[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, OKLA., NEB., ARIZ., NEV., CALIF., USA, US MIL.

[Rick Halperin]

September 29



OHIO:

Inmate Convicted in Ohio Prison Riot Fights Execution Date



An inmate sentenced to die in the slayings of 5 fellow inmates during a 1993 
prison riot in Ohio is fighting a prosecutor's request to set his execution 
date.

Lawyers for 49-year-old Keith LaMar told the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday the 
only evidence against him came from inmates that authorities never corroborated 
and that further proof of his innocence was withheld.

The filing also challenges the death penalty as disproportionately affecting 
minorities. LaMar is black.

LaMar was convicted of aggravated murder in 1995 for the deaths of 5 inmates 
during a riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He 
received the death penalty for 4 of the killings.

A special prosecutor asked the court last week to set an execution date, saying 
LaMar had exhausted his appeals.

(source: Associated Press)








OKLAHOMA:

OCCA denies petition in Julius Jones death penalty case

Today, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) has dismissed the petition 
by death row prisoner Julius Jones, who sought a hearing to present new 
evidence of racial bias in his case.

New evidence revealed by Jones' legal team and also in the ABC documentary The 
Last Defense, shows that one juror harbored racial prejudice that could have 
influenced his vote to convict and sentence Jones to death.

Court documents state that a juror said "they should just take that (n-word) 
out and shoot him behind the jail."

Jones, an African American, was an honor student and athlete on scholarship at 
the University of Oklahoma at the time of his arrest. Jones has always 
maintained his innocence.

"No court has ever considered all the extensive evidence in this case, 
including evidence of explicit racial bias, police and prosecutorial 
misconduct, and informant testimony," said Dale Baich, a federal public 
defender representing Julius. "We will continue to seek a fair hearing for Mr. 
Jones, who was wrongfully convicted and has spent 18 years on Oklahoma's death 
row for a crime he did not commit."

According to Baich, in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado (2017), the U.S. Supreme 
Court called racial bias 'a familiar and recurring evil that, if left 
unaddressed, would risk systemic injury to the administration of justice.' 
"Racial bias was present in Mr. Jones' case, and we will continue to seek 
justice," Baich said.

In April 2017, the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission issued a report 
detailing numerous systemic flaws within Oklahoma's capital punishment system. 
The report included a study about racially disparate capital sentencing 
outcomes in Oklahoma.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has made it unequivocally clear that our criminal 
justice system cannot tolerate such blatant examples of racial prejudice on the 
part of even a single juror," Baich said. "In this way and many others, Jones' 
rights under the state and federal constitutions have been violated and his 
conviction and death sentence should be overturned."

In May 2017, Jones’ attorneys reached out to the DA's office to retrieve a red 
bandana which they held in evidence, to test for DNA. The only eye witness to 
the murder stated that the shooter wore a red bandana. Finally, in March 2018 
the bandana was release and sent to LabCorp in Virginia, at the expense and 
direction of Jones' attorney, a procedure agreed to by the state.

On September 7, the state called a hearing to address the question of whether 
the district attorney's office would be able to communicate directly with the 
DNA testing facility.

With a nearly full courtroom, including Jones' family and supporters, Oklahoma 
County District Court Judge Bill Graves ruled that the state cannot 
unilaterally contact the DNA lab, but joint contact will be allowed, which is 
what the defense offered two weeks prior to the hearing.

After the hearing Baich stated, "Today's ruling simply means that, going 
forward, the parties will jointly confer with the lab conducting the DNA 
testing. As we represented to the judge at the hearing, that testing is well 
underway."

Oklahoma County district attorneys David Prater and Jennifer Hinsburger 
presented for the state. Michael Robles, with Crowell Moring law firm in New 
York City, is providing pro bono representation in the Jones' case. Mark 
Barrett, from Norman, also presented for Jones.

"This evidence should have been tested 19 years ago," said Baich. "There is 
always a concern that with the passage of time, the sample could be degraded or 
contaminated. Although this hearing is important, DNA testing is just one 
aspect of this case, which includes overwhelming evidence that not only was 
Julius Jones wrongfully convicted, but racial bias also contaminated the 
trial."

The U.S. Supreme Court has rescheduled the Jones v. Oklahoma case once again - 
the 14th time. The petition was first filed by Jones' attorneys in November 
2017. The next conference date would be October 5, but the case has not yet 
been added to the schedule on that date.

