Tuesday, March 03, 2009

TEXAS: urgent ACTION needed TODAY!

Texas is set to carry out its ninth execution this year - TODAY - Tuesday:
the state planned murder of Willie Pondexter. Although we are not always able to post for every state or for every execution - we are able to do so this am and want to draw attention to this "killing state" right now.

The Board of Pardons & Paroles has not received all the information - according to TCADP, Lawyers, & others - expected at minimum - to make this life & death decision - given this state still insists on the death penalty.

"At 19, you really don't think of the consequences," Pondexter said in an interview according to AP News.

On Wednesday, The state, which carries out the most executions in the U.S., has scheduled two more soon.

Take Action for Willie Pondexter TODAY! Do so as well for the other two scheduled in Texas soon.

From Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Here is the notice from TCADP:

Willie Pondexter is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas (TODAY) Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended against clemency, even though the members did not have all of the information favorable to Mr. Pondexter before them.

Please contact Governor Rick Perry today and urge him to grant a 30-day reprieve to Mr. Pondexter.

FAX: 512-463-1849
Phone: 800-252-9600 (for Texas-based callers) or 512-463-1782 (for Austin-based or out-of-state callers)

In your calls or faxes, please use following message:

"Mr. Pondexter is, by all accounts, a peaceful and cooperative inmate who is liked and respected by the corrections officers who know him best. It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without giving a fair hearing to favorable information about his demeanor, rehabilitation, and lack of dangerousness to prison employees and other inmates.

Please issue a 30-day reprieve to Willie Pondexter so that his attorneys can gather critical evidence that addresses his rehabilitation in prison."

Three other executions are scheduled to take place in March:

March 4: Kenneth Wayne Morris - state killing scheduled on his BIRTHDAY! (See the link on this blogsite: here
March 10: James Edward Martinez
March 11: Luis Salazar

Please participate in a local vigil to protest these executions. (More information from Texas Coalition - go here
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Here are two more links on Willie and more:

A Student Activist Group here

A Legal Site here

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