Seeking Justice

by Katherine Scardino 

Anthony Graves is now 46 years old. He was sentenced in 1994 by a jury to die for committing capital murder in Texas and has been incarcerated since August 1992. In 2006, his conviction was overturned by the appellate court for prosecutorial misconduct. The misconduct was the state’s failure to tell the defense that the co-defendant had been trying to tell the prosecution for a long time that he lied on Anthony, saying that Anthony Graves had nothing to do with this case. The co-defendant was also tried by a jury and sentenced to death. In 2000, he was executed. While lying on the gurney, waiting for his lethal injection, he turned to the people watching this killing, and announced, again, that Anthony Graves had nothing to do with this crime. That is about as powerful a statement as you can get.

One week ago, I received a call from the prosecutor. She told me she was dismissing the case against my client, Anthony Graves. I lost my breath. It was an astonishing statement to hear in a case like this. Anthony’s defense team has been fighting for his innocence for years. I have been on this case only three years, and there have been other lawyers before me. My co-counsel, Jimmy Phillips, Jr., and each and every one of those dedicated, smart lawyers told me that we were representing an innocent man. And, I do not mean “technically” innocent, or “not proven,” or that the evidence was lost, stolen or somehow dissipated over the years. I mean really purely innocent. He did not commit this crime.

So, what happened to make a newly appointed, seasoned, tough prosecutor make such a pronouncement? Especially knowing that it would be one she would have to defend. It is very simple. She and her investigator actually investigated. One would assume that in 1992, when he was accused of this crime, there would have been an investigation. There was, but the investigation was skewed by unethical, dishonest law enforcement and prosecutors who heard what the co-defendant said and believed that the case was over. Nothing would stand in the way of finalizing a serious case in this small county--not even an alibi by the accused.

But, then, there was Anthony’s trial in 1994. Was there some investigation done in that year? No. How about in 2006 after the judges sitting on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed this case for a totally new trial? One would think the powers that be in this particular county would do some re-thinking about their position. Sadly, it was not done then either.

Only now, with a jury trial looming in the not-so-distant future, did the prosecution think that perhaps a serious investigation needed to be done. This time it was--and it was done right. This prosecutor and her investigator talked to every person involved in this case. They turned over every stone and looked at every piece of paper. In the end, there was no other conclusion but that Anthony Graves was innocent.

I have been asking myself how I really feel about the awesome experience of seeing this man walk free in the sunshine, wearing a sports jacket and slacks, hugging his mother for the first time in 18 years. I think I am angry. I am angry because people were lazy and ignorant. Anthony is black, he was in a small community and it was 1992. I do not need to say anymore. No one cared. No one wanted to go out of their way to be absolutely certain that all the proper work had been done. And, it wasn’t.

Someone asked me last week, "Does this dismissal reinforce your belief in the criminal justice system?" My response was, “No, it scares the hell out of me.” If one mean-spirited prosecutor, who had the power to make life and death decisions, could do this to my client, he or someone like him could do it to your son or daughter, husband or wife. Then, we had our Governor make a statement like “this shows that our criminal justice system worked.” I tracked down the reporter who published that story and I told him that Gov. Rick Perry had to be joking. How could he say that the system worked, after an innocent person spent 18 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit? Not to mention that 14 of those years were spent on death row, where Anthony lived in a box and was fed through a slit in the door, with one hour a day alone in an alley-like place where he was exposed to the sunshine.

But, enough about me and my feelings--what about Anthony Graves? How is he doing? Absolutely amazing! This man never gave up hope. He always believed that he would win his freedom one day; he just did not know when that day would come. He maintained his dignity and integrity throughout, which is obvious to anyone who has a conversation with him now. Anthony says he does not want to give those people any more of his energy. No bad feelings from Anthony. He wants to get on with what is ahead of him now during the last half of his life. They took away his best years. You know, those years where you get married, raise children, play baseball with your son. He missed all that. But, he is not angry. One reporter asked him, “What now? Are you going to sue the county? Are you going to try and get your compensation from the state?” Anthony said all he wanted to do was “seek justice.” Personally, I hope that this justice involves compensation from the state.

I think justice would be best served if the prosecutor who failed to investigate this case during his tenure, which caused Anthony’s conviction, would spend 18 years of his life in prison. I suppose I have all the anger that Anthony refuses to acknowledge. That is probably good. Anger at ignorant, arrogant people is a dead-end street. But, in this case, it will be a while before I can say that I am no longer furious at the people responsible for this travesty.

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Texas and Rick Perry - Another Execution

by Katherine Scardino

I am so angry over the execution of Robert Lee Thompson. At 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009, Rick Perry presided over his 207th execution in the nine years since he became governor of Texas. That's more executions during his tenure than the 152 the illustrious George W. Bush managed. It's a record Perry will have the honor of living with for the rest of his life.

Robert Lee Thompson was executed by lethal injection despite the extremely rare recommendation by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that his sentence be commuted to life. Mr. Thompson was executed even though he didn't kill anyone. In this case, the shooter was his co-defendant, Sammy Butler, who is now serving a life sentence. But the kicker is even worse: The jury sentenced the co-defendant to life in prison after the prosecutors failed to prove he intended to kill the victim. So, let’s see -- the actual shooter got life because the prosecutor couldn't prove intent, so the guy standing next to him, who wasn't the killer, got a death sentence.

Mr. Thompson died because Rick Perry decided the State of Texas should continue killing people despite the objection of a growing number of local voters and world governments. Texas is the laughing stock of most other countries. I've heard Canada calls us the hind end of the United States.

