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September 14, 2002 Kilgore News Herald:
Lethal Injection
Former Liberty City resident says drug
use led him to death row
"Do the right thing,"
the sign says in plain view of the 447 Texas death
row inmates filing through
the main hall of the Polunsky Unit in
Livingston.
Perhaps the words painted
on the sign in eye-catching yellow and red
colors come too late
for those who read them everyday, but Alvin Andrew
Kelly, a death row inmate
formerly of Liberty City, says he has taken
these words to heart
-- and they have become his mantra.
THE FALL OF A TYLER BUSINESSMAN
Kelly said he was a successful
Tyler businessman before becoming addicted
to drugs in the 1980s.
He owned Als 24-hour Truck Service, which he says
serviced all 18-wheelers
that broke down between Shreveport and Dallas.
He said his journey to
death row began when a truck driver offered him
methamphetamine in order
to help him stay awake while working overnight.
Then, he said his use
of methamphetamine evolved into selling drugs,
which led to bigger problems
when he and his former wife, May Kelly,
murdered John T. Ford,
a man who was living with them in 1986, over
back-owed drugs and money.
"Actually, it wasn't supposed
to have been a murder," Kelly said via
telephone through the
thick Plexiglas of the death row interview cubicle.
"When he came by and
had some drugs and money, I planned to take him out
to the countryside, 'jack
him of his drugs, 'jack him of his money, take
his car and leave him
out on the side of the road, and then go back to
the house. That way,
he would have plenty of time to think about what he
owed me and everything.
I'm not proud of that -- it's stupid, but that
was the plan."
However, Kelly said his
plan went awry when he, May and Ford reached the
remote location where
he had planned to rob Ford.
"I was driving the vehicle,
May was in the center and John T. was sitting
on the passenger side.
I had told May 'You hold the gun on him until I
get out and get around
there,' but when he got out, May took the gun, and
when she started to slide
out of the car, the gun went off, and it shot
him in the throat underneath
the chin," he recalled.
Kelly said he is not sure
if the gun went off accidentally or if May shot
him intentionally. Regardless,
however, Kelly says his actions after the
shooting hold him responsible
for Ford's death.
"I took the gun away from
her, and I'm gonna be honest with you, I was
scared at the time. I
was trying to act cool, but I took the gun because
I thought she was going
to shoot me too. We were all strung out on drugs,
and so, I took the gun,
and I emptied the gun in John T. Ford. I shot him
about 5 times -- emptying
the gun so it wouldn't have anymore bullets in
it," he said.
Kelly said he then attempted
to destroy all the evidence by collecting
the evidence at the scene
along with the gun and Fords vehicle and
setting it on fire.
"I got burned up pretty
good from doing that," Kelly said, raising his
white, button-down prison
smock to reveal the purplish burn scars on the
inside of his upper right
arm.
Following the murder,
Kelly said Gregg County investigators knew he had
committed the crime,
but they didn't have the evidence to convict him in
the case. However, in
1987, while jailed on an unrelated charge, Kelly
said a life-changing
experience led him to plead guilty to Ford's murder.
"A Baptist minister in
Longview brought me a Bible," he said. "And, when
I was growing up, we
never had God in our life. I never knew I had a
choice -- the good path
or the bad path. All I knew was the bad until
this minister brought
me a Bible.
Although Kelly had the
Bible, he said the change in his life didn't occur
overnight.
"At first, I didn't want
to know God. I slammed that Bible down on the
table, challenging God,
and I said 'God, if you are real, reveal yourself
to me.' Then, I read
the book cover to cover and learned that God is
real," he said. "I wanted
to clear my conscience and everything in my
life, so in 1990, I pled
guilty to murdering John T. Ford."
Kelly expressed remorse
for the Ford murder, and he would like to tell
the family how sorry
he is.
"If I could replace my
life with his, I would -- in a heartbeat," he
said. After confessing
to the murder, Kelly said he received a 30-year
prison sentence for the
crime, while he says May Kelly struck a deal with
prosecutors.
THE ROAD TO DEATH ROW
An unsolved 1984 murder
of a family of 3 in Spring Hill had Gregg County
officials stumped, Kelly
says, especially after the lead investigator in
the case, Henry Mize,
died of a stroke.
In that case, Jerry and
Brenda Morgan, along with their 2 year-old son
Devin, were found shot
to death in their home. Jerry Morgan was shot
several times in the
chest, while Brenda Morgan was shot once in the
back, and little Devin
Morgan was shot once in the face.
"They (Gregg County officials)
were asked about me being a suspect, and
Henry Mize told them
that I wasn't a suspect in that case. I have the
police reports, his notes
and everything stating this. Then, when he
(Mize) died, the case
went cold until they made an agreement with my
wife," he said.