In another development, following discussions between the prosecution and the 
defense, the state agreed to make its file on Jones available for inspection. 
Jones' new defense team, appointed 2 years ago, had previously requested access 
to the prosecutor's file.

This summer, ABC's documentary, "The Last Defense" drew new attention to the 
Jones' case revealing critical new findings from Julius' legal team, which they 
believe could be a violation of Jones's constitutional rights to a fair trial.

"'The Last Defense' put a spotlight on Julius Jones's case by telling a 
compelling story about the injustices and racism at play in his case and 
throughout the criminal justice system as a whole," Baich said. "The 
prosecution's case against Julius has always rested on a shaky foundation. The 
documentary further exposed that fact. Following a conviction, as a case moves 
through the courts, procedural technicalities often prevent judges from looking 
at new and compelling evidence that a person's constitutional rights have been 
violated.

"A documentary, unhindered by these technicalities, can educate members of the 
public about a case, help them understand what happened, and allow them to 
decide whether to hold their public officials accountable for what went wrong." 
Baich added.

The Last Defense is available to watch online. In a recent op-ed for the 
National Law Journal, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan 
wrote that the Julius Jones case "presents an important opportunity for the U. 
S. Supreme Court to address racism in the criminal justice system and in 
application of Oklahoma's death penalty head-on." Kogan added, "The court 
should insist, at the very least, that Jones receives a hearing where all the 
evidence, including that of racial bias, can be heard. Fairness requires it."

For more information, visit justiceforjulius.com.

(source: The City Sentinel)








NEBRASKA:

NEBRASKA SUPCO REJECTS LOTTER’S DEATH PENALTY APPEAL



The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected the latest appeals of death row inmate 
John Lotter, ruling the appeals were filed too late.

Lotter was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 killings of Brandon 
Teena, a 21-year-old transgender man, and 2 witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip 
DeVine, at a farmhouse in Humboldt, Nebraska.

The case inspired the 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry," starring Hilary Swank.

Friday's ruling combined and addressed several of Lotter's post-conviction 
appeals.

The high court said it lacked jurisdiction in the 1st batch, because Lotter did 
not make a timely appeal.

The high court affirmed the dismissal of others by a lower court, noting they, 
too, came too late.

(source: KSCJ news)








ARIZONA:

2nd Man Charged in 2014 Ax-Bludgeoning Death in Arizona



A 2nd man has been booked on suspicion of murder in the 2014 fatal bludgeoning 
of an Arizona man who investigators said was bound, gagged and struck with an 
ax in a killing involving people affiliated with a white supremacist prison 
gang.

A member of the Aryan Brotherhood was arrested eight months after the body of 
40-year-old Joshua C. Calkins was found in wrapped in a blanket and tarp in an 
alley in west Phoenix. On Wednesday, a second man, 59-year-old Charles Eugene 
Robbins of Phoenix, was booked on suspicion of murder in Calkins' death.

Robbins was originally charged in 2015 with helping an associate, who 
investigators said had already badly beaten Calkins, clean up the crime scene 
and dump the body, but at the time Robbins wasn't accused of killing Calkins.

His case was dismissed in 2016 at the request of prosecutors, who refiled the 
case this week with a murder charge added on after a witness claimed Robbins 
had gone a step further than previously thought by participating in the killing 
at an apartment in Glendale.

The witness told police in early 2016 that Robbins was angry when he arrived at 
the apartment because Calkins was still alive, so Robbins killed Calkins by 
snapping his neck, according to court records. Police say Calkins' head was 
nearly cut off.

Robert Shipman, an attorney who represented Robbins in his earlier case, said 
he is going to be assigned to represent Robbins in his new case.

"The only thing I could say at this point is he has entered a not guilty plea," 
Shipman said, adding that he will work with Robbins soon once the 
evidence-sharing process starts in the case.

Authorities say Robbins went to the apartment to help 35-year-old Christopher 
Paul Mason, an Aryan Brotherhood member and the first person charged with 
murder in Calkins' death, clean up the scene, hide the body in a couch, bring 
the sofa to Robbins' truck and leave body in the alley about 4 miles (6 
kilometers) away.

One person claims to have witnessed Mason strike Calkins with the blunt side of 
the ax, causing Calkins to fall to the floor, police said.

