Sept. 1 TEXAS----impending execution Andrew Flores, a Latino male, was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 26, 1993 murder and attempted robbery of Juan Moreno, a Latino grocery store clerk in Bexar County, Texas. Andrew was only 20 years old at the time of the crime. He was accompanied by Joseph Fritz, a long-time friend who was convicted to life imprisonment for his part in the murder. Like many people facing execution, Flores has a history of mental illness. A court psychiatrist examined Flores and diagnosed him with organic affective disorder and developmental mental disorder. The psychiatrist said this illness could cause rapid moods swings under stressful situations, which was something that close friends such as Fritz would have been aware of. Flores' appellate attorney argued that Flores received ineffective assistance of counsel during his trial. His trial lawyer failed to have an independent psychiatric evaluation conducted and failed to inform the jury of several mitigating factors. One such mitigating factor was evidence of Flores' long-term drug and alcohol abuse including his intoxication at the time of the offense. The appellate attorney also revealed evidence of Flores' sexual and physical abuse during childhood. The sexual abuse was by a teacher. Trial testimony revealed that Flores went to at least 3 different high schools before dropping out to help his mother make enough money to provide for their family. Fritz and Flores' stated that their motive for the robbery was to get rent money. Flores also has a young son. Andrew's attorneys have obtained an affidavit from one or the trial jurors stating that had the mitigating evidence been presented at trial, she would have held out for life and not death. We should not be in the business of killing young adults born into poverty who were neglected by their schools, their parents and the state. Please take a moment to urge the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Texas Gov. Perry to stop the execution of Andrew Flores! If possible, please contact each board member individually. If one letter to the board is all you can manage, Please address it to Rissie Owens, Board Presiding Officer & Other Board Members and send it to: Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles Executive Clemency Section P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station Austin, Texas 78711 Phone (512) 406-5852 Fax (512) 467-0945 Rissie Owens, Board Presiding Officer Board of Pardons and Paroles 1300 11th St., Suite 520 P.O. Box 599 Huntsville, TX 77342-0599 936-291-8367 Fax Elvis Hightower, Board Member Board of Pardons and Paroles 1300 11th St., Suite 520 P.O. Box 599 Huntsville, TX 77342-0599 936-291-8367 Fax Jose L. Aliseda, Board Member Board of Pardons and Paroles 1111 West Lacy St. Palestine, TX 75801 903-723-1441 Fax Linda Garcia, Board Member Board of Pardons and Paroles 1212 N. Velasco, Suite 201 Angleton, TX 77515 979-849-8741 Fax Charles Aycock, Board Member Board of Pardons and Paroles 5809 S. Western, Suite 237 Amarillo, TX 79110 806-358-6455 Fax Juanita Gonzalez, Board Member Board of Pardons and Paroles 3408 S. State Hwy. 36 Gatesville, TX 76528 254-865-2629 Fax Honorable Rick Perry Governor, State of Texas Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428 (512) 463-1849 Fax (source: TCADP) NORTH CAROLINA: Death Penalty Debate Continues at North Carolina A&T Sept. 2 North Carolina A&T will be the 1st stop in a 7-state tour of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) aimed at promoting student involvement in civil and human rights issues as well as voter registration and turnout. The National Coalition Against the Death Penalty and People of Faith Against the Death Penalty will visit North Carolina A&T on Thursday, Sept. 2 and will sponsor a forum on the death penalty at 6 p.m. in McNair Auditorium in the student center. Participating in the forum will be state Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Winston-Salem; Darryl Hunt, who spent 19 years in prison for a murder he did not commit; Jeremy Collins, field director for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty; and Jotaka Eaddy and Sapna Mirchandani, both of NCADP. The HBCU tour, which will run from Labor Day weekend through Thanksgiving, will visit HBCUs during classic football games and homecoming events and will provide a fun and educational mix of hip-hop culture, student activism and education. In addition to North Carolina, the tour will visit Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, said that the death penalty debate has achieved prominence in North Carolina in recent years, in part because of a growing grassroots moratorium movement and in part because of the number of wrongful death penalty convictions that have taken place. North Carolina this year experienced its fourth death row exonoree when Alan Gell was cleared of the murder for which he had previously been convicted and sentenced to death. NCADP's tour of black colleges and universities across the south will include music, parties and educational panels featuring experts on the death penalty, human rights and civil rights. -- People of Faith Against the Death Penalty 110 W. Main St., Suite 2-G Carrboro, NC 27510 Tel 919.933.7567 Fax 919.933.561 [email protected] www.pfadp.org People of Faith Against the Death Penalty is a statewide, interfaith membership organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina. PFADP relies on its members for support. Annual membership rates are: $25/individual, $40/household, and $100/congregation, or whatever amount is affordable. Checks should be made to "PFADP" and sent to the above address. (source: PFADP) OHIO: Highway shootings suspect enters insanity plea A man charged in a series of highway shootings in Ohio, including one that killed a woman, is changing his plea to innocent by reason of insanity, one of his attorneys said Wednesday. Charles A. McCoy Jr.'s change in plea from innocent, to innocent by reason of insanity, was being filed Wednesday morning in court, attorney Andrew Haney said. McCoy, 29, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, according to court documents and his attorneys. McCoy is charged in shootings that occurred from October through February, including the death of a 62-year-old woman in November. She was the only person hit in the shootings that occurred mostly around the Interstate 270 beltway on the south side of Columbus, Ohio. McCoy, who was arrested in March in Las Vegas, could be sentenced to death if convicted in the slaying. In a 2-page opinion Tuesday, Judge Charles A. Schneider determined he was competent to stand trial. McCoy's mother refused to comment, referring questions to Haney. Messages also were left at his father's workplace and at the Franklin County prosecutor's office. McCoy came to authorities' attention in March after someone -- authorities will not say who -- called police to say McCoy's father had guns belonging to his son. Charles McCoy Sr. gave police the guns after checking with his son and his ex-wife. Ardith McCoy testified at a March court hearing she found pieces of a disassembled handgun under her son's mattress in mid-February and turned them over to her ex-husband. She had previously given her ex-husband another handgun found in August and 2 shotguns she had found under her son's bed in December. (source: Associated Press)
