Daddy on Death Row
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Daddy on Death Row
One weekday every month
Ricki Cartwright is not visiting the kindergarten. Her
mother wakes her up early
in the morning, because on that day she is visiting her
father. Her parents are
separated, but her mother thinks that Rich and Ricki should
have contact on a regular
basis, and that Ricki should not grow up without a father
as she did.
Ricki was born January 17th
1997, and only once in her life she was laying in the
arm of her father. She does
not remember March 17th, 1997, but her father
remembers it daily. It was
the only day, on which he was able to hold and feed his
beloved daughter – and it
was the day he was sentenced to death. When the jury
retired to discuss the verdict,
the judge allowed him 5 minutes with his daughter.
That was the start of a
wonderful relationship between father and daughter – a
relationship that grows
stronger with every visit. In his letters to his daughter Rich
writes "whenever I am down,
I just need to look at your picture, and I am feeling
better right away." "If
she wasn't in my life I would not survive here" is what Rich
says about the visits of
his daughter. Prison activists try to achieve that children of
those sentenced to death
are allowed to touch their parents, before they die. The
question, if he as a condemned
killer, has the right to demand something like that.
Rich answers: "Can you look
into the eyes of my four-year old daughter and tell her,
she does not deserve to
sit on the lap of her father?"
August 2nd 1996 the body
of Nick J. Moraida was found on the beach of Corpus
Christi. Richard Cartwright
was arrested on August 5th, three days later Dennis
Hagood and Kelly Overstreet,
friends of Rich since childhood, were arrested too.
Another suspect, Robert
Foster, was questioned, but never accused. Nick Moraida
died of shot- and stabbing
wounds. Hagood, as well as Overstreet claimed that Rich
shot him. Rich said that
he was on the way back to the truck when he heard the
shots. Kelly Overstreets
admitted to stabbing the victim. All three were accused of
capital murder. Hagood and
Overstreet testified against Rich and got a lesser
sentence this way. Dennis
Hagood was sentenced to 15 years and Kelly Overstreet
to 40 years in prison. Rich
denied a deal. He believed in the judicial system of
America and was sentenced
to die by lethal injection. Rich's condemnation took
place alone by the statements
by the others suspects and the statement of Sarah
Holliday, who later married
Dennis Hagood in prison. None of the weapons used
was found, and there were
no other eyewitnesses. His lawyers were sure to win the
case, so they spent more
time with the media then the case.
The Death Penalty creates more victims: the family of the condemned.
One of the problems of
the Death penalty, that is hardly ever looked at is that it
creates more victims, the
family of the men and women on Death Row. Little Ricki
Cartwright will never have
the chance to touch her father, and she does not know
yet that at the age of seven
or eight she will be a half-orphan. The visits with her
dad are always exciting
to her. She does not yet understand the situation; all she
knows is that she is visiting
her Dad and that she will play games through the glass
with him. Her mom lets her
have more candy and popcorn from the machine and
her grandmother and mother
hug her even more than on other days. She does not
understand that both are
despaired and cling on to the part of him that they can still
touch. All she knows about
her father is that he is great and sends her cards and
pictures in his letters.
He is Daddy, even though he is in prison. It is always exciting
to her to get searched by
the guards before a visit. And since she likes to talk on the
phone, she considers it
as wonderful to talk to him through a phone. She kisses the
glass and holds her candies
up, so he can act as if he is eating them. She personally
picks from the candy machine
what her Dad is going to get. She watches full of interest
as a guard put those in
a plastic bag and brings them to her Daddy. Then she sings songs
for him and tells him what
all she learned. Rich is quite proud of his little princess.
His eyes get moist when
he talks to her or when she sings for him. At home
Ricki draws pictures for
her father and her mother has to write down what those mean.
Rich send her pictures from
magazines, and sometime he is able to send a colourful postcard. For Christmas
and her birthdays, Rich's mother sends her presents in her fathers name. Ricki
loves her father dearly. When asked where she is going she says,
"To visit Daddy in prison"
- yet she does not know what that means…
Rich's family lives in Illinois
and is only able to visit him three to four times a year,
and then only for four hours.
The distance of 1200 miles makes it impossible to come
more often. So his family
holds contact with him mostly through letters, and they wait
for the unthinkable.
Waiting for the first execution date
For the short time, Rich's
case is very far advanced, due to the strongly limited
appeals for those sentenced
to death. He is through with his appeals before the Texas
courts, and now reaches
federal level. What his family fears for years will happen
soon, his first execution
date will be set. Thanks to remaining appeals he will get a
stay, but he only has 3
– 4 years remaining before he will actually be executed. His
daughter will have to learn
to live with not having a father anymore. His mother will
feel the emptiness only
another mother, who also lost a child, will understand. And
justice will not be served.
About this Rich wrote his
daughter: "I love you very much, and when I die, I will
always watch over you and
your mother, I promise you this. I love you forever - Daddy".
Talking to Irene Cartwright,
I asked her how one could help Rich. She said it is
almost impossible to get
together the money for a good lawyer, she asks for prayers
that a lawyer can be found
who will worry about Rich – the husband, Rich - the
son and Rich – the father,
and help him to defend his life.
Anyone who wants to make
contact with Irene Cartwright can do so through me.
My e-mail address is: no.conditions@teleweb.at
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