April 22
TEXAS:
Committee backs move to expand crime panel -- Senator wants group to
review innocence claims, but Perry says that's not the focus
A Senate committee approved Sen. Rodney Ellis' bill Thursday to expand a
gubernatorial crime commission to investigate claims of innocence by
people who say they were wrongfully convicted.
Ellis wants to expand the duties of Gov. Rick Perry's recently created
Criminal Justice Advisory Council by giving it the power to subpoena
witnesses and documents to investigate such cases.
Perry opposes Ellis' bill, saying the advisory council is not designed to
investigate individual cases. The governor wants the council to report on
changes needed in the criminal justice system to keep pace with advances
in forensic science.
Ellis said Senate Bill 1033 would allow the council to study wrongful
convictions and make recommendations on how the state can avoid them.
"Texans deserve a criminal justice system they can trust, protects the
innocent and punishes only the guilty," Ellis said. "The governor has
taken an important first step toward making that system of justice a
reality. This bill provides him with the tools to take the next step."
Perry announced creation of the council last month. He said he will make
appointments after the legislative session ends May 31. He has said he
wants a broad perspective from prosecutors, defense attorneys and
victims-rights advocates.
Barry Scheck, whose New York-based Innocence Project has helped clear
several Texas inmates, testified in favor of the bill earlier this week.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
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Houston woman gets another date for execution ---- The attorney for
Frances Newton says he will try to exonerate her
A Houston woman on death row who was temporarily spared by Gov. Rick Perry
moments before her execution last year faces another execution date.
State District Judge Jim Wallace on Thursday scheduled Frances Newton to
die by injection Sept. 14, said David Dow, one of her attorneys and
founder of the Texas Innocence Network.
Newton was convicted of shooting to death her husband and their two young
children in 1987. Prosecutors said she killed them to collect $100,000 in
insurance money. Newton said she thinks they were killed by a drug dealer
she knew only as Charlie to whom her husband owed money.
Dow said he plans to attempt to exonerate Newton before she is executed.
He said he hopes to test bloody carpet from the crime scene.
"There are other things we can do, and we plan on doing them," he said.
Dow said Newton, 40, remains confident she will be proven innocent.
"She's obviously disappointed that a date has been set, but she is still
hopeful that the truth will come out," he said.
Hours before her scheduled execution Dec. 1, Perry granted Newton a
120-day reprieve to give her attorneys time to investigate questions about
the evidence used to convict her.
They wanted to retest ballistics evidence and a skirt she wore the night
her family was killed.
Retesting of bullets from the crime scene matched a gun prosecutors say
was the murder weapon and which was linked to Newton.
Wallace denied defense requests to test the skirt.
Tests on the skirt before Newton's 1988 trial showed nitrates on her
dress, which can be caused by exposure to gunfire.
Newton has maintained that her dress was soiled with garden manure, which
may have caused similar test results.
New technology can distinguish between evidence of gunfire and garden
manure, but prosecutors said the 1988 procedure was a "destructive test"
that eliminated any chemical evidence, rendering additional tests
inconclusive.
Prosecutors have also said the skirt was stored with other evidence from
the crime scene and contaminated by it.
The 120-day reprieve expired at the end of March, and the Harris County
District Attorney's Office requested a new execution date be set, Dow
said.
Another of Newton's attorneys, John LaGrappe, said he may file a federal
appeal "alleging prosecutorial misconduct in the way that the dress was
handled."
(source: Houston Chronicle)
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Case shows media were on side of prejudice
During the days of Jim Crow, when segregation was the law of the land,
even our most respected institutions -- government, law enforcement and
newspapers -- were tainted with a malicious bias.
In 2 previous columns, I've recounted the story of unthinkable mob
violence in southeast Texas in 1908.
Within a 2-week period, at least 9 black men were killed after the death
of 2 white men in Sabine County.
5 of the men, among 6 taken from the county jail, were hanged from a
dogwood tree in the middle of the night.
A photograph of that scene, accompanied by a pathetic poem proclaiming
"WHITE SUPREMACY," was printed on a postcard by a local store, and area
residents sent copies to people all over the country.
In researching this story, I relied on articles from newspapers in Dallas
and Fort Worth, and I was painfully saddened to see just how prejudiced
the papers were toward the victims and how sympathetic they were toward
the perpetrators of the crimes.
This newspaper, called The Fort Worth Telegram then, carried the story of
the white man's death on the front page of its June 22, 1908, edition
under the headline "FARMER KILLED; NEGRO ARRESTED" and the sub-headline
"Well Known Sabine Stockman Meets Death."
The next day, the newspaper placed a story at the bottom of Page 2 about
the mob breaking into the jail and taking out 6 black men who reportedly
had been arrested in connection with another man's death.
