If you can not see the video embedded, below click here to watch it on YouTube.

Sign the petition to Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas to acknowledge that the fire in the Cameron Todd Willingham case was not arson, therefore no crime was committed and on February 17, 2004, Texas executed an innocent man.

Michael Keasler Report (PDF)

Total Contributions Zero

Total Expenditures $342.58

Total Political Contributions Maintained $3,042.43

Total of all outstanding loans Zero

Lawrence Meyers Report (PDF)

Total Contributions $2,000 (He contributed $2,000 to his own campaign)

Total Expenditures $3,055.87

Total Political Contributions Maintained $1,073.30

Total of all outstanding loans $113,693.00 (He has reported this loan on every report since March 1998. He also reported expenditures in March 1998 of $107,532.00. He had a strong challenger in that year’s Republican primary.)

Cheryl Johnson Judicial Candidate/ Officeholder (PDF)

Johnson reported zero contributions, zero expenditures, zero contributions maintained and zero outstanding loans in her Candidate/Officeholder account.

Friends of Cheryl Johnson (Judicial Specific-Purpose Committee) (PDF)

Johnson is the treasurer of Friends of Cheryl Johnson

Total Contributions Zero

Total Expenditures Zero

Total Political Contributions Maintained $4,054.46

Total of all outstanding loans Zero

The section in the party platform dealing with capital punishment was drafted by Scott Cobb, who was a member of the chair’s advisory committee on the platform.

From the 2008 TDP Platform:

Capital Punishment
When capital punishment is used, Texans must be assured that it is fairly administered. Texas Democrats extend our deepest sympathies to all victims of crime and especially to the families of murder victims, and we strongly support their rights. The Texas death penalty system has been severely criticized by religious leaders, appellate courts and major newspapers that have observed that the current system cannot ensure that innocent or undeserving defendants are not sentenced to death. Last year, the Dallas Morning News called for abolition of the death penalty in Texas.

In the modern era, Texas has executed over 400 people, far more than any other state in the nation. The frequency of executions and inadequacies in our criminal justice system increase the likelihoodthat an innocent person will be executed. The State of Texas may have already executed at least two innocent people, according to major newspaper investigations into the cases of Carlos DeLuna and Cameron Todd Willingham. Another inmate, Ernest Willis, was exonerated and released from exas Death Row in 2004 after 17 years of wrongful imprisonment. In order to promote public confidence in the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system, Texas Democrats support the establishment of a Texas Capital Punishment Commission to study the Texas death penalty system and a moratorium on executions pending action on the Commission’s findings.

Texas Democrats support the following specific reforms:
• establishing a statewide Office of Public Defenders for Capital Cases to ensure that every person accused of a capital crime has equal access to well-trained trial and appellate attorneys, regardless of income, race or the county of jurisdiction;
• allowing testing of any possibly exculpatory DNA evidence to ensure guilt or innocence before executions are carried out, and allowing testing of DNA evidence after an execution to determine if an innocent person has been executed;
• establishing procedures to determine before a trial takes place whether an accused has mental retardation, in order to be sure that Texas complies with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ban on executions of people with mental retardation;
• banning death sentences and executions for people with mental illness;
• requiring the Board of Pardons and Paroles to meet in person to discuss and vote on every case involving the death sentence; and
• restoring the power to the Governor to grant clemency in death penalty cases without a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles

Visit Rick Reed’s Website

Go to texas.onlinephonebanking.com to get started.

Scroll down the list of candidates and click on “Rick Reed”. Then enter your name, email and zipcode and you’ll immediately be able to select any precinct to call in Travis County! A screen will then appear with your first voter to call.

Take some time to review that page before making your first call; after a couple of calls we guarantee you’ll get the swing of it. Be yourself and go off the suggested script, if necessary, to convey why you believe voters should cast votes for Rick Reed (For instance, he is the most progressive candidate in the DA race. He would not seek the death penalty in Travis County, instead using life without parole. He has proven that he can stand up to powerful politicians with the Public Integrity Unit).

Visit Rick’s website for more information on him.

Rick Reed’s stance against the death penalty reflects the values that make Travis County the most progressive community in Texas.

