I heard the news coming home that day. Even the worst governors have to do the right thing once in a while. Too bad it's not more often.