"We plan to urge members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee to watch the program on Anthony Graves next Saturday. After they learn more about Anthony's tragic case of wrongful conviction and near execution, perhaps they will be moved enough by Anthony's story to approve HB 1641, a bill that would create a death penalty study commission and enact a moratorium on executions."
TEXAS MORATORIUM NETWORK;
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"Next Saturday, April 23, the story of Anthony Graves will be told on "48 Hours Mystery in an episode entitled "Grave Injustice", at 10 PM Eastern and Pacific, 9 PM Central Time. The full program will also be viewable online after it airs.
Anthony Graves is an innocent man who was exonerated and released on October 27, 2010 after spending 18 years incarcerated for murders that he did not commit. He is still seeking compensation from the State of Texas but so far he has been denied compensation. Last November, Texas Moratorium Network raised and donated more than $3,000 to Anthony to help him after his release (Watch video).
We plan to urge members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee to watch the program on Anthony Graves next Saturday. After they learn more about Anthony's tragic case of wrongful conviction and near execution, perhaps they will be moved enough by Anthony's story to approve HB 1641, a bill that would create a death penalty study commission and enact a moratorium on executions."
TEXAS MORATORIUM NETWORK:
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(CBS News): Saturday night CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" brings us "Grave Injustice," the true story of Anthony Graves, who spent 18 years behind bars for a mass murder he didn't commit.
But the State of Texas refuses to compensate him for time served. The only thing standing between Graves and $1.4 million are two words missing from his prison release paperwork: "actually innocent."
"Early Show" co-anchor Chris Wragge noted Graves is owed $1.4 million, $80,000 for every year he was incarcerated, but because those two words don't appear on the paperwork, he can't get his money.
Watch a sneak peek of "48 Hours Mystery" "Grave Injustice."
For an introduction to this story, professor Nicole Casarez, of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, discussed the case on "The Early Show" Friday. She, along with her journalism class at the university, was instrumental in helping overturn Graves' conviction.
Casarez said "a number of things" told her that Graves had nothing to do with this crime.
She said, "The state evidence that supposedly convicted him really didn't stand up. Once we took a look at it, the quote/unquote evidence that convicted him, was just really nothing. There was no case. But then, on top of that, Anthony had alibi witnesses to show where he was at the time of the crime. So I would say probably he was with his girlfriend that night, and she swore that she was with him all night, that he never left. And I guess, you know, she told me years later, 'Why would I lie for a baby killer? I'm married. I have children of my own. And why would I continue to lie these many years later for someone who killed children?'"
But overturning the conviction was not easy.
Casarez said it was "practically impossible."
She recalled, "Over the years - I worked on the case for about eight years - and there were different district attorneys. There were representatives from the Attorney General's Office, and really, they didn't want to give us the time of day. It wasn't until the latest elected D.A. in the county hired a special prosecutor, a woman by the name of Kelly Siegler, and she basically did what we did. And that was to really re-investigate the case and look at it with objective eyes. And then she came to the same conclusion we did."
For the full story, you can watch "Grave Injustice" on CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" Saturday night at 10/9c.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