If Rick Reed is elected, the people of Travis County will live in the first community in Texas where the death penalty is officially not an option. The day will eventually come when the death penalty will not be used anywhere in Texas. With Rick Reed’s election, the people of Travis County can say that the end of the Texas death penalty started in Travis County.

  

  

Political change is in the air.All indicators point to a record number of voters turning out when the Texas primaries are held next month.Texas Democrats are especially energized at the historic prospect of helping determine whether we will elect our first female President or our first African American President.

• Travis County Democrats will either support a “coronation” that cements the status quo into the chair of our county’s top prosecutor … or they will elect Rick Reed as Travis County’s next District Attorney.

• Travis County Democrats will either choose cozy political relationships and compromised objectivity in the Public Integrity Office … or they will elect Rick Reed as Travis County’s next District Attorney.

• Travis County Democrats will either opt to continue the barbaric practice of the death penalty … or they will elect Rick Reed as Travis County’s next District Attorney.

In the District Attorney’s race, only one candidate has the courage, judgment, experience and integrity needed for the job. Only one candidate has pledged to end death penalty prosecutions in Travis County.That candidate is Rick Reed.

Please take these steps to support Rick Reed’s campaign:

• Lend Rick your good name and endorse him.

• Make an online campaign contribution.

• Vote for Rick in the March 4 Democratic primary.

See early and mobile voting locations in Travis County

Below is the media coverage, which largely focused on the candidates responses to the death penalty question. Three of the candidates gave pro death penalty answers, but one, Rick Reed, said he would not authorize the DA’s office to seek the death penalty if he is elected and would not ask for execution dates to be set for anyone from Travis County already on death row.

KUT has an audio report by Ben Philpott.

The Austin-American Statesman’s article, “4 Travis candidates lay out their views on death penalty” says in part:

Three of the four candidates for Travis County district attorney told a packed room of potential voters in East Austin on Monday that, if elected, they would continue to seek the death penalty for the worst killers.

Outgoing District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s assistants Gary Cobb and Rosemary Lehmberg, who are hoping to replace him, said that some people’s crimes are so heinous that the public’s safety is served by seeking their execution. Candidate Mindy Montford, another Earle assistant, said that because the death penalty is on the books in Texas, she must consider it if elected.

Candidate Rick Reed, who resigned from Earle’s office last week, said he would not seek the death penalty under any circumstances. Reed also said he wouldn’t seek death warrants for the five condemned killers already on death row from Travis County. Death warrants, issued by a trial court at a prosecutor’s request when the killer’s appeals have run out, set dates of execution.

“I believe it is a mistake … to seek the death penalty,” said Reed, citing his moral opposition and the cost of prosecuting such cases.

Keye, Channel 42, the local CBS affiliate, also reported on the event and has their video report online here.

Rick Reed has said:

“I have decided to publicly support a moratorium on the death penalty in Travis County. If I am elected District Attorney of Travis County I will not authorize the office to seek the death penalty during my tenure.”

Rick Reed’s opposition to the death penalty makes him stand out as the most progressive candidate in a race with three other candidates who all support the death penalty. A stance against the death penalty in a race for District Attorney in Travis County is a perfect fit of issue, office and location.

The next district attorney can unilateraly end the use of the death penalty within Travis County by not seeking the death penalty and instead using life without parole as an alternative.

If Reed remains the only candidate in the race who will not seek the death penalty, then it is likely that one of the pro-death penalty candidates will miss the runoff because of their support for the death penalty.

A campaign is a two-way learning process. It is a way for the community to get to know the candidates and it is a way for the candidates to learn about the community. Most of the people who will vote in the Democratic primary in Travis County on March 4th either believe that the death penalty system in Texas is broken and should not be used until steps are taken to address the problems, or they oppose the death penalty on principle in all cases and believe it should be abolished. Either way, there is likely to be a large amount of support in Austin for candidates who take principled stands against the death penalty in a race where the winner has the power to unilaterally end the use of the death penalty within Travis County.

It is not too late for the other candidates to take postitions on the death penalty that reflect the values and priorities of the progressive community from which they are seeking votes. All the candidates for Travis County District Attorney should follow Rick Reed’s example and say that they will not seek the death penalty.