[Deathpenalty] death penatly news-----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 22



TEXAS:

Execution of convicted killer would be 400th in Texas


Convicted killer Johnny Ray Conner was headed to the Texas death chamber
Wednesday evening for the slaying of a Houston convenience store clerk
during a failed robbery 9 1/2 years ago.

The execution would be the 400th in the nation's most active death penalty
state since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in
1976. Texas resumed carrying out executions 6 years later.

Conner, 32, would be the 21st put to death this year in Texas. 3 more are
scheduled to die next week.

Conner's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court to stop the lethal
injection, arguing his trial attorneys were deficient for not
investigating an old leg injury that left Conner with a limp. The
disability would have prevented him from running away quickly from the
store where Kathyanna Nguyen, 49, was gunned down on a Sunday afternoon in
May 1998.

Witnesses who identified Conner as the gunman told of seeing a man running
from the scene. None mentioned a limp.

A federal judge agreed with the argument and granted Conner a new trial. A
federal appeals court disagreed and overturned that ruling this year,
clearing the way for Conner's execution date.

Conner's trial lawyers disputed they were ineffective, saying the injury
never was an issue because Conner told them his broken leg long had been
healed.

Kenneth Williams, a University of Miami law professor now representing
Conner, argued in his appeal that was before the Supreme Court on
Wednesday that because trial attorneys failed to look into the leg injury,
they were "not in a position to undermine the eyewitness testimony further
and ... not able to argue to the jury that there was reasonable doubt that
Mr. Conner was the assailant."

State lawyers argued Conner never complained to his trial attorneys about
witnesses never referring to his limp.

Lyn McClellan, the Harris County district attorney who prosecuted the
case, said Conner's complaint now was a fabrication.

"They had video of him in jail walking down the hallway just fine without
any limp," he said. "That's the problem with some made-up defense. You've
got to live it out all the time or you get caught."

The prospect of Conner becoming Texas' 400th executed prisoner prompted an
outcry from death penalty opponents.

"Johnny Conner's execution represents 400 instances of failed public
policy for Texans," the Austin-based Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty said.

The European Union, which opposes capital punishment and bans it in its 27
nations, urged Gov. Rick Perry to stop Conner's execution and impose a
death penalty moratorium.

Perry spokesman Robert Black brushed aside the criticism.

"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate
punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens,"
he said.

Julian Gutierrez, a customer walking inside the store to pay for gasoline,
interrupted the holdup, tried to run back outside and was shot in the
shoulder. Nguyen was shot in the head.

"The clerk was in one of those cubicles where they have this bulletproof
glass," McClellan said. "He was able to get his gun in there and it was
kind of like being in a shooting gallery. After she complied and gave him
money, he wasn't satisfied and he shot and killed her when she was in the
cubicle that was supposed to protect her, preventing her from running out
of the store and living."

Gutierrez survived and was among at least three people to identify Conner,
whose fingerprint also was found on a bottle at the shooting scene.

Conner, a Shreveport, La., native, had a history of assaults and drug
offenses starting at age 12.

At his capital murder trial, a Harris County jury took less than an hour
to convict him, then deliberated about 5 hours before returning with the
death sentence.

Scheduled to die next is DaRoyce Mosley, set for lethal injection Tuesday
for his part in the slayings of 4 people in the robbery of a bar in
Kilgore in East Texas in 1994.

On the Net: Texas Department of Criminal Justice execution schedule
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/scheduledexecutions.htm

Johnny Ray Conner http://ccadp.org/johnnyconner.htm

(source: Associated Press)

*************************************

Texas to hit death penalty milestone


Texas is set to reach a milestone no other state can beat.

It will execute the 400th inmate since the state resumed the death penalty
in 1982.

"I believe the death penalty ought to be an option for juries," said US
Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, during a stop in Austin Tuesday.

But opposition to Texas executions is coming from all the way across the
Atlantic Ocean. The 27-nation European Union called Texas to put a
moratorium on executions, which state leaders quickly rejected.

"It's none of their business," said Cornyn.

Governor Rick Perry's office echoed the Senator.

"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate
punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens,"
said Perry spokesman Robert Black. "While we respect our friends in
Europe, and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just
fine governing Texas."

The call to halt executions comes as Texas prepares to put to death Johnny
Ray Conner in Huntsville, for the shooting death of a Houston convenience
store owner in 1998.