Kelly said prosecutors
told May Kelly that she would receive immunity
from prosecution in the
Ford murder if she testified that she saw Kelly
at the scene the night
of the Morgan murder.
Kelly said he was convicted
of murdering the Morgans on the false
testimony of his ex-wife.
He and his attorney, Scott Smith of Sherman,
say a mountain of evidence
proves he did not commit the crime.
Among the evidence, Kelly
and Smith say African-American hairs were found
at the murder scene around
the Morgan's bodies. Additionally, neighbors
reported seeing 2 African-American
men speeding away from the scene
shortly after the murders.
A few hours later, the Morgans vehicle was
found in a parking lot
in Tyler, and shortly thereafter, a truck was
stolen a block away from
that parking lot.
Then, Kelly says Grand
Prairie police officers pulled over the stolen
truck from Tyler, driven
by two African-American males, and one of the
men was wearing a necklace
that the Morgan family has positively
identified as Brenda
Morgan's necklace.
"As I stand before God,
I don't know them (the Morgans)," Kelly said.
"When the district attorneys
office came to me and offered me a life
sentence on this case
because I had pled guilty to the Ford murder, I
told them I can't plead
guilty to that because I'm not guilty of it,' and
they said "Well, if you
don't plead guilty to it, then were going to give
you the death penalty.'"
However, Kelly said he never considered lying to save his life.
"When the county tried
to work a deal with me, my sister told me 'Alvin,
you would be alive.'
And, I told her 'No, I wouldn't because I would be
lying." I would have
to lie to save my life, and Im not going to do that.
If I lie, Id be lying
to God," he said.
LIFE ON DEATH ROW
11 years have passed since
Kelly's conviction in the Morgan case, which
sent him to death row.
Throughout the years, locked in an isolation cell
for 23 hours a day with
no heating or air conditioning, Kelly said time
has taken on a new meaning.
"This is a maximum security
house," Kelly said, referring to his cell as
his "home," devoid of
any hopes of getting off death row. "We have no
contact with any other
human, period -- except these officers who escort
you back and forth to
the recreation room 1 hour out of the day. We have
no TVs, but if you're
lucky, you have a radio. So, you listen to the
radio, read, write or
sleep and that's it."
Kelly, who described his
favorite meal as "red beans with ham hocks,
fried green tomatoes
and boiled cabbage with a tall glass of buttermilk,"
said his day starts at
3:30 a.m. when breakfast is served. He said the
guards control every
aspect of his life -- from what foods he eats to
when he can take a shower.
"That's the only time
you get milk (at breakfast). Lunch is served
between 9 a.m. and noon,
depending upon the officers. After chow, we're
allowed one hour a day
in the recreation room, which is really a
steel-mesh cage. I mean,
literally, we're like gorillas in a cage. The
only way I can touch
another inmate is if I stick my fingertips through
the steel mesh and the
other inmate does too. Then, only the tips of our
fingers touch," he said.
Kelly also pointed out
that trips to and from his cell require a strip
search, which includes
being stripped naked and having to raise his arms,
run his fingers through
his hair, open his mouth, turning around and
spreading his buttocks
and showing the bottom of his feet.
He said this practice
is followed by being handcuffed and escorted out of
the cell by 2 officers.
This indignity is one he gladly endures, however,
just to have one hour
a day out of his 10-foot by 7-foot cell.
"You might get a shower
after recreation," he continued, "and, it might
be the next shift before
you get a shower -- nothing is really set on
that. While you're in
the cell, you can talk to people, like from cage to
cage. Our doors are solid
steel doors with 2 little windows with
steel-mesh on them. You
can actually talk out the door, but its hard for
the other inmates to
hear you. It's real noisy."
However, Kelly said he
is not looking for sympathy. He said he just wants
everyone to understand
what death row is like before another person has
to endure these kinds
of conditions. In order to pass the time, Kelly
said he has come up with
a routine that fills his day with spiritual
activities.
"When I awake in the morning,
I eat my breakfast and I say my prayers. I
do my Bible studies and
I listen to Christian music. I center my life
around God. What are
they going to do kill me and send me to heaven?
Seriously -- that's where
my heart is at," he said.
Kelly said he is allowed
to have a 1-hour visit once a week. Generally,
he said he receives 2
visits a month, when his son visits on the 2nd
Saturday of the month
and a Christian friend from Waco comes down on the
3rd Saturday each month.
"Periodically, like, every
month or every other month, I'll have a
minister come in. This
is only the 2nd interview I've ever done in my 11
years on death row,"
he said.
Kelly, who suffers from
hemophilia and allergies, evident by him
habitually wiping a tear
from his right eye, says death row is definitely
no place to be sick.
REACHING OUT FROM DEATH ROW
Kelly said his mission
is to serve God and help others come to the
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
While on death row, Kelly said he and a few
other inmates joined
forces to get the message out to teens -- don't come
to death row.