As part of the murder case, Mason is charged with assisting a criminal street 
gang by attacking Calkins in association with the Aryan Brotherhood.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Mason, who has pleaded not 
guilty to murder and other charges. His trial is scheduled for November 2019.

A phone message left for Terry Lynn Lovett Bublik, one of Mason's attorneys, 
wasn't immediately returned Friday afternoon.

Investigators say Mason attacked Calkins because Calkins' romantic relationship 
with a woman affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood had ended badly and because 
Calkins had robbed a drug dealer who was a friend of his ex-girlfriend.

They say Calkins, who was badly beaten over the course of a day, begged for his 
life and was forced to offer an apology over the phone for having robbed the 
drug dealer.

Authorities say Calkins' former girlfriend, 49-year-old Brenna Janette Maas, 
gave permission to Mason to kill Calkins.

Maas is serving a 25-year sentence for her guilty pleas to conspiring to commit 
kidnapping and assisting a criminal street gang in Calkins' death.

Police say Calkins and Robbins were affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood.

(source: Associated Press)








NEVADA:

Judge stops Nevada from using drug in execution



A judge on Friday prohibited the Nevada prison system from using its supply of 
a sedative in the lethal injection of condemned killer Scott Dozier, 
essentially halting the possible execution for the foreseeable future.

While District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez denied a preliminary injunction 
regarding two other drugs in the state's 3-drug cocktail, Department of 
Corrections officials have stated repeatedly that they would only proceed with 
the trio of drugs in the execution protocol.

In a 43-page order handed down late Friday afternoon, Gonzalez wrote that 
prison officials obtained Alvogen's sedative midazolam through "subterfuge," 
adding that the purchase was made in "stark contrast" to previous attempts to 
buy medication for capital punishment.

Nevada's prison director, James Dzurenda, testified earlier this month that he 
disregarded letters from 3 drug manufacturers who did not want their medication 
used in an execution.

He acknowledged receiving a memo from Alvogen months before the planned 
execution of Dozier. He messaged Linda Fox, pharmacy director for the prisons, 
about the company's concern. But Dzurenda did not return the sedative - which 
was obtained through a 3rd party - to Alvogen, as the company had requested.

"Text messages between Fox and Dzurenda also support Alvogen's allegation of a 
scheme," Gonzalez wrote in her decision, ruling that Fox knew the 3rd party had 
offered midazolam by mistake. "The state did not acquire the Alvogen midazolam 
product in good faith, and it did so knowing that it violated Alvogen's 
property rights."

Gonzalez recognized that prohibiting the drug "may harm the interests of the 
state, the victims, and the public in timely enforcement of a lawful capital 
sentence." But she also wrote that the drug companies' association with the 
death penalty could result in a discontinuation of the products and potentially 
harm people who need the medication.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals, makers of the pain killer fentanyl, and Sandoz, which 
produces a paralytic, had made state officials aware that they objected to 
using the drugs in an execution long before Dozier was supposed to be put to 
death.

Gonzalez ruled that all three companies could suffer irreparable harm to their 
reputations, along with lost sales, lost licensing and several other factors, 
if the drugs were used in an execution. She wrote that the impact is "largely 
intangible and occurs over a prolonged period of time."

But she found that Hikma and Sandoz failed to act quickly enough to impose a 
distribution agreement, denying their request "while the court is disturbed by 
the conduct of the state in this matter, but after weighing the equities and 
balancing the hardships."

Dozier's execution was halted in July, for the 2nd time in 9 months, after 
Alvogen sued the prison system. Dozier would be the 1st prisoner executed in 
Nevada since 2006.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)








CALIFORNIA:

Competency trial set for man accused in homeless killings



A man accused of killing or wounding a dozen homeless people around San Diego 
in 2016 will have a trial to determine whether he is mentally competent to face 
criminal charges in what could be a death penalty case, a judge ordered 
Wednesday.

Jon David Guerrero, 41, remains at Patton State Hospital and was not present in 
San Diego Superior Court as his attorney asked for the mental competency trial.

Guerrero is suspected of driving railroad spikes into several of his victims 
and setting 2 on fire in a 6-month spree of violence that left 3 men and 1 
woman dead.

A prosecutor said on Wednesday that the District Attorney's Office has not yet 
decided whether it would seek the death penalty against Guerrero for the 
multiple murder charges.

