May 13
TEXAS----impending execution
Cartwright execution scheduled for next week
Convicted killer Richard Cartwright's execution is now less than a week
away. Cartwright was given the death penalty for the 1996 murder of Nick
Moraida, whose family said they're ready for Cartwight's execution.
She says every time they get a letter about another appeal or another
hearing, it's like reliving the murder all over again. The family is ready
to have some closure, and they believe next Thursday will help. A bove
all, Angela Moraida remembers her brother nick as a good father.
"He would make all the holidays special...decorate it together," Moraida
said. She said it wasn't just the loss of Nick that hurt, but the way he
was taken.
"They robbed him, and one guy slit his throat, and the other guy shot him,
and left him just to die there in the bay." Richard Cartwright has taken
his case to the Internet, claiming police charged the wrong man with
murder.
Private investigator Tina church, who has taken up Cartwright's case said,
"Kelly Overstreet is the person who slit this young man's throat, and he
places the gun in rich Cartwright's hands. Rich has never...Rich has
always maintained his innocence."
Cartwright's mother in Chicago shares the same beliefs, but at the same
time is preparing for his execution.
"You know, we're prepared for the worst outcome because you just never
know with the state of Texas, because there's so much that they will not
here at this point in the case," said Irene Rekitzke.
For Angela, this is a chance to finally move on, feeling certain the right
man will be punished. Cartwright's family disagrees.
"If they strap Rich Cartwright to the gurney next Thursday night, they're
going to be strapping an innocent man, and putting him to death," said
Church.
The private investigator said 'procedural barring' is keeping the case
from being heard, and they're now flooding the governor's office with
letters and phone calls. We're also told Cartwright will not be filing a
last minute claim of mental retardation to stop the execution.
On a more positive note, Angela Moraida said the loss of her brother truly
has brought the rest of the family together. They'll all watch one of
Nick's children graduate in a few weeks.
2 other men were convicted in the robbery and murder. Dennis Haygood was
sentenced to 20 years in prison and Kelly Overstreet was sentenced to 50
years.
(source: KRIS-TV News)
VIRGINIA:
In Spite of the System----Opponents to VA's Death Penalty Rally to Action.
Shujaa Graham was already in tears when he reached the pulpit at the
Unitarian Universalist Church Saturday afternoon in Arlington. After
serving 15 years in prison, nine of them on death row, nobody could blame
him.
"I remember like it was yesterday, the things that went through my mind
when I knew that I was condemned to death," Graham said before the
audience of more than 50 gathered for a conference of advocates seeking to
promote alternatives to the death penalty in Virginia. "I'm here not
because of the system. I'm here in spite of the system."
Born into a poor black family in rural Louisiana, Graham said he'd faced a
life of little opportunity and much hardship. In the early 1960s he moved
with his parents to California, but life was no easier. As a young adult
he soon found himself on the wrong side of the law, arrested in 1968 for a
robbery that netted him only $35. His sentence landed him in San Quentin.
At a time when prison riots had become commonplace there, Graham took on
the role of an organizer, banding together his fellow inmates to protest
prison conditions. Tensions between prisoners and guards ran high, he
said, often leading to violence. For his work in prison, Graham said he
was a marked man.
"I was trying to organize whites and blacks," he said. "I became a target
of the state."
In 1973, Graham and another inmate became the primary suspects in the
murder of a prison guard. His first trial ended with a hung jury. His
second ended with a death sentence, placing him on death row to await the
long walk to the gas chamber.
"On death row, I saw the suffering of all types of people," Graham said.
"I was locked up in a 9 by 6 cell for something I never did. I remember
being beaten. Once it was 3 times in one day. They'd beat you down so hard
that I almost believed that I'd done what they were saying I did."
Years passed, but Graham persevered. On appeal, a judge found that
prosecutors had made a systematic effort to exclude blacks from serving on
the 2 prior juries. One more trial followed, again with an all-white jury.
"But they were people of good conscience," Graham said. "They found me
innocent."
Now, almost 2 decades after his release and exoneration, Graham said the
psychic wounds of his time on death row are still fresh.
"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about where I've been,"
he said. "My life was destroyed. Many of you fight for a good day. I fight
for just a good moment."