It's also putting another upcoming execution in the spotlight. Kenneth
Foster is on death row for a 1996 murder, in which he was the getaway car
driver, not the shooter.

A Texas law called the "law of parties" okays capital punishment for
accomplices.

Foster supporters rallied outside the state capitol Wednesday, calling his
sentence unjust. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld
Foster's sentence, and he's set to die on August 30.

(source : KVUE News)

*********************************

DaRoyce Mosley Scheduled For Execution In Texas


Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about
DaRoyce Lamont Mosley, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007.

On October 28, 1995, Mosley was found guilty of the 1994 capital murder of
Patricia Colter and was sentenced to death. A summary of the evidence
presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Wearing ski masks and brandishing handguns, DaRoyce Lamont Mosley and his
uncle, Ray Don Mosley, entered Katies' Lounge in Kilgore, Texas, at 11:45
p.m. on July 21, 1994, as night waitress Sandra Cash was closing up for
the evening.

Ray Don, the first to burst through the door, approached Cash and demanded
the money. As Cash slid a box containing money toward Ray Don, he shot her
twice.

DaRoyce Mosley shot the four customers who were at the lounge, Patricia
Colter, Duane Colter, Alvin Waller, and Luva Congleton. All 4 customers
died while Cash's injuries left her permanently paralyzed from the chest
down. Despite her shock-induced state, Cash still managed to call 9-1-1.

Both Mosleys and a juvenile went to Christopher "Kaboo" Smith's home after
the crime. DaRoyce Mosley divided the money evenly between himself, Ray
Don, the juvenile, and Kaboo, with each receiving a total of 77 dollars.

The next day, Mosley bought a new car and picked up his brother, Kaboo and
the juvenile. Police pulled Mosley over and arrested the juvenile. At the
time, the police were unaware of Mosley's involvement in the robbery and
killings at the lounge. Nonetheless, the police asked all the occupants of
the car if they would voluntarily come to the police station, and everyone
agreed.

At the police station, Mosley stated that he had no involvement in the
robbery and murders. Later that evening, however, Mosley was arrested
based on information the police received from Smith. When informed he was
under arrest, [Mosley] cried out, "Oh what have I done. I've ruined my
life. I'm going to spend the rest of my life in jail." Mosley confessed
that he shot the 4 people at Katies' Lounge and that Ray Don shot Cash,
the lone victim to survive the robbery.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

August 4, 1994 -- A Gregg County grand jury indicted DaRoyce Mosley for
the capital murder of Patricia Colter committed during the offense of
robbery of Sandra Cash.

October 28, 1995 -- A jury found Mosley guilty of capital murder.

October 30, 1995 -- Following a separate punishment hearing, Mosley was
sentenced to death.

July 1,1998 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Mosley's
conviction and sentence.

April 19, 1999 -- The U.S. Supreme Court denied Mosley's petition for
certiorari review of the direct appeal judgment.

October 9, 1997 -- Mosley filed an application for writ of habeas corpus
with the state trial court.

December 14, 1998 -- Mosley filed a supplemental application for writ of
habeas corpus with the trial court.

March 15, 1999 -- An evidentiary hearing was held in the state trial
court.

June 30, 1999 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to follow
the trial court's recommendation, and ultimately denied Mosley's first
state habeas application. The court also dismissed Mosley's supplemental
application as an abuse of the writ.

January 10, 2000 -- The U.S. Supreme Court denied Mosley's petition for
certiorari review of the state habeas judgment.

June 30, 2000 -- Mosley filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus
in a federal district court.

March 31, 2003 -- The federal district court granted the state's motion
for summary judgment and denied Mosley the relief requested in his federal
habeas petition.

June 20, 2003 -- The federal district court granted Mosley a certificate
of appealability with regard to 3 of his claims, but denied COA on th rest
of his claims.

July 24, 2003 -- Mosley filed an application for additional certificate of
appealability with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

September 8, 2003 -- The 5th Circuit Court denied Mosley's request for
additional COA.

May 17, 2004 -- The 5th Circuit Court issued an opinion affirming the
judgment of the district court on the three issues considered on appeal.

June 18, 2004 -- The 5th Circuit Court denied Mosley's petition for
rehearing by the full court.

September 16, 2004 -- Mosley petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ
of certiorari.

