Le procureur qui a condamné Anthony Graves à mort est radié du barreau

Anthony Graves condamné à mort innocenté le 27 octobre 2010 a déposé plainte contre le procureur, Charles Sebesta, l’homme qui a utilisé toutes les manœuvres illégales possibles pour convaincre un jury à le condamner à mort en 1994.

Le 12 Juin 2015, Sebesta a été radié du barreau. Avec l’aide de ses avocats, Anthony s’est battu pour obtenir non seulement une compensation financière mais également la radiation de l’ancien procureur qui ne pourra plus nuire.

liens en anglais:

http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/ex-da-who-sent-exoneree-anthony-graves-death-row-disbarred

http://m.dailyjournal.net/view/story/c89ac7cb62c7460586453d2d22caed2f/US--Exonerated-Man-Disbarment

 

Death Before Dying: Death Row Exoneree on Solitary Confinement

http://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights-capital-punishment/when-i-was-death-row-i-saw-bunch-dead-men-walking-solitary et http://www.aclu.org/deathrowsolitary video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjXfc888pxQ When I Was on Death Row, I Saw a Bunch of Dead Men Walking. Solitary Confinement Killed Everything Inside Them. By Anthony Graves, Death Row Exonoree #138 When I was on death row, I saw guys come to prison sane and leave this world insane, talking nonsense on the execution gurney. I am death row exoneree #138. There are 12 more people like me from Texas. Twelve people who spent years of their lives locked alone in concrete cages waiting to die before they were set free, exonerated for their innocence. Eleven people have committed suicide on Texas' death row. All because of the conditions. When I was sentenced to death, I did not know that this sentence would also mean that I would have 12 years without any human contact, i.e. my mother, my son, my friends. All those people were stripped from my life because of this injustice. I did not know it would mean 12 years of having my meals slid through a small slot in a steel door like an animal. I did not know it would mean 12 years alone in a cage the size of a parking spot, sleeping on concrete steel bunk and alone for 22 to 24 hours a day. All for a crime I did not commit. The injustice. For me and the 400 other prisoners on Texas' death row while I was there, a death sentence meant a double punishment. We spent years locked alone in a tiny, concrete cage in solitary confinement, with guys going insane, dropping their appeals, doing everything they could to check out of this place before we were ever strapped to an execution gurney. All because of the conditions. I am writing today because the ACLU has put out an important new paper about what it does to people to lock them alone in cages on death row. They found that over 93% of states lock away their death row prisoners for over 22 hours a day. Nearly a third of death row prisoners live in cages where their toilet is an arm's length away from their bed. Sixty-percent of people on death row have no windows or natural light. Solitary confinement is like living in a dark hole. People walk over the hole and you shout from the bottom, but nobody hears you. You start to play tricks with your mind just to survive. This is no way to live. I saw the people living on death row fall apart. One guy suffered some of his last days smearing feces, lying naked in the recreation yard, and urinating on himself. I saw guys who dropped their appeals and elected to die because of the intolerable conditions. To sum it up, I saw a bunch of dead men walking because of the conditions that killed everything inside of them. And they were just waiting to lie down. After I got out, I have tried to use my time to raise awareness about these conditions. I am currently working on a book and traveling the globe trying to share my message and educate people about the effects of solitary confinement. I have created AnthonyBelieves.com, which is my consulting firm that I use to help attorneys, nonprofit organizations, etc. I am asking for your support in my endeavors to bring attention to such inhumane issues by going to my website and ordering anything from my store to help offset my travel expenses. There's also a petition on my webpage that I am asking 10 million people around the world to sign in solidarity with me as I stand up for justice. Please help me and the ACLU get the word out about these conditions. Our death penalty system is broken in this country – it is applied unfairly against people. When you have a broken system, innocent people like me can end up on trial for their life. And subjecting anyone in prison to solitary confinement is torture. I am speaking on experience. Many of these same people are returning to our society, and when they do they come with all the baggage we put on them in the system. This keeps the rate of recidivism high. In this country, we should be doing better than that. We should not have a criminal justice system turned into a criminal by the way we treat our citizens. Even when we do not like people or believe they have done something wrong, our emotions should not govern our society. We should be making laws from a rational perspective. We have to be above the criminal by keeping our system humane. Everyone should be treated like a human being. This is America. Please share the new video I recorded for the ACLU to help get the word out about the double punishment of solitary confinement on death row. And make sure to read the ACLU's new report. Also please check out AnthonyBelieves.com and give me your support while I cross the county and try to educate people about the inhumane treatment in our criminal justice system. Thank you and best wishes. For more on the double punishment of solitary confinement on death row, read the ACLU's report A Death Before Dying.

