FRANCES NEWTON IS INNOCENT !


STOP THE DEC. 1 EXECUTION NOW!


Frances Newton is scheduled to be the first African American woman executed in modern Texas history despite resounding questions of whether she is guilty and whether she received a fair trial. Almost half of those on Texas' death row are African American yet they are only 12 per cent of the population. Newton is from Harris County, where the Houston Police Crime Lab has botched so many cases that even the police chief and a state senator have asked the governor to halt executions from Harris County.


The facts:
Frances is likely innocent of murdering her husband and two small children. Her attorneys need time to fully investigate the crime.
Frances’ court appointed trial attorney, Ron Mock, did nothing to prepare for her trial. He interviewed no one and investigated nothing. He is the attorney that sent Shaka Sankofa, a.k.a. Gary Graham, to death row & he has been sanctioned by the State Bar of Texas at least 3 times and is no longer allowed to try death penalty cases.
Frances was shocked and horrified when she found the bodies of her children and husband after leaving the children with their father for a few hours, according to her cousin, who was with Frances when they discovered the bodies, as well as the police at the scene.
Frances told the police about a drug dealer named Charlie that her husband owed money to. No one ever investigated him.
Frances’ conviction rested in large part on the results of ballistics testing conducted by the now-discredited Houston Police Department's crime lab, which said that it was her gun that was used to murder the family.
Frances now has competent attorneys working on her case, including David Dow with the Innocence Network at the UH Law School and John LaGrappe. They have filed a petition with the Board of Pardons and Paroles asking for a 120-day stay which argues that the testimony of the state's trial witnesses, taken together, suggests that either Frances Newton was not in the apartment at the time of the shooting, or that if she was she would have had, at most, 20 minutes to shoot her husband and children, clean herself up, compose herself, and leave the apartment to go to her cousin's home. There was no blood found on Frances Newton's clothing, hands, or car, despite the fact that the victims had been shot at close range. No gunpowder residue was found on her hands or sweater. There was also no evidence that someone had undertaken a cleanup at the apartment.
What you can do to help:

Take Action at [url=">http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=239
Read National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Press Release at http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizati ... ase_KEY=11
Send an appeal to the head of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. In your appeal express concern about the reliability of Frances Newton's conviction and note that Frances Newton was prosecuted in Harris County and ballistics evidence central to the state's case was processed at the troubled Houston Police Department crime laboratory. Call on the Board to stop this execution by granting a 120-day reprieve to allow Frances Newton's claim of innocence to be properly investigated. She is not asking for a commutation as she is innocent. Send the appeal to:
Rissie Owens, Presiding Officer, Board of Pardons and Paroles, 1300 11th St., Suite 520, P.O. Box 599, Huntsville, TX 77342-0599 ~ Phone: 963-291-2161 Fax: 1 936 291 8367 CALL BY NOV. 29
Contact Governor Rick Perry and ask for a 120-day stay. Phone: 512-,463-1762 ~ Fax: 512-463-1849 ~ In Texas call for free at 1-800-252-9600
Media spots to watch and listen to:

Green Watch TV - Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 9 PM on cable access Channel 17 Topic: Radical Encuentro Camp, December 3-5 (

Associated Press
Frances Newton, convicted of killing her husband and two young children in April 1987, has maintained her innocence.
It was Frances Newton who first called 911 to report that her husband and two children had been killed, summoning sheriff's investigators to a bloody crime scene at her north Harris County apartment.

Authorities found her husband on a couch, shot in the head. Her son and daughter were in their beds, each shot in the chest.

Initially, police had no suspects. But 13 days later, Newton was arrested and charged with capital murder in the April 9, 1987, deaths of Adrian Newton, 23; their son, Alton, 7; and daughter, Farah, 2.

"I was so scared and confused. Not only was my family dead, but then they're charging me with murder," Newton, now 39, recalled recently, seated in a visitor's stall at the women's death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville.

After nearly 17 years of claiming innocence, Newton is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Wednesday. She would be the third woman executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.