He has been charged with 4 counts of murder, 2 arson counts, 3 counts of 
attempted murder and 5 counts of assault likely to cause great bodily injury.

No preliminary hearing has been held yet to determine whether there is enough 
evidence to send Guerrero to a criminal trial.

Since his arrest 2 years ago, criminal proceedings against Guerrero have been 
halted twice while he was sent to Patton for treatment.

Doctors at the state psychiatric hospital in San Bernardino found in April that 
Guerrero was competent to assist in his own defense and understand proceedings 
against him.

Based on that finding, a judge could have resumed the criminal case against 
Guerrero.

However, Deputy Public Defender Dan Tandon challenged the doctors' finding and 
asked Judge Margie Woods to conduct a competency trial, which effectively 
delays the criminal case once again.

The competency trial date was set for Nov. 13, over Tandon's objection that it 
wasn't enough time for him to prepare.

Guerrero was arrested on July 15, 2016, after San Diego police found 
55-year-old Michael Papadelis in East Village, screaming and bloodied from a 
major wound. Officers found Guerrero in the area on a bicycle with a large 
mallet and three railroad spikes in his backpack.

Authorities say the 1st attack in the series occurred on Feb. 8 that year, when 
a victim sleeping on a sidewalk awoke to being stabbed in the face and neck. 
The victim chased away the attacker, who dropped a flashlight.

On July 3, the burned body of Angelo DeNardo, 53, was found under a freeway 
bridge in Bay Park. A railroad spike had been driven into his head and chest, 
then he had been lit on fire.

Manuel Mason, 61, survived an attack in the Midway District on July 4, when a 
railroad spike was driven into his sinus cavity. He was left blinded.

Also on July 4, a railroad spike was found in the body of Shawn Mitchell 
Longley, 41, at an Ocean Beach park.

Dionicio Derek Vahidy, 23, died several days after a July 6 assault near some 
downtown San Diego condominiums, where a burning towel was draped over him.

Molly Simons, 83, was attacked July 13 while she walked to a bus stop in North 
Park. She had been on her way to a YMCA where she volunteered several days a 
week.

At a brief court hearing in April, Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey 
said Guerrero rode by on his bike and struck Simons in the head, knocking her 
to the ground. Simons suffered a skull fracture and died at a hospital about 3 
weeks later.

Harvey said other victims who survived were mostly homeless men, causing 
difficulties for her office to keep track of them as potential witnesses if a 
criminal trial against Guerrero ever goes forward.

During the investigation into several early attacks, police arrested one man 
with a previous arrest for setting someone on fire and who looked similar to a 
sketch police made of the spree assailant.

However, the man was released when he was found to have a valid alibi. When 
Guerrero was arrested later, he looked similar to the police sketch, including 
a cap that he wore backwards.

His attorneys raised the issue of Guerrero's mental competency last fall and 
again earlier this year. Both times he was sent to Patton State Hospital for 
treatment, and doctors there have now twice judged him to have returned to 
mental competency.

In legal terms, people are determined mentally incompetent if they can't 
understand the court proceedings or assist in their own defense.

It is separate issue from the question of a defendant's state of mind at the 
time the crime was committed, or whether a defendant is considered found to 
have been insane when he or she committed the crime.

Guerrero, a Coronado native who was considered odd by his classmates, has long 
history of mental illness and crime, according to court records.

Between 1999 and 2008, he was convicted of burglary, grand theft and possession 
of stolen items and drugs. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had mental 
health cases filed in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

In 2008, his mother tried to get him psychiatric treatment in jail, saying his 
self-destructive behaviors included inserting foreign objects into his body 
orifices.

After spending some time at Patton State Hospital and until his arrest, 
Guerrero stayed in independent living facilities in downtown San Diego.

(source: San Diego Union-Tribune)








USA:

Prosecutors want death penalty for bike path attacker



A man charged with using a truck to kill 8 people last year on a New York City 
bike path will face the death penalty at a trial next year, federal prosecutors 
said Friday in a case where President Donald Trump has tweeted that the 
defendant deserves to be executed.

The government filing said the case against Sayfullo Saipov met several legal 
standards for a capital case, including premeditation to commit terrorism and 
the "heinous, cruel and depraved manner" in which the victims were slaughtered.

In a statement, defense attorney David Patten said he was disappointed that the 
Justice Department signed off on seeking the death penalty.