Mr. Thompson was convicted and sentenced to death legally. It's legal in Texas to charge an individual with capital murder if he's a “party” to the offense. He was present, and he knew the murder would or could happen. In law school, we were given the example of the guy waiting in the car outside the bank while his armed buddy goes inside to rob the teller. In the process of the robbery, a shooting occurs, and the teller is dead. The guy in the car knew his cohort had a gun. So the driver is just as guilty as the person who actually went inside the bank and pulled the trigger.

Over the years, there have been many debates over the death penalty for a “non-shooter.” Some jurisdictions have refused to execute a person if they are a party, as opposed to being the person who fired the fatal shot. Texas has no such compunction. We kill everyone.

In this case, Robert Lee Thompson, 34, was a party to a murder. The Board of Pardons and Paroles sent a letter to Gov. Perry requesting he commute the death sentence to life without parole. Mr. Perry refused to commute the sentence. Mr. Thompson was injected with a three-drug combination that even veterinarians won’t use on animals, and he is no longer breathing our air. Aren’t we lucky, and don’t we feel so much better? This man wasn't a threat to anyone anymore. He was behind bars in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He wasn't going to ever, I repeat, ever see the light of a free day for the rest of his natural life. He was living in a little box with no human contact; food was served to him through a hole in his cell door. What did we gain by executing him? Oh, I know. We maintained our reputation as the biggest bunch of idiots this side of Pluto.

Another death penalty case our governor controlled was Napoleon Beazley. Mr. Beazley was 17 years old at the time he killed a man during a robbery. He had a perfect disciplinary record while he was in jail and subsequently in prison. He was remorseful and stated so at every opportunity. He was a young man who had not yet grown to adulthood. Gov. Perry refused to commute his sentence to life, despite the many letters in support of a life sentence. Mr. Beazley was executed in May 2002. Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Roper v. Simmons, ruling that the great United States could not execute convicts who were younger than 18 when they committed a capital crime. Too bad it wasn't any help to the late Mr. Beazley.

I've heard all the arguments in favor of the death penalty. I understand that grieving families want to see the sentence carried out. But adding another killing is not justice; it's vengeance. As a Texan, I feel that my state killing a man who didn't fire a fatal shot is unjust and wrong. The recommendation that Mr. Thompson’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison was one of only two written by the Board of Pardons and Paroles in the past two years -- during which Texas executed 41 people. I would hope that when such a recommendation is made, our governor would, at the minimum, pay some respect to the judgment of people he appointed to that board and consider what they have to say.

Come on, Texas. Make the rest of us proud. Let’s not be the “hind end” of the United States anymore.

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Moms from Hell

by Kathryn Casey

Lately the Mom-from-Hell phenomenon has consumed residents of my hometown, Houston, slapping us in the face every morning over our cereal and orange juice. During the past month, the Houston Chronicle's front pages have displayed photos of a beautiful young mother charged with committing a despicable crime against her infant son and a supposedly dedicated nurse who allegedly sat back and let her boyfriend turn her young daughter's life into a living hell.

Case one, photo above, Katherine Nadal, in March 2007 the mother of a five-week-old boy. What did Nadal do? Well, according to her ex-husband, she first spent a night partying and taking drugs, then argued with him about whether or not their infant son should be circumcised. It seems Nadal was in favor and her husband wasn't. The next day, prosecutors argued, Nadal took a knife and cut off her infant son's penis and testicles, then unemotionally watched him bleed, nearly dying, as the EMTs she called attempted to save his life.

A former cheerleader, Nadal's nothing if not consistent. Last Friday, when she stood to hear the jury's verdict -- a resounding guilty -- she stared blank-faced around the courtroom. Jurors apparently didn't believe Nadal's contention that the family's mini-dachshund bit off the infant's genitals. Experts during the punishment phase argued that the child will never have a normal life, be able to have children, and may be in danger of committing suicide throughout his teenage years. For this horrible act, the jury sentenced Nadal to 99 years.

Case two is just as horrifying, the on-going heartbreak of the short and terrifying life of little Emma Thompson, the cute, red-headed four-year-old pictured on the right. Before she died, Emma came to the attention of Houston's Child Protective Services when she contracted genital herpes. One would think perhaps that should have been enough to take the child away from her mother. Apparently CPS disagrees. Emma's mom, Abigail Young, is a nurse, described as a gifted one at that. How did she explain her daughter's STD? A dirty toilet seat. Next thing we know, little Emma was beaten to death.

Granted, CPS didn't know that Young was living with Lucas Ruric Coe, reportedly pond scum already well known to the agency. That's Coe and Young pictured below. Among his past brushes with the law: assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief and injury to a child. He'd been investigated by CPS three times in unrelated charges involving another girlfriend's child.

When CPS investigated the herpes blisters found in Emma's mouth, hands and genitals, Young insisted she lived alone with Emma and her two older daughters, ages 11 and six. "She denied having a boyfriend," a CPS spokesperson has said.

The day Emma died, her mother rushed her to the hospital. But first, Young apparently tried to repair some of the damage from the horrendous beating the child received by attempting to super-glue her cracked skull. At autopsy, Emma had 80 bruises, a fractured skull, brain hemorrhage, and a vaginal tear. She also suffered blunt-force trauma to her abdomen, the death blow.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has ordered an investigation into why CPS didn't remove little Emma when the herpes was diagnosed, which might have saved her life. Meanwhile, the rest of us shake our heads and wonder how any mother could do the things Nadal and Young are charged with. Sometimes reading the morning newspaper is enough to make me sick.

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