Railroad Express by Doreen (Dee) Hawk Thursday, Nov. 24, 2006 at 78:47 AM Lucidreeme@aol.com

A short story concerning the death penalty. Texas leads the nation in executions. With shoddy attorneys and evidence, how many of these inmates have been railroaded onto death row?

Imagine yourself on trial for Capital Murder. Imagine your jury is an all-white jury, and here you are a twenty-three year old black man. Your lawyer is state-appointed and barely can remember your name. He has done little research on your case, and you almost think he is on the defense side from how your case is being handled. The jury has had evidence withheld from them, and some of the evidence has been mishandled by the crime lab. The jury deliberates for only three hours, and you are found guilty of Capital Murder. The Judge presiding over your case is well-known for the death penalty, and it doesn't surprise anyone when you are handed the death sentence.

Hold on tight; you have just been railroaded onto Texas Death Row. Here you will stay under deplorable conditions for years. Innocent on death row; another. Most people think that everyone says they are innocent on death row, but in the state of Texas, there really are innocent men and women. If you read the case files, you'll wonder how some of them are on death row, waiting lethal injection.

The state of Texas tops the charts in the number of executions. The total is 379, with nineteen executions in the year 2005, and twenty-four as of date in 2006. The next highest state this year is Ohio with a total of five so far. Very few inmates get a stay of execution from Texas’ Governor Rick Perry. Despite claims of mental retardation and other mental impairments there are inmates on Texas death row with an IQ of a child. Other inmates are schizophrenic and belong in a mental institution.

Texas does not only execute murderers. Under the Law of Parties Bill 7.02b an inmate can be handed over the death sentence for just being present at the scene of the crime. Executions have taken place already for inmates being the getaway driver during a crime when someone was killed. There is another bill being introduced in Texas legislation this year by Debbie Riddle (R-150th District). House Bill 8 will make certain sex offenders eligible for the death sentence if this bill is passed.

In the year 2002, photographs were taken of the leaking ceiling in Houston, Texas, crime lab. This leaking ceiling could very well have caused damage to the evidence that is stored there. This crime lab is now spending an additional $1.5 million dollars on top of the $4 million already spent to investigate this issue.

I am told many times by the inmates themselves that they feel their legal representation was shoddy. The attorneys, appointed by the state are sometimes inexperienced with capital defense, and do not investigate the case. One inmate, reported he has not seen or heard from his attorney in over a year despite many letters sent to him, and has no idea where his appeal status is on his case. Evidence is withheld from jurors and witnesses are not brought forth. There are many inconsistencies of testimony.

Many inmates are interrogated by police for hours without legal representation, and are forced or coerced into statements and confessions that are not necessarily true. Some are scared and offered "deals" and accept these deals without realizing what they are getting themselves into. These confessions are later unable to be retracted.

I looked up the meaning of "railroaded" in the dictionary and this is what it said: to convict with undue haste and by means of false charges or insufficient evidence b: to push through hastily or without due consideration.

So if you ever find yourself being arrested by Texas police, be very careful what you say or do, or you too could find yourself on the Railroad Express straight to Texas Death Row.

D.R.I.V.E.

DEATH Row INNER-COMMUNALIST VANGUARD ENGAGEMENT