"We think the decision to seek the death penalty rather than accepting a guilty 
plea to life in prison with no possibility of release will only prolong the 
trauma of these events for everyone involved," Patten said.

After Saipov's arrest in the deadliest attack on New York City since Sept. 11, 
2001, Trump tweeted, "SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY" and "Should move fast. DEATH 
PENALTY." The tweets were cited in defense papers filed earlier this month that 
demanded an independent prosecutor make a decision, arguing that Sessions' 
tenuous relationship with Trump made it impossible for DOJ to be fair.

Sessions "works for President Trump and obviously wants to keep his job," 
Saipov's federal public defenders wrote. "It defies reality, not to mention all 
appearances, to believe that he could make a truly independent decision as to 
whether Mr. Saipov should face the death penalty, knowing that a decision not 
to seek death would inevitably trigger a 'tweetstorm' of ridicule and scorn 
from the President and might well lead to the loss of his job."

In a separate filing on Friday, prosecutors said the argument "strains 
credulity" because there was no evidence that the decision was influenced by 
politics.

"After fully complying with the law and Justice Manual, the attorney general 
appropriately exercised his discretion in determining that the circumstances of 
this case - which involve a terrorist attack that caused extensive death and 
human suffering - justify the ultimate sanction available," prosecutors wrote.

The 30-year-old Saipov moved to the United States legally in 2010 from 
Uzbekistan. He lived in Ohio and Florida and worked as a commercial truck 
driver before living more recently with his family in Paterson, New Jersey.

Court papers say that after his arrest, he told the authorities that he was 
inspired by ISIS videos, and that he had used a truck in the attack to inflict 
maximum damage against civilians. He's pleaded not guilty.

The trial is set to begin Oct. 7, 2019. A jury, if it finds Saipov guilty, will 
be asked to decide in a second phase of the trial if he should be executed.

(source: Fox News)

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

Fell pleads guilty to murder, avoids death penalty



A federal judge Friday approved a plea deal for Donald Fell to spend the rest 
of his life in prison for murder and avoid the death penalty. Nearly 20 years 
after Fell kidnapped and murdered a North Clarendon grandmother, Fell Friday 
morning pleaded guilty in Federal court in Rutland.

It was almost 18 years ago to the day that Terry King was kidnapped by 2 men in 
a Price Chopper Parking lot in Rutland. They had both just committed 2 brutal 
murders and were looking for a car to get out of town. They approached King 
with a shot gun and forced her into her car, which ultimately led to her 
violent death. Friday, the man responsible admitted his guilt in court.

"It is kind of a bitter sweet day. We didn't get justice for my mom, but 
leaving this courtroom, we hope to never have to come back again," said Karen 
Worcester, Terry King's Daughter.

King's family has said all along that they wanted Donald Fell to be put to 
death for killing their loved one. Friday Fell pleaded guilty to King's 
gruesome kidnapping and murder but was spared the death penalty under a plea 
deal reached with federal prosecutors.

"It is devastating to our family. We miss her. She was our best friend," 
Worcester said.

King, who was on her way to work when she was kidnapped and beaten to death, 
was a grandmother of 6.

"I was 14 when it happened but I remember everything like it was yesterday," 
said Katelyn Bailey, King's granddaughter. Today King has three great-grandkids 
she will never meet. "She is hard to describe. She is very caring. She was just 
the best person. She made sure all of her grandchildren were well-loved and 
taken care of."

Judge Geoffrey Crawford signed off on a life sentence without the possibility 
of parole.

"Standing here -- 18 years -- who would have thought. We thought this was going 
to be a shut and closed case back in 2005 when he was convicted," Worcester 
said.

But that conviction and death sentence was thrown out on a technicality.

"We would have probably been here in another 18 years if he did get the death 
penalty because he would be able to appeal," Worcester said.

King's sister, Barbara Tuttle, told the court Friday -- and in a recent 
interview with WCAX -- that the case highlights a broken criminal justice 
system. She says the death penalty is not a deterrent for criminals if it is 
not enforced.

Nolan did say that there is finality to the case now that a violent killer is 
off the streets for good. Fell will not be able to appeal Friday's sentence and 
Nolan says Vermonters are safer because of that.

