Exonerated Texas Inmate: “How Can You Applaud Death?”
EmailAnthony Graves read in the newspaper about the crowd at the Republican presidential debate applauding the fact that Gov. Rick Perry had authorized 234 executions during his tenure.
“How can you applaud death?” Graves asked.
Graves is one of 12 death row inmates who have been exonerated in Texas since 1973. Five of those exonerations occurred while Rick Perry was governor, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group that opposes capital punishment.
“The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place in which when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court if that’s required,” Perry said during the debate Wednesday.
Perry defended the use of the death penalty in his state and told the audience, “I think Americans understand justice.”
But Graves said his mother would not be one of those Americans. Graves spent 18 years in prison and 12 years on death row as a convicted murder. In 2010 his conviction was overturned and he was released.
“He should ask my mother about that, ” he says. “She lost her son for 18 years.”
Graves says he was stunned at the governor’s comments because he was exonerated less than a year ago. “I was exonerated from the very same system that he is boasting about. He’s a politician, but I’m an exoneree and I think I know more about the subject.”
In fact Perry was quick to admit in 2010 that Graves’ murder conviction had been a miscarriage of justice. The governor worked to pass a bill that lead to Graves being awarded $1 million for his incarceration. But Perry also said last year that Graves case proves that the system worked.
In 2010 the governor said of the case, ”I think we have a justice system that is working, and he’s a good example of–you continue to find errors that were made and clear them up,” according to an account in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Graves had been convicted of assisting in multiple murders in 1992. In 2006, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned his conviction citing that prosecutors had made false statements. A special prosecutor hired for the second trial realized after months of investigation that Graves was innocent.
Former Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Siegler told the Houston Chronicle, “This is not a case where the evidence went south with time or witnesses passed away or we just couldn’t make the case anymore. He is an innocent man.”
Graves says he appreciates the work that Perry did to work for his compensation. “He passed a bill that lead to my compensation, but he knows there is a problem with the criminal justice system.”
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Actually, the Graves case is proof that Rick Perry is correct — “The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place in which when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court if that’s required,” Perry said during the debate Wednesday.
And please remember — Rick Perry did not authorize a single execution. Texas governors do not even sign the death warrants, nor do they set execution dates. Sorry to interfere with your talking point, but if you are going to claim to report the truth, then you need to actually present the truth.
Posted by: Rhymes With Right | September 9, 2011, 10:58 am 10:58 am
It is easy, lose a love one to someone who randomly robs,rapes and cut their throat.
Eye for eye thinking. This man was granted 1 million for his 18 years of suffering.
System worked for him, no he does not get those 18 years back but he is alive.
We all have our reasons to support the system or hate it. How many murders are put back out there and kill again? Many other countries are not as nice as us.
Posted by: deadwrestler | September 9, 2011, 10:58 am 10:58 am
Under what Governor what he convicted? That’s the Admin. he should have a problem with. Besides it takes a lot of visits in front of a Judge/court system to get to the Death Penalty. How many other convictions for other problems does he have?
Posted by: Gunnerv1 | September 9, 2011, 12:10 pm 12:10 pm
You know, life in prison really is an option, and it’s the one most civilized countries use, so no, it doesn’t make us “nice” at all. The choices are not just “execute ‘em” or “let ‘em out”. But once you execute someone, it’s pretty hard to undo it, whereas you can free someone who’s serving life in prison once they’ve been exonerated. And putting even one innocent person to death for a crime they’re ultimately found to have *not* committed makes us all, as a society, murderers.
Posted by: GordNYC | September 9, 2011, 12:14 pm 12:14 pm
Take a look at how Japan handles executions, something that the mainstream media doesn’t talk about much because it conflicts with the narrative of the United States being the only modern Western nation that has the death penalty. Of course they credit strict gun laws for Japan’s low crime rate rather than the 95% confession rate that the police squeeze out of suspects there or their death penalty and how it’s carried out.
Posted by: QA_NJ | September 9, 2011, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
I have no problem with the death penalty when you have a confession or hare evidence, but when there is a conviction based on circumstantial evidence they should not be put to death…PERIOD!!!