Prosecutors said Newton killed her family because she wanted to collect a $100,000 life insurance payment.

Questions have been raised, however, about the quality of her legal defense and the reliability of forensic testing by the Houston Police Department crime lab, both of which have come under scrutiny in recent years, her attorneys said.

Newton does not claim to know who killed her family. But she says it may have been a drug dealer she knew only as Charlie, who was trying to collect a debt from her husband, a longtime drug addict.

State and federal judges have repeatedly rejected her claims that her case was never fully investigated because her lawyers failed to provide effective legal representation.


Court-appointed lawyerNewton could not afford to hire an attorney. The attorney appointed to handle her 1988 trial was longtime Harris County defense lawyer Ron Mock.


Mock has seen 16 clients sent to death row and frequently has been accused of doing shoddy work on capital cases, court records show. Newton said that, in the months leading up to the trial, Mock rarely spoke with her about her case.

In a court hearing shortly before the trial, Mock said he had not filed any motions, spoken with any witnesses or submitted a list of possible witnesses to subpoena.

Catherine Coulter, the attorney appointed to work with Mock, signed an affidavit last week agreeing with Newton's attorneys that she and Mock provided ineffective legal assistance.

For example, she said, Mock told her he had thoroughly investigated the physical and scientific evidence in the case, but later admitted he had not.

"It is extraordinarily difficult to effectively represent someone when your co-counsel is not being truthful," Coulter stated in her affidavit.

The document will be attached to Newton's final appeal, which is pending before the state Court of Criminal Appeals. Newton also has a clemency petition pending before the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.


'Tired' attorneyMock said in a recent interview that he felt professionally burned out at the time of Newton's trial and was not enthusiastic about her case.


"I did 19 capital cases and I was tired," he said earlier this year. "I didn't want that case. (Judge) Charlie Hearn asked me to take it."

The case was an uphill battle, Mock recalled.

"I had nothing, really, to work with other than Frances' saying that she did not do it."

Mock has been barred from accepting court-appointed capital cases since 2001, when state legislators enacted landmark reforms in the way indigent legal defense is handled in Texas.

Fears about poor legal representation for capital defendants helped lead to adoption of the Fair Defense Act, which raised the standards for lawyers on death-penalty cases and increased the resources available for their investigations.


Ballistics tests questionedIn Newton's case, prosecutors said the murder weapon was a .25-caliber automatic pistol that was found in a blue bag in an abandoned house near her apartment.


Newton's cousin told authorities that she saw Newton hide the gun in the house.

Newton explained that she had found the unfamiliar gun at home and removed it as a safety precaution. Her husband sometimes carried a weapon and she did not want him to get into trouble, she said.

Newton's attorneys recently questioned the ballistics tests on the gun. The tests were conducted by the Houston Police Department crime lab, which suspended DNA testing in December 2002 because of problems including an undertrained staff, shoddy scientific technique and conditions ripe for evidence contamination.

Court records show that tests also found traces of possible gunpowder on the dress Newton wore. But her attorneys say that may have been garden manure, which, like gunpowder, has nitrates and can trigger a false positive test result.

Initial tests on Newton's hands on the night of the crime found no evidence that she had fired a gun, court records show.

Prosecutors have opposed requests for new testing on the dress, despite new technology that could differentiate between gunpowder and manure.


Unresolved issuesSeveral days after the slayings, an anonymous caller reported seeing an unfamiliar black man in a red truck outside the Newtons' apartment on the night of the killings. The tip included a license plate number registered to a local man, but the tip was not investigated, Newton's attorneys said.


Newton's cousin said Newton appeared surprised and distraught when they returned from shopping and found the bodies. They immediately called police, the cousin said.

Other aspects of the crime, including chronology placing Newton with relatives about the time of the murders, suggests she was wrongly convicted, said attorney John LaGrappe, who began representing her several months ago.

"At no point in the past 18 years has anyone investigated whether Frances Newton is telling the truth. Not the police, not the Harris County prosecutors, not Frances' lawyers," LaGrappe said. "This was flawed from the beginning and she has never received a fair day in court."

