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CNN to debut locally shot documentary on execution
A nationwide television audience will
get a small glimpse at life in
Huntsville this weekend, as a CNN documentary
filmed here last year will
make its domestic debut.
The program, entitled "CNN Presents:
Scheduled to Die," followed several
members of the Huntsville community
on the day of the 2001 scheduled
execution of Napoleon Beazley, who
was later given a stay. Beazley is
now scheduled to be put to death Tuesday.
The program will air Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6 and 10 p.m.
"The original interest in this story
was just to come and chronicle an
execution," said Bill Smee, senior
supervising producer of "CNN
Presents." "It sort of evolved because
of the extraordinary development
in the Napoleon Beazley case, with
the 11th-hour stay. Now, it
chronicles his story a little more."
The case of Beazley, who was sentenced
to death for killing the father
of a federal appeals court judge when
he was 17 years old, has gained
international attention. For Beazley's
first execution date, a large
contingent of foreign media -- as well
as protesters -- converged on
Huntsville.
"It was interesting for us for us to
see," Smee said. "For some,
Napoleon Beazley is the poster child
for the injustice (in Texas); for
others, there's no question about his
guilt."
The story, which was done by CNN's international
correspondent
Christiane Amanpour, followed the daily
activities of people like Texas
Department of Criminal Justice public
information officer Larry
Fitzgerald and then-prison chaplain
James Brazzil -- both of whom were
profiled this past week in The Huntsville
Item -- as well as former Item
reporter Michelle Lyons, who would
have covered the execution.
"Larry is at the center of the story,
because he has to deal with the
media from around the world. He was
very colorful and candid," Smee
said. "To some, Michelle's job was
an extraordinary thing for a young
reporter. But, as you know now, it's
just part of that job."
"They followed me around all day, even
when I'd do things like go and
get coffee," said Lyons, now a public
information officer with TDCJ.
"They came to see how we cover a high-profile
execution."
The documentary, which was originally
supposed to air last September,
was postponed after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks. It aired last week
internationally for the first time,
and did not go unnoticed.
"I've gotten e-mails from people in
places like South Africa and
England," Lyons said. "Most of them
came from anti-death penalty folks
who feel executing Napoleon Beazley
is wrong."
Smee said one of the more interesting
things the CNN crews discovered
was the interest of the Huntsville
community in executions -- or, more
precisely, the lack thereof.
"There was some surprise at the extent
to which the town goes about its
business and how it's just a part of
life there," he said. "Locally, it
just doesn't generate much interest
or outrage that executions do
elsewhere. We went to the Cafe Texan
and saw how life just goes on and
people didn't change as the clock ticked
down to the execution."
Source: The Huntsville
Item: http://www.itemonline.com/display/inn_news/news7.txt
AUSTIN - Passionate pleas directed to
Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles were heard
from members of the clergy,
attorneys, civil rights advocates and
family members for the commutation
of Napoleon Beazley's death sentence
to life in prison during a Thursday
press conference held in the state
Capitol in Austin.
The small Senate pressroom was filled
to capacity with supporters,
family and media as clemency for Beazley,
who is sentenced to die for
the 1994 robbery/slaying of 63-year-old
civic leader John Luttig.
Beazley's execution was set for Tuesday
by state District Judge Cynthia
Kent last month after all of his appeals
were exhausted, but his
attorneys continue to work on his behalf.
Walter Logan, Beazley's attorney, said
during the press conference he
had filed for a motion with the U.S.
Supreme Court to stay the Tuesday
execution and also filed an appeal
based on arguments on the Eighth
amendment.
Logan said interpretation is beginning
to sway in the highest court in
the land and his argument is the amendment
does not allow the execution
of a minor.
"I will continue to work to have this
sentence commuted, but in Texas,
it is like holding out against hope,"
he said.
The board is to vote Friday for the
second time on whether to commute
Beazley's death sentence to life in
prison.
The board last year voted, 10-6, against
commuting Beazley's death
sentence, and a Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals stay was later lifted.
Beazley was 17 when he gunned down Luttig
in the victim's driveway. At
the forefront of his lawyers' arguments
is the defendant's age. The
trial judge, some legislators and church
leaders have opposed killing
Beazley because he was young when he
committed capital murder.
The state of Texas recognizes those
17 and older as eligible for
criminal prosecution, but Beazley's
lawyers predict executing killers
who were 17 when they committed their
crimes will soon by barred by law.
"I think it is important the public
continue to be educated on these
issues," Logan said.