Posted by: focusonjobs1 | September 9, 2011, 1:01 pm 1:01 pm
Japan is not a Western nation, but you have a point.
Posted by: bob | September 9, 2011, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Sorry, it isn’t anyone “morals” to ravish in death. I was taught that an “eye for an eye” meant that WHATEVER YOU PUT OUT IS WHAT YOU GET BACK……And God IS THE FATHER! Not Ricky or the systems that Ricky put in place. Life without Parole is an option. This has nothing to do with “GOD”
Posted by: raven | September 9, 2011, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
Having a confession isn’t good enough. So many of them are coerced. It is legal in every state for the police to tell outrageous lies to suspects, such as telling them that they failed a lie detector test when they actually passed it. A naive, trusting person might confess to anything under the circumstances, having gone wtihout sleep, without contact with anyone they know, etc. Futhermore, mentally ill people routinely walk into police stations and confess to crimes they couldn’t possibly have committed–they are regarded as nuisances most of the time, but anyone can see the potential for abuse when the police are under great pressure to solve a high profile crime. They’ve been wrong too many times, and it’s simply unexcuseable. The death penalty made sense for nomadic shepherds living 3,000 years ago, since they had no other way to protect their society. We no longer have this excuse. Life in prison is an option.
Posted by: Chris | September 9, 2011, 9:23 pm 9:23 pm
Just so we’re clear, Anthony Graves’ exoneration wasn’t a result of the Texas appeals process. The case was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In fact, the state proceeded to retry the case, not only with the same evidence but with even more flawed science that has since been thrown out of the courts. It took four years and multiple special prosecutors before the state came to the conclusion that Anthony was innocent.
Texas justice didn’t prove his innocence; it’s blatantly disregarded it.
Posted by: blurgh | September 9, 2011, 10:22 pm 10:22 pm
Oh, Crocodile tears. The message is clear, do not mess with Texas. Obama tried to interfere with the state laws a month ago to prevent an execution of the most disgusting crime commited by an illegal Mexican . The young girl from San Antonio was raped, sodomized brutally with a large branch of tree in the private area. Her head was smashed by a concreted block. Wear the freaking shoes if they fit.
What if it was your daughter or your wife…..think twice before spill hate and hypocrisy. Save the tears when your daughter or your wife becomes a victim of these savages.
Posted by: ACDC2012 | September 9, 2011, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
The problem is the Republicans,and Perry are not clear about their beliefs,they claim they are pro life,but as soon as the fetus becomes a human,they are supposed to start “fending for themselves”and are subject to all the cruelties of the world,death penalty included.The Texas governors do not sign the death warrant,true,but only the governor or the board of prisions can stop the warrant from being carried out……..and there is the case of Todd Willingham,convicted of arson and murder,there has been lingering doubt about this case,and Perry had the execution carried out quickly,even though there was enough doubt that many people wanted a new trial.Later Perry has defunded,and blocked any investigation into this matter.When a forensics board wanted to reopen the case,Perry had it stopped…..look it up, Perry will just continue the detruction of this coubtry if he ever gets close to the White House, Never put someone in charge of something they claim to hate EG Perry claims there is too much influence from the Federal Gov.,but he wants to run it?
Posted by: asanetxn | September 12, 2011, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
Texas justice didn’t save Todd WIllingham! In fact, Rick Perry denied a stay of execution to investigate the faulty evidence used in his trial. Then, after all these years after the execution, Rick Perry stopped the report that would have declared the evidence faulty so that Rick Perry could run for re-election in Texas and still proclaim that the justice system works. Being re-elected was more important to him then getting the truth out. This is the Rick Perry that America needs to know about!
Posted by: Ann | September 13, 2011, 12:26 pm 12:26 pm
The Texas criminal justice system is design in that it treats a guilty rich person more better that a poor and innocent one. That said, I am in agreement with the fact that Cameron Todd Willingham was murdered and Governeor Rich Perry did a Saturday night special cover up. But Karma got him in the end because he compromised his integrity by first allowing the execution to go forward and second, covering it up for political reasons.
Posted by: Anthony Bates | April 3, 2012, 11:39 pm 11:39 pm