Roe Wilson, the Harris County prosecutor who has opposed Newton's appeals, said all of her claims were reviewed by numerous state and federal courts. There is no reason to believe Newton did not kill her family, she said.

"They are just rehashing and re-arguing old evidence," Wilson said. "The only thing unusual about this case is that Frances Newton is a female.

"The fact of the matter is that women don't get a free pass on capital murder. They are just as subject to the law as men are."

andrew.tilghman@chron.com





HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Front page
This article is: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/292248

TEXAS----impending female execution

Courts, parole board mulling fate of condemned woman


Condemned inmate Frances Newton awaited word Monday from the courts and
the Texas parole board on whether she could become the 4th woman put to
death in the state since the Civil War.

Newton, 39, is set for lethal injection Wednesday for the April 1987
shooting deaths of her husband and 2 children, slayings prosecutors said
she committed to collect $100,000 in insurance benefits on policies she
had purchased.

The Houston woman testified at her trial she was not responsible for the
murders at the family's Harris County apartment. She reiterated her
innocence recently from prison in Gatesville in central Texas, where the
state's 9 condemned women are housed.

"I didn't murder my husband and my children and I wasn't going to plea
bargain for anything, and I still won't," Newton told The Associated Press
in an interview.

Newton was offered a life prison term before her capital murder trial in
exchange for a guilty plea, a deal she said she rejected. Under guidelines
at the time, she could have been nearly eligible for parole by now.

Her attorneys, arguing she was innocent, asked state and federal courts
and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to delay the execution. They
want time to conduct new ballistics tests on the .25-caliber pistol
prosecutors said was the murder weapon and chemical analysis on the
clothing she was wearing April 7, 1987, the evening of the slayings. They
also argued her trial lawyers were incompetent and failed to properly
investigate the case.

Harris County prosecutors have opposed the requests, saying the claims
raised no new issues and were resolved at her trial, where a jury decided
she killed her husband, Adrian, 23, and children Alton, 7, and Farrah, 20
months, and should be executed. The U.S. Supreme Court last month declined
to review her case.

Newton asked for no last meal for Wednesday afternoon and designated her
parents, 2 sisters and a brother, along with a spiritual adviser, as the
people she wanted to witness her death, Texas Department of Criminal
Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Monday.

Newton was to be moved at an undisclosed time about 140 miles from the
Mountain View Unit just north of Gatesville to the Goree Unit south of
Huntsville, where she will be allowed visitors early Wednesday. Later that
day, she'll be taken to the Huntsville Unit in downtown Huntsville, where
executions are carried out.

The only change in the death house routine would be the addition of women
corrections staffers, Lyons said.

"Usually there are no females back there," she said.

Newton would be the 24th Texas inmate executed this year, equaling the
total of executions in the state last year. A record 40 were injected in
2000.

She would be the 3rd woman in modern times executed in Texas, where 336
prisoners have been put to death since 1982, and the 1st black woman in
the state executed. Nationally, she'd be the 11th woman executed and the
first since Florida injected a woman in October 2002.

Texas authorities executed Karla Faye Tucker, 38, in February 1998 for the
pickax slaying of 2 people at a Houston apartment in 1983. Then in
February 2000, Betty Lou Beets, 62, was put to death for the slaying of
her husband to collect his life insurance and pension.

Before them, the only other woman known to be executed in Texas was
Chipita Rodriguez, hanged in 1863 by authorities in in San Patricio County
for killing a horse trader.

(source: Associated Press)

Delay woman's execution, board says

11:35 AM CST on Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles voted Tuesday to recommend Gov. Rick Perry
delay the scheduled execution this week of condemned
inmate Frances Newton for 120 days.

Newton, 39, is set for lethal injection Wednesday for
the 1987 shooting deaths of her husband and two
children at their Harris County apartment. In Texas,
she could become the first black woman executed and
only the fourth woman executed since the Civil War.