February 22, 2005 -- The Supreme Court denied Mosley's petition for
certiorari.

May 18, 2007 -- The trial court issued an order setting Mosley's execution
date for August 28, 2007.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

According to TDCJ, Mosley did not have a prior criminal record before this
offense was committed.

MISCELLANEOUS

For additional information and statistics, please go to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice website, www.tdcj.state.tx.us.

[source: Texas Attorney General]

(source: All American Patriots)

*******************

Kenneth Foster didn't kill anyone...So why does Texas want to kill him?


MARLENE MARTIN, the national director of the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty (CEDP), writes on the struggle to save Kenneth Foster Jr. from the
Texas execution machine.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WHY DOES the state of Texas so badly want to kill a man who never killed
anyone?

Even prosecutors admit that Kenneth Foster Jr. didn't pull the trigger on
the night in August 1996 when Michael LaHood Jr. was shot and killed. But
if Texas has its way, he will be executed anyway on August 30.

Under its "Law of Parties," the state claims that Kenneth should be put to
death because he could have anticipated that Michael LaHood would be
killed when Mauriceo Brown got out of the car Kenneth was driving and
approached LaHood. Kenneth was still in the car, 80 feet away, with two
other men, when the crime took place. Brown was executed last year.

So Kenneth is facing his own death in a matter of days because he couldn't
read someone's mind. That's the essence of it.

What else to read

Call on Gov. Rick Perry to grant clemency for Kenneth Foster. Call
800-252-9600 (Texas callers) or 512-463-1782 (Austin and out of state),
and send faxes to 512-463-1849.

For more information on what you can do to help Kenneth, and on and the
struggle of Texas death row prisoners against executions and rotten
conditions, see the Free Kenneth Foster and DRIVE Movement Web sites.

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty Web site has information on many
cases, including Kenneths--and on how you can get involved in the struggle
against capital punishment.

Donations to the Save Kenneth Foster campaign can be made by sending
checks or money orders (to the account "To Save Kenneth Foster," no.
831766.1) to: Velocity Credit Union, P.O. Box 1089, Austin, TX 78767-9947.

In 2005, a federal judge, Royal Ferguson, recognized the injustice of
Kenneth being condemned under the Law of Parties, and overturned his death
sentence on the grounds that there was no evidence he had major
involvement in the murder, nor knew one was about to take place. But that
decision was overruled by a higher federal court.

Now, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected Kenneth's final
legal appeal--even though it included an affidavit from Julius Steen, one
of the other men in the car and the prosecution's star witness in Kenneths
trial, restating that Kenneth had no idea Brown planned to harm LaHood.

No doubt, one major reason why Texas doesnt want to reverse Kenneth's
death sentence is that this would shine a spotlight on the Law of
Parties--and put other convictions in jeopardy.

As CEDP member Liliana Segura wrote about the law on the Common Dreams Web
site, "[I]t's clear effect has been to broaden the pool of defendants
eligible for death. By inviting a jury to speculate whether a defendant
'should have known' a murder could happen, it drastically lowers the
burden of proof for a punishment supposedly reserved for 'the worst of the
worst.'"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SO NOW what? Will the state of Texas draw up the poison and kill Kenneth?

As Sandra Reed, the mother of another Texas death row prisoner, Rodney
Reed, told me: "We just have to keep up what we're doing--marching in the
street, speaking out, writing letters, making our voices heard. We just
can't stop. I just know the only reason we got a favorable ruling from the
court in Rodney's case is because of all the pressure we've created. We
have to fight like we're going to win."

Organized around the Save Kenneth Foster Campaign, led by Kenneths family
and friends, anti-death penalty activists have been working all out to
bring attention to this case, with much success. Media outlets have
reported favorably about Kenneth, and a letter-writing campaign to the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is underway--the board says it will
make a decision about recommending clemency by August 28.

Kenneth himself--who while on death row has become an activist, writer and
poet--knows full well what he is up against. "As I formulate these words,
I have no idea if I'll be physically alive at the end of this month," he
wrote in a letter to me. "Having gotten word of recent denials of final
appeals, I am on a head-on crash course with the Texas killing machine
gurney.

