Fellow Activists,

Despite the fact that he was a juvenille at the time of the crime, despite the fact that he had no previous criminal record, despite the fact that the prosecutor in his own home town called for clemency... Napolean Beazley will be executed tonight at 7 PM (EST).

This is an outrage! It shows the despite the encouraging signs around us, including droppping support for the death penalty and two states with moratoriums, the death penalty continues with its march to kill over 3,700 people (the aprox. number of people on the row).

Beazely will be the 11th juvenille murdered by Texas since
reinstatement and the 19th in the US overall. Further he is
a poor black man accused of killing a white who was sentenced by an all-white jury.

Let's not sit passsively as state's like Texas plans to kill more. Let's not sit passively while pro-death politicians plot to restore executions in Maryland. Let's not just wait for Ashcroft to force executions down DC's throat...let's organize!

Don't mourn, organize!
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From CNN:

Texas parole board rejects clemency for Beazley

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- A Texas pardons board has voted against clemency for Napoleon Beazley, whose scheduled Tuesday execution is controversial because he was a youth when he committed murder.

Beazley's execution by lethal injection is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

Gerald Garrett, chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, told CNN his board voted 10-7 against commutation to a life sentence, and 13-4 against a temporary reprieve. The votes push Beazley one step closer to death by lethal injection, which is scheduled for tonight.

The pardons board makes recommendations on executions to the governor, who can either accept or reject their advice. In the past 30 years, the board has voted for clemency only once, in 1998.

Beazley, 26, shot John Luttig, 63, twice in the head in April 1994 as he and two friends tried to steal Luttig's Mercedes-Benz from his driveway.

Beazley originally was scheduled to be executed last August, but about four hours before, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay, although the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles at that time had voted 10-6 against clemency.

His lawyers have argued that executing Beazley, who was 17 at the time of the murder, would violate the Eighth Amendment's provision against cruel and unusual punishment. They also argued that the execution of an inmate who was under 18 at the time of his crime would violate international treaties on civil and political rights.

In recent years, the United States has seen growing opposition to the death penalty for people who commit murder under the age of 18.

Indiana this year abolished the death penalty in such cases. Two states, Illinois and Maryland, have called a halt to all executions until they can be sure that issues such as racial bias and legal fairness have been properly addressed. Executions continue in 36 other states, including Texas.

International opponents of Beazley's execution include Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who recently wrote a letter to the Texas pardons board asking for clemency.

Beazley, who was president of his senior class and a football star, lived in Grapeland, a small town about 60 miles from Tyler, Texas. He had no arrest record, though he has said he sold crack and owned a gun.

He has apologized to the Luttig family, saying there is no excuse for what he did.

Beazley's case has drawn international attention because of his age at the time of the killing -- 17 -- and because his victim was a prominent businessman and the father of J. Michael Luttig, who later became a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Beazley faced execution last August, but was spared by a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision. Beazley's stay was lifted on April 18, 2002.

The courts have not agreed with Beazley's attorneys in their bid to have the sentence commuted to life. According to The Associated Press, Beazley's attorneys said another try in the U.S. Supreme Court was likely Tuesday. The court last week refused to halt the punishment or review the case.

According to the AP, Beazley's execution would make him the 11th prisoner in the state and the 19th in the United States to be put to death since 1976 for a murder committed when the killer was younger than 18.

Find this article at:
www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/05/28/beazley.execution/index.html

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More on Napolean Beazley
STOP THE EXECUTION OF NAPOLEON BEAZLEY!
STOP THE EXECUTION OF JUVENILES!

Napoleon Beazley was convicted for the 1995 murder of John Luttig in Tyler, Texas. He is set to be executed in Texas on May 28, 2002. There are many reasons to halt this execution permanently.

Napoleon was a juvenile at the time of the crime. Beazley's case has attracted international attention among death penalty opponents because he was only seventeen at the time of his arrest. Most countries have banned execution for crimes committed when defendants are under eighteen, as the practice is widely considered a human rights abuse. In the last six years 14 juveniles have been executed; in Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Iran and the U.S. which leads the way with eight of these executions. Texas carried out four of those and houses a third of the U.S.'s juveniles on death row. Earlier this year the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would have banned such executions. A similar measure was considered in the Senate, but died after Governor Rick Perry threatened a veto.

Racism pervades each level of this case. Of 31 Texas juvenile inmates, 24 belong to racial or ethnic minorities. Beazley, who is Black, was tried by an all-white jury, despite Smith County's population being 20 per cent African American. The jury was all white. New evidence shows clear racial prejudice on the part of at least one juror. An affidavit filed by the man's wife states 'My husband...is racially prejudiced. I have heard [him] use many derogatory terms, including the use of the word 'nigger' on more occasions than not when he is talking about black people... I would find it difficult to believe that [he] could have set his prejudice aside and not let it influence him to some degree [at the trial]'.

Conflict of interest exist in regards to the prosecution. John Luttig was the father of a well known federal appellate judge who forged strong relationships with the prosecution in this case. In addition, another juror appears to have been a long-time employee of one of Luttig's business partners, a fact which was not revealed in pre-trial screening. Three members of the United States Supreme Court had to recuse themselves from hearing Beazley's appeal earlier t his month, based on their relationships with the judge.

But what is most tragic, opponents of the execution say, is that Beazley appears to be imminently redeemable. He had no prior record of violence, and he has been a model prisoner. Even his hometown District Attorney testified to his potential for rehabilitation. For these reasons, we call upon the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Governor Perry, and the State of Texas to forever halt this execution.

Please Contact

Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
PO Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Phone: 512-463-1782
Fax: 512-463-1849

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
PO Box 13401
Capital Station
Austin, TX 78711
Phone: 512-406-5852
Fax: 512-467-0945
email: www.governor.state.tx.us/contact%20%20information/email/email_the_governor.html


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The death penalty punishes the poor. It is racist. It
does not deter crime. It kills innocent people. It is
cruel and unusual punishment.

Check out the Campaign to End the Death Penalty's Website
at: www.nodeathpenalty.org