In a 5-1 vote, the board agreed with Newton and her
attorneys that she should be given the extra time so
her attorneys can investigate claims that she may be
innocent, that evidence against her should be retested
and that she had poor legal representation at her
trial.

Perry can agree with the board or ignore their
recommendation and allow the execution.

There was no immediate comment from the governor's
office.

"I'm cautious until the governor endorses the
recommendation," said David Dow, one of Newton's
lawyers. "There's been a previous clemency request
he's not endorsed, so I'm a little bit nervous."

Earlier this year Perry rejected a clemency
recommendation for mentally ill death row inmate
Kelsey Patterson, who was later executed.

Prosecutors said Newton killed her husband, Adrian,
23, and two children, Alton, 7, and Farrah, 20 months,
to collect $100,000 in insurance benefits on policies
she recently had purchased.

An appeal seeking a delay in the punishment was
dismissed Monday by the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals. A similar appeal remained before the 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

"I didn't murder my husband and my children and I
wasn't going to plea bargain for anything, and I still
won't," Newton told The Associated Press in a recent
interview at the Mountain View Unit near Gatesville,
where the state's nine condemned women are imprisoned.

Newton was offered a life prison term before her
capital murder trial in exchange for a guilty plea, a
deal she said she rejected. Under guidelines at the
time, she could have been nearly eligible for parole
by now.

Her appeals attorneys, arguing she could be innocent,
want time to conduct new ballistics tests on the
.25-caliber pistol prosecutors said was the murder
weapon and chemical analysis on the clothing she was
wearing April 7, 1987, the evening of the slayings.
They also argued her trial lawyers were incompetent
and failed to properly investigate the case.

Prosecutors have opposed the requests, saying the
claims raised no new issues and were resolved at her
trial.

In Huntsville, preparations began for Newton's lethal
injection.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman
Michelle Lyons said prison officials were informed
Newton wanted no last meal served to her Wednesday
afternoon in a small holding cell just outside the
death chamber. She also designated her parents, two
sisters and a brother, along with a spiritual adviser,
to witness her death.

Newton was to be moved at an undisclosed time about
140 miles from Gatesville to the Goree Unit south of
Huntsville, where she will be allowed visitors early
Wednesday. Later that day, she'll be taken to the
Huntsville Unit in downtown Huntsville.

The only change in the death house routine would be
the addition of women corrections staffers, Lyons
said.

"Usually there are no females back there," she said.

Newton would be the 24th Texas inmate executed this
year, equaling the total of executions in the state
last year. A record 40 were injected in 2000.

She would be the third woman in modern times executed
in Texas, where 336 prisoners have been put to death
since 1982. Nationally, she'd be the 11th woman
executed and the first since Florida injected a woman
in October 2002.
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... .4cc4.html

=====

Killer's in-laws reject claims----Latest round of denials from condemned
woman reopens family's wounds


Virginia Louis does not want to see her daughter-in-law executed on
Wednesday night, but she said there is no question in her mind that
Frances Newton murdered her family in 1987.

"I know she's guilty; there is no doubt in my mind," said Louis, a
61-year-old retired North Forest school bus driver and mother of the man
Newton was convicted of killing.

Newton, 39, is scheduled for a lethal injection Wednesday for the April
1987 murders of her husband, Adrian Newton, and her 2 children, 7-year-old
Alton and Farrah Elaine, 21 months.

Frances Newton has repeatedly denied killing her family, saying a drug
dealer named "Charlie" may have been responsible. She said her husband
owed the man money.

State and federal courts have dismissed Newton's claims, and for the
family of Adrian Newton, the latest round of denials has been frustrating
and painful.

"My son didn't use drugs. Why does she keep saying this Charlie? Who is
Charlie? There ain't no Charlie. She's Charlie," Louis said in an
interview Monday.

The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals on Monday rejected Newton's 11th-hour
appeal, and a similar effort remains pending before the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals. Her petition for a 120-day reprieve is also pending
before the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Prosecutors said Newton killed her family to claim $100,000 in life
insurance money. Evidence at the 1988 trial showed Newton forged her
husband's signature on life insurance policies bought several months
before the deaths.