"They (prison officials)
won't let us go to schools and talk to kids
about death row, but
I mail my personal testimony to schools and they
pass it out to the kids.
At one time, it (the group of inmates in this
program) was me, Carla
Faye Tucker, Ricky Greene and David Harris. But,
now, it's just me and
David because Carla and Ricky have been executed.
It's basically just a
letter to counselors, teachers and students about
what a day on death row
is like," he said.
A sample pamphlet sent
via mail from Kelly shows an arrow pointing upward
that says "Christ" next
to another arrow pointing down that reads
"Crime". The words "The
Choice is Yours" is printed in bold at the bottom.
Although Kelly said he
is not afraid to die, he said the death of his
friends, such as Tucker
and Greene, have affected him deeply.
"(It hurts) bad. I'll
be honest with you -- I cried like a baby because
that was a total waste
of human lives. I know Carlas past and everything,
but she wasn't the same
person the day they executed her that she was
when the crimes happened,"
he said.
However, Kelly said he
believes in the death penalty, and even if his
conviction is overturned
in the Morgan case, he said he deserves to die
for killing Ford.
"A guy the other day asked
me 'Do you think they're going to execute
you?' and I said 'Yeah,'
and he said, 'Well, how do you deal with that?'
and I said 'Because I
know who I am in Christ, and if I die, I know I'm
going straight home to
be with God, and thats really where I want to be.
I really don't want to
be here. I'm more scared of having to be here for
10 more years,'" he said.
Kelly said he does not
believe he is a threat to society, but he said he
doesn't want to take
any chances.
"I know I wouldn't harm
anybody I know I'll never kill anybody again, but
with all this road rage
nowadays, I just don't know what I'd do if
somebody made me mad
enough, so I guess it's better for me to be here,"
he said.
KELLY'S APPEALS
Smith said Kelly is in
the final stages of his appeals. He has had 4
execution dates, which
have not come to fruition, although he would not
specifically state why.
"He hasn't been executed
because there are too many questions. As long as
I'm working the case,
the executions are almost always stayed," he said.
He said Kelly is in the
federal habias corpus stage of appeals, which is
the final stage of appeals.
Smith said Kelly's appeal is pending before a
U.S. Eastern District
Court Judge in Beaumont.
His next appeal will be
to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New
Orleans, and his final
appeal will be to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Habias corpus is a broader
review to see if the attorney was competent,
and to see if any evidence
has been overlooked or if anyone has changed
their testimony," Smith
said.
Smith said he has filed
motions with the U.S. Eastern District Court
alleging that May Kelly,
whose name is now Cynthia May Cummins, has lied
under oath about seeing
Kelly at the crime scene of the Morgan murder.
Smith said although he
is court appointed to represent Kelly, he is
working just as hard
on the case as if Kelly were paying him.
"My level of service has no bearing on how much I am paid," he said.
Although Smith admitted
he does not believe in the death penalty, he said
his beliefs do not get
in the way of his job.
"I think there are too
many errors (in the judicial system), and it costs
the taxpayers more money
to execute a prisoner than it does to lock him
away for life. In addition,
you take a risk of executing an innocent man.
Part of my reason is
moral in nature, part of my reason is economical in
nature, but that doesnt
motivate me to do what I do," he said.
AN EXAMPLE TIL DEATH
Kelly said he tries to
be an example to his family, especially his 4
grown children. He said
his family members are emotional about him being
on death row, but he
said he counsels them about death.
"Death is about the ones
who are going to stay and live. It's not about
the one that's dying.
I'm trying to get them to understand -- when you
look into my criminal
history, I was not a nice guy. I'm not going to lie
about it or hide it because
I use it as a tool to try to help everybody
see what its like," he
said.
He said his mother died
in 1989 before he came to death row, but he feels
that his lifestyle has
had the greatest impact upon his children.
"My oldest son just gave
his life to Christ 2 years ago. Before, his hair
was down to here (pointing
to his elbow), both arms were tacked out, and
he rode his Harley down
here to the Ellis Unit to see me, and I tried to
witness to him. He said
'Daddy, I like to smoke dope and I like to drink
beer. I work hard' --
the same thing I used to say. And, I told him
'Kevin, I know that.
I gave you your first beer and I rolled your first
joint for you. What I'm
trying to tell you is someday, you're going to
have kids of your own,
and I want you to break this cycle,'" he said.
Kelly said his message
to his children is the same advice he would offer
to all parents to ensure
their children wont come to death row.
"Raise your kids up with
a foundation of God in their life so they'll
have a choice. That way,
when they get old enough, they can choose which
way they want to go.
I'm asking you to just think about that. That is the
truth. The person I was
is an example of not having any kind of
knowledge, foundation
or leadership. It was just being stupid," he said.
(source: Kilgore News
Herald)
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