"Nevertheless, I find the same flare in my spirit as before--my fingers
and mind still moving with the tempo of the fight in the streets. I've
already declared that where there is love and struggle, there is no death.
As long as we live out our personal legends, then who we are persist.
Therefore, I falter not, even being within the grasp of imperialist
claws!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

KENNETH HAS many of the hallmarks of injustice typical of the Texas death
penalty system. He was just 19 when he was arrested. Kenneth is Black, and
the victim was white. His inexperienced lawyer lost all three capital
cases she tried, and her clients went to death row. Kenneth was put on
trial with Brown, the shooter, as his codefendant. The state withheld
evidence. Witnesses testified after making plea deals with prosecutors.

This is why Texas has been ground zero of America's execution machine
since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Texas has accounted for
more than one-third of all executions nationwide in the last three
decades--so far this year, it is responsible for about 2/3 of people put
to death.

As the state reaches another grim milestone of 400 people executed, Gov.
Rick Perry has now earned the notorious distinction of outpacing the
Texacutioner, George Bush, with 159 executions occurring on his watch,
compared to Bush's 152.

During the days of lynching, people would gather around to jeer as the
Black victim was hung from a tree. This is now seen as repugnant. We find
it so because people fought back--against Jim Crow justice, against
segregation, against racist violence and apartheid-like conditions in the
South.

But the truth is that lynchings were driven inside--into the cozy confines
of the courtroom. This sanitized arena shouldnt be allowed to conceal the
mission of the death penalty--to kill the innocent, the destitute and
disproportionately minorities.

>From inside prison walls, Kenneth has been a leader of the struggle
against legal lynching. He co-founded the DRIVE (Death Row
Inner-communalist Vanguard Engagement) Movement to stage nonviolent
protests on death row to call attention to miserable conditions--locked up
22 hours a day, no TVs, no recreation, one 5-minute phone call every 6
months, no work or learning opportunities. People describe it as living in
a tomb.

"The struggle has meant everything to me," Kenneth wrote. "When I came
into this state of consciousness, I found that next to my most beloved
family members, I had never loved anything this much. It became something
that excited me, motivated me, and something that I even yearned for.

"When we (myself, Rob Will, Gabriel Gonzales and Reginald Blanton) created
and initiated the DRIVE movement, I felt like I was coming to a home that
I had long left. We are all made to be something; some of us will be
doctors, some will be architects, others athletes or scientists. And then
some of us are made to be activists and artists. After all, what would the
world be like without art or drum beats or SLAM-type poets? I'd think very
dull.

"I looked at my 11-year-old daughter not long ago and asked her, 'Do you
know what "No struggle, no progress" means?' A young activist in the
making, she squinted her face for a second, and then said, 'I think it
means that if you don't work, you don't get anything done.' I could only
smile.

"I've always said that struggle means conscious organizing and
mobilization! Organizing is putting it all together in a strategic and
efficient fashion. You got the keys in your hands. Mobilizing is like
turning the ignition. Struggle means we got our foot on the gas, and we're
not letting up until we reach our destination!"

Kenneth has vowed to fight until there is no breath left in him. We should
match his vow--and fight on for justice!

(source: Socialist Worker)

*******************************

Death penalty opponents rally outside Governor's Mansion


Death penalty protesters were out in force near the Governor's Mansion on
Tuesday evening. DPS troopers shut down Lavaca Street and detoured traffic
around the block as a precaution.

Several dozen people stood on Lavaca to oppose the execution of Kenneth
Foster, who's been on death row for 10 years for driving a car used in a
deadly shooting. His execution date is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Foster did not shoot the gun that killed Michael LaHood in San Antonio in
1996. He was convicted and sentenced to death under the Law of Parties,
which allows the state to seek convictions for those present at the scene
of a crime as if they committed it.

Texas is the only state that uses the Law of Parties in capital cases.

His supporters say since the original trial, the other men in the car that
night testified that Foster had no idea LaHood would be shot.

Mauriceo Brown was found guilty of capital murder for shooting LaHood. He
was executed last July. 2 others, including 1 who testified against Brown,
received long prison terms.

Prosecutors said the attack on LaHood Jr. capped a crime spree by the four
alleged gang members in which at least 4 other people were robbed.

Foster's supporters are petitioning the governor and Board of Pardons and
Paroles for clemency.

(source: News8Austin)





***********************

Remembering the victim


Re: "Remember 'Ms. Lee'  As state nears 400th execution, focus on victim,"
Sunday Editorial.