TIMELINE OF THE DONALD FELL CASE

In the early morning hours of November, 27, 2000, Donald Fell and Robert Lee 
attacked Charles Conway and Fell's mother, Debra Fell, in their apartment on 
Robbins Street in Rutland after an argument about the volume on the radio. 
Donald Fell killed Conway, his mother's boyfriend, with a knife. Lee killed 
Debra Fell with another knife. The men fled with an empty shotgun, looking for 
a car to steal to skip town.

At about 3:30 a.m., an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, 
fell victim to their violence. Fell and Lee kidnapped 53-year-old Terry King as 
she got to work for her early morning shift at the Price Chopper in Rutland. At 
gunpoint, they stole her keys and forced her into the back of the car and drove 
out of town.

Around dawn, they parked on the side of a rural road in Dover Plains, New York, 
and took King into the woods. They beat the North Clarendon grandmother to 
death as she prayed for her life. They left her body there.

The two then stopped in Pennsylvania -- their hometown of Wilkes-Barre -- for a 
night. They stole and swapped license plates on King's car and headed south.

Those stolen plates eventually got them caught. They were nabbed when they 
stopped to refuel in Clarksville, Arkansas, by local police 4 days after their 
murder spree.

"This is our terror attack on our family. To me, Donald Fell doesn't deserve to 
live. He deserves to die," said Barbara Tuttle, King's sister, back in 2014

Their arrests kicked off an 18-year legal fight. But Robert Lee never stood 
trial. He killed himself in prison.

Fell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. King's family fought for the 
death penalty. "The only thing we want is death for Donald Fell, and we will 
not have peace until that happens," Tuttle told Channel 3 at the time.

But after 9 years on death row, in 2014 his death sentence was overturned 
because of juror misconduct.

"It never, ever goes away. I wake up at 4 in the morning, I hear my sister's 
voice, I go to sleep at night, she's probably the last person I think about," 
said Charlotte Tuttle, King's sister, in 2014.

Friday it ends with a confession from Fell, and a sentence of life without 
parole.

(source: WCAX news)

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

Attorneys fight possible death penalty for accused cop killer



The man accused of murdering a New Mexico police officer is asking that his 
life be spared.

Kirby Cleveland is accused of shooting Navajo Nation Police Officer Houston 
Largo in March 2017 during a domestic dispute.

He's being prosecuted in the federal system where the death penalty is still 
allowed, but Cleveland's attorney argues it's unconstitutional to enforce the 
death penalty in a state where it's been abolished.

It's an argument that has been used in other death penalty cases before, but 
failed.

Cleveland's attorney is also arguing by holding the trial in Albuquerque, 
Cleveland won't get a true jury of his peers, which means Hispanic and Native 
American.

He also argues that the Navajo Nation does not believe in the death penalty and 
the government is called to respect the wishes of Indian tribal governments.

A judge has yet to rule on the motions.

(source: KRQE news)








US MILITARY:

Tour recalls executed soldiers at Fort Sam's 'Hangman's Grove'



Many people pausing at the 15th green at the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam 
Houston golf course have no idea they are sinking putts perhaps 25 feet from a 
place of death, a location once called "Hangman's Grove" or "Hangman's Slough."

It's a short walk across a road and downhill through a brushy area to where 13 
soldiers were executed at once at 7:17 a.m. on Dec. 11, 1917. They rested in 
unmarked graves for 20 years.

No one knows exactly where the graves were. In all, 19 soldiers in the 
all-black 3rd Battalion, U.S. 24th Infantry were executed for their role in a 
deadly riot in Houston the previous August, their burials shrouded in secrecy. 
Scaffolding quickly built to hang them was just as quickly torn down, on three 
separate occasions.

"It's surreal to know that 100 years ago men gave their lives for a cause that 
was unjust, but their souls are happy today, because we're here acknowledging 
them for their service in light of what happened to them," said the Rev. K.P. 
Tatum Sr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Fort 
Worth, who joined a tour Friday that retraced the soldiers' final steps.

The tour, in a first, was led by a top Army commander and included more than 2 
dozen young African American students from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It 
started at Fort Sam's Gift Chapel, where 63 soldiers from the battalion were 
tried and convicted in November 1917, with 13 given the death penalty.

Ultimately, 118 soldiers faced trials that continued into 1918. 19 were 
executed and 53 handed life sentences. 8 soldiers won acquittals and charges 
against 1 were dismissed.