His struggle on death row, he said, has led him to join the fight to end
capital punishment in Virginia - which is second only to Texas when it
comes to the number of people executed each year - and across the United
States.
"Here I stand, wounded by the blows of racism and capital punishment," he
said. "There can never be a just death penalty."
At the conference, Graham was joined by advocates for alternatives to
capital punishment and others touched by its effects. Among them was
Bishop Walter Sullivan, who has long helped lead and organize anti-death
penalty groups from his diocese in Richmond. Killing to enforce the notion
that killing is wrong, he said, is illogical, costly and fails to act as a
deterrent to crime.
"The killing of killers has no causal relationship as a deterrent," said
Sullivan. "I feel that at least part of the motivation behind it is
vengeance."
Sullivan, now retired, pointed to the death of Timothy McVeigh following
his conviction for the bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building. The
families of those victims, he said, told him they found little comfort in
McVeigh's execution.
"Those who watched came away angry," he said. "They said he had gotten off
too easy. He just slept away into eternity. Killing to say that killing is
wrong will never lead to communities of brotherly love. From a faith
perspective, life is sacred and inviolable."
Sullivan added that "Life in prison without the hope of parole can be a
viable alternative, and it is a cost savings. Only the Lord knows how many
people have been put to death because of overzealous prosecutors or
unscrupulous detective work. A society that is willing to kill its own,
even those that might be innocent, is a society that cheapens all of us."
The death penalty, he added, is little more than a means for politicians
to gain votes by appearing tough on crime.
"But politicians who want to appear tough on crime are only being tough on
criminals," he said.
Del. Vincent Callahan (R-34) was also among the conference's attendees.
Callahan said he has changed his opinion on capital punishment after some
study on the subject.
"Philosophically, I've come around," he said. "It's not a deterrent to
crime. Even the strongest advocates for the death penalty agree on that.
It should no longer be a part of our penal code."
The Commonwealth has put 94 people to death between 1976 and January 2005,
according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center. Prior
to 1976, the state had killed 1,277. There are now about 23 inmates on
Virginia's death row. A total of six people have won clemency. One who has
not is Justin Wolfe, 20, of Centreville, convicted for ordering the murder
of Owen Barber, a charge leveled after the man who shot Barber struck a
deal with prosecutors for a lesser sentence. His mother, Terri Steinberg,
told the audience that as Mother's Day approached she could not see her
son.
"I had never really thought about the death penalty," said Steinberg,
adding that the prison where he is held allows her the kind of visits when
she can touch her son about once every six months. "Justin was always
known for breaking up fights, not for starting them."
Steinberg said her entire family has felt the impact of Wolfe's sentence.
Her other son dropped out of school, she said, because he couldn't focus
knowing that his brother is about to die. Her 8-year-old daughter, too
young to understand the gravity of what has happened, asked that last
year's Christmas tree be left standing for her brother to see it when he
returns.
"I do have faith that my son will come home, whether it will be with me or
with God," she said.
The conference was organized by Virginia's for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty (VADP). During discussions, local activists focused on how to
advance the case against capital punishment in the state. According to the
group, the death penalty costs 5 to 6 times more than life imprisonment.
On average, it states, the murder rate in states that have capital
punishment is more than twice that in states that do not. In the last 9
years, Virginia has executed 3 juveniles. And, as of 2003, in 1 out of
every 10 trials resulting in a death sentence, the defendant was
represented by an attorney who later lost his or her license to practice
law. Rev. Michael McGee of the Unitarian Church brought the current
election into the discussion. He said the Republican candidate Jerry
Kilgore poses a serious threat to VADP's efforts if elected.
"He's not only for it, he's for expanding it," said McGee. "He wants to
put more people to death."
VADP activist Albert Monroe of Arlington said the group - which brought
more than 100 members to lobby in Richmond during 2005's legislative
session on Martin Luther King Day - is seeking a political solution.
"We understand that we face a tough battle," said Monroe. "We can't change
some legislators' minds, so we have to change the minds of people, of
voters, all over the state."
He added that "Killing is never the answer. Killing can never be justice."
(source: The Arlington Connection)
