Texas Death-Row Exoneree Anthony Graves Shares 2011 Plans

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) - Anthony Graves , 45, has been a free man for nearly two months - after having missed nearly two decades serving time for a heinous crime that he did not commit.

He spent 18 years on death row for the grisly murders of a grandmother, her daughter, and four grandchildren in 1992. Their Somerville, Texas, home was set on fire to cover up the crime.

Robert Earl Carter, the father of one of the children, was convicted of capital murder and given the death penalty. But Carter told authorities he did not act alone and implicated Graves as his accomplice.

He later testified against Graves at trial.

Graves was 26 when he went to prison - and he maintained his innocence for the next 18 years.

Then just before Carter, the real murderer, was executed in 2000, he recanted and said Graves had nothing to do with it. It took the courts six years to overturn the case. It took almost four more for Graves to be set free.

He was in prison for nearly 10 years after the man who accused him admitted he was innocent.

Bad as it was for Graves, it wasn't the worst out there. On Tuesday, Cornelius Dupree Jr. was exonerated by DNA evidence in Dallas after 30 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

"Our criminal justice system is a beast that needs to be tamed," he said. "It threatens us all."

Now, instead of living in a cement cell, Graves is living in his sister's Pflugerville living room. In the time he's been locked up, society has seen the advent of the cell phone and broader use of e-mail. New laws and new societal norms. New career paths, new politics.

Two decades behind bars leaves a lot for a man to catch up on. And those are just the big things. The little adjustments seem to come with similar difficulty.

"I am still using prison lingo, like calling a plate a 'tray,' " he said. "I am no longer like a dog getting a tray of food through a slot."

Graves told KXAN he is "searching for a place to call mine." But his apartment hunt has yet to turn up a new home for him.

"I got denied from an apartment last week, and I think it is because I was on Death Row," Graves said.

Graves is living out of a suitcase that he stores in the corner of his sister's living room. Inside, there are a few t-shirts, pants and a hygiene bag.

"This is all I have," said Graves, who says he depends on donations to get by.

He takes the suitcase with him as he bounces from relative's house to relative's house. Recently, he acquired his first cell phone and computer.

He admits he's struggling to learn how to use all the new technology, especially social networking sites like Facebook, and texting.

"Technology is crazy. You can go all over the world just on your cell phone, that is crazy. I see people texting and and I am like, 'Why not call?' "

Before I went to prison, everyone picked up the phone and called," Graves said, who has his own Facebook page .

He won't even go near his nephew's Playstation. Still, Graves remains optimistic he will catch on.

Graves said during his time behind bars, he often asked himself, "Why me?"

"I cried a lot in my bunk. It hurt, but I had to grow a tough skin," Graves said.

Despite the adversity he faced and being called a murderer when he wasn't, Graves told KXAN he does not harbor any bitterness.

"When you fight the good fight for so long, there is no room to be bitter," Graves said.

In the upcoming year, Graves wants to return to school and hopes to get a job working for the Texas Defense Association.

Graves is preparing for a busy year ahead. He plans a book about his experience and is currently "in talks" with ghostwriters. He will also appear on the BBC and other national shows documenting his experience on Death Row.

He has yet to receive any compensation from the state, but said he filed papers with the State Comptroller's Office last week.

Meanwhile, he casts his eye on the future with optimism - and the potential for love. He'd like to start a family one day, he said, though he has no solid plan for that right now.

"I will let that come to me," Graves said.

Related story: "Texas: Anthony Graves Released from Death Row, Case Dismissed", Houston Chronicle, October 27, 2010

Source: KXAN.com, January 5, 2011

You may donate to help Anthony get settled in his new life over the next few months. Click here.

Comments

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog