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Fall From GRACE

Recipients

2009 - Governor Rick Perry

Our 2009 Fall From GRACE Award goes to Governor Rick Perry for rejecting the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles’ recommendation that he spare the life of Houstonian Robert Thompson, who was condemned under Texas’ arcane “law of parties” for a murder actually committed by his co-defendant. The execution of defendants who did not kill or intend to kill is not permitted in most states and not supported by public opinion here in Texas. Nor does it serve the purpose most often given in favor of the death penalty. (Since a “non-triggerman” didn’t think once about killing, you can’t say the threat of the death penalty will make him think twice!!) The Texas legislature came close to repealing the law, but was deterred by Perry’s threat of veto. Shame on him!

2007 - Judge Sharon Keller

Our annual Fall From Grace Award goes to Judge Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, for refusing to keep the court open for an extra twenty minutes so that Michael Richard's attorneys could file a last minute appeal that almost certainly would have granted him a stay of execution. 

The Supreme Court decided to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection just 10 hours before Michael Richard's execution was scheduled. Richard's attorneys had to work quickly to prepare a motion for a stay.  They called the court that afternoon to request that the court stay open for an extra twenty minutes so that they could file a late appeal due to computer problems.  Judge Keller refused, violating a then-unwritten policy that communication on capital cases go first to the assigned Judge, and Michael Richard was executed. This gross disregard for due process and simple fairness earned Judge Keller an ethics complaint, a civil law suit by the family of Michael Richard and our 2007 Fall From Grace Award.  

2006 - Susan Reed

Our 2006 Fall from GRACE Award goes to Susan Reed, the Bexar County District Attorney, for her investigaton into the execution of Ruben Cantu. After a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed that Ruben Cantu, executed in 1993, was most likely innocent, the DAs office has began an investigation. Despite the fact that she ruled against Mr. Cantu as a judge and set his execution date, Ms. Reed is leading the investigation. She refuses to recuse herself because of her role in the case, despite an
obvious conflict of interest. The sincerity and objectivity of the investigation were called into question. Her staff was taped mocking the notion that Mr. Cantu may be innocent. Ms. Reed has threatened to charge the surviving victim with "murder by perjury." Therefore we award Susan Reed our highest dishonor.

2005 - Dr. Park Dietz

Dr. Park Dietz for his ‘expert’ contribution to Andrea Yates’ trial. Dietz, a consultant for NBC’s ‘Law and Order’ testified for the prosecution that an episode of the TV program - depicting a woman suffering from postpartum depression who drowned her children in a bathtub and was found not guilty by reason of insanity - probably influenced Andrea Yates’ actions. As it turned out, however, no such episode had ever aired. The Appeals Court concluded “that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz’s false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury,” and overturned Ms. Yates’ conviction. Ooops!

2004 - Texas Department of Criminal Justice

This season’s Fall From Grace award goes to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for its observance of International Human Rights Day on December 10. While cities around the world celebrate International Human Rights Day, commemorating the 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the state of Texas plans to execute Billy Vickers, Kevin Zimmerman and Bobby Hines on December 9th, 10th and 11th.

It is a disturbingly fitting observance for a state that continues to disregard the world community’s opinion that the death penalty violates fundamental human rights. The retention of the death penalty puts the United States in a class of countries that it routinely criticizes for human rights violations, including China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. No western European countries currently retain the death penalty.

2003 - Harris County Police Department Crime Lab

The former director of HPD’s DNA testing unit said that the lab was an underfunded “train wreck,” and he was right. After a Houston television news program questioned some of the DNA lab’s conclusions, officials ordered an outside audit that showed major deficiencies. Among the problems found at the lab were insufficiently trained examiners and a leaky roof that could have contaminated DNA samples and compromised testing. In addition, examiners have been found to have misrepresent the
statistical strength of DNA matches, failed to analyze all available evidence in a capital murder case, and compiled sloppy paperwork. The problems with the lab have called into question the results of tests conducted in more than 1300 cases. Already, one man convicted for rape has been released pending formal exoneration.

Most frightening is the fact that the lab is used by Harris County prosecutors, who have sent 69 people to their deaths since Texas resumed executions in 1976. Currently, 159 people sit on death row in Harris County. In a county that sends more convicts to death row than any other in the nation, this kind of behavior by the HPD crime lab is a deadly disgrace.

2002 - Harris County District Attorney's Office

Our first recipient, however, is honored not just for one month of disgracing
public office, but for a lifetime of achievement. The January 2003 Fall from GRACE award goes to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, for consistent and graceless pursuit of victory at all costs. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has been responsible for more death sentences and more executions than any other prosecutorial agency in United States. Indeed, only a handful of countries have executed as many as Houston.

In pursuit of this dubious title, the Harris County District Attorney Office has been willing to argue that innocence is not grounds for a new trial, and that a sleeping lawyer can provide effective representation, and has become notorious for seeking the death against the severely mentally ill, such as Andrea Yates.

Harris County prosecutors have sought death against children more often than any other agency in the world. Only 7 countries have executed children in the past decade. The US leads the world, with 21 executed children, compared to only 7 in Iran, 3 in Pakistan and one each in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the Congo. Since Pakistan and Yemen have both now outlawed the execution of children, and the Congo now has a moratorium, only Iran, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria share in our disgraceful practice. Predictably, among the United States, Texas leads the way, with 13 out of 21 juvenile executions. Again, Houston stands out, with 11 of the 25 children currently on death row in Texas.