BY LEA SHERMAN
HOUSTON - On January 10, just a day before his scheduled
execution by lethal injection at the Walls unit of Huntsville
prison, Gary Graham received a stay of execution from the 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel issued the order,
saying the execution is being stayed "so as to allow the court
the time necessary to evaluate the issues presented in this
complex case."
That evening jubilant family members and supporters gathered at the St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, where Anthony Freddie, a longtime leader of the Gary Graham Coalition for Justice, warmly thanked the more than 100 participants for their "tireless efforts." Freddie cautioned that "Gary's life is still on hold," and encouraged everyone to come out to the federal courthouse the next day for a picket line demanding a new trial to get out evidence that would exonerate Graham.
Graham, 35, was just 17 when he was prosecuted for capital murder in Harris County, Houston, in 1981. The Black youth was convicted and sent to death row at Huntsville prison on the testimony of only one witness, who claims to have seen him at the site of the shooting in the dimly lit parking lot of a grocery store. Six eyewitnesses said he was not the gunman, and five other people placed him far from the scene. There is no physical evidence linking him to the murder.
Despite the lack of evidence, there has been a pro-death penalty campaign to vilify Graham and send him to the execution chamber without a new trial. This is promoted by the district attorney's office and led by a so-called "victim's rights group" Justice for All, which was created in the early 1990s to combat Graham's defense fight. Diane Clements, president of Justice for All, called the effort to obtain a new trial for Graham a "scam." She told the Houston Chronicle, "He was always guilty and he is guilty now." Clements and others point to the fact that Graham pled guilty to a string of robberies that happened around the time of the slaying to claim he's guilty in the grocery store shooting.
Less than a week before the scheduled execution, Graham told reporters, "I'm not going to walk out of my cell voluntarily, nor will I allow anybody to murder me in an execution chamber without a fight. I'm prepared to die for what I believe in." He then called on all his supporters to come to Huntsville for his execution and defend themselves "by any means necessary."
A couple of days later the media played up quotes from Quanell X, who said he would go to Huntsville armed. Quanell was also quoted as urging the Black community to vent their anger for Graham's death in the rich white area of River Oaks in Houston. Most of Graham's supporters did not agree with this, and pointed to how the media used such statements to violence-bait those opposed to the execution.
Prison officials responded saying that there would be a tie down team to "extract" Graham from his cell, as well as extra Texas Rangers, sheriff's deputies, local police, and prison officers at the prison.
Geraldine St. Julian, a teacher in Baytown, Texas, and longtime activist in the Gary Graham Coalition for Justice, vowed to keep up the fight until Graham gets the trial he deserves. She said, "We know Gary is innocent based on the evidence. If he has a fair hearing, we will have a trial to prove it. We had a victory today, but we are going to stay strong and continue with the picket line at the federal building on Monday and other activities until we have that trial."
Lea Sherman is a member of the International Association of Machinists.