Campus Progress Student Reps in Austin, Texas have been doing some amazing work through Students Against the Death Penalty (SADP) and the Texas Moratorium Network.
One of their biggest issues right now is the impeachment of a state judge that refused to receive paperwork a few minutes for an urgent appeal from a man that was scheduled to be executed the same night. The cause against Judge Keller has received widespread support, including from the New York Times. SADP has a campaign website where you can find more information about this issue.
You can find recent testimony at a committee hearing from Hooman Hedayati, a University of Texas student, and an update from Margaret Haule, a student at Austin Community College, below:
Students that work with Campus Progress in both Texas and Montana have started the year with a bang by getting stories in their campus papers.
In Texas, former Campus Progress Student Advisory Board member Hooman Hedayati wrote a powerful op-ed about what we learned from the de facto seven month moratorium on the death penalty caused by a supreme court challenge to the legality of lethal injection. Here is a snippet:
During the recent moratorium on executions, several notable things happened. Three states - California, North Carolina and Tennessee - launched studies of their death penalty systems. Two states, Maryland and Nebraska, debated abolishing the death penalty in their state legislatures. A third state, New Jersey, did away with capital punishment altogether. For the first time in Texas, Rick Reed, a candidate for the Travis County district attorney's office, ran on a platform opposing capital punishment.
There are many reasons I am against the death penalty. First, it is a violation of the Eight’s Amendments cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is a clear hypocrisy to the original purpose of our justice system, which is to rehabilitate. Why would a state kill their own people to prove that killing other people is wrong? The idea in and of itself is preposterous. Secondly, the death penalty repeatedly proves itself to be racist, discriminatory to the poor, and a system that has convicted the innocent. Statistics have shown that racial bias exists in the application of the death penalty, including the fact that although over 50% of murder victims are Black, over 83% of the victims in death penalty cases are White. Unfortunately, there are cases in which mentally ill patients are on death row and have been executed. One of the most critical cases that can set precedent for the Supreme Court is Panetti v. Quarterman (2007). Although I severely disagree with the actions of Panetti, I am a believer in equal justice and human rights in the legal system.
Scott Panetti has been hospitalized 14 times in 6 institutions for symptoms of schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations, and paranoid delusions marked by religiosity. He is responsible for murdering his estranged wife parents and holding her and their daughter in hostage. Before his capital murder trial, he decided that his attorneys were part of a conspiracy against him and insisted on representing himself in court. Dressed in a purple cowboy outfit, Panetti came into the courtroom rambling incoherently and “preaching the gospel.” During trial, he attempted to subpoena John F. Kennedy, Jesus Christ, Anne Bancroft, and many other “witnesses.” I cannot believe the judge even let this continue. He was clearly showing that he had no clue what was happening and all of these problems were ignored. When asked did he know why he would be executed, he replied, “. . . they say it’s because of the murders, but I know it’s because they [the state] does not want me preaching gospel in prison . . .” Apparently Panetti never showed a clear sign of competency from the beginning.
Earlier I mentioned that there were four series of "trials" that we had against the cruelty of the death penalty. Through each one, the opponents of the death penalty offer valid reasons of why the death penalty should be abolished: it's racist, classist, convicts the poor, it's cruel and unusual, and there is NO sign of deterrence.
Just make the decision yourself, which I hope its the progressive one... Part Four.
Earlier I mentioned that there were four series of "trials" that we had against the cruelty of the death penalty. Through each one, the opponents of the death penalty offer valid reasons of why the death penalty should be abolished: it's racist, classist, convicts the poor, it's cruel and unusual, and there is NO sign of deterrence.
Just make the decision yourself, which I hope its the progressive one... Part Three.
Earlier I mentioned that there were four series of "trials" that we had against the cruelty of the death penalty. Through each one, the opponents of the death penalty offer valid reasons of why the death penalty should be abolished: it's racist, classist, convicts the poor, it's cruel and unusual, and there is NO sign of deterrence.
Just make the decision yourself, which I hope its the progressive one.
From March 10th-14th, the Texas Students against the Death Penalty and Campus Progress has an Alternative Spring Break entitled "The Anti-Death Action Penalty Conference." This conference brings many students from around the nation to protest, lobby, and develop plans on how to get the death penalty abolished. I had the pleasure of attending this conference, and it was a life-changing event. I always knew I was against the death penalty morally and holistically, but now I have the information to present in front of proponents.
As part of this Action Camp, we were visited with people who have a family member on death row, and also victims' family members. This was a rewarding experience to hear people who witnessed a crime and still oppose the racist and classist death penalty.
Four videos will be uploaded throughout the week when we were on the Capitol Hill steps putting the death penalty "on trial." Here is part one of the video.