In the weeks before the slayings, Frances began to use drugs and date
another man, and the 2 together may have plotted the deaths in her north
Harris County apartment, family members said.

"I think there was a second person involved, and it was that guy she was
dating," Tom Louis of Houston, Adrian Newton's brother, said Monday.

"My instincts tell me that she didn't kill the kids. She killed my
brother, and then the other guy killed the kids because they saw the whole
thing," Tom Louis said.

Adrian Newton's family members did not testify at the 1988 trial.

Prosecutors said the murder weapon was a .25-caliber automatic pistol that
was found in a blue bag in an abandoned house near her apartment. A
witness saw Newton hide the gun in the house.

Newton said she had found the unfamiliar gun at home and removed it as a
safety precaution.

Key evidence at Newton's trial included ballistics evidence linking the
gun to the murder. Newton's attorneys have raised questions about the
reliability of testing by the Houston Police Department crime lab, which
have come under scrutiny in recent years for providing inaccurate evidence
at criminal trials.

Newton has lodged numerous complaints about Ron Mock, her court-appointed
defense attorney. Catherine Coulter, the attorney appointed to work with
Mock, signed an affidavit last week agreeing with Newton's attorneys that
she and Mock provided ineffective legal assistance.

Prosecutors say state and federal appeals courts have thoroughly reviewed
all of Newton's claims and have no doubt of Newton's guilt.

Several of Adrian Newton's cousins may attend the execution, but his
immediate family will not.

"We're all opposed to the death penalty," Tom Louis said. "In my opinion,
if someone commits a crime, they should have to live with their mistakes."

(source: Houston Chronicle)

Dec. 1, 2004, 10:55AM

Board recommends stay of execution
If reprieve isn't given, woman will be executed tonight
Victim's mom objects to execution
By ANDREW TILGHMAN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Carlos Chronicle file
Frances Newton in a court appearance last summer.
The Harris County woman condemned for the murders of her husband and two children is waiting today to hear if Gov. Rick Perry will go along with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and halt her execution this evening.

In a rare move, the board voted 5-1 Tuesday to recommend a reprieve for 39-year-old Frances Newton. Perry was still considering the recommendation Tuesday evening, a spokeswoman said. If he does not grant a stay, the execution would be carried out after 6 p.m. today.

Newton's attorneys sought a 120-day delay to further examine her claims that she is innocent of the April 1987 murders of her husband, Adrian Newton, and their children, Alton, 7, and Farrah Elaine, 21 months.

They want to retest the ballistics evidence initially tested by the Houston Police Department crime lab, which has faced criticism in recent years for providing inaccurate scientific information in some criminal trials.

Newton's attorneys also want new tests on a dress she wore the night of the murders. Authorities said tests revealed chemical evidence that Newton had fired a gun. But defense lawyers say the dress was touched by fertilizer, which could cause misleading test results under the technology used at the time.

"I think the (parole) board recognized that the evidence against Frances Newton is thin and some additional steps could be taken to conclusively demonstrate that she is innocent," said David Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston and one of Newton's attorneys.

Prison officials transferred Newton on Tuesday from the Mountain View Unit near Gatesville, where eight other condemned women are housed, to the Goree Unit near Huntsville. Executions are carried out at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.

Perry can grant one 30-day reprieve. Any further action, such as a commutation or pardon, would come only after another recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Condemned woman deserves a fair trial

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Perhaps the reality sunk in: Texas was about to about to execute a
woman whose defense lawyer admitted that he was too tired and burned
out to put up a proper defense in her 1988 trial.

Or maybe it was the evidence that caused the Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles to recommend staying the scheduled execution of Frances Newton.
After all, the ballistics and chemical evidence that tied the murder
weapon to Newton were the work of the discredited Houston Police
Department crime lab. The lab had been shut down for shoddy work,
possible evidence contamination and undertrained staff.

