[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 2


TEXAS----new execution date

Kent Sprouse has been given an execution date for April 9; it should be 
considered serious.

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

Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----279

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----518

Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #

280------------Dec. 3-------------------Scott Panetti---------519

281------------Jan. 15------------------Richard Vasquez-------520

282------------Jan. 21-------------------Arnold Prieto--------521

283------------Jan. 28-------------------Garcia White---------522

284------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury-------523

285------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.-------524

286------------Mar. 5--------------------Rodney Reed----------525

287------------Mar. 11-------------------Manuel Vasquez-------526

288------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------527

289------------Apr. 9--------------------Kent Sprouse---------528

290------------Apr. 15-------------------Manual Garza---------529

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Insanity of Panetti execution


The state of Texas appears to be operating absent a moral and legal compass in 
its determination to execute Scott Panetti, a seriously mentally ill inmate, on 
Wednesday.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Price has properly called into 
question the very rationale for the execution, in a pointed dissenting opinion 
in the case last week. Breaking from the 6-3 court majority, which denied a 
stay of execution, Price said that ending Panetti's life would serve neither of 
2 purposes commonly cited by capital punishment proponents - deterrence and 
retribution.

It was stunning to read such a frank critique of the case from a veteran member 
of the state's highest criminal court. It was even more stunning when this 
sitting judge, in the same breath, declared the death penalty indefensible as a 
punishment in a modern society. Price wrote that capital punishment is subject 
to too much human error and is out of step with "evolving societal values."

Even unswayed death penalty supporters should have problems with carrying out 
the Panetti execution. He shot his parents-in-law to death with a hunting rifle 
in front of his estranged wife and daughter in Fredericksburg in 1992. At the 
time, he had a 14-year documented history of mental problems, including 
schizophrenia and involuntary commitments to mental facilities. Panetti's 
breaks with reality were never in question, yet he was somehow allowed to 
represent himself in a death penalty trial that ranged from the bizarre to the 
pathetically absurd.

Today, 1 legal question is whether Panetti is sane enough to execute. The state 
argues yes, within broad parameters set out by the Supreme Court on executing 
the severely mentally ill. The court has said the defendant must have a 
"rational understanding" of why the punishment is being applied, but there is 
frustratingly little more direction than that.

Price is clear with his take on the matter. There is no difference, he said, 
between constitutional protections against executing intellectually disabled 
defendants and the severely mentally ill. In neither case, we would agree, is a 
social good achieved. Such an execution serves only a mindless sense of 
revenge.

In a separate case last week - in the made-for-Hollywood matter of East Texas 
killer Bernhardt Tiede II - the Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledged that 
mental state should have a bearing on punishment. Tiede is the person for whom 
the 2011 Richard Linklater movie Bernie is named, a real-life Carthage funeral 
director who befriended and then murdered a rich widow, Marjorie Nugent.

The appeals court agreed that Tiede would not have received a life sentence had 
jurors known he suffered sexual abuse as a child, a claim that surfaced only 
recently. That childhood trauma, the court said, explains Tiede's break from 
reality when he shot Nugent in the back 4 times in 1996.

Today, Tiede walks free and may never return to prison. And Panetti, whose 
documented delusions span decades, may have only 2 more days to live.

'Inconceivable to me'

Excerpts from Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Price's dissent last 
week from the court majority that denied a stay in Scott Panetti's execution:

"It is inconceivable to me how the execution of a severely mentally ill person 
such as applicant would measurably advance the retribution and deterrence 
purposes purportedly served by the death penalty."

"I am convinced that, because the criminal justice system is run by humans, it 
is naturally subject to human error. There is no rational basis to believe that 
this same type of human error will not infect capital murder trials."

"Evolving societal values indicate that the death penalty should be abolished 
in its entirety. Since Texas enacted life without parole as a punishment for 
capital murder, Texas district attorneys have significantly decreased their 
requests for the death penalty, and juries today often prefer that punishment 
to the death penalty."

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)

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

Conservatives to Perry: Commute sentence of mentally ill death row inmate


A group of conservatives said on Monday that Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) should 
stop the execution of a man whose lawyers say he is severely mentally ill, as 
long the state's parole board recommends it.

"Rather than serving as a measured response to murder, the execution of [Scott] 
Panetti would only serve to undermine the public's faith in a fair and moral 
justice system,' they said in a letter to the governor, which was signed by 20 
conservative writers and leaders.

"As conservatives, we must be on guard that such an extraordinary government 
sanction not be used against a person who is mentally incapable of rational 
thought. It would be immoral for the government to take this man's life," they 
said.