About 11 years ago, on a Sunday morning before sunrise, someone dumped the body of 20-year-old Stacey Stites off the side of a road in the small town of Bastrop, Texas. Rodney Reed, a black man from Bastrop, was convicted of her murder by an all-white jury, despite the strong evidence linking other people, including Stites' fiance Jimmy Fennell, to the murder. Last week, Fennell, who is now a police officer in Georgetown, Texas, was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of sexually assaulting a woman in custody at gunpoint, and he was placed on administrative leave from his job. At the time of Stites' death, Fennell was a police officer in Giddings, a town just east of Bastrop. Read More »
New Jersey ended the death penalty today, reversing a law passed in 1982 that reinstated the practice. "Today, New Jersey is truly evolving," said Governor Jon Corzine. “I believe society must first determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence and undermines the sanctity of life. ... I answer ‘Yes,’ and therefore I believe we must evolve to ending that endorsement."
New Jersey has not executed anyone in 44 years, and current death row inmates will serve life sentences without the possibility of parole. Nationwide, 36 states still have the death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas has the highest number of executions since 1976, followed by Virginia and Oklahoma.
The next time you travel to downtown Houston to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, you should walk a few blocks to Houston's Old Hanging Tree at the corner of Capital and Bagby streets. That huge 200-year-old oak tree is the location where many "Negroes" were illegally lynched many years ago. Almost 150 years after the Civil War ended, Texas remains haunted by its long history of slavery, and even today the state still practices lynching. But today it is done by the state, rather than a group of white-hooded men. It is called execution by lethal injection.
As an anti-death penalty activist one of the questions that I often hear is "If one of your loved ones was murdered. Do you still support the death penalty?" It is hard to answer this question since I have never been in that situation. However, I can always point out to many Murder Victim' Families that decided not support the death penalty such as Marietta Jaeger, Ron Carlson, Bill Pelke and George White. These video clips are taken from the documentary "Step By Step A Journey of Hope" produced by Micki Dickoff.
If you are as shocked as we were by the refusal of Judge Sharon Keller to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5 PM by lawyers representing a man about to be executed, then sign on to this complaint. We will submit this complaint to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on October 30, 2007. In order for your name to count on the complaint for the submission, you must provide all the requested contact information, including your phone number and occupation.
We must also have your signature, so download the signature form PDF version , MS Word version and fax it to +15124028428 or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, click here
In August the nation saw the result of months of the Texas anti-death penalty movement's tireless work: the commutation of Kenneth Foster's death sentence, mere hours before his scheduled execution. In September the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would take a Kentucky case to decide if the method of lethal injection used by many states, including Texas, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. As a result, there could be a de facto moratorium on executions nation-wide, and possibly in Texas, until there is a ruling on this case. However, despite the recent successes at the Supreme Court and of the Kenneth Foster campaign, the Texas anti-death penalty movement is in troubling shape. Major foundations and national anti-death penalty leaders see Texas as a lost cause and are choosing not to fund a grassroots infrastructure here. Read More »
A few weeks ago we started the first ever youtube campaign to save life of a death-row inmate. We asked everyone who has a webcam to record a statement and upload it to YouTube saying why Texas Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should stop the execution of Kenneth Foster on August 30, 2007. Later that week Gov. Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster's sentence.
There is a new youtube campaign, this time for Troy Davis. October 9th is Troy’s birthday and in celebration of this occasion NCADP is asking all of his supporters worldwide to send him a video birthday message and to post that message on YouTube.
On August 30, 2007, Texas, the state that executes more people than any in the country, plans to deliver a lethal injection to Kenneth Foster, Jr. While this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary for a state that will perform its 400th execution this summer, Kenneth's case is unique. He killed no one. The state of Texas will be the first to admit this. It seems unthinkable that a man who did not even touch the gun that ended the life of Michael LaHood, Jr. on August 14, 1996 in San Antonio, Texas would be sent to his death for such a crime. What makes this possible is gross misuse the Law of Parties. As the Austin Chronicle has put it, he was in "the wrong place at the wrong time." A number of states have laws that enable prosecutors to hold those merely present at the scene of a crime legally responsible. Texas is the only state that applies this statute in capital cases, making it the only place in the United States where a person can be factually innocent of murder and still face the death penalty.
--In case you are planning to stay in DC for a few more days after the Campus Progress conference, you should come and check out the Starvin' for Justice 2007 in front of the SCOTUS.
The 14th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court June 29th - July 2nd, 2007 A four day vigil maintaining a presence at SCOTUS, the Supreme Court Of The United States. Some of the participants fast during this time, but fasting is not required. We encounter thousands of visitors to the Court and share our message that no matter how you slice it, the death penalty is BAD PUBLIC POLICY. Much of the time is spent talking to individuals and creating visibilty. Several larger events are held at key times during the event to highlight specific concerns, with a series of speakers each evening to educate, enlighten and entertain… Click Here to see pictures and more info on what goes on during the Fast & Vigil!
(For some reason I thought I had already posted a blog about this year's alternative spring break. But I didn't. So here it goes...)
The 2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break sponsored by Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Campus Progress, and several other organizations was a big success. Students received valuable training and experience in grassroots organizing, lobbying, preparing a direct action and media relations. During the week, students immediately put what they learned into action during activities such as the "Day of Innocence Rally" at the Texas capitol, when they visited members of the Texas Legislature and lobbied them on the need for a moratorium on executions. They also organized a protest in the heart of the SXSW music festival in downtown Austin during the Direct Action Day. Read More »
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or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, 
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