He said the board may reach a decision
by Friday, but more than likely
it would be Tuesday at the earliest,
because of the Memorial Day holiday
weekend.
During the press conference, Dr. Beverly
Sutton, an Austin child
psychiatrist, said Texas is only one
of a few places left in the world
that allows the execution of minors.
"Many of us Texans still have a frontier
mentality, as in an eye for an
eye justice. I ask for clemency to
be granted for Napoleon Beazley," she
said.
Dr. Sutton's words were reiterated as
each person who spoke at the press
conference made the same request of
Perry and the Board.
The Rev. David Hoster, St. George's
Episcopal Church, Austin, read
excerpts of a letter from The More
Rev. Desmond M. Tutu, Anglican
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Africa.
"The obstinacy of the Smith County District
Attorney, who within the
last week has set about getting the
death penalty against a new child
offender, is something with which I
lament that I am all too familiar.
During the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission hearings in my country,
there were members of the apartheid
government who refused to see that
the human rights abuses they had committed
were wrong and unlawful. I
stand assured the Smith County authorities
have been educated on that
fact," said Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace
Prize winner.
Tutu said he "humbly pleaded" for Beazley's life to be spared.
Sister Mary Lou Stubles read a prepared
statement from the Diocese of
Austin Bishop Gregory Aymond, the Catholic
Church of Central Texas,
which said Catholic bishops across
the nation renewed their opposition
to the death penalty in 1999 on Good
Friday.
"The values of my faith call me to seek
restorative justice. Therefore,
I ask the Board of Pardons and Paroles
to seek the commutation of
Napoleon Beazley's sentence from death
to life in prison, and I ask Gov.
Perry to commute his sentence," he
said. "We cannot teach killing is
wrong by killing," he said.
Beazley's parents said they are proud
of their son and love him more
than words could describe.
"If this would not have been a federal
judge's father, the death penalty
would not have been sought by the Smith
County District Attorney's
Office. It's not a question of whether
he was there or not. It is a
question of whether he is a menace
to society and he isn't. I think he
deserves to live," said Rena Beazley,
his mother.
Ireland Beazley choked back tears as
he began to speak to those
attending the press conference.
"I don't know how to express the love
I feel for my son. I'm proud of
him. He grew up like anyone else. He
just got caught up in a bad
situation," he said.
The elder Beazley asked Perry and the board to grant his son clemency.
"My son did wrong, but overzealous prosecutors
in Smith County sought
the death penalty," he said.
Smith County District Attorney Jack
Skeen said Thursday he would again
seek the death penalty in this case
if he tried it today and the press
conference was a ploy to influence
the board and the governor.
"Press conferences such as the one held
today in Austin, publicized by
the press releases to the media from
death penalty opponents, do not
change the facts of Beazley's horrific
crime or that he was a dope
dealer in Grapeland. He denied involvement
in the crime and never took
responsibility or even expressed any
'claimed' remorse until years later
when he lost appeals and faced the
death penalty," he said.
Beazley supporters now wait for word
from the board and governor on what
fate he will face.
Source: Tyler Morning
Telegraph
http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=227937&newsid=4231204&PAG=461&rfi=9
AUSTIN (AP) - Napoleon Beazley's parents
and more than two dozen central
Texas clergy members pleaded Thursday
for Gov. Rick Perry and state
officials to commute Beazley's death
sentence to life in prison because
he was 17 when he shot a Tyler businessman
in 1994.
"I think he deserves to live," said
Beazley's mother, Rena Beazley. Her
son is scheduled to die by lethal injection
Tuesday.
Beazley has acknowledged his guilt and
has apologized to the victim's
family.
"It's not a question of whether he was
there or not," Rena Beazley said.
"It's the question of whether he is
a menace to society and he isn't."
Under Texas law, Perry can grant a 30-day
reprieve from execution, but
can't order a commutation without the
recommendation of the state Board
of Pardons and Paroles. The board voted
10-6 last year against commuting
the sentence.
The board can review the case again.
Perry spokesman Gene Acuna said the
governor would
not comment.
Beazley's case has received international
scrutiny from critics of
Texas' capital punishment system.
Defense attorneys argue the execution
would violate international law
and have questioned whether race played
a role. Beazley is black and his
victim was white. He was convicted
by an all-white jury.
Prosecutors say that Texas law, in which
a 17-year-old is considered an
adult, takes precedence over an international
treaty.
The case also includes some interesting twists.
The victim, 63-year-old John Luttig,
was the father of a federal judge.
