WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING (CALIFORNIA):
"Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate.")..."So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?"
https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2018/06/kevin-cooper-2-california-application.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Graves says there are troubling connections between his case and Rodney Reed's. "With this same team that tried to kill Rodney, they tried to kill me. From the judge, to the prosecutor, to mitigating specialists, to expert witnesses. These people were in my case and they messed it up bad. I almost lost my life because they didn't do their job right," said Graves. Among the so-called "exculpatory evidence" shedding doubt on Reed's guilt - a murder weapon still untested for DNA and an alleged jailhouse admission by Stiles ex-fiance that he, in fact, committed the murder, not Reed. Graves believes the unanswered questions are too numerous and too profound for the Governor to proceed with ending a human life."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Exonerated death row inmate calls for Rodney Reed reprieve," by reporter Greg Groogan. published by Fox 26 Houston on November 12, 2019.
SUB-HEADING: "Former death row inmate proven innocent asks Governor Abbott to do the same for Rodney Reed."
GIST: "As a date in the Texas execution chamber crawls closer, cumulative evidence casting doubt on Rodney Reed's certain guilt continues to mount. Convicted of capital murder in the 1996 killing of Stacey Stites near Bastrop, Reed's case has sparked a national outcry for a stay of execution - a plea for more time from voices as disparate as Kim Kardashian and Senator Ted Cruz. Among those demanding reprieve is Houston activist Anthony Graves, who survived 18 and half years on death row and two execution dates before his complete exoneration. "Killing the wrong man is not going to give Stacey Stites justice," said Graves. Graves says there are troubling connections between his case and Rodney Reed's. "With this same team that tried to kill Rodney, they tried to kill me. From the judge, to the prosecutor, to mitigating specialists, to expert witnesses. These people were in my case and they messed it up bad. I almost lost my life because they didn't do their job right," said Graves. Among the so-called "exculpatory evidence" shedding doubt on Reed's guilt - a murder weapon still untested for DNA and an alleged jailhouse admission by Stiles ex-fiance that he, in fact, committed the murder, not Reed. Graves believes the unanswered questions are too numerous and too profound for the Governor to proceed with ending a human life. "I would say, Greg Abbott this could be your son, think about it like that, this could be your son," said Graves. Lisa Tanner, the lead prosecutor in Reed's case still contends he is guilty, citing "a large amount of credible evidence" he committed the crime.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.fox26houston.com/news/exonerated-death-row-inmate-calls-for-rodney-reed-reprieve
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the National Registry of Exonerations entry on Anthony Graves by Maurice Possley at the link below: "On August 18, 1992, police were called to a burning home in Somerville, Texas, where they found the bodies of 45-year-old Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter, and her four grandchildren, ages 4 to 9.
Davis and the grandchildren had been stabbed, beaten and strangled. Davis’s daughter, Nicole, had been fatally shot.
A few days later, police arrested Robert Carter, 26, the father of
one of the grandchildren, after they noticed he had burns and bandages
at the children’s funeral.
During questioning, Carter, of Brenham, Texas, admitted he
committed the murders and set the house ablaze. Pressed to name an
accomplice, Carter pointed to Anthony Graves, 26, a cousin of his wife,
Theresa Carter.
On August, 22, 1992, Graves was taken into custody. Carter went
before a Burleson County grand jury and recanted, saying that Graves was
not involved in the murders. However, two members of law enforcement
told the grand jury that they heard Graves implicate himself in the
crime while in his cell.
Graves and Carter and Carter’s wife were indicted for the murders.
Carter was tried and convicted in February 1994. He was sentenced to death.
Graves, also of Brenham, went on trial in October 1994. On October
21, immediately before the trial, Carter met with the prosecutor,
Charles Sebesta, and said that he alone committed the crime—that Graves
was not involved.
When Sebesta said he didn’t believe him because the evidence
suggested multiple people were involved, Carter then said he had
committed the crime with Graves and someone named “Red.” When Sebesta
suggested that “Red” was Carter’s wife, Cookie, Carter denied it and
offered to take a polygraph exam.
After the polygraph examiner said Carter exhibited deception,
Carter changed his story again—saying he had invented “Red.” Later, he
admitted that his wife was sometimes called “Red.”
At the time, Sebesta was working on a deal that would require
Carter to testify against both his wife and Graves in return for a life
sentence if his death sentence were reversed on appeal.
By the following morning, October 22, 1994, Carter refused to
testify against his wife. So the deal was modified—Carter would not be
asked any questions about his wife.
At the trial, Carter testified that he had committed the crime with
Graves. He testified they went to Davis’s home because Graves was upset
that Bobbie Davis had gotten a job promotion that Graves believed
should have gone to his mother. At the time, Carter said he went to the
door and spoke with Davis, then said he had to get something from his
car. When he got to the car, Carter said, Graves went inside.
Carter said he went into the house not long after and found a
bloody scene—Davis was dead and so were the grandchildren. Carter said
he found Davis’s daughter in a room and shot her five times.
The prosecution presented a knife that was similar to one once
owned by Graves. A prosecution witness testified that the knife blade
fit exactly into the wounds on the victims. Sebesta said the blade “fit
like a glove.”
Family members testified that Graves was in his mother’s home in Brenham on the night of the crime.
On November 1, 1994, a jury convicted Graves and he was sentenced to death.
Murder charges against Carter’s wife were eventually dismissed and never pursued.
Graves continued to fight to prove his innocence, but his appeals were denied.
On January 13, 1995, he was granted a post-conviction hearing on a
motion for new trial contending that one of his alibi witnesses had
declined to testify at the trial after Sebesta threatened to indict her
for the murders if she testified. The motion, however, was denied.
On April 23, 1997, Graves’ conviction and sentence were upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Later in 1997, Graves was granted another post-conviction hearing.
An expert witness testified that the testimony regarding a knife at
Graves’ trial was misleading. At the trial, a prosecution witness said
tests showed that a knife that was similar to one once owned by Graves
could have made the wounds inflicted on the victims. Dr. Harrell
Gill-King, director of the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Human
Identification, testified that the prosecution conclusions about the
knife were unreliable.
The motion for new trial was denied.
Carter continued to insist that Graves was innocent. Graves
obtained a post-trial hearing on the recantations, but on February 3,
2000, the motion was denied.
On May 1, 2000, Carter was executed. His final words from the
gurney were that Graves was innocent and that he had lied in court.
With his state appeals exhausted, Graves filed a petition for a
writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court. On March 3, 2006, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit set aside Graves’ conviction and
sentence, ruling that Sebesta had failed to provide exculpatory
evidence—including Carter’s many contradictory statements—to Graves’
defense lawyers.
Washington-Burleson County District Attorney Bill Parham then
appointed veteran prosecutor Kelly Siegler and investigator Otto Hanak
to retry the case. After conducting a lengthy re-investigation of the
case, Siegler and Hanak concluded that Graves was innocent, and that
Sebesta, who retired in 2000, had misled jurors, manufactured evidence,
elicited false testimony and concealed evidence of Graves’s innocence.
On Oct. 27, 2010, the charges were dismissed and Graves was released
from prison.
Graves received $1,457,000 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of $7,600.
In February 2016, the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals upheld a decision to disbar Sebesta for concealing exculpatory evidence, presenting false testimony, lying and other misconduct during Graves' trial.
-----------------------------------------------------------
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
