Texas march says ‘Stop executions’

Ray Krone, the 100th person to be freed from U.S. death row, was one of 20 exonerees with Witness To Innocence who led the 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty on Oct. 22 at the Texas Capitol in Austin.

Family members of death row prisoners speak out; at microphone, Vikky Panetti.

“You have people on death row right here in Texas, Mr. Governor, who have a real shot at innocence. They want the chance to prove it, just like the rest of us did. … You have been running from the truth. Look at the truth. Look at the death penalty. … You can’t fix it so you must abolish it now!” stated Krone to cheers, outside Gov. Rick Perry’s residence, the governor’s mansion.

Protesters there called Perry, a Republican presidential contender, a serial killer for his record-setting 237 executions since 2000.

On the Capitol’s north steps, Clarence Brandley of WTI told of his nearly 10 years on death row and how he twice came within days of executions. “If it was up to the state of Texas, I would be dead today. But my family and supporters did not give up, and today I can stand before you as an innocent man and ask you to keep fighting to abolish the death penalty because I left many other innocent men behind on death row.”

Exonerees and members of Witness To Innocence participate in annual march.

Rodney Reed’s mother, Sandra Reed, told about her son’s frame-up for the murder of a white woman, although the evidence pointed to the woman’s fiancé, a police officer. Reed’s brothers’ banner read, “Innocent Man on Death Row: Free Rodney Reed!”

Ron Keine reported that he was on New Mexico’s death row for three years when, “Fortunately, a cop … confess[ed] to the crime I was on death row for. I was lucky — not everyone is.”

As 500 protesters chanted, “Texas says death row! We say hell no!” and “1-2-3-4, racist, cruel and anti-poor! 5-6-7-8, stop the killing by the state!” they marched in the downtown Capitol area. Cheers arose from people attending festivals and other events, especially on Sixth Street, a popular strip of restaurants, coffee houses, clubs and live music venues.

Norma Goodrich and Lucha Rodriguez of Houston. WW photos: Gloria Rubac

Several families traveled from the Rio Grande Valley on the U.S./Mexico border to support their relatives now on death row under the Texas “Law of Parties.”

“My son, Robert Garza, never murdered anyone, yet he and five others were convicted in a capital murder case and sent to be executed. They never caught the real killer, yet five of our loved ones are on death row for his murders. We have to work to get the Law of Parties taken off the books and the death penalty abolished,” said Sylvia Garza. Her seven-year-old son, Eric De la Cerda, stood by her side holding his older brother’s photo. There were banners for other Law of Parties victims — Jeff Wood and Humberto Garza.

Delia Perez-Meyer spoke for her brother, Louis Castro Perez, who has always claimed his innocence. His family has worked for 10 years to help prove this. His sister travels nine hours round-trip from Austin to Livingston for weekly visits. The film, “The Road to Livingston,” is being made about the family’s ordeals.

Vikky Panetti’s schizophrenic brother, Scott Panetti, is on Texas death row. She stressed, “Mental disabilities are a serious health problem. The judge should never have let my brother represent himself at trial, as he was wearing a purple cowboy costume and subpoenaed John Wayne. He needed serious mental health care, not the death penalty.”

Accompanied by flutist Elizabeth Stein, Panetti, a professional singer, sang “Death by Texas,” the theme song for Execution Watch, a KPFT Pacifica Radio show broadcast in Houston on 90.1 FM at 6:00 p.m. only on Texas execution days.

Florida exoneree and poet Delbert Tibbs read a poetic tribute to Troy Davis written by Texas death row poet and activist Harvey “Tee” Earvin. On Sept. 21, Georgia executed Davis in a racist miscarriage of justice.

Four executions are currently scheduled in Texas, including Hank Skinner’s on Nov. 9. He has been fighting for 10 years to obtain DNA testing. Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, his spouse, sent a messagjavascript:preview_and_stay()e from Paris, appealing for support, petition signatures and referring all to www.hankskinner.org for updates.

Skinner came within 45 minutes of execution last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court granted him the right to sue in civil court for the release of evidence for testing. Since then, the Texas legislature has passed a bill calling for DNA testing when a person’s life is at stake. Right after Skinner filed a lawsuit, the district attorney in Pampa, Texas, set his execution date.

At the ending rally, an Occupy Austin speaker connected their demands to those concerning the criminal justice system and the death penalty.

The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement named their chartered bus from Houston, “The Ester Express,” in honor of Brother Ester King, abolition movement advocate, who passed away on Sept. 1. He was a lifelong activist, first involved in the 1960s Civil Rights movement in Mississippi with Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and then in Houston’s African-American community.

Lucha Rodriguez, an “Ester Express” rider, said: “It was exciting to be with 20 people who survived death row and are talking about their terrifying experiences. They were inspiring. They raised that if 138 people were exonerated from U.S. death rows, then how many innocent people were executed. That is why we must abolish the death penalty. The system does not work.”