"MOB HANGS FIVE AND SHOOTS ANOTHER," the headline said. The sub-headline
read "200 Citizens Take Prisoners From Hemphill Jail -- Implicated in the
Murder of White."
The Dallas Morning News, which had much closer ties to East Texas than the
Star-Telegram in those days, had covered the story more thoroughly and
with much more empathy for the white citizens of Sabine County.
The News named 5 of the men taken from the jail and told of one other
black man killed in front of the home of a second white man who had been
killed that week.
The story went on to say, "The body of Hardy Evans, one of the principals
of the Dean murder, is reported as having been found on the Hemphill and
San Augustine road, about half-way between the 2 places.
"A negro whose name can not be ascertained is reported as being killed,
but there are many wild rumors afloat of other negroes having been killed
in the county. At the present time these nine are the only ones whose
names can be given with any degree of certainty. It is believed that all
of them were connected with the killing of either Hugh Dean or Arie
Johnson."
Neither newspaper talked with any black citizens of the county or
questioned whether those responsible should face criminal action.
And where was the sheriff of the county when the jail was being overrun by
a mob?
Well, the account by The News explains: "Up to the hour that the Hemphill
jail was attacked last night conditions never looked more quiet around
that peaceable little city. It was about 1 o'clock in the night when a mob
of between 100 and 200 men rode into the town and surrounded the jail.
Sheriff Arnold, tired from his hard day's work in running down the slayers
of Johnson, was asleep at his home. Deputy McGown had not returned from
the scene of the last trouble. After surrounding the jail, part of the mob
went to the home of Jailer Paul Broadnax and called him out on the
pretense of having more prisoners connected with the trouble. When he got
into the crowd they took him in charge, took keys from him, left a guard
with him so that he could not give the alarm, went to the jail and took
their prisoners. ... The mob tied these six negroes by the hands and neck
and led them to the place of execution. The keys of the jail were left on
the steps of the jail."
Although the reporter called Hemphill a "peaceable little city," just a
year earlier, The News had published a story with the headline "NEGROES
MUST GO. -- Worthless Blacks to Be Driven Out of Sabine County."
With a Beaumont dateline, the story said, "A well-known citizen of Sabine
Valley who was in the city today states that the movement to chase negroes
out of Sabine County is sincere and positive on the part of the white
people. There will be no violent action, but the people have given ample
and certain notice that all transient negroes must leave the towns of
Browndell and Brookeland. There are no negroes in Bronson and Hemphill,
and the people in the other places are determined to rid themselves of the
worthless blacks."
The News summed up its story of the 1908 lynchings with a conciliatory
tone for the crowd and explained why it was necessary for the mob to take
the action it did.
"There was no taking away of relics or souvenirs, no drinking or carousing
connected with the lynching of the negroes last night," the report said.
"The men went there determined and accomplished their purpose. The 6
negroes were cut down today and buried at the expense of the county.
"From all reports, those who attacked the jail last night were among the
best citizens of the county. Sabine is one of the oldest settled counties
of the State.
"... The citizens felt also that outside influences had been brought to
bear and that arrangements would be made to have lawyers secure a change
of venue and that influences would be brought to bear on the witnesses.
The evidence against the negroes was such they were convinced beyond any
reasonable doubt that the negroes [were] guilty."
So much for justice.
So much for fair and objective journalism.
A photo of the postcard with the lynching scene can be viewed at
star-telegram.com. Click on Columnists, then my name, and when you get to
the column, you can click on the photo.
In a future column, I hope to tell you about some of the living relatives
of those killed in Sabine County during that bloody summer of 1908.
(source: Column, Bob Ray Sanders, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
*********************
Report on Camachos mental capacity delayed
The results of a state report to decide whether Angela Camacho is mentally
retarded have been postponed for at least a week, prosecutors said
Thursday.
Camacho, 25, is charged with three counts of capital murder after she and
her common-law husband John Allen Rubio, 24, allegedly strangled and
decapitated their three children in March 2003.
Although Rubio was convicted and sentenced to death, Camachos case has
been tied up in court for more than two years. Her trial is scheduled for
May 14 and under federal law she would not face the death penalty if found
mentally retarded.
According to court records, Camacho was found competent to stand trial but
defense attorneys contend that she is mentally retarded and therefore not
eligible to receive the death penalty.
Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos said a state expert
was hired to review the validity of a study commissioned by defense
attorneys.
Villalobos said prosecutors have asked officials with the 107th state
District Court to allow their expert to interview Camacho. No decision was
available on the request Thursday afternoon.
"We will not be inquiring about the offense, only testing her abilities,"
Villalobos said.
(source: The Brownsville Herald)
