Joseph Trevino (TX) August 18, 1999 - 7:00pm (EST)

In 1983, at the age of nineteen, Joseph Mario Trevino was convicted and was sentenced to death for strangling eighty-year-old Blanche Miller.

The trial court did not require that the jury be informed of and consider significant mitigating factors such as age, psychological condition, background, personal social history, family stability, etc. that are mandatory for the deliberation of capital cases. The trial court dismissed as hearsay evidence from the Harris Department of Education, which at the request of the Harris County Probation Office, conducted a psychological study of Joseph when he was twelve.

Joseph was convicted by an all-white jury. As a Latino, Joe decided to appeal his case based on his Sixth amendment right to be tried by a " fair cross-section of the community." The U.S Supreme Court, relying on the Fourteenth amendment rather than the Sixth, reversed and remanded Joseph's case based on its Batson vs. Kentucky decision, which prohibits prosecutors from excluding jurors based on race.

During this second round of appeals, Joe sought habeas relief from the U.S. District Court and requested the recuse of Judge John H. McBryde on the grounds that he was biased. Joe's attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Art Brender, was subpoenaed to testify against Judge McBryde on misconduct charges. However, the Court of Appeals denied Joe's petition stating that the district judge was not required to recuse himself nor was the defendant entitled to a certificate of appealability.
With Judge McBryde presiding, Joe's petition for habeas corpus relief was subsequently denied.

                         Born July 25, 1962 in Oroville, California

                 Murdered August 18, 1999 by the State of Texas

                   Lived in the free world as an adult for 7 months.

" Pops," Joe Mario was abused and mistreated from his birth.  The records of the State of Texas substantiate this fact.  Denied medical care by his mother when he was beaten by his alcoholic father and suffered a severe head wound that reopened for years afterwards.  Many earlier incidents of beatings aren't documented but they happened.

When he was 7 his mother left her husband and eventually settled in Houston, Texas.  Bad neighborhood and little money.  Mario was allowed to play the streets, use drugs, go to school dirty and filthy if he went at all.  Always accused of being the trouble maker even when it was the older brothers doing the trouble; Mario got used to taking the blame.  Because he had light skin he suffered taunts of not being his father's child. He felt unloved by his mother who let the State of Texas assume guardianship before his 8th birthday.

Placed in boys homes and foster care for the rest of his free life.  For one short period in his teens he had the fortune of being placed in a home with people he learned to love but the placement was not long enough, due to circumstances unforseen at the time.

At the age of 18 he was "Released into the world"  He survived for 3 months before getting into trouble and being arrested. On parole he was on his own for 4 months when he was arrested for the rape and murder of Blanche Miller and consequently sentenced to death.

The State let him sit on death row without looking at his appeal for 7 years.  The U.S. Supreme Court issed a statement on that fact.  Wow, scare Texas.  The U.S. Supreme court granted him Certiorari because he had an all white jury.  I guess they expected the court of Texas to admit they struck jurors because of their race.  A new trial was warranted.

A Texas judge granted him an evidentiary hearing due to the investigative work of the Texas Resource Center.  It got put on hold and the judge was elected to a higher offioe.  Mario got to wait on death row.  The new judge denied his evidentiary hearing without issuing an opinion.
The Texas Resource Center got the fax from Congress, obviously because they were helping indigent inmates very well.  Mario went to his federal appeal with a judge no one admired.  His attorney was scheduled to testify against the judge and did an adniral request to have the judge recuse himself.  He refused and Mario's attorney filed with the Texas courts requestingthey order the judge to recuse himself.  They agreed with the judge and 2 days later this judge affirmed Mario~s death sentence.  The judge who denied his evidentiary hearing had no trouble signing his death warrant.

A lady who wrote Joe Mario shortly after his arrival at Ellis Unit One wrote on her last card to him, "You bloomed where you were planted/  Mario blossomed under care.  We loved him, many, many, many of us the world over.  It was difficult at first, the angry young man with bitterness inside, he learned to appreciate the little things that brought joy.
When he first felt love the world changed for him.  No longer was he confined in his cell by demons.  He learned to see goodness in himself, selfworth that we all need to survive. He was now anxious to learn other things and read extensively, hungry for all realms of knowledge.  He reached so many of us. He was worthy of our love and support and we gave freely and he gave freely.  He developed a trust and a sense of belonging that had always been denied him.  He soared on these new feelings and discovered what it means to have someone believe in you and stand by you and love you unconditionally.  And we learned as well.  He "Traveled" the world from his cell through his letters.  He had a gift of seeing the beauty inside of people
and made all of us feel special, as he said, "They are."

The crime he was accused of is awful and all of us want healing for that family and would do anything to remove their suffering. Killing Mario was not justice.  It brought him to the arms of our Lord.  It brought us heartache that will be with us for the rest of our lives.  For so many of us that execution was anguish beyond compare.

As we watch politicians stand and ask for forgiveness for past sins, as we ourselves ask for forgiveness, only in giving forgivess is there healing and closure.

