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U R G E N T A C T I O N A P P E A L
31 January 2000
UA 24/00 Death Penalty
USA (TEXAS) Betty Lou Beets, aged 62
Betty Lou Beets is scheduled to be executed
in Texas on 24 February
2000. She was sentenced to death in
1985 for the murder of her
husband after a trial in which crucial
mitigating evidence was never
presented to the jury, including her
traumatic history of severe
physical and sexual abuse from an early
age.
Jimmy Don Beets disappeared in August
1983. His overturned boat
was found in Lake Athens, Texas, leading
to speculation that he had
drowned in a fishing accident. Nearly
two years later, his body was
discovered buried in the yard of the
family home and his wife was
charged with capital murder. Police
also uncovered the remains of a
former husband, Doyle Barker, who had
disappeared in 1981.
At trial, the prosecution alleged that
Beets had murdered her husband
'for remuneration', in order to benefit
from his pension and life
insurance. After a four-day trial she
was convicted and sentenced to
death. Although the jury heard some
testimony during the trial about
positive aspects of her character,
her lawyer presented no mitigating
evidence during the sentencing phase,
attempting instead to
persuade the jury her case did not
meet the legal requirement for a
death sentence.
In 1987, the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals reversed Beets's
conviction and sentence, saying that
the 'for remuneration' statute
could only apply in cases where a contract
killing was committed.
However, the state appealed and the
Court reversed its own
precedents in a 5-4 decision, reinstating
Beets's death sentence.
On appeal in federal court, evidence
was presented that Beets's trial
attorney had been guilty of grossly
unethical behaviour and that a
conflict of interest had contributed
to her death sentence. The
evidence indicated that Betty Beets
only learned of the insurance and
pension benefits more than a year after
her husband's death, when
she sought the attorney's assistance
in a fire insurance claim.
After Beets was arrested, the same attorney
agreed to represent her
at trial, making it impossible for
him to testify that she had no prior
knowledge of the death benefits and
that she initially expressed no
interest in collecting them. Rather
than withdraw from the case and
provide testimony that could save his
client's life, the attorney instead
obtained Beets's signature to an agreement
providing him with all
media rights to her story, as his fee
to represent her at trial - his fee
would be of greater potential value
if he lost the case and his client
was sentenced to death. The attorney
retains these media rights to
this day.
In 1991, a federal district court judge
held that the trial attorney's
behaviour violated Beets's constitutional
right to adequate assistance
of counsel and ordered a new trial.
Once again, the state of Texas
appealed and once again the death sentence
was reinstated, this
time by the US Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals.
Betty Lou Beets was raised in extreme
poverty by a violent, alcoholic
father and a mentally ill mother. The
record of her life is a chronicle of
virtually uninterrupted physical, sexual
and emotional abuse. She
remembers being raped at age
five; a year later she was rendered
nearly deaf by meningitis. She first
married at age fifteen and was
brutally beaten and sexually abused
by a succession of husbands.
Beets has a lengthy history of well-documented
head injuries,
including repeated blows at the hands
of abusive men, as well as a
near-fatal car accident in 1980. Expert
testimony in post-conviction
proceedings established that she suffers
from Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder, Battered Women's Syndrome
and Organic Brain Damage
and that she is both learning disabled
and hearing-impaired.
According to defence experts, her multiple
disabilities have left her
with gravely impaired judgment and
extremely dependent on others.
At the time of the offence, she was
abusing alcohol and diet pills,
further impairing her already limited
judgement.
None of this readily-available evidence
was presented to the jury.
Beets's trial attorney has since admitted
that he failed to investigate
her background and made no effort to
present expert testimony on
her behalf. Beets's trial lawyer was
later elected as the local District
Attorney; he subsequently pleaded guilty
and was imprisoned for
accepting a bribe to 'fix' a capital
case.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
If her execution proceeds, Betty Lou
Beets would be only the second
woman put to death in Texas in this
century and just the fourth
woman executed nationwide since the
reinstatement of the death
penalty in 1976.
On 3 February 1998 Karla Faye Tucker
was executed in Texas, after
both the Board of Pardons and Paroles
and Governor George W.
Bush refused to intervene in her case.
Tucker's execution brought
worldwide condemnation of a state death
penalty process incapable
of showing mercy to a woman who had
reformed her life and become
a positive role model for other inmates.
Governor Bush has repeatedly stated
that he would only consider
granting clemency in cases of actual
innocence or where the courts
have failed to provide a thorough review
on appeal.
Although her death sentence has twice
been reversed because of
serious legal deficiencies, Betty Lou
Beets faces imminent execution
by lethal injection, two weeks after
her sixty-third birthday.
The state of Texas has carried out more
executions in recent years
than any jurisdiction in the Western
world. Recent executions include
those of mentally-ill inmate Larry
Robison on 21 January and juvenile
offender Glenn McGinnis on 25 January.
Texas has consistently
violated international human rights
standards in its use of the death
penalty, including its failure to provide
any meaningful clemency
review.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/E-mails/faxes:
- acknowledging the serious nature
of the crime of which Betty Lou
Beets was convicted, and expressing
sympathy for the victim's
relatives and friends;
- expressing deep concern that the
jury who sentenced her to death
never knew that Betty Lou Beets has
a lifelong history of abuse at the
hand of her spouses and a host of mental
disorders stemming from
that abuse;
-noting that the appeal courts have
found serious flaws in this case
that have not been remedied;
- urging Governor Bush to live up to
his pledge to be a
'compassionate conservative' by showing
compassion in this case;
-requesting the Governor to persuade
the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to convene a full and fair
clemency hearing for Betty Lou
Beets.
Betty Lou Beets has posted her life
story on the Internet at:
http://ccadp.org/bettiebeets.htm
(Amnesty International does not vouch
for its accuracy).
APPEALS TO:
The Honourable George W. Bush
Governor of Texas, PO Box 12428, Austin,
TX 78711-2428, USA
Telegrams:
Governor Bush, Austin, Texas, USA
Faxes: 1 512
463 1849
E-mails: bcrosby@governor.state.tx.us
Salutation: Dear Governor
Please also send letters of concern
(not more than 250 words) to:
Letters to the Editor, Dallas Morning
News, PO Box 655237, Dallas,
TX 75265
Faxes: 1 972 263 0456
E-mails:letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Austin American-Statesman, 305 South
Congress Avenue, Austin,
TX, 78704, USA.
Faxes: 1 512
445 1701 E-mails:
(The rest of this page was deleted by NBCi April 2001)
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