Whatever its reasons, the board voted 5-1 to recommend a 120-day
reprieve so Newton's claims of innocence could be investigated. It is a
good decision, but one that Gov. Rick Perry must ratify or the
execution will take place as scheduled today. If executed, Newton would
be the third woman executed in Texas since the state resumed capital
punishment in 1982.

Newton, 39, of Harris County, was convicted of killing her husband and
two young children in 1987. According to prosecutors, Newton killed her
family to collect a $100,000 life insurance policy.

It is far from certain that Newton got a fair trial. Her
court-appointed lawyer, Ron Mock, barely put on a defense. Mock said he
had not filed any motions, spoken with any witnesses nor submitted a
list of possible witnesses to subpoena. Mock's co-counsel, Catherine
Coulter, said Mock admitted he had not investigated the physical and
scientific evidence in Newton's case as he first said he had.

"I did 19 capital cases and I was tired," Mock told the Houston
Chronicle earlier this year. "I didn't want that case. (Judge) Charlie
Hearn asked me to take it."

Mock has faced numerous allegations of shoddy work and, since 2001, has
been barred from accepting court-appointed capital murder cases. That
was the year the Legislature established basic standards for
court-appointed attorneys and passed reforms regarding the way indigent
legal cases are handled in the state.

Prosecutors said that Newton killed her family with a .25-caliber
pistol found in a blue bag in an abandoned house near her apartment.
She doesn't deny removing the gun from her home, but she said she did
so for safety reasons. Her attorneys question ballistics testing that
identified it as the murder weapon and forensic tests that found traces
of gunpowder on her dress.

The lab that processed the ballistic and chemical evidence suspended
DNA testing in 2002 amid allegations of shoddy work and contaminated
evidence.

Misplaced evidence in more than 8,000 criminal cases going back years
caused Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt to urge a moratorium on the
execution of any Houston convict until questions about the evidence
could be resolved.

Even if there weren't questions about the lab work, newer and better
technology could prove whether the traces on Newton's dress were
gunpowder or manure, but prosecutors have refused to do such tests.

The parole board's overwhelming recommendation to wait 120 days is both
reasonable and logical given the quality of her defense and the
questionable lab work. Even if Newton is guilty, she deserves a fair
trial.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/conten ... _edit.html

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Your opinion counts
If you believe that Frances Newton should not be
executed Wednesday, please call NOW:
Rick Perry--Governor's Office: 1-512-463-2000
(for in-staters, see below)

The person who answers may say as she did with me:
"I'm taking numbers for and against..." AFTER I had
voted & clarified, she said," So you are FOR the 120
day stay." So, be sure you don't say just FOR or
AGAINST...(thinking she would know you meant against
the execution--because your meaning may be twisted.
Please say something like: "I Not for the execution of
Frances Newton, I am FOR the 120 day stay of the
execution of Frances Newton for the following
reasons..." You may wish to add briefly the
following,"In my opinion, she should NOT be executed
because..."

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
U.S.: Halt Execution of Texas Woman
Conviction Rests on Evidence Tested by Discredited
Houston Crime Lab
(Washington, November 30, 2004) The state of Texas
should halt the execution of Frances Newton, scheduled
to be put to death on Wednesday for a triple murder in
1987, Human Rights Watch said today. Newton, a
39-year-old African-American woman, was convicted
largely on the basis of evidence tests conducted by
the widely discredited Harris County crime lab in
Houston.

“Governor Perry and the Texas parole board should stay
the execution to allow Ms. Newton’s attorneys to
investigate new evidence that she may be innocent,”
said Wendy Patten, U.S. advocacy director at Human
Rights Watch. "Considering the controversy surrounding
Houston’s crime lab, it is the only reasonable choice
to avoid sending a possibly innocent woman to her
death."

Earlier this month Houston’s chief of police, Harold
Hurtt, called on the state to delay all executions in
cases where the troubled lab’s evidence was used. The
Harris County crime lab, responsible for
investigations in Houston, has been surrounded by
controversy since early 2003, when hundreds of missing
boxes were found that pertained to 8,000 criminal
cases. An independent audit also revealed alarming
defects in the crime lab’s DNA analysis.

