Texas: Hundreds of people march against the death penalty

Death penalty protestors gather in front of the Texas State Capitol every year on the weekend before All Souls' Day, or The Day of the Dead, which falls on November second. This Tuesday happens to also be Election Day.

For the men leading the procession from the Capitol, down Congress Avenue to 6th Street, it’s a tough walk. They were once on Death Row. Evidence exonerated them. The journey's been an especially hard one for Gregory Wilhoite. After he was freed, an accident put him in a wheelchair.

“For whatever reason, I'm convinced that God's got a job for me, so I'm a man on a mission, and the mission is educating people about the realities of capital punishment,” Wilhoite says.

He used to be pro death penalty until he found himself on death row for a crime that evidence would later show he did not commit. Another Death Row survivor, Shujaa Graham, says he made a lot of promises while he was there.

“I promised a lot of prisoners that once I was released from prison that I would fight and try to see that they would be able to survive themselves,” Graham says.

The survivors here are not just ex-prisoners. Bill Pelke's grandmother was murdered by four teenage girls. One got the death penalty.

“Originally I supported the judge's decision,” Pelke says. “But I went through a transformation and became convinced that execution is not the solution.”

Some protestors carried signs and shouted chants against Governor Rick Perry, a death penalty proponent. Not everyone at the Capitol agrees with those views.

“I am for the death penalty,” Mike Smith, visiting from Houston, says. “But I also agree to freedom of speech, and it's a good thing that they can voice their opinions.”

Sylvia Garza is voicing her opinion. Her son Robert was convicted under the law of parties.

“It's not a crime to be in a car behind some people that committed a murder,” Garza says. “He didn’t commit the murder.”

Many Death Row inmates claim innocence, including Rodney Reed of Bastrop. Now the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is deciding whether Reed will get to walk this walk with other death penalty survivors.

Reed’s brother, Rodrick Reed, says, “If he wins this appeal, then my brother will come home and be a free man so that's what, that's what we're shooting for.”

How important the death penalty issue is remains to be seen at the ballot box on Election Day. According to several recent polls, immigration and the economy are the two top issues on voters' minds.

Texas has executed 17 people so far this year. The state executed 24 people last year. There are currently 333 people on death row in Texas.

Source: kvue.com, October 30, 2010

Exonerees, advocates to rally for death penalty reform

One local group is taking action to abolish the death penalty here in Texas.

The group, called Journey of Hope, met at the Capitol Building Friday to discuss alternatives to capital punishment.

On Saturday, Journey of Hope is hosting a march to raise awareness for their cause.

It’s a cause that Curtis McCarty knows a lot about. He was wrongly sentenced to death over 20 years ago.

"I was arrested and charged with first degree capitol murder in the spring of 1985," McCarty said. "I went to trial in 1986, sentenced to die and spent the next twenty years fighting for my life."

The president of Journey of Hope, Bill Pelke, wants Gov. Rick Perry to know his organization believes another man was wrongly convicted and put to death at the hands of the state.

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004, but new forensic evidence strongly suggests he was not responsible for the arson and murder of his three young children.

"When the death penalty was ended in New York state it really was because people had a moral conversion," Pelke said. "I think it was primarily the realization that we did not have a system that could guarantee that innocent people would not be executed.”

The Willingham case is waiting for an appeals ruling to move forward in an evidentiary hearing. Willingham’s fate will be decided right here in Austin.

As McCarty continues to adjust to being a free man, he still remembers the lessons of youth that didn't hold true for him.

"I believed all those things that I was taught in school, that we're a nation of laws, that we have a constitution that protects us from misconduct, that we all receive a fair trial,” he said. “And it simply didn't happen."

Source: News8Austin, October 30, 2010

Comments

Wyoming Hasn't Executed Anyone In 33 Years, But It's Tried

It's been 33 years since Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan stood in his office next to his priest, warring with himself over the execution of convicted serial killer Mark Hopkinson. The state hasn't executed anyone since that day — but it's tried. In the final few moments of convicted killer Mark Hopkinson’s life, protesters converged on the Wyoming State Capitol while the governor stood in his office, with a priest by his side. The state of Wyoming executed Hopkinson by lethal injection Jan. 22, 1992, at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins — 13 years after he was convicted.

Iran | Convicted killer hanged in Tabriz. Execution carried out by his uncle, who was plaintiff in the case

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 10, 2025: Hassan Saei, a man on death row for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. His execution was carried out by his uncle, who was the plaintiff in the case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison on 6 May 2025. His identity has been established as Hassan Saei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hassan Saei was arrested for the murder of his cousin and his maternal uncle carried out the execution.”