Panetti was sentenced to death for murdering his in-laws - in front of his wife 
and daughter - in 1992.

His advocates say he has suffered from schizophrenia since before the crime was 
committed. They asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend that 
Perry commute Panetti's sentence to life in prison. They have also asked the 
Supreme Court to stay his execution on Eighth Amendment grounds.

Prior to the crime, Panetti buried his furniture in his backyard because he 
believed that would stop the Devil from interfering in his life. He later 
subpoenaed Jesus while representing himself in his capital murder trial.

Prosecutors have said in the past that they believe Panetti's claims of 
XCmental illness to be a ruse.

The letter is signed by several prominent conservatives, including former 
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), currently the president of the 
Senate Conservatives Fund, and writer Charles Murray.

The controversy over Panetti's execution - scheduled for Wednesday evening - 
comes at a time when conservatives are rethinking "tough on crime" rhetoric.

Increasingly, Republicans have joined Democrats in calling for a reduction in 
the number of people incarcerated in federal prison. Senate Minority Whip John 
Cornyn (R-Texas) has partnered with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on a 
prison reform package that would help divert low-risk offenders to other 
programs.

Others have called for more wide-ranging reforms. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has 
said that federal mandatory minimum sentences, which have helped contribute to 
the disproportionate incarceration of people of color, must be revised. He has 
also said that voting rights should be restored to offenders convicted of 
nonviolent felonies.

Texas has been hailed as a model for the nation for reducing its prison 
population.

The national trend in favor of criminal justice reform has not always included 
the death penalty. Despite a growing shortage of the drugs used for lethal 
injection, states have continued to execute prisoners.

There have been 33 executions so far in 2014. The number of executions 
nationally has fallen since it peaked in 1999, according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center.

(source: thehill.com)

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

Scott Panetti execution: Activists in last-ditch bid to halt death of mentally 
ill killer in Texas ---- Among those protesting against Mr Panetti's death 
sentence are more than 50 leading evangelical Christians, seven Methodist 
bishops, 10 Texas state politicians and the libertarian former presidential 
candidate Ron Paul


This week, the state of Texas intends to execute Scott Panetti, who in 1992 
shot dead his mother-in-law and father-in-law in front of his estranged wife 
and their 3-year-old daughter. That Mr Panetti, now 56, committed the murders 
has never been in doubt; he admitted as much at his trial in 1995, when he 
defended himself while dressed in a purple cowboy outfit and attempted to call 
more than 200 witnesses, including John F Kennedy and Jesus Christ.

Long before it became clear from his courtroom antics, Mr Panetti had been 
diagnosed as severely mentally ill, which is why his impending lethal injection 
- due to be carried out on Wednesday - is opposed by not only his lawyers and a 
familiar collection of human rights groups, but also by an alliance of 
conservatives.

Among those protesting against Mr Panetti's death sentence are more than 50 
leading evangelical Christians, 7 Methodist bishops, 10 Texas state politicians 
and the libertarian former presidential candidate Ron Paul. Mr Paul, a former 
Republican congressman who once backed the death penalty, wrote last month to 
Rick Perry, the Texas Governor, to appeal for clemency in the Panetti case. It 
is thought to be the 1st time he has publicly opposed an execution.

The state's former Democrat Governor, Mark White, said: "I know very well that 
in so many instances, there are incredibly close and difficult calls that have 
to be made to either allow or prohibit the death penalty from being carried 
out. But Scott Panetti's plea for clemency is no such case. He is a severely 
mentally ill man. His trial was a sham. And executing Panetti would say far 
more about us than it would about the man we are attempting to kill."

Mr Panetti was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic by army doctors in 1978. 
Several years later, he buried all of the furniture in his home, believing the 
Devil was hiding in it. He was hospitalised more than a dozen times between his 
1st diagnosis and 1992, when his wife, Sonja, obtained a restraining order and 
took their daughter to live with her parents, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in the 
Texas Hill Country town of Fredericksburg. She reportedly tried to have her 
husband committed, and even took his guns to the police, but they refused to 
confiscate the weapons and instead returned them to their owner.

Days later, Mr Panetti donned a camouflage uniform, shaved his head and went to 
his in-laws' home, where he shot the couple dead, showering his wife and child 
in their blood. Later that afternoon, after washing and changing into a suit, 
he gave himself up.

