Dear comrades and friends,
Find enclosed an article on mentally retarded Afro-American man Elroy Chester, who is re-scheduled to be murdered in Texas on June 12th, 2013
“Smart Enough to Die. In 2002, the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants. Still, Texas finds a way”:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2013-04-19/smart-enough-to-die/
Find more information on the African American man at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGipgSzLrI
TEXAS: Chester Smarter Than Gov. Perry; Faces Execution June 12
http://www.freewoodpost.com/2013/04/20/texas-chester-smarter-than-gov-perry-faces-execution-june-12/
Continued Controversy over Texas Mental Retardation Evaluations
http://standdown.typepad.com/weblog/2013/04/continued-controversy-over-texas-mental-retardation-evaluations.html
… Now, Texas has devised a nearly impossible standard for mental retardation. State Attorney General Greg Abbot explained, “If a person convicted of capital murder can whoop our esteemed governor in a debate, he’s smart enough to die for his crimes.” … The State of Texas, however, is not swayed. “We got no problem killing a black convict who can outwit the governor in a debate, believe me, and it ain’t got a thing to do with race neither,” Abbot said. … While attorneys from CASE were recently able to push the execution date back from April 24 to June 12 due to Texas’ inability to correctly manage the technicalities of composing a death warrant, Chester’s objectively unconstitutional execution now appears to be inevitable. http://www.freewoodpost.com/2013/04/20/texas-chester-smarter-than-gov-perry-faces-execution-june-12/
For Chester, the clock is running out. Unless the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends relief, and Perry agrees, he will be put to death on June 12th, 2013.
I could not find any petition for Elroy Chester by now. Still, please contact the Clemency Section of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles: bpp-clemency@tdcj.state.tx.us and Governor Rick Perry: contact form: http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/ to stop the execution and commute the death penalty to life without parole!
Stop Texas’ route to “Siberia”* in murdering the disabled on death row!
Comradely,
Heinz
* Barrington Republican Martin Harty: “I wish we had a Siberia so we could ship them all off to freeze to death and die and clean up the population.” http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/03/11/nh-gop-senator-says-the-disabled-and-mentally-ill-are-%E2%80%98defective-people%E2%80%99-that-should-be-shipped-off-to-siberia/