****please circulate widely****
CALL, FAX, AND EMAIL TEXAS AUTHORITIES TELL THEM „STOP THE EXECUTION OF JUSTIN FULLER! EXECUTION DATE SET FOR AUGUST 24
SEND AN AUTOMATED FAX OR EMAIL AT:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/tmn/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4941&t=cedp.dwt
GOV. RICK PERRY PHONE: 512-463-2000 FAX: 512-463-1849
CONTACT THE GOVERNOR AT:
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
TEXAS BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES PHONE: 512-406-5852 FAX: 512-467-0945
My friend Justin Fuller is scheduled to be executed on August 24th. Justin and I have been writing for about 8 years and visiting for at least 6 years. Over the years we have grown to know one another well. He has been a good friend to me and I hope I have been to him. He is a smart, generous and beautiful young man. I'd like to do whatever I can to try to save his life, and I want you all to help me do that.
His case has numerous problems, like most death row cases. The main issues in the case have to do with incompetent or ineffective assistance of counsel. I have attached a fact sheet that Justin and I put together so that folks can get some idea of the issues. The two things that stand out are 1) the fact that the prosecution offered Justin a plea before trial and his defense lawyers never told him about it and 2) his state habeas lawyer filed a writ for Justin that was actually a writ he had done for a previous client named Henry Dunn. He didn't even change the name to Justin's in parts of the writ, and it contained facts that had to do with Henry's case, not Justin's.
Justin has admitted his involvement in the crime that landed him on death row. But he has always maintained that he was not the triggerman in the murder. Four people took part in a robbery, including Justin, a man named Samhermundre Wideman and a young woman named Elaine Hays. Justin claims Wideman was the shooter, a claim substantiated by Hays. She has stated that she believes Wideman was the shooter. She says that after Fuller and Wideman returned to the vehicle, where she had been waiting for the two men, Wideman said, „It felt good to shoot someone. The state of Texas denied Justin‚s appeal arguing that the state can still execute „non-triggermen.
The case is at the U.S. Supreme Court right now. So far all the state and federal courts have denied all of Justin's claims. The Supreme Court will only decide if they will hear his case when they come back into session. If they do, Justin will get a stay If they don't, the case goes back down to the state courts for the 11th hour appeals. If that happens, Justin‚s lawyers will file a claim about lethal injection as well, and there could be a stay based on that.
If Justin's execution goes forward, he has asked me to be a witness. This means I would travel to Huntsville and have to will have to watch them put my friend to death, something I cannot even imagine. When I visited him this week, he told me about how he had to ask his parents to begin to make funeral arrangements. Meanwhile, this is a healthy man, only 28 years old. It is so sick, I can hardly stand to think about it.
I am asking everyone to please send a fax / call / email to the Governor of Texas and the Board of Pardon and Parole, asking them to stop this execution. If there isn't a stay, I am asking folks in Austin and Huntsville to participate in a protest against Justin's execution
Please take the time to contact these people. The phone numbers are listed below, as well as an option to send a fax and/or and email requesting a stay. In addition, please check out an interview with Justin conducted by fellow activist and Texas death row prisoner Tony Ford at:
http://www.myspace.com/tonyegbunaford999075
And sign a petition for Justin at:
http://www.ncadp.org//about_us.html
--Lily Mae Hughes,
Campaign to End the Death Penalty,
Austin, Texas
------ End of Forwarded Message
Informant: Julien Ball
