Vennlig hilsen
Turid Sandberg Jacobsen
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UNPARDONABLE
Windell Broussard #660
Greetings, my fellow Death Row (D/R) prisoners.
Most of you only know me from the birthday cards that I and others send out each month to all D/R prisoners.
I trust that those cards brighten your day in a place where there isn't many bright spots to speak of, as of late.
Certainly this is a very trying time here in Texas for D/R prisoners.
I mean, Texas is carrying out executions with a clarity! (prompt and eager readiness) and what is so troublesome about this is most Texans seem to have numbed at the pace, they are so commonplace that they just about proceed unnoticed, like the space-shuttle. Remember when that used to be a big deal?
And any press account would get as much space as needed?
Here's a good example: Most of the old-timers knew Terry Washington and it was common knowledge on the Row that Terry was mentally retarded and was suffering from the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome and childhood violence, substance abuse, and poverty as bad as you'll find.
Unfortunately, Terry was the 31st mentally retarded prisoner executed in this nation in the past 20 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Terry did receive a small group gathering on the evening of May 6 to protest his execution, but Terry's death passed with just a small amount of press coverage on his case, the little attention he received was by a news conference held by Capacity for Justice, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.
There once was a time I was naive with hope that the mentally retarded prisoners could have been common ground over the death penalty — that both sides "for" and "against" could agree to draw a line at the execution of the mentally retarded, and perhaps a ban on all executions.
As for Terry, being a mentally retarded man was unpardonable.
He was turned down by Governor George W. Bush.
And the State Board of Pardon and Paroles rejected a request for a stay or reprieve from Terry's attorneys, as did the U.S. Supreme Court.
Our state lawmakers have worked really hard to see that death row prisoners are executed fast, and the fruits of the 1995 habeas changes are working.
The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Terry's habeas petition because it didn't meet the 1995 law's requirements that a successive writ contain evidence that was factually unavailable when the first was filed.
I have been watching the law advance sheets (court decisions) for over four years now.
I saw it coming, no matter what may or may not happen here in Texas, the next couple of years are going to see lots of executions being carried out.
I most recently read a news article and it mentioned the state tourist slogan which is usually advertised on CNN News Network, and it said it would work just as well for the state's criminal justice system: "Texas", the slogan goes,
"it's like a whole other country."
Keep the faith as we continue to fight this very unfair system. Peace.
Windell Broussard is President of the Lamp of Hope.
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