Oscar Franklin Smith, Tennessee death row inmate, declines to select execution method

Oscar Franklin Smith, a Tennessee death row inmate scheduled for execution on May 22, will die by lethal injection if the process moves forward. Smith, who was asked to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair, declined to pick, his attorney Kelley Henry, a supervisory assistant federal public defender, said. When an inmate does not choose, the method defaults to lethal injection. It's not the first time Smith has been given this grim decision and declined. That decision to not choose ultimately saved his life for three more years.

Oklahoma | Former death row inmate Richard Glossip’s legal limbo

Former death row inmate Richard Glossip's court hearing gets postponed, leaving the next steps in his high-profile case uncertain. With his conviction overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state must now decide whether to retry him for a 1997 murder of motel owner, Barry Van Treese. Richard Glossip’s long-running legal battle is once again delayed. His much-anticipated court hearing set for May 9 in Oklahoma County District Court has been postponed at the request of both prosecutors and defense attorneys, according to online court records. A new date has not yet been scheduled.

Saudi Arabia imposes death sentence for Bible smuggling

November 28, 2014: In a recent official statement from the Saudi Arabian government, the death sentence will now be imposed on anyone who attempts to smuggle Bibles into the country. In actuality, the new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and "all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam." In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or Gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death. Source: heartcrymissionary.com, November 28, 2014

Execution methods used in the US today: The promise of a quick and painless death

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The practice of execution has been around since the days of ancient civilisations, and, as uncomfortable as it may be to think about, this punishment is still handed out in various countries around the world today. Capital punishment for murder was suspended in the UK as recently as 1965, within living memory. Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans became the last prisoners to be executed on British soil on August 13, 1964, with the pair hanged at separate prisons in Manchester and Liverpool for the murder of John Alan West. Since then, there have been frequent calls to bring back the death penalty, which some supporters believe to be an effective deterrent against the most despicable crimes. Those on the other side of the debate believe capital punishment to be an inhumane measure, often citing the numerous instances where convicts have faced agonising deaths.

Florida death row executioner recalls moment he realised job wasn't for him

Ron McAndrew was once the head of Florida's execution programme but one death made him regret everything A man that was once the head of Florida's execution programme recalled the moment where he realised the job wasn't for him, as he admitted he needed therapy to come to terms with what he'd seen. Ron McAndrew, now 88, didn't aspire to be a correctional officer in any form, but after being hired in a Miami prison in 1979, he climbed up the ladder over the next decade and became a warden. In what he now calls a 'wonderful career', he recalled moving to Florida State Prison, famous for holding the US state's death row inmates and for being the site where serial killer Ted Bundy was electrocuted to death.

Woman who killed pregnant victim she met on Facebook, cut fetus from womb, ‘claimed’ child as her own to face death penalty trial after double jeopardy appeal rejected

"The stuff that nightmares are made on." Reader discretion advised. A 45-year-old woman in Arkansas who lured a pregnant victim into an ambush and cut out her fetus in a botched scheme to “claim” the child as her own will face the death penalty after the state’s highest court rejected an appeal in which her lawyers argued that her upcoming state murder trial was barred by double jeopardy. The Arkansas Supreme Court last week denied the appeal of Amber Waterman, holding that her federal kidnapping convictions did not prohibit the state from pursuing murder charges against her for the 2022 slayings of 33-year-old Ashley Bush and her unborn daughter, whom she had named Valkyrie Grace Willis.

Dallas DA John Creuzot says office will seek death penalty in retrial of Texas 7 escapee

This will be the first time Creuzot has pursued capital punishment since taking office in 2019. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot confirmed to The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday morning that his office will seek the death penalty against Texas Seven escapee Randy Halprin. This will be the first time Creuzot has pursued capital punishment since taking office in 2019. He has opted not to seek death in other high-profile cases, like accused serial killer Billy Chemirmir, Yaser Said, who fatally shot his two teenage daughters and went on the run for more than a decade, or Nestor Hernandez, who murdered two hospital workers at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Saudi Arabia executes its 100th prisoner so far this year

100+ executions since January, more than half of them for non-lethal drug offenses Saudi Arabia has executed two people on terrorism-related charges, bringing the total number of executions in the kingdom this year to at least 100, according to an AFP tally. The Ministry of Interior said the two Saudis were executed for their involvement in acts of "terrorism", including joining a "terrorist organization" and attending training camps abroad, where they learned to make explosives.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog