Clarence Brandley: Ex-Death Row Inmate Still Fighting for Restitution

Clarence Brandley, who spent nearly 10 years on death row for a murder he did not commit, will be back in the news today.

He and supporters are holding a press conference this afternoon to push for restitution from the state for being wrongly imprisoned. Like Anthony Graves, another Texan who spent time in prison for a murder he did not commit, Brandley is being denied compensation because the court order freeing him does not include language declaring him innocent.

"This is a righteous cause to bring justice and have it work the way it is supposed to work," said his brother, Ozell Brandley. "We will hold those public officials accountable for their actions of refusing compensation for those who were wrongfully imprisoned. Their careers should be over if they cannot dispense justice. My brother Clarence and the families of the wrongfully convicted as well as the victims' families deserve more. Clarence and my family have paid a high price for their injustice."

Brandley was convicted for the 1980 rape and murder of a 16-year-old student at the Conroe school where he worked as a janitor. He was freed in 1990.

The judge who heard his plea for exoneration famously said, ""In the thirty years that this court has presided over matters in the judicial system, no case has presented a more shocking scenario of the effects of racial prejudice, perjured testimony, witness intimidation (and) an investigation the outcome of which has been predetermined."

The case became the subject of a made-for-cable movie.

Brandley has faced issues with child support since his release, and has lost a huge lawsuit he filed against various state agencies.

At today's press conference, organizers say, "Representatives of civil rights and community organizations, including Witness to Innocence, the National Black United Front, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, and others will be present Wednesday in support of Brandley's claim for compensation."

Source: Houston Press, May 18, 2011

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The state of Texas administers another turn of the screw to Anthony Graves

Administrative madness on a grand scale, Texas style!

Anthony Graves

The injustices just keep on coming for exonerated death row inmate Anthony Graves, freed last year after 18 years' imprisonment for a 1994 capital murder conviction produced by false testimony and prosecutorial misconduct.

After his release, the Texas Comptroller's Office refused to pay the 45-year-old Graves $80,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment compensation because a judge neglected to put the magic words "actual innocence" in the order dismissing charges against him.

Gov. Rick Perry and special prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who helped exonerate Graves, have both acknowledged that he's innocent. But a spokesperson for Comptroller Susan Combs claimed her office did not have the authority to approve the payment. Graves is now suing the state to collect the money.

As the Chronicle's Harvey Rice reports, the Texas Attorney General's Office also is garnisheeing $175 a month from the former inmate's salary as a legal investigator for nearly $5,500 the state claims he owes in back child support while he was behind bars.

The state also seized a $250 honorarium that Graves was to be paid for a presentation to political science students at Prairie View A&M University about his prison ordeal.

"The state of Texas tried to kill me for something I didn't do, and now they are trying to get child support out of me," Graves told Rice. "I feel powerless."

According to a spokesperson for Attorney General Greg Abbott, because a judge ordered then-prisoner Graves to pay the child support in 2002, the AG's office has a legal obligation to collect the money. He did express sympathy for Graves, adding, "his experience is truly troubling and deeply compelling."

Obviously not troubling or compelling enough for the governor, the comptroller and the attorney general to get their heads together and try to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and remedy the continuing effects of a truly horrible miscarriage of justice.

The state took away Graves' freedom for much of his adult life, dismissed on a technicality the compensation owed him by law, and now bills him for the consequences of his wrongful imprisonment. It's a truly sickening situation.

Where there's a will to right an injustice, the most powerful officials in the state must find a way. If they had real sympathy for what this man has suffered, they'd promptly set things right.

Source: Houston Chronicle, Editorial, April 29, 2011

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Compensating the innocent

Small price to pay; As the number of exonerees grows, so does the question of compensation

IN OCTOBER 2010 Anthony Graves was released from death row in Texas. He had spent nearly 20 years in prison, having been charged, in 1992, with helping another man murder a family of six. That man had sworn that Mr Graves was his accomplice, but later had a change of heart. “I lied on him in court,” he said just before he was executed in 2000. That sent the wheels of justice turning, albeit slowly and creakily. In 2006 a circuit court overturned the conviction. Prosecutors began to reassemble the case, and realised that without the false statement, there essentially was none. The district attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges. On that basis an innocent man was finally exonerated.

This sad story raises a number of troubling issues. Among them is the fact that Mr Graves has been denied any compensation from the state for his long years in prison. Under the state’s 2009 Timothy Cole Compensation Act—an older law which was updated and renamed for another exoneree, who died in prison while serving 25 years for a rape that another inmate subsequently confessed to having committed—people who are wrongfully committed of crimes may collect $80,000 from the state for each year they were imprisoned.

More than half of America’s states have similar laws, and they are being put to use. It is good news, albeit troubling, that hundreds of people have been exonerated in America in the past 20 years. The New York-based Innocence Project, which provides free legal representation to people who it hopes can be exculpated on the basis of DNA evidence, counts no fewer than 268 such exonerations since 1989. That figure partly reflects improved forensic technology, and does not include people such as Mr Graves, who are the victims of perjury or procedural errors and misconduct.

Financial compensation may be only a small response after the gross injustice that exonerees have suffered. But it can help the wrongly accused to rebuild their shattered lives and is a lot better than nothing, which is what some exonerees in some cases receive. Another egregious example comes from Louisiana. In 1985 a man named John Thompson was convicted of murder after prosecutors hid a blood test that would have cleared him of a prior conviction, for armed robbery. That conviction contributed to the murder charge, because in the light of it, Mr Thompson was advised not to testify in court; and, eventually, that led to a capital sentence. The concealed blood test led to another deathbed confession—this time from one of the prosecutors involved. After the confession came to light, both of the convictions were overturned.

Louisiana state law provides a measly compensation of $15,000 a year, up to a maximum of $150,000. Mr Thompson, who had spent 14 years on death row and was within weeks of being executed, sued the district-attorney. In addition to being unjust, it is illegal for prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence; they are obligated to turn it over to the defence. A circuit court awarded Mr Thompson $14m, but last month the Louisiana Supreme Court overturned that decision. The majority opinion acknowledged the violation, but held that there was no proof of “deliberate indifference” to civil rights. That is, at best, a technicality.

Anthony Graves:
"Not eligible for compensation"

As for Mr Graves, the holdup in his case rests on another technicality: the state comptroller’s office, which controls the money, noted that Mr Graves had not actually been declared innocent. That, of course, reflects the peculiarities of the case. The charges against Mr Graves were dismissed, per the order, because there was “no credible evidence” against him. The district-attorney decided that since he was obviously innocent, there was no need to go to the trouble of asking a court about it. Last month, Mr Graves sued—not directly to get the money, but to be officially declared innocent so he can be eligible for it. His lawsuit specifies that he “holds no grudge” against the state, and adds that he believes the comptroller “made an honest error” in denying his claim. If only all of America’s states could manage to be so fair-minded.

Source: The Economist, April 13, 2011

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Exonerated Texas Death Row Inmate Anthony Graves Not Eligible For State Payment

Anthony Graves

A man freed from death row last year after prosecutors determined evidence didn't support his murder conviction isn't immediately eligible for more than $1 million in compensation because his legal documents don't precisely declare him innocent, his attorneys said Monday.

Anthony Graves spent 18 behind bars, nearly half his adult life, before prosecutors determined last October that he wasn't involved in the 1992 slayings of six members of a family in Burleson County, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

The only evidence tying him to the murders came from his co-defendant, Robert Earl Carter, who absolved Graves shortly before he was executed 10 years ago. An appeals court eventually tossed Graves' conviction, and prosecutors — proclaiming Graves' innocence — decided to drop the case.

But documents submitted to the Texas Comptroller's Office lacked the word "innocent," which is "the magic word," said Graves' attorney, Nicole Casarez. The rejection was outlined in a Feb. 2 letter she received from the comptroller's Office.

"We need to see what our legal options are," Casarez said. "One possibility is a civil lawsuit . . . I don't think there's a precedent for a situation like this because there hasn't been another claimant that had a situation like this before. Usually, these are DNA exonerations, but this was a case where charges were dismissed."

Graves was "incredibly disappointed, as we all are," she said. "As I am too."

Comptroller's Office spokesman R.J. DeSilva said either a pardon from the governor or a court order granting relief needed to be submitted with the wrongful imprisonment compensation claim in order to comply with the compensation law.

"Neither of those documents was sent in with the Graves application, so it could not be approved," he said.

DeSilva said Graves' lawyers had until next week to remedy the situation so the claim could be reconsidered.

Graves spent 2 years awaiting his 1st trial, then another 4 in jail awaiting a 2nd trial. He also spent a dozen years on death row.

Graves and Carter were convicted separately of the murders of Bobbie Davis, 45; Nicole Davis, 16; Denitra Davis, 9; Brittany Davis, 6; Lea 'Erin Davis, 5; and Carter's 4-year-old son, Jason Davis. Court records showed that Carter was upset that one of Davis' daughters, 4 days earlier, had named him in a paternity suit, a step toward seeking child support.

The 6 victims had been stabbed or shot, or both, and were discovered by firefighters responding to a blaze at a home in Somerville in the early morning hours of Aug. 18, 1992. Their killer tried to burn the bodies to hide the deaths, prosecutors said.

Carter took full responsibility for the mass slayings in his final words from the death chamber gurney in Huntsville in May 2000.

During questioning by police, Carter said he set the house on fire but blamed Graves for the murders.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned Graves' conviction in 2006, ruling that prosecutors withheld evidence and elicited false testimony. Graves was removed from death row, then held in the county jail to await retrial.

Current prosecutors in Burleson County blamed the district attorney at the time for botching the case, but Charles Sebesta has defended himself against their criticism.

Source: Associated Press, February 14, 2011

Feb. 17 Update: Perry pledges to help Graves get compensation

GALVESTON — Gov. Rick Perry said that Anthony Graves' capital-murder conviction was a "great miscarriage of justice" and pledged to assist in the effort to win the state compensation denied to Graves by the Texas Comptroller's Office.

Perry said he would help Graves, who spent 18 years behind bars before charges were dropped in October, either through legislative action or "directly with the comptroller's office."

In a Houston appearance Tuesday to discuss the importance of small business to the economy, Perry said he would support efforts to "get this individual the appropriate reimbursement for years that he has spent incarcerated for something that he did not do."

Governor's office spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said Perry could not pardon Graves because a federal appeals court had thrown out the original conviction, and a governor could only pardon a convicted criminal.

The governor's office has been consulting with Graves' attorneys, Nashed said.

"We understand that Anthony Graves is innocent, and have been in contact with his lawyers, who are pursuing every available option to ensure that he is granted the restitution he deserves," she said.

Graves attorney Jeff Blackburn of Amarillo said the governor's statement that Graves is innocent gives a moral boost to the effort to win compensation for him. Click here to read the full article.

Source: Houston Chronicle, February 17, 2011.
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Former death row inmate accused of rape

Paris Lapriest Powell was freed in 2009. Police say he was identified by DNA evidence as a suspect in the October assault of 2 women at an Oklahoma City apartment.

A former death row inmate was arrested Friday, accused of involvement in a gang rape at an Oklahoma City apartment in October.

Paris Lapriest Powell, 37, of Oklahoma City, was identified by DNA evidence as a suspect in the assault of 2 women, police reported.

The victims said 3 "males pushed their way into their apartment" sometime after 2 a.m. Oct. 6 "and raped ... and assaulted both of them throughout the night," police reported.

1 woman described being tied to her bed and blindfolded during the attack.

3 young children were in the apartment at the time.

The victims said they obeyed the men's commands "because they were afraid for their lives and the children," police reported. The victims said they eventually escaped through a window and the men fled.

Powell pleaded no contest Oct. 5 to marijuana and cocaine possession. He was put on probation for 3 years.

Powell and another former death row inmate, Yancy L. Douglas, 37, were freed on Oct. 2, 2009. Both had won appeals of their murder convictions and prosecutors decided not to retry them because of witness problems.

Powell and Douglas had been convicted at separate murder trials in the 1993 fatal drive-by shooting of a 14-year-old girl.

Prosecutors alleged they intended to kill Derrick Smith, who was then a 17-year-old drug dealer. Smith was wounded but survived.

The girl, Shauna Farrow, was walking home with Smith at night when she was killed.

The 2 had met only once before, prosecutors said.

Death penalty opponents put Powell and Douglas on "The Innocence List."

They were identified as the 136th and 135th death row inmates exonerated since 1973.

Prosecutors dispute that characterization, saying Powell and Douglas were not exonerated.

Prosecutors contend both still are suspects in the 1993 shooting but that the evidence is too contradictory to go forward again.

Powell in December filed a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the state, Oklahoma County and former prosecutor Brad Miller.

Powell asked for $32 million in damages.

Powell's attorney in the civil case could not be reached for comment Friday.

Source: The Oklahoman, February 5, 2011

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