The East Texas judge who sentenced
Beazley to die wrote to Perry last
year urging Beazley's life be spared.
A group of 18 Democratic legislators
and Houston County District
Attorney Cindy Garner, who calls herself
a strong advocate of the death
penalty, also have written Perry urging
commutation.
Beazley avoided the death chamber in
August when the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution
just hours before he was to
die. The stay was lifted last month
and the new execution date was set.
Beazley, now 25, was a high school class
president and star athlete at
the time of the 1994 murder of John
Luttig, 63. The victim's son, J.
Michael Luttig, is a judge on the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Va.
The clergy members attending the new
conference at the state Capitol
presented a letter supporting Beazley's
case from retired Anglican
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa
to Gerald Garrett, chairman of
the parole board.
"I find it incomprehensible that the
death penalty should be imposed
upon a person who was a child when
the offense occurred," Tutu wrote.
Beazley's attorney, Walter Long, said
he has filed a motion with U.S.
Supreme Court seeking to stop the execution.
Having worked several death row cases
in Texas, including infamous
pick-axe killer Karla Faye Tucker who
was executed in 1998, Long sounded
pessimistic about Beazley's chances
for a commutation in the nation's
leading death penalty
state.
"In Texas, it's like holding out against hope," he said.
Source: Abilene Reporter
News: http://www.reporternews.com/2002/texas/fam0524.html
Again, Mr. Napoleon Beazley
has received a date of execution, May 28th,
2002. Mr. Beazley was
17 years old when Mr. John Luttig (white) was
tragically and senselessly
killed at the hands of Beazley (colored). An all
white jury sentenced
Mr. Beazley to death. This execution will be illegal
according to international
laws strictly prohibiting the execution of any
person under the age
of 18 at the time of a crime.
It's time for the international
community to interfere and send the
strongest message possible
to the United States that we do not accept
so-called legal killings
of any human being, let alone a completely changed
juvenile person, convicted
by an obvious racist jury. Mr. Beazley had the
following comment to
his new execution date:
"8 years ago, I involved
myself in a crime I instantly regret. I knew it was
wrong. I know it is wrong
now. I've been trying to make up for it ever since
that moment. I've apologized
ever since that moment, not just through words,
but through my acts.
If I didn't care about what happened to John Luttig,
then I wouldn't have
cared enough to change. Nobody is going to win in this
situation, and if we
all lose, then I know all of those losses start with
me. There's a lot of
people involved in this -- not just me. The Luttig
family, the DA's, Tyler,
Grapeland, my family, whole bunch of other people
involved. People against
the death penalty, for it, everybody involved.
I want everybody to know,
those people, the reason ya'll are here is because
of me. It's my fault.
I violated the law. I violated this city, and I
violated a family --
all to satisfy my own misguided emotions. I'm sorry. I
wish I had a 2nd chance
to make up for it, but I don't."
Mr. Beazley is a completely
changed person. Like everyone else, he has
changed character since
the age of 17. The execution of a juvenile person is
meaningless in each and
every sense, because it completely ignores the
growing potential in
a child. One can never say that a 17-years-old is too
corrupted for change.
Beazley has been a model prisoner while on death row.
Still - he is going to
be killed for what he did when he was too immature to
fully comprehend the
consequences of his actions. The action in itself was
incredibly tragic and
meaningless, and the worst crime possible was
committed when a life
was taken.
However, the tragedy will
grow deeper if Texas approves of and actually
carries out the execution
of a juvenile. 2/3 of the juvenile death row
prisoners globally, reside
in Texas, and juveniles are the fastest growing
part of the population
on Texas death row. This execution will not heal any
wounds, and it's an insult
to international justice, because the execution
of a person under the
age of 18 at the time of the crime in any event will
be internationally illegal.
The authorities will have to stop the execution
plans immediately and
Texas will have to take a thorough look at its death
penalty laws. Governor
Rick Perry: Please, take a good look at the death
penalty laws that are
imposed on juveniles in your state. Which exact
nations are you in company
with?
Mr. Beazley behaves like
a model prisoner and has been ever since he arrived
on death row. He demonstrates
deep remorse for the terrible crime he
committed. He is a colored
juvenile, illegally sentenced to die by an all
white jury. If this execution
does go as planned, The United States
generally, and Texas
especially, expect to be included in international
forums where human rights
are being discussed? Why doesn’t the U.S.
immediately assemble
a national forum to look into what they can do to
respect the Human Rights
within their own country?