At trial, Mr Panetti claimed he was ordered to carry out the killings by 
Sergeant Ranahan Iron Horse, an auditory hallucination whom he called "Sarge". 
The court, which could have stepped in and compelled him to hire a lawyer, 
instead allowed Mr Panetti to continue defending himself. On death row, he 
reportedly suffers from the delusion that Satan planned his execution to 
prevent him preaching Christianity to other inmates. He also claims the prison 
dentist implanted a listening device in his tooth, and that pop star Selena 
Gomez is his daughter.

It is 7 years since Mr Panetti's mental competence was last evaluated. In 2007, 
the US Supreme Court considered his case, and in its decision said a prisoner 
who lacked "rational understanding" of why they were being executed should not 
be put to death. Yet the case was sent back to a lower federal court, which 
last year concluded that Mr Panetti was competent and that his lethal injection 
could proceed.

The state of Texas argues that Mr Panetti has exaggerated his condition, but 
Kathryn Kase, one of his lawyers, told the Associated Press news agency: "He 
cannot appreciate why Texas seeks to execute him. You have to have a rational 
as well as factual understanding of why you are being executed. In Mr Panetti's 
case, his understanding is the state wants to prevent him from preaching the 
Gospel on death row and saving their souls. And clearly that's not factual or 
rational."

Texas is responsible for almost 40 % of executions carried out in the US since 
1977, and Mr Perry has overseen more executions that any other US governor in 
history. Although he cannot commute Mr Panetti's sentence without the 
recommendation of a state pardons board, he can grant a 30-day stay of 
execution - time for Mr Panetti's lawyers to organise a new mental evaluation.

The unlikely coalition of conservatives against the death penalty has found in 
Mr Panetti's case a cause celebre. Last year, Mr Paul publicly endorsed the 
campaign group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, saying he 
believed capital punishment was "inconsistent with libertarianism and 
traditional conservatism".

Some libertarians, including Mr Paul, oppose the death penalty because they 
distrust government's ability to apply it fairly and effectively. Fiscal 
conservatives are swayed by the argument that the legal costs of executions far 
outweigh those of life imprisonment. Many religious conservatives have turned 
against capital punishment in the context of their existing opposition to 
abortion.

Abby Johnson, who once ran a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, but now leads 
an anti-abortion ministry, wrote in the Dallas Morning News last month that she 
had dedicated herself to "promoting a culture of life". She added: "A 
fundamental tenet of the pro-life ethic is that all life has value and we are 
called to protect it... By setting an execution date for Panetti, Texas is 
going entirely contrary to what we expect in a society that truly values life."

(source: The Independent)

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

UN Asks Texas To Halt Inmate's Execution----Scott Panetti, who shot dead his 
in-laws in 1992, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1978 but never ruled 
incompetent in court.


UN human rights investigators have called on the state of Texas and the US 
government to halt the execution of an inmate with a history of mental illness.

Scott Panetti, 56, is scheduled for lethal injection on Wednesday for the 1992 
shooting deaths of his in-laws at their Fredericksburg home.

The UN experts contend that Panetti had "proven psychosocial disabilities" and 
killing him would breach international norms on the death penalty.

"Given the irreversible nature of the death penalty, we urgently appeal to the 
Government of the United States and the state of Texas to find a way to stop 
the scheduled execution ... ", Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on 
extrajudicial, and UN torture investigator Juan Mendez said in a statement.

Panetti's lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to halt the execution

Panetti was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1978 and had been in hospital more 
than a dozen times for treatment.

Mr Heyns said carrying out the death penalty of someone with mental illness may 
amount to an "arbitrary execution".

On Monday, Panetti's lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court to halt the 
execution and asked the justices to determine whether mentally ill people 
should be exempt from the death penalty.

There was "no doubt" Panetti was severely mentally ill "before, during and 
after the crime for which he has been sentenced to death", his attorneys said.

Panetti was 34 when he forced his way into the home of Joe and Amanda Alvarado, 
where his estranged wife was staying with their 3-year-old daughter.

Authorities said Panetti assaulted his wife and when confronted by his in-laws, 
shot and killed them with a rifle. He then kidnapped his wife and daughter, 
taking them to cabin.

He released them and surrendered later that same day. He told police his alter 
ego "Sarge" killed his wife's parents.

No court has ruled Panetti was or is incompetent or insane.

At his trial, he "wore the garish costume of a dime-store cowboy as he 
represented himself" and "engaged in bizarre, incoherent and frightening 
behaviour", his attorneys said.

In 2002, Supreme Court justices prohibited the execution of people who are 
mentally impaired, ruling that it violated the Constitution's ban on cruel and 
unusual punishment.

