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Texas executes Graham for 1981 murder despite his pleas of innocence
Jesse Jackson: 'I wept uncontrollably'HUNTSVILLE, Texas (CNN) -- The state of Texas has executed convicted killer Gary Graham by lethal injection for the fatal shooting of a man in 1981 outside a Houston grocery store as part of a weeklong crime rampage. Graham went to his death Thursday at 8:49 p.m. (9:49 p.m. EDT) protesting his innocence in the shooting of Bobby Lambert, witnesses said. "This is nothing more simple than murder, state sanctioned murder in America," Graham was quoted by reporters as saying during his final statement. "They know I'm innocent, they won't acknowledge it."
Media witnesses described the statement as long, rambling and angry. Graham said he was being lynched and called the death penalty a holocaust for black Americans. He asked to be called Shaka Sankofa to reflect his African heritage. "I die fighting for what I believed in," Graham said. "The truth will come out. "They are killing me tonight, they are murdering me tonight. March on black people," he said , using " all means necessary." Graham claimed to have been beaten. One witness described seeing bruises on his upper arm, and authorities said Graham had put up a struggle. "True to his word, he did resist," said Larry Fitzgerald of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "It took about 30 seconds to remove him from the cell and maybe an additional 60 seconds to strap him to the gurney." Graham, witnesses said, appeared to be handcuffed to the gurney, restrained with fabric fasteners and covered "for the most part" with bed sheets. Victim's grandson: I pray Graham made peace with GodAfter several hours of legal wrangling that delayed the execution, Gov. George W. Bush defended the use of the death penalty in the case, saying, "after considering all the facts, I am confident justice is being done." Bush, speaking at a news conference shortly before the execution, said, "May God bless the victims, the families of the victims, and may God bless Mr. Graham." The Rev. Jesse Jackson, reluctantly yielding to Graham's request, witnessed the execution at a prison in Huntsville. He was accompanied by Bianca Jagger of Amnesty International, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Graham's spiritual adviser, Robert Mohammed. Jackson told CNN afterward: "I wept uncontrollably when I entered the front door of this place, to think that I was about to witness a state organized murder. Assuming that Mr. Shaka Sankofa (Graham) in his worst state murdered someone, the state at its most organized level murdered someone." Witnesses on the victim's behalf included Bobby Hanners, Lambert's grandson; Diane Clements, a family friend and director of the victims' rights group, Justice for All; and Rick Sanford, one of Graham's victims during his rampage. "My heart goes out to the Graham family as they begin the grieving process," Hanners said in a written statement. "I also pray Gary Graham made peace with God. But I truly believe justice has been served." Legal maneuvers delayed executionGraham was put to death following a series of last minute legal maneuvers, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to halt the execution in a 5-4 vote. Graham's attorneys then filed a civil suit in federal court in Austin, Texas, charging the execution was a violation of his civil rights. District Court Judge James Nowlin rejected that claim. There was heavy security outside the Huntsville Unit, known as "The Walls," with riot police equipped with tear gas and batons. Several hundred anti-death penalty advocates marched, waved signs and chanted, "Let Gary Graham live." Prison authorities took no chances, corralling Graham opponents and supporters on separate ends of the imposing brick prison. At one point, about 100 Graham supporters attempted to confront about 20 Ku Klux Klansmen demonstrating in favor of the execution, but the police presence made it impossible. Officers tackled two protesters who tried to break through police barricades, handcuffed them and took them away. 'I'm going to kill you'Graham, 36, admitted to going on a weeklong rampage when he was 17 in which he shot two people and raped a woman.
"He told me, 'I have killed three people, and I'm going to kill you,'" said Lisa Blackburn, now 75, who was sexually assaulted and robbed by Graham during a five hour period on May 20, 1981. After he piled her valuables by the front door, Graham fell asleep in her bedroom. "So I took his gun, I took his clothes and called the police," Blackburn recalled. "When they came, they said (to Graham), 'We've been looking for you everywhere.'" Graham pleaded guilty to 10 counts of aggravated assault but denied killing Lambert. No physical evidence tied Graham to the killing of 53-year-old Lambert, and ballistics tests showed that the gun he had when he was arrested was not the murder weapon. Prosecutors based their murder case on the eyewitness testimony of Bernadine Skillern. She testified that she saw Graham clearly and watched him shoot Lambert.
System called flawedGraham's supporters contend that Skillern's identification was flawed because Graham's picture was the only one in a photo lineup that resembled her description of the gunman. Graham also said his original attorney, Ron Mock, was ineffective and failed to call six witnesses who either couldn't describe the killer or said he did not match Graham's description. Mock rested his case without calling any defense witnesses. He has been reprimanded or suspended by the bar several times. The 18-member Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which was appointed by Bush, decided not to recommend a 120-day reprieve, commutation to a lesser sentence, or a conditional pardon. The votes were 12-3 against a reprieve, 12-5 against commutation, and 17-0 against a pardon. One board member did not vote because of a death in the family. Bush could not, under Texas law, stop the execution without the board's permission. Roe Wilson, the assistant Harris County district attorney, said much of the attention to the Graham case had come about because of attempts by his attorneys to influence the media and by Bush's presidential candidacy.
"The jury decided in 1981 that he was guilty of this capital murder, and he was sentenced to death," Wilson said. "And over the past 19 years, that has been upheld by every single court that has looked at this case. So I don't think it should be tried by public opinion. And I think that the press attention is something that has just been generated by the defense to try to manipulate the outcome of the case." Graham's case became a major issue for Bush's presidential campaign, and hecklers disrupted a number of recent campaign events. Bush has been criticized for his strong support for the death penalty. Texas leads the nation in executions, with 222 people put to death since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Of those, 135 have taken place under Bush. CNN Correspondent Charles Zewe, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Texas executes Graham for 1981 murder despite his pleas of innocence RELATED SITES: Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Death Row | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Witnesses to the Gary Graham execution spoke
about what they saw at a press conference following
Graham's death by lethal injection.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush speaks about the
execution of Gary Graham.