The group continued to the Post Guardhouse, a now-abandoned and rodent-infested 
building where the soldiers were jailed in a sweltering basement, then to the 
field where the first 13 were hanged and buried, and finally to Fort Sam 
Houston National Cemetery. There, the students, members of the Bowtie Boys, a 
youth leadership group, planted American flags in front of headstones belonging 
to 17 of the 19 executed soldiers. The 2 others are buried elsewhere.

The soldiers, provoked by police beatings and a rumor that lawmen had killed an 
infantryman, had launched a race riot in Houston in Aug. 23, 1917, and were 
found guilty of mutiny, sedition, murder. Initially, all were buried in 
unmarked graves near the scaffold.

The Camp Logan Mutiny, also called the Houston Riot, left 16 people dead and 2 
dozen injured.

The problem, retired Army Sgt. 1st Class John Haymond told the crowd, involved 
decades of military-civilian violence involving black soldiers, with incidents 
going back to the turn of the century and taking place over a 17-year period at 
posts in El Paso, Brownsville, San Antonio, Del Rio and Waco.

"So what happens in Houston is actually the culmination and the building, the 
slow increase building, of pressure," said Haymond, a historian of military law 
who is writing a book on the mutiny and trials. "What's that pressure all 
coming from? Racism. ... Houston in 1917, as one black resident describes the 
city, was a nest of prejudice and the Army knew this."

The 24th was 1 of the Army's 4 all-black regiments, along with the 25th 
Infantry, and 9th and 10th Cavalry. They had been known as the Buffalo Soldiers 
during the Indian wars of the 19th century, earning fame and distinction over 
the years.

The 10th Cavalry fought alongside Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders at San Juan 
Hill in 1898. All of the black regiments had served in the Philippine 
Insurrection after the Spanish-American War, then the Punitive Expedition into 
Mexico shortly before the United States entered World War I. By 1917, though, 
they were sidelined to support roles.

The 3rd Battalion of the 24th was at Camp Logan, on part of today's Memorial 
Park west of downtown Houston, while its 1st Battalion went to Waco. The 
leadership in both units helped shape the way the soldiers dealt with 2 racist 
communities, said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, commander of U.S. Army North, who 
led Friday's tour.

Early on, a 1st Battalion commander, Capt. Charles Andrews, sent liaisons from 
his unit to the Waco Police Department. He was alerted on July 23, 1917, that a 
number of soldiers there had taken weapons and ammunition and were headed out 
of camp. Andrews told Waco police and ordered an accountability check for 
soldiers, the securing of arms and guards posted at the gate. He met with local 
residents at a civic event the next day and told them that only about a dozen 
soldiers were involved.

"He asked them to see this as not anything that was premeditated and certainly 
not behavior that he tolerated of the men in his unit," Buchanan said, adding 
that Waco's mayor asked his citizens in a newspaper article the next day "to 
not hold all the soldiers in the battalion liable for the actions of a few and 
not engage in any racist" actions. But in Houston, poor leadership played a 
major role, he said. The mutiny produced sporadic firefights among soldiers, 
police and white civilians on a dark night 2 miles east of Camp Logan. No 
civilian in any of the subsequent trials could identify a single defendant.

No white officer was punished. The condemned soldiers asked for a firing squad, 
but a general ordered hanging - a death typically handed to criminals.

In time, the executions and harsh sentences prompted a reevaluation of the 
Army's justice system that would correct one of its most glaring shortcomings - 
the lack of an appeal process for condemned troops. Other changes were made 
over time as both the military justice system and the armed services evolved.

Tatum and other leaders have sought a presidential pardon for the men. So far, 
their efforts have been met with silence. Neither Presidents Trump nor Obama 
have responded.

At the cemetery, the graves start with Jesse Moore and end with Charles W. 
Baltimore. Moore was an assumed name, used by the young Jesse Ball to join the 
Army in the face of his mother's opposition.

"Buffalo Soldier Thomas C. Hawkins!" Tatum cried, as he called out their names.

One of the Bowtie Boys stabbed a flag into the ground in front of Hawkins' 
headstone. In the distance, the sound of a locomotive horn drifted into the 
warm, humid air.

"Buffalo Soldier William C. Nesbit!"

"Buffalo Soldier Frank Johnson!"

"I hope," said 8th-grader Caleb Dixon, 14, of Garland, "that now they’re living 
in a better life somewhere else."

(source: San Antonio Express-News)