Kenneth Foster

[Stormlight]

This is seriously fucked up:

Kenneth Foster's Fate - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070810/cm_thenation/4221949)

In less than three weeks Kenneth Foster, an African American man sentenced to death in 1997 for the murder of Michael LaHood, is scheduled to be executed in Texas.

LaHood's actual killer, Mauriceo Brown, was executed in 2006. Foster, who was in a car about 100 yards from the crime when it was committed, was convicted under the controversial Texas state "law of parties", under which the distinction between principal actor and accomplice in a crime is abolished. The law can impose the death penalty on anybody involved in a crime where a murder occurred. In Foster's case he was driving a car with three passengers, one of whom, Brown, left the car, got into an altercation and shot LaHood dead. Texas is the only state that applies this statute in capital cases, making it the only place in the United States where a person can be factually innocent of murder and still face the death penalty.

:wtfsign:

[beyelzu]

fuck me, that is truly bullshit.

[Crumb]

Texas is a big nut house, but at least they are "tough on crime".

[Uthgar the Brazen]

People call me a barbarian when I call for Texas to be cordoned off and then set on fire. I'm going to start handing out copies of that article.

[beyelzu]

start a petition ill be glad to sign it

[viscousmemories]

You better come ready for a fight, fuckers. :glare:

[beyelzu]

dude we wont burn austin, youre in austin, but the rest of the state....


seriously, i read the article and then when to freekenneth.com

and decided to email the texas legislature for what its worth.

this the text of the email i sent, what do yall think?

I am a death penalty supporter, but I think that no rational person can possibly be in favor of executing Kenneth Foster. It boggles my mind that Michael LaHood's murderer was known, arested, convicted, and executed, and still the state of Texas intends to execute another person for the crime. The law of parties makes perfect sense in many situations. But, having read extensively about the case of Kenneth Foster, I do not believe that this case is such a situation.

For some time now I have been troubled by the act passed there in Texas that forbade judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals from considering new evidence, and, now Kenneth Foster's case has show my concerns about the act to be real. Everyone involved in the crime has said that there was no conspiracy to rob LaHood. Mauriceo Brown shot and killed LaHood, and he has paid the ultimate price.

I know that you can not directly stop this horrible event, but you can help influence Governor Perry. It might not be politically expedient, I can't even promise to vote for you as I live in Georgia, but as an American, I have to believe that you want justice to occur, that you care about what is fundamentally right and wrong and that you would not want your state's and our great nation's honor sullied with the execution of an innocent man.

You can help save a man's life, talk to the governor

also vm being a resident of texas you might want to send one as well, your voice probably has more weight being a citizen of the state and all.

[beyelzu]

and yes before yall ask i wrote it myself with caps and punctuation and everything

[Uthgar the Brazen]

Austin's a great town, and will be spared. Actually, my plan is to swap the populations of Austin and Colorado Springs before tossing the torch. Any other FF'ers mired in the hopeless areas (i.e., not-Austin) should petition my divine mercy to get you outta there first. :D

[Sock Puppet]

I assume I don't need a petition as long as I'm part of the plot to get the incendiaries going before I bug out to ...

... oh shit, I gotta decide where I'm going. :onfire:

[Stormlight]

Damn Texan liberals!

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jbistlin/headlines/091.jpg

[Nullifidian]

I'm bumping this thread because today is Kenneth Foster's execution date.

I'm hoping for a last minute change of heart, but this is Rick Perry we're talking about. I doubt the man has any sense of empathy or justice at all.

:tear:

Edit: I don't know if they'll be following the execution, but this might be a place to try looking for some up-to-the-minute information:

Save Kenneth Foster! (http://savekenneth.blogspot.com/)

Further Edit: I have a longish post (http://cogitoergosumatheos.blogspot.com/2007/08/todays-deadly-ironies.html) up elsewhere about what I see as the underlying connections between an award ceremony tonight honoring the abhorrent Wayne Murdy, CEO of Newmont Mining, and Kenneth Foster's execution.

[curses]

<a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5095416.html">Foster's been spared</a> according to the Houston Chronicle.


Gov. Rick Perry accepted a recommendation from the state parole board and said today he would spare condemned prisoner Kenneth Foster from execution and commute his sentence to life.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

That's good. Now hopefully, someone from the state parole board will be along shortly to remind the governor that this is a first step...

[viscousmemories]

Well I'll be damned, there really is a first time for everything.

[Kyuss Apollo]

Well I'll be damned, there really is a first time for everything.

Truly amazing, that the powers that be in Texass would have a shred of decency.

Even more amazing---bey's keyboard has a shift key...:bsod:

[Kyuss Apollo]

Why don't you take shit over down there, vm? Texas needs...like a dictator to whip the place into sanity.

[Ensign Steve]

dude we wont burn austin, youre in austin, but the rest of the state....


seriously, i read the article and then when to freekenneth.com

and decided to email the texas legislature for what its worth.

this the text of the email i sent, what do yall think?

I am a death penalty supporter, but I think that no rational person can possibly be in favor of executing Kenneth Foster. It boggles my mind that Michael LaHood's murderer was known, arested, convicted, and executed, and still the state of Texas intends to execute another person for the crime. The law of parties makes perfect sense in many situations. But, having read extensively about the case of Kenneth Foster, I do not believe that this case is such a situation.

For some time now I have been troubled by the act passed there in Texas that forbade judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals from considering new evidence, and, now Kenneth Foster's case has show my concerns about the act to be real. Everyone involved in the crime has said that there was no conspiracy to rob LaHood. Mauriceo Brown shot and killed LaHood, and he has paid the ultimate price.

I know that you can not directly stop this horrible event, but you can help influence Governor Perry. It might not be politically expedient, I can't even promise to vote for you as I live in Georgia, but as an American, I have to believe that you want justice to occur, that you care about what is fundamentally right and wrong and that you would not want your state's and our great nation's honor sullied with the execution of an innocent man.

You can help save a man's life, talk to the governor

also vm being a resident of texas you might want to send one as well, your voice probably has more weight being a citizen of the state and all.

Holy shit. You wrote that? :faint:

[viscousmemories]

Why don't you take shit over down there, vm? Texas needs...like a dictator to whip the place into sanity.

I have a lot of things to offer, but sanity isn't among them.

Besides, I'd never survive the background check.

[But]

bey saved Kenneth Foster!!1
:dancebey: :dancebey: :dancebey:

[viscousmemories]

...with a little help from Jimmy Carter and Desmund Tutu (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/29/1514242), and a 6-1 recommendation for clemency from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Although this marks the first time Perry has listened to the latter when they recommend clemency.

[viscousmemories]

I've been reading conflicting reports about Governor Perry's record on commutations, so ignore anything I've said thus far. If I find a more definitive source of information I'll post it.

Meanwhile, I found this list of Texas' executed offenders (http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm), not yet updated to add the two executions that took place this week. It links to their offense as well as their last statement, and it's pretty sobering.

[Stormlight]

Man, that's depressing. :(

[Clutch Munny]

bey, you are a tight-writing motherfucker when your give-a-shit level rises high enough!

Good news about Foster.

[beyelzu]

thank you everyone who expressed shock at my writing and for the out and out compliment by clutch.

i got the email saying that foster had been spared. even though he is still in prison, im so happy that he lived.

i dont think my email had any impact at all by itself, but i do think that everyone sending emails probably did have some impact. and so in a very small way i was involved in something good. i also completely exhorted an irl friend to write his own email.

so yeah, i figured that he would be dead now. color me surprised.

i guess gov perry aint no bush