Michael Allen Gottlieb posted the following over on dKos and I wanted to share this with you all here.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/13/11568/0097

Her name is Frances Newton. She is poor, black and living on death row in a Texas State Prison. She is scheduled to die tomorrow, September 14, 2005.

She is likely innocent of the crimes of which she was convicted and sentenced to die for.

Does innocence matter to the Texas Killing Machine? We can only pray it does.

Find out more across the divide –
Frances Newton was accused, tried, convicted and sentenced for the murder of her husband and children. It is the sort of crime that many people believe justify a death penalty. Maybe it does.

But, the problem arises when there is a miscarriage of justice and an innocent person is put to death by the state. That’s just not cool.

Texas Governor Perry gave Ms. Newton a stay back in December 2004, but he seems ready to move forward now, when the evidence of her innocence has grown.

Frances Newton was accused of killing her husband and children for the “insurance money” back in 1987. But Frances’ new lawyer, David Dow, the head of the Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center, has discovered evidence that proves otherwise.
Frances believes her husband was killed by a drug dealer, who he owed $1,500. Frances’ brother thought this as well, and told police that he could lead them to the drug dealer’s home. But the police never investigated that lead. And even though Frances passed a lie detector test, even though she had no blood on her clothes or car (in what was a very bloody crime), and no gunpowder residue was found on her hands, the police arrested her. According to prosecutors, Frances was supposed to have killed her family, cleaned up all of the evidence, and then returned to the crime scene, all in 30 minutes.

Her first attorney, ironically named, Mock, made a mockery of her defense. Actually there was no defense. On the day of her trial he could not name one witness he had interviewed and called no witnesses at the trial. The parents of the Newton’s murdered husband asked to testify at the trial in Frances’s behalf, but were not called.

According to a recent article in the Austin Chronicle, “Ron Mock has since been brought before the state bar’s disciplinary board at least five times on various charges of professional misconduct, for which he has been fined and sometimes suspended; he is currently suspended from practicing law until late 2007.”

Activists are activating in Texas against the unwarranted murder of Frances Newton. It is State issue. We have one day to make it a national issue.

With the noise surrounding Roberts, Katrina, Iraq and Rove, don’t let Frances Newton die without a word.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty needs your help. They have called for Texas officials to commute her sentence because of the doubts over guilt.

Lend your voice to worthy cause. We couldn’t save thousands of innocent victims in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, but we can save one in Texas.

You can write, phone or email Governor Perry HERE  http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

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