I Love you Mario - Nancy 

                                 WITH A PROMISE

We each were in need.  Me in a living hell and him in Ellis one.
I became his lighthouse and he became my sun.
Our separate worlds were gloomy without a doubt
I could leave my hell but would he ever get out?
Trials and troubles challenged us and life seemed so unfair
But we united and our troubles we did share.
Hand in hand we promised to see each other through
We wrote each other almost daily, it was a dream come true.
Two hearts needing love, a gift, a hand drawn rose
Growing and discovering and secrets no others knows
Over the years our friendship grew, sometimes we failed the test
But we communicated with each other, as friends we were the best.

Two hearts united, weathering together all the storms
Two roses, two hearts, two lives have been reborn.
The Lord, our Jesus, showed us the way
As much as I love each of you, Love each other every day.
One rose must go to eternity leaving the other for a while,
But with a promise to be the first to greet me with a smile.
Two roses, two hearts, united from above,
Cared for and tended with God's everlasting love.

                                                    
                                                 On an envelope from Joseph to Nancy   

          REMEMBERING MY POPS - J. Mario Trevino  -  #767

Mario was a man like no other. I was in the fourth grade when my Mom took me to meet Mario.  He changed my life in many different ways.  He filled a void in my life and gave me just the right amount of encouragement.  He adopted me as his daughter and he was my stepfather, I called him Pops.

Some might call his encouragement pushing but it was done with love and always in the right direction.  He was and forever will be my Pops.  Mario's circumstances did not allow him to have any children of his own.  However, he found a special friendship in me, as I will always be his little Princess. If there is one thing I could tell others about my Pops, is that he was a wonderful, good, caring person and he loved me. I will never forget him and I will miss him until the day I am reunited with him in Heaven,

Mario's death was ultimately not a punishment for him, only for those of us who love him and the poor souls who believe in the "myth" of closure.  There is and never will be a closure for this wrong.  I rejoice in the fact that Mario is now eternally free.  Now he can see things only we can imagine, the things dreams are made of.  How wonderful it must be in a place with no hate and no blame.  How wonderful it must be to touch the face of God.

I Love You My Pops
Bunches!
Beth

Love through the ultimate barrier:
I walk in and step into the closet-sized steel-mesh cage. You're already sitting, waiting on the other side.  I stand facing you while the escort uncuffs me.    Arriving in shackles no longer embarrasses me. Sometimes I think they would have us on leashes too, if they could get away with it.  I never thought that wearing handcuffs would be a way of life.
You're looking so pretty and loving,as usual. I look into your eyes and become entranced by your affection and beauty, forgetting all that I'd planned to say-yet whats left to say?
Can't we touch? "Just one little touch Warden?" Yeah.. I'm dreaming again.   There are only two hours we're allowed to share together, although we're separated by reinforced glass,steel wire-mesh and aren't really 'together.' Still, when I look into your tender expression I see no reason for words. Your eyes say it all.
I see in your eyes the secrets that we've shared, the love that we nurtured1 the pain we've felt. In your eyes a reflection of me. As I try with all my being to completely absorb your essence through sight and sound alone the image multiplies, trickling down your cheek in each tear of loving, frustrated passion.
The liquid treasure is wiped away with delicate hands, to be stored somewhere deep within until some hope-for,far-away day. All torment, all the desire, all the tiny reflections of me. If only I could be the tissue for your tears...    We talk a little but the conversation seems strained and unimportant. I want to keep you entertained for the short two hours but my imagination stretches for so far.  How much could I have to talk about, living my life in a 5'by9' barred room? And once again we end up sharing our dreams,fantasies and desires.
I've got five more minutes the guard announces.
The bright reflective eyes immediately cloud over   Reality seems to cut a little deeper and sting a little harder each time.
Liquid love is flowing once again.
The first five- wondering what to say and do.  The last five-trying to prepare for that excruciating moment of walking out different doors,in different directions.
It's only a door, a fence, a reinforced glass window and steel mesh, yet it's infinity stretched between us.
I often wish you could relate to what I feel, understand my emotions and loss of emotion.  The sadness and regrets never depart.
You look past me.  The guard comes and unlocks the door on the small cage.  We say our "I love you's" but never goodbye.
Just the word goodbye, seems to carry a bad omen on deathrow.
I stand to be cuffed, backing out still looking at you. You try to leave with grace, but I doubt that there could ever be any.
Im the back room, while undressing to be strip-searched,  I am silent. Happy but sad. Cuffed once more, I am escorted back to my 5'by 9' where so many thoughts race through my mind.  Now I remember all the things I wanted to say and ask.
I sit on my bunk looking at myself in a tiny mirror.  It's like I'm looking at you again.  It's the same reflection I saw in your eyes and in your tears.  It comes to me that each of your tears are like drops of medicine -  the only medicine I know that's capable of healing my wounded heart.

By Mario       9/18/93
 

Click here to read a poem by Mario

    
                                                     Sent to Nancy Mixon

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