Capital punishment for mentally ill prisoners has been permitted, however, as 
long as the inmate has a factual and rational understanding of why he is being 
put to death.

An assistant Texas attorney general told the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals 
that although Panetti's medical records contain indications of mental illness, 
they "strongly indicate rational awareness of his impending execution and the 
reason for it".

(source: Sky News)

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

Texas Gov. Rick Perry should spare Wisconsin native Scott Panetti


Scott Panetti should be held accountable for what he did - for shooting his 
wife's parents to death in 1992. But he should not be executed. Republican 
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has the power to stop it before Panetti's scheduled death 
by lethal injection on Wednesday, and Perry should do so.

Panetti's lawyers have argued that killing Panetti, a native of Hayward, would 
"cross a moral line" and prove to be a "miserable spectacle."

They are right on both counts.

On Monday, a letter signed by a dozen conservative leaders led by Richard 
Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, urged Perry to spare Panetti.

They wrote: "Mr. Panetti is one of the most seriously mentally ill prisoners on 
death row in the United States. Rather than serving as a measured response to 
murder, the execution of Mr. Panetti would only serve to undermine the public's 
faith in a fair and moral justice system."

More than 75,000 people have signed a petition asking Perry to commute 
Panetti's sentence to life in prison without parole. That includes former 
presidential candidate Ron Paul and evangelical Christians, who argue that the 
government cannot be trusted with such matters. The Texas Court of Criminal 
Appeals voted 5-4 to deny Panetti's appeal last week; his case now sits before 
federal court.

Panetti was a standout football player at Poynette High School before 
descending into the depths of mental illness. He dropped out of high school 
before graduation, joined the Navy and was discharged after hearing voices and 
hallucinating. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized 15 times 
over the next 14 years, all leading up to the tragedy that unfolded in 
Fredericksburg, Texas, on Sept. 8, 1992, when Panetti killed Joe and Amanda 
Alvarado.

Panetti's lawyers say that he thinks he is being put to death by Satan. Lawyers 
for the state claim that tapes of him talking to his parents show that he knows 
exactly why he is being executed.

But it's hard to imagine that Panetti would have been able to fake his illness 
for more than 20 years. The more likely explanation for his behavior both on 
the night of the murders and since is mental illness.

John Blume, a professor at Cornell University Law School, told the Journal 
Sentinel's Meg Kissinger that Panetti's case is a tragedy.

"This train never should have left the station," he said. "Panetti should never 
have been found competent to stand trial and to represent himself, and he 
shouldn't be allowed to be executed."

We agree, and Perry can see to it that he is not. There is no justice in 
killing a mentally incompetent man. There is justice both for the victims - 
and, in this case, for Panetti - by commuting his death warrant to a life 
sentence.

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

US Supreme Court asked to halt Texas execution


Attorneys who contend a condemned Texas inmate set to die this week is too 
delusional for execution asked the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to halt his lethal 
injection and determine whether mentally ill people should be exempt from the 
death penalty because it is unconstitutionally cruel punishment.

Scott Panetti, 56, is set for lethal injection Wednesday for the 1992 shooting 
deaths of his in-laws at their home in Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill 
Country.

There was "no doubt" Panetti was severely mentally ill "before, during and 
after the crime for which he has been sentenced to death," attorneys Gregory 
Wiercioch and Kathryn Kase told the justices. "And Mr. Panetti's mental state 
has further deteriorated since his last evaluation in 2007."

Panetti, a Hayward, Wisconsin, native, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1978 
and had been hospitalized more than a dozen times for treatment in the decade 
before killing Joe and Amanda Alvarado, his estranged wife's parents.

Justices in 2002 prohibited the execution of people who are mentally impaired, 
deciding it violated the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 
But they have allowed capital punishment for mentally ill prisoners as long as 
the inmate has a factual and rational understanding of why he's being put to 
death.

The "rational understanding" provision was added by the Supreme Court in a 2007 
ruling on an appeal from Panetti. Records indicate his case has gone to the 
Supreme Court at least five times since his 1995 conviction and sentence.

"Imposition of the death penalty on people with severe mental illness, as with 
people with intellectual disability, does not serve the two goals of deterrence 
and retribution because of their reduced moral culpability," Panetti's lawyers 
argued to the high court Monday.

Another appeal for Panetti pending before a federal appeals court seeks an 
execution delay for additional competency evaluations.

