RALLY AUG 2009 - SAN ANTONIO TEXAS- Statement from Reg
There was so much controversy over Judge Sotomayor and whether she would be an activist on the bench, an activist akin to Thurgood Marshall; yet if it wasnt for Thurgood Marshall, the desparities in the application of the death penalty would be much more lopsided than they are right now. Emphasis on much more because we must keep in mind that it remains lopsided. And we can thank Sharon Killer Keller, partially, for this. The intersting thing is that we have all this talk about Ms. Sotomayor being some kind of activist on the bench, grasping at straws in her past, trying to distort facts to support this false image being thrusted upon her, when we have a bench activist facing trial right here in San Antonio; albeit one dia-metrically opposed to Thurgood Marshall. Sharon Keller would be the Rush Limbaugh to Thurgood Marshalls Martin Luther King, Jr.
If we look to Sharon Kellers past we will find much more than straws. We would find bells of hay. She is the judge that said, when one defendant asserted that his DNA wasnt found in the body of a rape victim, that he could have been wearing a condom. That he could have been wearing a condom?! Could have.? This is how she rules on cases. Another example is the case where the defendants lawyer slept in a portion of his very own trial, and she held that there was basically nothing wrong with it since the portion of the trial the lawyer slept through was an insignificant part of it; An insignificant part of his trial?! This is the way she rules. The sad thing is that this is no hyerbole. She actually did this. Anyone can look up these cases to see what she said for themselves. I would actually advise this; because its because of the ignorance of the people that we are even having this conversation.
Nevertheless, the final straw was the Michael Richard caseThe Deathrow prisoner whose lawyers computer shut down at the last minute, litrally, preventing him from filing an 11th hour appeal to the CCA, Sharon Kellers court, by 5 p.m., which is the cut off period for last minute appeals to be filed on the day of the prisoners execution date. When the lawyer attempted to finally get the appeal heard by Sharon Kellers court mere minutes after five, Sharon Killer Keller refused to accept the appealnevermind that the lawyer had proof that his computer shut downand allowed the State of the Killing Machine to proceed with killing Michael Richard, someone I knew. This is ut another reason why this judge is commonly refered to as Killer Keller.
All of these atrocious acts have finally caught up with her. And because of a change of venue, she now awaits trial in San Antonio. Will Justice prevail? Well, this is the same question that the Free Reggie B campaign is asking. It was her court that refused to let justice prevail in my case. It was her court that felt that there was nothing wrong with the dissparities in the way prosecutors questioned black potential jurors in relation to white potential jurors; a racial injustice that she may very well not have to experience in her trial. It was her court that saw nothing wrong with the prosecutor in my case using a jury shuffle to shuffle to the back of the courtroom all the blacks that were mainly positioned in the front, as to avoid having to question them, and thus use peremptory strikess to keep them off my jury. However, this is not uncommon with her court. Her court, according to David Dow of the Texas Defenders service, denies Death row appeals 99.9% of the time; which is a critical point because the 5th circuit court, the final stop before the Supreme Court, gives deference to the CCAs ruling: in other words, whatever the CCA says, the 5th circuit is going to take that same stance; thus why the 5th circuit denies appeals over 99% of the time as well.
These numbers should raise alarm, especially when we are talking about against the wrongdoing of my state habeas attorney; which is true. There is a void in Texas law, where we have no constitutional protection against run-away attorneys at the state habeas stage of our appeals. And many death row prisoners have been killed by the state because of this dark secret.
My question to you is this: were not my hands tied in this situation? And would you say that Im to blame for my lawyer failing to files theses critical claims in the appeal that he was preparing for me?
If you agree that my hands were tied in that I did everything I could to get my claims heard, and that I shouldnt be blamed for my lawyers wrong-doing, then you agree that my execution date set for October 27th is much more than an injustice; much more than a railroading.
Again, something has been brewing in our death penalty system for a long time now. The question is whether we will begin to take a more proactive stance against the inequities in our judicial system. We must ; or else people like Michael Richard or possibly myself will continue to be swept under the judicial rug of oblivion. And we have to remember, Justice delayed is Justice denied.
Please, continue to educate yourselves and hold the three branches of government accountable. And do it now, for each minute that ticks only ticks off another statistic, another life. Grassroots activism is the only answer. May the grass continue to grow!
With everything I AM
Reginald Blanton