Re:----new book
Death Penalty book documents systemic flaws in the application of
capital punishment in Texas, and explores remedies
No Justice: No Victory -
The Death Penalty in Texas
By Susan Lee Campbell Solar
Edited by Susan Bright
Introduction by Steve Hall, StandDown Texas
For information or to arrange interviews: write or call Susan Bright:
[email protected], 512-441-2452, 512-626-4037 or Steve Hall:
[email protected], 512-478-7300, 512-627-3011
"Because state sponsored murder adds more anguish to society than it
redresses, because people of color who are poor are over represented
on death row, because our court systems are flawed and resources for
defense are unevenly available, because healing for individuals and
society comes not from retaliation, but from forgiveness, No Justice:
No Victory is a welcome addition to the increasing body of
abolitionist work which is turning American opinion against capital
punishment."
Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking
Despite a burgeoning culture of death that empowers some politicians
to=A0 brag about the state sanctioned killing of offenders who were
minors when they committed crimes, or are mentally ill, or retarded,
or innocent, No Justice: No Victory is a testament to life.=A0 In the
execution capital of the free world, this book has emerged two and a
half years after its author died unexpectedly from systemic pneumonia.
It exists because friends, family and professionals in the death
penalty field believed Solar's work was too important to abandon.
Susan Lee Campbell Solar began to research the subject shortly after
Governor George W. Bush declared that the death penalty in Texas
worked, that no innocent person had been killed on his watch.=A0 She
researched the politics-of-fear tactics that fueled the early
campaigns of George W. and his father, for whom tough-on-crime, victim
advocacy and pro-death penalty rhetoric was a ticket to power.
A native Texan, she looked at the post civil war history of capital
punishment in a state famous for lynching and explored the cultural
legacy and inherent racism therein. She interviewed attorneys, judges
and law professors to develop an understanding of innocence and
clemency. She discovered an appeals process so flawed that Gary
Graham, for instance, traveled through more than twenty court
proceedings - and still evidence from multiple witnesses who said he
wasn't the killer was never heard by a jury. She discovered
prosecutorial misconduct, incompetent and untrained public defenders,
geographic disparities in the assignment of capital murder charges and
inadequate funding for investigation.
Solar devotes chapters to Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa), Odell Barnes,
Jr.=A0 and Larry Robison, all of whom were executed - Graham and Barnes
in spite of strong cases for innocence. Robison, who suffered from
paranoid schizophrenia, was repeatedly turned away from mental health
facilities because he wasn't violent - until the day voices told him
to kill five people. She tells the stories of=A0 men now on death row
for whom evidence of innocence is strong: Michael Toney, Pablo
Melendez,=A0 and devotes particular attention to Anthony Graves, tracing
what she called "railroad justice" step by step.
Her in-depth interviews with family members reveal the tragic
consequences of a broken system. Mary Barnes some months after the
execution of her son summed it up this way, "Bush is president and my
baby's dead."
A crime victim herself, Solar explored the effects of it on families
of offenders and victims. Their stories reveal the human cost of what
death penalty attorney Richard Burr called "this war against our own."
They also point to social remedies for the pandemic violence of our
world. Solar writes about Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation
and Journey of Hope.
The words of Arthur Graves, brother of Anthony, gave name to Solar's
book in the last weeks of production, when it had grown past a dozen
or so working titles. Editor, Susan Bright, sent galleys to the Graves
family and asked Arthur if there was something he'd like to say to
readers.
He wrote, "Having to live your life as a family member of someone on
death row is like being there yourself. Every pain they feel, you
feel. In the case of an innocent man serving time, not only does it
destroy the life of the accused, it also wipes out the hopes and
dreams of a whole family and in the end, everyone loses - no justice,
no victory."
In her Editor's Notes Bright writes, "When the Abu Ghraib prison
scandal hit the world press, it read to me like the next chapter of
Susan Lee' book."
Solar's first death row interview with Odell Barnes was a profound
conversation that reached past issues of anger, blame, fear or even
innocence, into what Barnes called "the situation, " a maelstrom of
relentless cycles of racism, poverty and addiction with which he had
forged a deep spiritual peace.
Gary Taylor, attorney for Odell Barnes, wrote, "Even though I argued
(and believed) evidence which clearly questioned his guilt in this
case, Odell had committed several crimes in his past. This is not
surprising because it would be hard to wrongfully convict a preacher
or leader in the community. Most mistakes are made in cases where the
defendant had other problems. This said, Odell Barnes was a different
man on the day of his execution than the man who came to death row.
His persistence, studies and hard work made him so. In the end, Odell
was as much a source of strength for me as I was for him."
In a world where the essential links between evidence and consequence
are increasingly abandoned, Solar wrote, "Here's to all those who
engage seriously in this debate, no matter what side you're on, for it
is of urgent matter to the soul of our community that it be considered
in depth."
Danny Yeager, editor of The Touchstone writes, "Solar hammers
relentless fact after relentless fact about the state of Texas as a
gruesome, out of control killing machine. This book is a remarkable
and poignant achievement by Solar, a person who led a profoundly
energetic life of involvement and activism. Our world needs many more
like her."
ISBN: 1-891386-99-9, $18.95.=A0 Available from Plain View Press,
512-441-2452, [email protected].