The Houston Police Department is still reviewing the
evidence uncovered in 2003. Recent cases have shown
that the problems at the crime lab include missing
evidence, defective DNA analysis and inaccurate
ballistic analysis. Already one Harris County case has
been overturned based on the prosecution’s use of
incorrect DNA evidence and in a second case a weapons
examiner from the lab admitted the wrong bullet was
tested. Many other cases are under appeal or are being
investigated by the district attorney’s office.

The case against Frances Newton rests largely on
ballistic evidence tests conducted in the Harris
County lab. From the outset, Ms. Newton has maintained
her innocence, and there were no eyewitnesses to the
crime. Without the ballistic evidence, it is unlikely
that Ms. Newton would have been convicted of these
murders.

Ms. Newton, like so many on death row in the United
States, suffered from ineffective assistance of
counsel. Her state-appointed trial attorney failed to
conduct even a basic investigation on her behalf and
presented no witnesses at trial in Ms. Newton’s
defense.

Texas state law gives the governor the power to grant
a 30-day reprieve to those facing execution,
regardless of the recommendation of the Board of
Pardons and Parole. The Board can also recommend
clemency or, in exceptional circumstances, a longer
period of reprieve. If the state grants the 120-day
reprieve requested by Ms. Newton’s attorneys, they
would have time to conduct a thorough investigation of
her case, a right she has been denied thus far,
including new ballistic testing in a reliable lab. If
Newton’s death sentence is carried out, she would be
the third woman put to death in Texas since the state
resumed executions in 1982.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all
circumstances. The death penalty is a form of
punishment unique in its cruelty and finality. The
intrinsic fallibility of all criminal justice systems
assures that even when full due process of law is
respected, innocent persons may be executed.
-------------------------------------------------------
Related Material

More on the death penalty in the U.S.
Thematic Page

Letter to Texas on Behalf of Frances Newton
Letter, November 30, 2004


-----------------------------------------------------

From:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/11/29/usdom9741.htm

© Copyright 2003, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth
Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
--- ncadp@democracyinaction.org wrote:


YOU MAY ALSO BE WILLING TO WRITE A LETTER.
SEE: National Coalition Against the Death Penalty
http://www.NCADP.org and click on imminent executions
and then on Francis Newton: If you scroll below, there
is a place for you to sign a letter.

> Gov. Perry,
>
> I am writing to you today about the upcoming
> execution of Frances Newton. The murder of Ms.
> Newton's husband and two children was a tragic
> event, compounded by the fact that Ms. Newton, was
> convicted of the crime.
>
> Ms. Newton has always maintained her innocence in
> the murders of her family. Her husband, a drug
> dealer, was known to be indebted to his supplier,
> yet the police failed to follow up on any leads that
> this may have been a drug-related crime.
>
> The ballistics evidence in the case has come into
> question after the Houston Police Department's crime
> lab much-publicized failure in handling evidence.
> Tests for gunpowder residue on Ms. Newton's hands
> conducted only hours after the crime was committed
> tested negative. It is not possible to wash this
> type of residue from ones hands so quickly after a
> gun is fired. Additionally, the state's ballistics
> expert who stated that the gun Newton had procession
> of was the murder weapon did not present any
> evidence at trial.
>
> The prosecution alleged that Ms. Newton killed her
> family for life insurance proceeds, yet her son was
> not even insured.
>
> The state's case against Ms. Newton is extremely
> weak. She was convicted and has lost her appeals
> largely because she has not received effective
> assistance of counsel at a single stage of her trial
> or appeals process. There has yet to be a thorough
> and independent investigation of her case.
>
> There are many unanswered questions in this case,
> and Ms. Newton's attorneys have requested a 120 day
> reprieve to conduct an investigation.
>
> This woman has already lost her family. Must she
> also lose her life to a state-sanctioned system of
> injustice? Please, at minimum allow the 120-day
> reprieve for the investigation her attorneys need
> and deserve.
>
> Thank you for your consideration.
>
> Connie Nash
> 1042 Probart St. Ext.
> Brevard, 28712

-----------------------------------------------------Governor
Rick Perry and his staff welcome your comments and
concerns.

