RedCeltic
12th June 2002, 06:17
Gay death row prisoner wins reprieve
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
Texas death-row prisoner Calvin Burdine, a gay man, will finally be released or retried.
Burdine's attorney, Joe Cannon, slept during his capital murder trial in 1984. A federal court overturned his conviction two years ago. But the state of Texas appealed, saying that the attorney didn't sleep during the "important" parts of the trial.
On June 3, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the state's appeal, thereby letting the reversal stand.
"Today an alert and conscious Supreme Court put to rest this case, which helped wake up the country to the chronic problem of abysmal legal representation in capital cases," said Burdine's attorney, Robert McGlasson.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson said Burdine would probably be retried. Burdine was convicted of killing his former lover.
McGlasson said he would fight attempts to retry the case, saying that evidence has grown stale largely because of the state's protracted effort to preserve Burdine's conviction.
"Burdine's case has attracted worldwide attention, and rightly so," said activist Lucha Rodriguez, a member of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement. "Texas' appeal was ludicrous. To put forth that the attorney didn't sleep during important parts of the trial shows the reactionary path that Houston and the state of Texas have taken in building the assembly line of death here."
Anti-gay trial
Gay activists and anti-death-penalty activists have fought for Burdine for years.
In 1995 a news conference was held in support of Burdine, who was expecting an execution date at the time. Lawyers Deborah Gilman of the American Civil Liberties Union and Mitchell Katine of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby focused on the anti-gay conduct of both the district attorney and Burdine's own attorney.
In closing remarks to the jury, prosecutor Ned Morris responded to attorney Canon's plea to spare Burdine from the death penalty. "Sending a homosexual to the penitentiary certainly isn't a very bad punishment for a homosexual, and that's what Cannon is asking you to do," Morris said.
Katine said that it was ludicrous to think any gay person might be pleased about getting sent to prison.
In fact, when Burdine arrived on death row, he was brutalized and lost his vision in one eye. He now wears a patch to cover the eye.
Even harsher criticism was leveled at Cannon, who let three people onto the jury who admitted in court to being biased against gays. Cannon did not call witnesses who might have helped the defense and, as the world now knows, slept during significant parts of the trial.
Burdine's case has been given wide coverage in Houston's leading gay newspaper, The Voice, and also in the national press. The Supreme Court's June 3 decision was praised by several mainstream Texas newspapers.
But death penalty abolitionists warn that the Supreme Court is no champion of those on death row.
The high court ruled in 1984 that defendants whose lawyers represent them incompetently can get their convictions overturned, but set a formidable barrier: The defense must prove not only that the trial lawyer fell below minimum standards, but also that the deficiencies had a likely effect on the verdict.
Applying that standard, the Supreme Court and lower courts have upheld convictions in which the defense lawyer was drunk or mentally ill, finding no proof that the lawyer's conduct hurt the client's case.
Just last week, the high court voted eight to one to uphold a Tennessee man's death sentence. His lawyer presented no closing argument and was later found to have been mentally ill during the trial.
The late Joe Cannon was also found to have slept through part of the trial of another Texas client, Carl Johnson. Johnson's death sentence was upheld, and he was executed in 1995. At that time George W. Bush was governor.
Burdine came within moments of execution in 1987 before receiving a court-ordered reprieve.
Bush was asked about Burdine's case while campaigning for president in 2000. He cited a federal judge's order granting a new trial as evidence that the state's death-penalty system worked. As he spoke, the state was seeking to have the order overturned.
Activists in the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement look forward to having Burdine back in Houston's county jail, either to be released or retried.
"When the state sends Calvin to Houston, we will be with him and working on the outside with the gay community as well as all Houstonians to build unity and a fight to demand that Calvin Burdine be released!" the group announced.
Letters of support can be sent to: Calvin Burdine #000758, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351.
- END -
Reprinted from the June 13, 2002, issue of Workers World newspaper
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [email protected] Subscribe [email protected] Unsubscribe [email protected] Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
Texas death-row prisoner Calvin Burdine, a gay man, will finally be released or retried.