While his medical records contain indications of mental illness, they "strongly 
indicate rational awareness of his impending execution and the reason for it," 
Ellen Stewart-Klein, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the 5th U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Panetti's mental status has at best been severely exaggerated by his counsel," 
she said.

Also Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused a petition from 
Panetti's lawyers to delay his execution for 180 days or recommend to 
Republican Gov. Rick Perry that Panetti's death sentence be commuted to life, 
board spokesman Raymond Estrada said.

At his trial, Panetti "wore the garish costume of a dime-store cowboy as he 
represented himself" and "engaged in bizarre, incoherent and frightening 
behavior," his attorneys said.

His trial judge ruled he could be his own lawyer and appointed a standby 
attorney whom Panetti never consulted except to call as a witness during the 
trial's punishment phase.

No court has ruled Panetti was or is incompetent or insane.

(source: Associated Press)

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Disgraced justice of the peace faces death penalty as 'treasure trove of 
evidence links him to 3 fatal shootings' on day 1 of murder trial----Eric 
Williams, 46, was charged with killing DA Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia, 
and ADA Mark Hasse


A former justice of the peace accused of killing a North Texas district 
attorney and his wife had a 'treasure trove' of evidence in a storage shed, 
prosecutors said during opening statements Monday.

Eric Williams faces a possible death sentence for the 2013 slayings of Kaufman 
County District Attorney Mike McLelland and the prosecutor's wife, Cynthia, at 
their home in Forney, just east of Dallas.

Williams also is charged with fatally shooting assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse 
2 months earlier.

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors that the storage shed's contents pointed to 
Williams being the alleged gunman.

Wirskye also said 20 rounds were fired inside the McLellands' home in less than 
2 minutes.

An investigator provided early testimony on what authorities discovered at the 
home, where the couple was dead and dressed in their nightwear.

Friends reportedly found the bodies of the DA and his wife after going to their 
home on March 31 2013, having not heard from them in almost 24 hours. They were 
found with multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities contend Williams was upset because the prosecutors' office had 
pursued charges against him in 2012, saying he stole county-owned computer 
equipment.

His subsequent conviction cost him his law license and job.

Williams' estranged wife, Kim, is accused of helping him carry out the slayings 
and is expected to testify against him.

The trial was moved from Kaufman County to nearby Rockwall County.

Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood told The Dallas Morning News that residents 
were 'anxiously awaiting' the case.

'People are ready to let justice prevail, so we have put this behind us,' he 
said. 'Not that we'll forget.'

Hasse was gunned down in January 2013 as he walked toward the Kaufman County 
courthouse for work, while the McLellands were gunned down in their home two 
months later.

Authorities allege that Eric Williams was the gunman in both cases.

Prosecutors say they have a gun linked to Hasse's death and a mask believed to 
have been worn by the gunman.

The items were found by a dive team in a North Texas lake.

Wirskye filed court documents in September alleging that Williams intended to 
target other law enforcement officials.

Defense attorneys have declined to comment on the charges against Williams.

Williams practiced law in Kaufman for more than a decade, specializing in 
family-related cases.

He was elected to his judicial post in 2010, but he lost the $53,000-a-year 
position and his law license when he was convicted of stealing computer 
monitors.

During the highly contentious trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as 
a dishonest public official with a dangerous streak.

At sentencing, they presented evidence indicating Williams had made death 
threats against another local attorney and a former girlfriend.

Although the 2 prosecutors sought prison time for Williams, he ultimately 
received probation.

The murder case is being prosecuted by 2 Dallas attorneys, Toby Shook and Bill 
Wirskye.

Shook and Wirskye, criminal defense attorneys who both previously served as 
Dallas County prosecutors, were appointed after Hasse's slaying on McLelland's 
recommendation.

A neighbor told the Dallas Morning News that he knew Williams to be a 'nice 
guy' who was known in the neighborhood for riding around town in his Segway.

Once a respected attorney, a justice of the peace and a member of the chamber 
of commerce, Williams had lost everything following his conviction.

Williams could no longer practice law in the state and his peace officer 
license was revoked, leaving him unemployed and on the brink of financial ruin.

Prior to his sentencing, Williams told prison officials that he had taken the 
computer equipment to test a video system that would allow him to hold hearing 
online and insisted that he did not steal anything.

The disgraced lawyer said the case against him had put tremendous stress on his 
ailing wife and elderly in-laws.

One month before Hasse's death, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a 
warning to authorities statewide that the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas could 
retaliate for an October indictment that targeted some of its leaders.

McLelland's office was involved in that investigation.

In the months after Hasse was killed, McLelland began to carry a gun everywhere 
and took extra caution when answering his door.