Kudos for the editorial highlighting the life of an innocent victim. There
are many people murdered by vicious criminals who are mothers, fathers,
children, brothers and sisters whose needless deaths cry out for justice.

Their deaths should not be dismissed with the flippant idea that making
the killers pay the ultimate price for their crimes will not bring back
the victims.

Don Skaggs, Garland

(source: Letter to the Editor, Dallas Morning News)

************************

Retardation claim fails for man condemned for Fort Worth slaying


A Fort Worth murder suspect arrested after he led police on a 4-hour chase
at the wheel of a stolen 18-wheeler has lost a federal court appeal.

Elkie Lee Taylor had argued that he was mentally retarded and ineligible
for the death sentence imposed on him for the 1993 robbery and murder of
Otis Flake.

Taylor had won a reprieve in January 2003 2 days before he was set to die
for strangling the mentally ill Korean War veteran.

Authorities said it was the 2nd killing linked to Taylor over an 11-day
period.

Taylor's reprieve initially was granted by the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals because state prison records showed he may be mentally retarded.
The U.S. Supreme Court has barred execution of mentally retarded people.

Now, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a federal judge's
ruling that Taylor wasn't retarded, despite some tests that show his IQ
below 70. That's generally considered the threshold for mental
retardation, but the 5th Circuit Court says it believes Taylor was capable
of better performance. His attorneys are seeking permission to move
forward with their appeal.

(source: The Associated Press)

************************

Speed Reading on Death Row


In the future inmates in Texas prisons can read about Jackie Robinson,
even if the Texas Department of Criminal Justice wouldn't let Kenneth
Foster.

I just got off the phone with TDCJ public information officer Jason Clark
who assured me that the refusal of the book on sports history to death row
inmate Kenneth Foster was an accident, that it should have been approved.

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then words must truly be dangerous
things.

Which must explain why the Texas Department of Criminal Justice wouldn't
let death row inmate Kenneth Foster read a book on sports history that
quoted Jackie Robinson, author David Zirin writes in the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram ("Are words dangerous?," Aug. 19). TDCJ informed Zirin that
his book"contains material that a reasonable person would construe as
written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to
achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as
strikes or riots." Here's the offending passage from Robinson:

On Page 44, the radioactive quote in question was from that seditious
revolutionary Jackie Robinson -- you know, the guy whose number is retired
by all of Major League Baseball. I quoted Robinson's autobiography, I
Never Had It Made, when he wrote about suffering racism early in his
rookie season:

"I felt tortured and I tried to just play ball and ignore the insults. But
it was really getting to me. ... For one wild and rage-crazed moment I
thought, 'To hell with Mr. Rickey's "noble experiment." ... To hell with
the image of the patient black freak I was supposed to create.' I could
throw down my bat, stride over to that Phillies dugout, grab one of those
white sons of [expletive] and smash his teeth in with my despised black
fist. Then I could walk away from it all."

The other verboten passage made an historical reference to race riots in
the US after Jack Johnson became the first black man to win the
heavyweight boxing title.

I wonder what other titles have been denied by TDCJ on such flimsy
grounds? These "Publication review/denial notification" forms sound like a
good topic for an open records request, don't they? If Jackie Robinson and
Jack Johnson don't make the cut, it makes me wonder what other history or
ideas TDCJ thinks it's too dangerous for inmates to learn about.

As mentioned previously, there's a rally in Austin at the capitol tomorrow
opposing Foster's execution, which is scheduled to take place at the end
of this month.

Clark said the book was flagged in the mailroom because of racial content
(historical passages about baseball great Jackie Robinson and boxer Jack
Johnson), but that supervisors should have approved it under current
policies. They didn't (no one knows why), so a denial letter went out
citing the passages flagged by the mailroom.

He added that after the book's author wrote about the episode in the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram, a notification/correction was sent to both the
publisher and the inmate to let them know it was okay if the author wanted
to re-send the book.

That's cutting it pretty close, isn't it? Kenneth Foster is scheduled to
be executed nine days from now on August 30, so if they're going to get
him that book they'd better hurry.

Clark and I talked through what information TDCJ keeps on rejected books,
and I think I'll go ahead and file an open records request for the data
tomorrow. After this episode, I want to see for myself the complete list
of books TDCJ is rejecting and their policies.