Although the popularity of electronic mail prevents us
from responding to every message, the Governor values
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Citizen's Assistance Hotline: 1-800-843-5789 |
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Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, Texas
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Dear Friends,

There's 60 more days left of Frances' stay of execution. The attorneys
are doing their job and getting the supposed murder weapon tested.

The Committee to Free Frances Newton has lots of work to do, also. We
have had two successful meetings to begin planning activities to create
awareness about Frances' case of innocence and put pressure on the
powers that be to let this innocent woman go!

We went to TSU and distributed hundreds of fliers to folks out to hear
Danny Glover at the Trans Africa program. We had an entry in the MLK
parade that the Black Heritage society held. Hundreds of fliers were
also distributed there.

Regina, Angie and Ellen took hundreds of fliers to Austin this weekend
to an anti-death penalty conference on Saturday.

Massoud, a wonderful graphic artist, has volunteered to create an image
of Frances that will be used on posters, t-shirts, etc. Thanks so much
to Massoud!!

Now we are working on two programs for Black History Month--one at the
Highland Park and one at Frances' church. Children from the neighborhood
will participate and speakers include Iva Jewel Nelms, Frances' mother
and Lee Bolton, Nanon Williams' mother. The events are titled "Black
History and the Death Penalty and You."

_*Next meeting is next Thursday, Feb. 3, 6-8 PM, at Highland Park, 3316
DeSoto, east of West TC Jester between Tidwell and Little York. Please
join us!!
*_
The following is the text of the latest flyer that is being distributed.
I will also put an attachment with this so if you want to make copies
and distribute them, you can do so. The photo won't come out otherwise.

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!
Gloria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRANCES NEWTON IS INNOCENT!

FRANCES HAS BEEN ON DEATH ROW FOR 17 YEARS
FOR A CRIME SHE DID NOT COMMIT

* Frances’ husband and two small children were murdered
execution-style, likely by a drug dealer, in 1987.

* Frances’ conviction rested largely on the results of ballistics
testing conducted by the now-discredited Houston Police Department
crime lab, which said that it was her gun that was used to murder
her family.

* Frances’ court-appointed trial attorney, Ron Mock, did nothing to
prepare for trial. He interviewed no one & investigated nothing.
He is the same attorney that sent an innocent Shaka Sankofa,
a.k.a. Gary Graham, to his execution. The State Bar of Texas has
sanctioned mock many, many times.

* There was no blood found on Frances Newton's clothing, gun, hands,
or car, despite the fact that the victims had been shot at close
range. No gunpowder residue was found on her hands or sweater.
There was also no evidence that someone had undertaken a cleanup
at the apartment.

HOW CAN YOU HELP FREE FRANCES?

1. Join the Committee to Free Frances Newton—next meeting is
Thursday, February 3, at the Highland Park Community Building, at
3316 DeSoto from 6-8 PM. DeSoto is ½ block east of West T.C.
Jester between Tidwell and Little York in the Acres Homes
neighborhood.
2. Help promote “Black History and the Death Penalty,” two community
celebrations /forums in February featuring Iva Jewel Nelms,
Frances’ mother; Lee Bolton, Nanon Williams ‘ mother, and youth
from Acres Homes. Frances and Nanon are both innocent, sent to
death row by the Houston Police Crime Lab.
3. Help leaflet churches on Sundays, either your own or join us in
Frances’ neighborhood to flyer people leaving services. Call Njeri
to sign up at the numbers below.

COMMITTEE TO FREE FRANCES NEWTON
Contact Njeri Shakur at 713-222-0749 or at SHAPE Center – 713-521-0749
Next meeting is Thurs., Feb. 3, at Highland Park Community Center, 3316
DeSoto 6-8 PM