'Free Frances Newton' week builds support

After a whirlwind of activities during the "Free Frances Newton" week Feb. 20-27--including radio shows, church presentations, demonstrations and a speak-out at City Hall--tens of thousands of Houstonians became familiar with Newton's case.

Newton was set to be the first African American woman executed in Texas last Dec. 1, when she received a 120-day stay of execution two hours before the lethal injection was scheduled in Huntsville, Texas.

Newton's stay of execution is over March 31. Her lawyers at the University of Houston Law School's Innocence Network are furiously working to prove her innocence.

Newton's mother Jewel Nelms and sister Pam Nelms, Feb. 27.

The Committee to Free Frances Newton, the Nanon Williams Support Association and the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement sponsored the February events. Williams is another innocent person on Texas death row.

The week culminated with a Feb. 27 Black History event at Newton's church, Joy Tabernacle. The program featured radio host and activist Hitaji Aziz as well as Newton's mother Jewel Nelms. Nelms and members received a warm welcome and pledges of support from the congregation.

A supporter of Randy Arroyo explained that the 17-year-old Arroyo was sent to death row because of the law of parties, which says that if you were at the scene of a capital murder you are also guilty.

Aziz, the keynote speaker, told how being an activist all her life never prepared her for her own son going to prison. She said everyone must join together to fight the racist criminal-justice system that robs Black youths from their families and communities.

She said: "My son Amill was sent home last May after nine years but I am still waiting for him to return. He has been spiritually and psychologically and mentally taken from me and I want my child back!"

The week began with radio discussions at Texas Southern University, an historically Black college in Houston, and on a popular talk show hosted by Houston City Councilwoman and activist Ada Edwards.

The Harris County Green Party invited Newton's mother and Williams' mother, Lee Bolton, Feb. 21 to speak on their children's cases as well as the racist history of the death penalty.

At a Feb. 22 public session of the Houston City Council, a dozen supporters presented a resolution calling for the mayor and council to support a moratorium on all Harris County executions in light of the disastrous scandal at the Houston Police Crime Lab. The lab has lost, improperly stored and cross-contaminated evidence. And its staffers have testified at trials with false information that has sent innocent people to prison and death row.

A Feb. 25 protest and news conference was held outside the Houston Police Crime Lab on a busy corner along major bus routes during rush hour. People waiting for the buses began chanting along: "Frances and Nanon should be free, jail the criminals at HPD!" and "Crime Lab? Shut it down!" and "No justice, no peace!"

Kofi Taharka, chair of the Houston Chapter of the National Black United Front, and Bolton coordinated chants, keeping the rhythm going loud and strong. Both Bolton and Nelms spoke to reporters about their children's wrongful convictions caused by the lies of the crime lab.

Art Browning spoke for the Harris County Green Party and filmed the protest for the Green Watch TV show. Deloyed Parker, director of S.H.A.P.E. Community Center and a leader of the coalition that freed former death-row prisoner Clarence Brandley, rallied the crowd, saying that only the people's action can win justice for Frances.

Attorney Jolanda Jones, who exposed the HPD Crime Lab fiasco several years ago, chastised the criminal-justice system for the racism that permeates it, from the cops to the courts to the prisons.

Immigrant-rights activist Maria Jimemez is organizing to oppose the death penalty for Tyrone Williams. He is on trial for capital murder right now in federal court in Houston, in a case of immigrant smuggling that resulted in 17 people dying in a sweltering 18-wheeler truck in 2003.

Jimenez told the protesters that this case was very tragic and difficult for the Latino community but that they are opposed to a death sentence for Williams, a Black man, who did not knowingly or intentionally kill the immigrants.

Newton's mother told the many crowds she addressed during the week: "When my daughter was arrested, I never thought anything bad would happen to her. I now know that the system is not fair. After I bring my child home, I will never stop working for all the others on death row.

"I now know that attorneys do not always help you. And police change their story and don't investigate. After what I have learned, I cannot ever be still.

"These men on death row are treated so badly and live under such terrible conditions. No one should be on death row."

Letters of support can be sent to: Frances Newton #000922, Mountain View Unit, 2305 Ransom Road, Gatesville, TX 76528. For more information, go to www.freefrances.org

Rubac, a well known anti-death penalty activist, spoke at the Feb. 27 event.