Burdine's attorney, Joe Cannon, slept during his capital murder trial in 1984. A federal court overturned his conviction two years ago. But the state of Texas appealed, saying that the attorney didn't sleep during the "important" parts of the trial.
On June 3, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the state's appeal, thereby letting the reversal stand.
"Today an alert and conscious Supreme Court put to rest this case, which helped wake up the country to the chronic problem of abysmal legal representation in capital cases," said Burdine's attorney, Robert McGlasson.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson said Burdine would probably be retried. Burdine was convicted of killing his former lover.
McGlasson said he would fight attempts to retry the case, saying that evidence has grown stale largely because of the state's protracted effort to preserve Burdine's conviction.
"Burdine's case has attracted worldwide attention, and rightly so," said activist Lucha Rodriguez, a member of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement. "Texas' appeal was ludicrous. To put forth that the attorney didn't sleep during important parts of the trial shows the reactionary path that Houston and the state of Texas have taken in building the assembly line of death here."
Anti-gay trial
Gay activists and anti-death-penalty activists have fought for Burdine for years.
In 1995 a news conference was held in support of Burdine, who was expecting an execution date at the time. Lawyers Deborah Gilman of the American Civil Liberties Union and Mitchell Katine of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby focused on the anti-gay conduct of both the district attorney and Burdine's own attorney.
In closing remarks to the jury, prosecutor Ned Morris responded to attorney Canon's plea to spare Burdine from the death penalty. "Sending a homosexual to the penitentiary certainly isn't a very bad punishment for a homosexual, and that's what Cannon is asking you to do," Morris said.
Katine said that it was ludicrous to think any gay person might be pleased about getting sent to prison.
In fact, when Burdine arrived on death row, he was brutalized and lost his vision in one eye. He now wears a patch to cover the eye.
Even harsher criticism was leveled at Cannon, who let three people onto the jury who admitted in court to being biased against gays. Cannon did not call witnesses who might have helped the defense and, as the world now knows, slept during significant parts of the trial.
Burdine's case has been given wide coverage in Houston's leading gay newspaper, The Voice, and also in the national press. The Supreme Court's June 3 decision was praised by several mainstream Texas newspapers.
But death penalty abolitionists warn that the Supreme Court is no champion of those on death row.
The high court ruled in 1984 that defendants whose lawyers represent them incompetently can get their convictions overturned, but set a formidable barrier: The defense must prove not only that the trial lawyer fell below minimum standards, but also that the deficiencies had a likely effect on the verdict.
Applying that standard, the Supreme Court and lower courts have upheld convictions in which the defense lawyer was drunk or mentally ill, finding no proof that the lawyer's conduct hurt the client's case.
Just last week, the high court voted eight to one to uphold a Tennessee man's death sentence. His lawyer presented no closing argument and was later found to have been mentally ill during the trial.
The late Joe Cannon was also found to have slept through part of the trial of another Texas client, Carl Johnson. Johnson's death sentence was upheld, and he was executed in 1995. At that time George W. Bush was governor.
Burdine came within moments of execution in 1987 before receiving a court-ordered reprieve.
Bush was asked about Burdine's case while campaigning for president in 2000. He cited a federal judge's order granting a new trial as evidence that the state's death-penalty system worked. As he spoke, the state was seeking to have the order overturned.
Activists in the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement look forward to having Burdine back in Houston's county jail, either to be released or retried.
"When the state sends Calvin to Houston, we will be with him and working on the outside with the gay community as well as all Houstonians to build unity and a fight to demand that Calvin Burdine be released!" the group announced.
Letters of support can be sent to: Calvin Burdine #000758, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350 South, Livingston, TX 77351.
- END -
Reprinted from the June 13, 2002, issue of Workers World newspaper
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [email protected] Subscribe [email protected] Unsubscribe [email protected] Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)