Should the United States
of America, which doesn’t respect this
international law, be
allowed to discuss Human Rights with other nations,
which do?
As a European organization
working to abolish the death penalty worldwide,
we consider it increasingly
necessary to raise our voices against this
incredible violation
against Humanity and International Law.
The international community
is in outrage over this insult against
international justice!
If you prefer to write
the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles as well to the
The Governor of Texas,
Rick Perry, please direct letters to the following
addresses:
BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLE
P.O.BOX 13084
AUSTIN - TEXAS 78711
FAX: (512) 463 - 8120
Please urge the Board
of Pardons and Parole to recommend to the Governor an
Executive Clemency for
Mr. Beazley as soon as possible.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY
STATE CAPITOL
P.O.BOX 12428
AUSTIN - TEXAS 78711
FAX: (512)463 - 1849
European Coalition To
Abolish
the Death Penalty
www.ecadp.org
Please sign other petitions
at
http://www.gbr.ecadp.org/urgent/index.html
Thank you.
After an emotional Friday
hearing in which he voiced remorse for the 1st
time in court, Napoleon
Beazley was sentenced to die on May 28 for the
1994 murder of a local
oilman.
State District Judge Cynthia
Kent set the date after speaking at length
about her "principled"
discomfort over imposing a death sentence for a
crime that Mr. Beazley
committed as a 17-year-old.
Mr. Beazley, an honors
graduate from Grapeland, about 60 miles from
Tyler, was sentenced
to die in 1995 after a jury found him guilty of
gunning down John Luttig
in a botched carjacking.
Mr. Luttig, 63, was shot
at close range in his driveway as he and his
wife, Bobbie, returned
home from a Bible study. Mrs. Luttig survived by
playing dead after being
wounded by Mr. Beazley.
Mr. Beazley asked to address
the court after being sentenced and
expressed regret that
members of Mr. Luttig's family were not there to
hear him. He then stood
weeping in chains as he asked "for everybody's
forgiveness."
Beazley statement
Mr. Beazley:"I wanted
to say something to certain people. As I see, it
was, first and foremost,
to Mrs. Luttig and her family. As I see, none of
them are in the courtroom
today. I want to say it anyway, and hopefully,
maybe, they will hear
it.
8 years ago, I involved
myself in a crime I instantly regret. I knew it
was wrong. I know it
is wrong now. I've been trying to make up for it
ever since that moment.
I've apologized ever since that moment, not just
through words, but through
my acts. If I didn't care about what happened
to John Luttig, then
I wouldn't have cared enough to change. Nobody is
going to win in this
situation, and if we all lose, then I know all of
those losses start with
me. There's a lot of people involved in this --
not just me. The Luttig
family, the DA's, Tyler, Grapeland, my family,
whole bunch of other
people involved. People against the death penalty,
for it, everybody involved.
I want everybody to know,
those people, the reason ya'll are here is
because of me. It's my
fault. I violated the law. I violated this city,
and I violated a family
-- all to satisfy my own misguided emotions. I'm
sorry. I wish I had a
2nd chance to make up for it, but I don't."
Courtroom spectator: "You don't have to be sorry, Napoleon."
Mr. Beazley: "But I don't.
And if nothing else, I ask for everybody's
forgiveness. That's all."
"8 years ago, I involved
myself in a crime I instantly regret. I knew it
was wrong. I know it
is wrong now. I've been trying to make up for it
ever since that moment.
I've apologized ever since that moment, not just
through words, but through
my acts," he said.
"I want everybody to know,
those people, the reason y'all are here is
because of me. It's my
fault. I violated the law. I violated this city,
and I violated a family
all to satisfy my own misguided emotions. I'm
sorry. I wish I had a
second chance to make up for it, but I don't."
Mr. Beazley , 25, has
faced 2 previous execution dates. He came within
hours of being put to
death in August before a stay from the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals.
Just three days earlier,
the U.S. Supreme Court had announced an
unprecedented 3-3 deadlock
that denied Mr. Beazley a federal reprieve.
Three justices abstained
because of personal ties to Mr. Luttig's son 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig of Virginia.
The case has drawn international
attention, including pleas for clemency
from the European Union,
the American Bar Association and even the
district attorney in
Mr. Beazley's home county because of his age and
lack of prior criminal
convictions.
But prosecutors have maintained
that Mr. Beazley should be executed
because he was an adult
under Texas law when he and two accomplices came
to Tyler, stalked the
Luttigs' Mercedes-Benz and shot the couple because
they wanted to steal
a luxury car.