He told The Associated Press in an interview shortly before his death that he 
was warning his employees that they needed to be more cautious as well.

(source: The Daily Mail)

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

Author captures family's side of capital crimes


In cases involving capital crime, the victim and his or her offender are names 
and faces well-known in the public eye. However, the lesser known, innocent 
bystanders of these crimes, the family members, rarely get their stories told.

Huntsville born-and-raised photographer, rancher, SHSU alumnus and former Miss 
Sam Houston Barbara Sloan has been working for the last 8 years to do just 
that.

Sloan has photographed and interviewed more than 40 different family members of 
victims and offenders, equally, in Texas capital crime cases to help share 
their stories with the world.

The project, supported and funded in part by the Huntsville Arts Commission, 
was at first just an exhibit in the Texas Prison Museum. However, as of the 
last year it evolved into a much bigger task when Sloan decided to self-publish 
a book featuring her work.

"Of all the work that I've done all over the world, even the portraits for Andy 
Warhol, this is my most important work," Sloan said. "It's just so emotional 
and every one of these people, I got very close to them and appreciate so much 
them telling me their stories."

According to Sloan, self-publishing was the best option for her in producing an 
objective product because she was afraid other publishers would want to add in 
their 2-cents about the controversial capital punishment.

"I promised all of these people that I would not editorialize anything about 
the death penalty and that this was only about compassion for them as innocent 
family members of the victim or the offender," she said. "I think most people 
who wanted to do the book wanted to tell their side of the death penalty so to 
have total control, I had to self-publish and that was overwhelming to me."

Beginning with the first black and white portrait snapped in 2006 to the last 
one in 2013, the entire process took 8 years with the added year it took to 
layout and edit the physical book.

Sloan will be holding an exclusive book signing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 
Saturday at the Texas Prison Museum for her work "Last Statement: A 
Photographic Study of the Families of the Victims and the Executed." The book 
will be on sale starting Saturday at the Texas Prison Museum gift shop.

The photographer said setting up the interviews and actually conducting them 
took several months of preparation for each one. Sloan also said that she 
worked hard to maintain objectivity interviewing the same number of victim 
family members as she did offender family members.

Typically, Sloan would either interview and photograph her subjects while they 
were protesting outside the execution, or under less emotional circumstances at 
their home, church or at a restaurant.

Other stipulations Sloan had for the project included only using subjects whose 
cases had been completed - meaning the offender had been executed. The book 
goes in order of execution date beginning with those that took place via the 
electric chair.

"We didn't ever want to be accused of swaying opinion one way or the other 
because a lot of these executions get stays and once they get a stay, it takes 
many, many years before it comes up again," Sloan said.

Having a background in photojournalism as well as experience with fashion and 
commercial photography in New York City and oversees in Europe, Sloan has an 
extensive resume including clients such as National Geographic, New York Times 
and Andy Warhol's Interview.

"I believe in pure journalism, nothing editorial," she said. "What they say is 
the golden part of it; what I say is not important - I didn't have that 
experience."

Sloan said although she had doubts about the success of the exhibit at its 
inception, she quickly found that its relatability has made it one of the most 
popular exhibits at the museum.

"It's just been a very successful exhibit because it's not just about the death 
penalty and the prison system," Sloan said. "It's about life and death, it's 
about forgiveness - that's huge, especially among the victims' families, it's 
about dealing with grief and that's something all of us can relate to."

Sloan said she hopes that everyone involved in the criminal justice system will 
look to her book for guidance and insight as to how to aid the families of both 
offenders and victims.

"These people are all innocent and I have great compassion for them and that's 
why I say everyone involved in criminal justice should have this book in their 
library to remind them how far-reaching the effects of capital crime are and 
how they have to deal with these families," she said. "It's not cut-and-dry, 
there are generations of that family that will be effected on both sides."

After an emotionally-taxing past 8 years, Sloan said she feels she has finished 
her calling and will continue photographing less emotionally-draining subjects 
- her horses.

"The story needed to be told and people needed to be aware of the families' 
side of it, but there's just so many of these cases you can read until it 
becomes overload and I think that this is it," Sloan said. "I think the theme 
of forgiveness and the theme of grieving and of dealing with the death of 
someone you love, that's told. And I don't think any more stories are going to 
change the way people deal with that and it's very interesting because everyone 
has their own way of dealing with that."

For more information about the exhibit or the book, contact the Texas Prison 
Museum at 936-295-2155.

(source: houstonianonline.com)