REP. JESSE L. JACKSON, JR. PRESS ALERT
Contact: Frank Watkins
202-225-0773
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
and Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Want a New Trial for Texan on Death Row
They will hold a News Conference
on May 26th at 2:00 pm at the House Triangle
in Washington, DC
Washington, DC. May 25, 2000. Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, the subject of the critically-acclaimed film The Hurricane starring Denzel Washington, will join Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. tomorrow to call for a new trial for Texas death row inmate Gary Graham.
"Cases like that of Gary Graham are the reason why I have introduced H.R. 4162, legislation calling for a national moratorium on the death penalty," Jackson said. "Gary Graham has come within minutes of being executed on more than one occasion, and he may be the innocent person Texas Governor George Bush says does not exist on his state's death row. Let's give Gary the opportunity to prove his innocence. Let's look closely at all questionable death row cases like Gary's before we commit state-sanctioned murder."
Ruben "Hurricane" Carter spent 19 years in prison on a murder conviction before he was proven innocent. Among those joining Jackson and Carter at the news conference will be Gary Graham's attorney, Richard Burr.
Frank E. Watkins, Press Secretary/Director of Communications
Office of Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
313 CHOB
Washington, DC 20515-1302
Voice: 202-225-0773
Fax: 202-225-0899
Home Voice: 202-554-5580
frank.watkins@mail.house.gov
Rubin ``Hurricane'' Carter, a former boxer whose release after 19 years in prison inspired a movie, insisted Friday that Texas death-row inmate Gary Graham ``has clear evidence of his innocence'' and should not be executed next month.
``We must not let him die,'' Carter said.
Carter was twice convicted with another man in the 1966 killings of a New Jersey bartender and two patrons. He was freed in 1985 after a federal judge concluded the case was tainted with racial bias.
Carter, who now lives in Toronto, appeared in front of the Capitol with Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., to plead Graham's case, one of the longest and most contentious capital punishment cases in Texas. The state leads the nation in executions, with 18 people put to death this year alone.
Graham was sent to death row in November 1981 for the shooting death six months earlier of Bobby Grant Lambert, 53, of Tucson, Ariz., in the parking lot of a Houston supermarket.
Graham, who is now 36 and prefers to go by the name Shaka Sankofa to reflect his African heritage, was 17 at the time of the shooting. He is scheduled to be executed June 22 -- his fifth execution date.
His case, a lightning rod for both death penalty opponents and proponents, has been reviewed more than 35 times by the courts.
At his trial, a witness never wavered on her identification of Graham as the killer.
But his lawyer, Richard Burr, said Friday that alibi and other eyewitness witnesses who could clear him, as well as a lab report showing the bullet used in the crime did not come from the gun he was arrested with, have never been heard in open court.
Now that the appeals process has been exhausted, Texas' clemency process is his only hope.
``We have tried endlessly to get courts to hear this evidence. They have refused,'' Burr said. ``I think it's one of the most compelling cases of innocence in the country.''
Carter, Jackson and others called on Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and the state parole board to grant Graham a new trial.
``After having heard the facts, I am convinced that he is innocent of this crime,'' Jackson said. ``We are not saying, `Free Gary Graham.' We are saying, `Grant him a new trial.'''
Jackson took issue with Bush's statements of certainty that Texas has only executed the guilty.
``Almost certainly, there have been or will be innocent people executed in Texas and elsewhere,'' Jackson said.
But the congressman was equally critical of the support of Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democratic candidate for president, for the death penalty.
Jackson also blamed a 1996 law that restricted the appeals process for capital cases for Graham's inability to have new evidence heard. He has introduced legislation seeking a nationwide, 7-year halt to capital punishment until stronger safeguards are in place to ensure innocent people aren't executed.
There are 3,600 people on death row nationwide, while 87 have been freed since 1973, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.
(source: Associated Press)
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