Many Tyler residents believed
Judge Kent played a role in Mr. Beazley's
11th-hour execution stay
in August because it came the day she sent a
letter to Gov. Rick Perry
asking that his life be spared because of his
age at the time of the
murder.
Local media reports last
summer included speculation that Judge Kent's
membership in the Roman
Catholic Church which opposes capital punishment
had influenced her actions.
After the Texas appeals
court lifted the stay last week, Smith County
District Attorney Jack
Skeen said that he considered seeking the judge's
recusal from the case
because of concerns that her letter showed bias.
That prompted a lengthy
defense Friday from the 46-year-old Republican
judge. Speaking to a
courtroom packed with Mr. Beazley's supporters,
Judge Kent noted that
state statutes allow trial judges, prosecutors and
sheriffs to offer their
opinions on cases being considered for clemency.
Judge Kent said she sent
a letter voicing "principled objection" to the
execution of a youthful
offender after being asked by defense lawyers
"only hours" before Mr.
Beazley was scheduled to die.
She added that she faxed
her letter directly to Mr. Perry because she
knew that the parole
board would not have time to consider it.
The governor can order
a 30-day reprieve but can commute a death sentence
only if the parole board
recommends it. In a rare close vote, the board
decided 10-6 against
commutation for Mr. Beazley.
The judge said Friday
that she wanted to make clear that she was not
responsible for last
year's execution delay, as some critics suggested.
She noted that she sentenced
each of the 5 people executed from Smith
County since 1938.
"It is not that this court
is some weak-kneed judge. ... If I were a
judge who did not follow
the law, I had many chances to be intellectually
dishonest and cause actions
that would've resulted in the case being
reversed."
She noted that judges
are required to "be obedient to the law, but we
don't have to be silent
about it," and she suggested repeatedly that her
letter was part of an
ongoing national debate on capital punishment.
"I think the courts are
very bound by the constraints of the law. When it
comes to mercy, I do
not see that within the purview of the courts to
individually dole that
out as if we are gods. We are not. We're just
people. Just like Mr.
Luttig. Just like Mr. Beazley."
(source for both: Dallas
Morning News)
Judge sets May execution date for convicted killer Beazley
An East Texas judge on
Friday set a May 28 execution date for Napoleon
Beazley, a convicted
killer who last year received a stay just hours
before he was to be executed
by lethal injection.
State District Judge Cynthia
Kent, who presided over Beazley's trial and
last year wrote Gov.
Rick Perry in favor of commuting the convicted
killer's sentence, set
the date in the case that has received
international scrutiny.
After the ruling, Beazley,
who was 17 when he killed a prominent Tyler
businessman, turned and
apologized to a packed courtroom as his family
members wept.
"This is a horrible crime,"
Smith County District Attorney Jack Skeen Jr.
said. "We've gone as
far as we can go in the justice system. Now it's
time for the execution
to be carried out and justice to be served."
Beazley, now 25, was a
high school class president and star athlete at
the time of the 1994
murder of John Luttig, 63. The victim's son, J.
Michael Luttig, is a
judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Va.
Defense attorneys argued
that it was against international law to set an
execution date for Beazley
because he was 17 at the time of the killing.
Defense attorney David
Botsford had requested a Sept. 17 execution date,
which would give him
enough time to file another appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
"Mr. Beazley is not going
anywhere," Botsford said. "He's going to be
down in Livingston, where
he has been all along."
Beazley and brothers Cedric
and Donald Coleman, all from Grapeland, about
120 miles southeast of
Dallas, were arrested 7 weeks after the shooting
based on an anonymous
tip.
The Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals, which issued Beazley's stay in
August, lifted it last
week.
On Thursday, the Texas
chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People asked that Beazley's sentence to be
commuted to life in prison
since he was 17 when he committed the crime.
Gary Bledsoe, president
of the Texas NAACP, said race may have played a
factor with an all-white
jury deciding the fate of Beazley, who is black.
Luttig was white.
A group of 18 Democratic
legislators and Houston County District Attorney
Cindy Garner, who calls
herself a strong advocate of the death penalty,
also have written Perry
urging commutation.
Under Texas law, Perry
can grant a 30-day reprieve from execution but
can't order a commutation
without the recommendation of the state Board
of Pardons and Paroles.
The board voted 10-6 last year against commuting
the sentence.
Beazley's attorneys filed
a motion asking Kent to postpone the
rescheduling hearing
until after the 2003 legislative session, giving
supporters time to lobby
for changes in state law.
(source: Associated Press)
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