HUNTSVILLE, TX - Toronto Patterson is scheduled to die Wednesday, August 28, 2002 for a crime that occurred in Dallas when he was only 17 years old.   Patterson admits participation in the burglary leading up to the murders, but maintains that he was not the killer.  The jury never heard evidence that the incriminating statement attributed to Toronto was taken by the same detective who extracted a false confession from another youthful capital murder suspect, just a month later.

The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty has maintained a personal webpage for Toronto Patterson since 1998.  The page includes poetry, his writings, and a request for assistance through correspondence. The Canadian human rights group's webpage also maintains links to information on his case, legal appeals and documentation, as well as news and photographs.
http://www.ccadp.org/torontopatterson.htm

With the Toronto Patterson execution set for August 28th - the third juvenile execution in Texas this year; the eyes of the world are again focused on Texas and Governor Perry's lack of accountability on this diplomatically sensitive issue.   The lack of adherence to internationally accepted standards and principles is fueling a growing movement both inside and outside the US to act against the State of Texas. Calls for a tourist boycott have been renewed; and initiatives are being pursued for further economic and diplomatic initiatives.

 Last week Governor Perry ignored an invitation to witness the execution of Gary Etheridge,
extended by the condemned's wife Claudia, a German national.  The invitation was extended to him as an opportunity to witness the procedure that he is so vehement in supporting.  The previous week, Mexican President Vincente Fox canceled his US visit in protest of the execution of a Mexican citizen after Perry ignored the international outcry and Fox's personal appeals.   More and more often, this issue is on the agenda of the international community.

Iran and the United States are the only two countries in the world that actually continue to execute
juvenile offenders.  Every other country in the world has given up this practice - even nations with a deplorable reputation for continued human rights abuses; such as Nigeria; China and Saudi Arabia will  no longer execute anyone convicted of an offense before the age of 18.

"Although Texas claims that seventeen year olds are not considered juveniles under Texas law,  they are not of age to consume alcohol or tobacco products or other adult materials; are not eligible to vote or fully participate in the political process," says the Canadian Coalition's Dave Parkinson.  Under the law, a seventeen year old does NOT have the same rights or responsibilities as an adult; and in Thompson V Oklahoma, the Supreme Court has already  endorsed the proposition that less culpability should attach to a crime committed by a juvenile than to a comparable crime committed by an adult.

"If seventeen year old Toronto Patterson had been facing these charges in any other country in the world, (except Iran) he would not be facing a death sentence, " says Tracy Lamourie, also of the Canadian group,

"We call upon Governor Perry, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, to take a serious look at the false statements and other issues in Toronto Patterson's case, and also to consider the concerns of the international community; and then to commute Toronto Patterson to a sentence less than death."

For more information on Toronto Patterson,  visit his personal webpage at http://www.ccadp.org/torontopatterson.htm  or contact :

CANADIAN COALITION AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
Toronto Ontario,  416-693-9112  info@ccadp.org

Or Patterson's attorney :

J. Gary Hart
Attorney at Law
2906 Skylark Dr.
Austin, Texas  78757
(512) 206-3118
hartjg@aol.com