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August 19, 2002
The Honorable Rick Perry,
Governor of Texas
State Capitol
PO Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Dear Governor Perry:
On behalf of more than
300,000 members of Amnesty International USA, I
appeal to you to do everything
in your power to stop the execution of
Gary Wayne Etheridge.
Mr. Etheridge is scheduled to be executed tomorrow,
August 20, for the 1990
murder of Christi Chauvierre.
Amnesty International
is extremely concerned that Mr. Etheridge was
denied adequate legal
representation during his trial. His trial lawyers
chose not to present
any compelling mitigating evidence of his abusive
upbringing, such as the
extreme physical abuse suffered at the hands of
his father and alleged
rape and abuse at the hands of his older brother.
Under the Texas jury
instruction system at the time of his trial, the
jury had no vehicle to
give mitigating effect to such evidence, even
though a 1989 U.S. Supreme
Court decision, Penry v Lynaugh, found that
the absence of such a
vehicle in Texas rendered a death sentence
unconstitutional. Mr.
Etheridge's lawyers never objected to the jury
instructions, however.
During his appeals process,
Mr. Etheridge was again denied adequate
representation. His state
appointed appeals lawyer had never represented
a capital defendant at
trial and had never filed a state or federal
appeal in any case. Several
death-row inmates in Texas were granted new
sentencing hearings based
on the Penry decision, but because of the
inexperience of his appeal
lawyer, Mr. Etheridge was never granted such a
hearing. His state appeal
lawyer also failed to properly raise a claim of
ineffective trial representation,
thereby causing the issue to be
procedurally barred from
federal judicial review.
As an international human
rights organization, Amnesty International
opposes the death penalty
in all cases without reservation. While we have
tremendous sympathy for
the family and friends of Christi Chauvierre and
are mindful of the grief
and pain they are experiencing, we believe that
the death penalty only
perpetuates the cycle of violence.
Governor Perry, your state
must take responsibility for the competency of
the lawyers it provides
for indigent defendants, especially those facing
sentences of death. We
urge you to demonstrate your respect for justice
and human life by granting
Mr. Etheridge a 30-day reprieve so that his
case can be fully heard
in the courts.
Sincerely,
William F. Schultz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA
(source: Amnesty International
USA)
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