(source: Pegasus News)

***************

Stand With Us for Human Rights----How We Will Protest Our Executions


In the name of Human Rights; all religious doctrines of Peace, Love and
Forgiveness; and in the vision of reform and atonement, on the above said
date myself (Kenneth E. Foster Jr.) and John Joe Amador have committed to
a protest of passive non-participation in our executions. Together we have
decided to go on a spiritual missin to oppose our systematic executions in
the hopes to open the eyes of people that think this horrific process is
ok.

Starting on the 22nd we will engage in passive non-participation in this
process in the same fashion that civil rights fighters stood down the
cruel and inhumane treatments of their time. We are here to say that we do
not condone violence and will not promote it. We recognize that violence
will not solve our problems, just like executions do not help our society.
We are committed to peace and grassroots activism. We are not doing this
for ourselves, but for YOU, the people, to demonstrate to you that we do
not agree with this process. We do this for YOU, the people, to show that
we are new men today and that we must stand down the death penalty. We
seek to harm no person and we will not. We pray to compel this society to
look at the death penalty in a new light.

Starting on the 23rd we will begin refusing all food. We will not eat any
more meals served to us. Our only nourishment will be liquids.

Bexar County had lined up two San Antonio executions in a row - John
Amador's for the 29th and mine for the 30th. While my case is known, Mr.
Amador's is not. I will give Mr. Amador the opportunity to write his own
words regarding the injustices that he has faced at the hands of Bexar
County. Since I have a visual plight I am here to say that the State is
wrong in its desire to kill me. If I was as equally guilty as the 2 other
men in the car, and these 2 men are not on death row, then I should not be
either. This is an obvious injustice and railroad.

As we enter into being 7 days away from our execution we will be placed in
cells that have video cameras where we can be observed 24-7. We cannot
condone this invasion. We cannot participate in the way our humanity is
being stripped. While we are NOT indifferent to the victims, we are also
not indifferent to the fact that we are still human beings. But for a
country that professes it wants a good society it's hard to acknowledge
that when the prison population is 2 million and rising and the conditions
are left horrific. So what is really the purpose of the Penal system? We
also ask you to think about this - in any other country when people are
lined up and slaughtered it's called genocide. They said Sadaam Hussein
committed mass Genocide. It has happened in Darfur and Rwanda and
Presidents of Cuba and North Korea have been accused of it. But when
America does it it is called justice? Texas will surpass 400 murders this
year. It we are to be unjustly taken then we do not want to go silently.
We will not walk to our executions and we will not eat last meals. We will
not give this process a humane face.

We ask all of you to stand for human rights. We are men that are dedicated
to change and betterment. We are dedicated to give atonement to the system
and society. Who of us will be left to guide the lost? We sacrifice this
for society, not for us, because death row is a cancer in the body of this
country. Our actions are antibodies to oppose this atrocious disease.

I, as a DRIVE representer, stand in the name of a better day. We will be
on a DRIVE and we do it with prayers, love and understand - even for those
that hate us. We don't have them and we don't hate the TDC officers that
will usher us to our murders. Reports have said that Governor Perry is
doing the will of the people. So, we come to you, the people, to relook at
this process.

For those that have read about my case you now see how arbitrary capital
punishment can be. AS long as it exists these things WILL continue to
happen. Why? Because human beings are fallible. Many people want us to be
the men we was 10 years ago. But we're not. We could point fingers and
talk about scams and corruption going on. We can talk about the ENRON's
and the Scooter Libby's, the Guantanamo Bay's and Abu Ghraib's. But we
won't because we know you know that these things exist. We will only point
our fingers up.....up.....and say that WE MUST GET UP. We must get up the
way the CEDP has gotten up and made a movement. We must get up like these
medias, politicians and even friends to the victims have gotten up. Some
of us see a new way. It is possible.

And so, on August 22nd we commit ourselves to something that is beyond us.
Perhaps we are just tools for a greater purpose.

We will not lift a finger to another person. We will only lift our voices
and spirits. We will allow YOU, the people, to be the force that must be
reckoned with.

We close this Directive in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

"Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Through violence you
may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you
may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may
murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out
darkness, only light can do that."

Let's shine to the world.

In struggle,

Kenneth E. Foster Jr. & John Joe Amador

(source: CounterPunch)