Rick Perry , gouverneur du Texas, 234 exécutions ( Lemonde.fr)

Rick Perry et ses 234 exécutions

Le fait que le "score" de Rick Perry au Texas -234 exécutions depuis qu'il a succédé à George Bush comme gouverneur de l'Etat en décembre 2000- ait été chaudement applaudi pendant le dernier débat des présidentiables républicains, en a choqué quelques uns.

Dont Anthony Graves, l'un des 12 condamnés à mort innocentés au Texas depuis 1973, dont cinq sous Rick Perry. "Comment peut-on applaudir la mort", s'est-il interrogé lors d'une conférence de presse:

Anthony Graves n'avait pas regardé le débat du 7 septembre en Californie mais il a lu le compte-rendu dans les journaux le lendemain.

Alors que Brian Williams, le présentateur de NBC, posait la question, classique, de la peine de mort au Texas, Etat qui représente 40 % des exécutions aux Etats-Unis  (473 exécutions depuis 1976), des applaudissements nourris ont éclaté dans le public. Brian Williams a alors demandé à Rick Perry comment il interprétait cette "dynamique". "Americans understand justice", a répondu le candidat.

Anthony Graves a été libéré en 2010 après 18 ans en prison dont 12 dans les couloirs de la mort. Certains, comme Rick Perry, estiment que son cas montre que le système fonctionne, mais il a tendance à penser plutôt l'inverse. D'autant que le doute existe sur les exécutions d'innocents, dans deux cas au moins.
L'ancien condamné a été d'autant plus étonné de la réponse de Rick Perry que le gouverneur avait soutenu sa demande de compensation, après sa libération. L'assemblée du Texas lui a accordé 1 million de dollars de dédommagements.
Pour son premier débat, Rick Perry était manifestement venu avec quelques gros bras, et il avait décidé de ne pas se laisser intimider ("stick to his gunS"). Il a laissé passer l'occasion d'une réponse un tout petit peu plus nuancée. Depuis 1999, la peine de mort a reculé de plus de la moitié aux Etats-Unis, de même que les condamnations à mort.
Même au Texas, le nombre de condamnations a reculé de 80 % par rapport à 1999. Une peine de substitution ("life without parole") a été introduite en 2005.

Lire l'extrait du débat entre Brian Williams et Rick Perry :

WILLIAMS: Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you...
(APPLAUSE)
Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?
PERRY: No, sir. I've never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which -- when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that's required.
But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed.
WILLIAMS: What do you make of...
(APPLAUSE)
What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here, the mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause?
PERRY: I think Americans understand justice. I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of -- of cases, supportive of capital punishment. When you have committed heinous crimes against our citizens -- and it's a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don't want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice.

Anthony Graves, condamné à mort innocenté à Lyon le 21 Mai

Une bonne nouvelle ! Anthony Graves, condamné à mort nord - américain, innocenté récemment termine sa tournée en Europe par un court séjour en France. Une conférence aura lieu à Lyon le samedi 21 mai de 18h à 20 h à la salle Camille Neil - 37 rue Félix Brun  LYON 7- 

Venez et amenez des amis!
Autre nouvelle : un documentaire (en américain) a été diffusé sur CBS dans le cadre de l'émission, 48 Hours Mystery : Grave injustice- samedi 23  avril . Ce documentaire en anglais est très complet et il est accessibles sur internet : www.cbsnews.com (émission 48 hours mystery)
Vous trouverez tous les informations sur ces événements et le dossier complet d'Anthony Graves en français sur le nouveau blog que je viens de créer pour remplacer notre ancien site web.
http://anthonygravesfriends.blogspot.com

Death row inmate freed after 18 years speaks out

La conférence de presse d'Anthony Graves en anglais.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7750754