of Certiorari
Petition to Governor George W. Bush for Executive Clemency.
Petition for Executive Clemency to Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.Petition must be sent as soon as possible.
proving him innocent
Odell Barnes Jr.s last words:
"I'd like to send great love to my family members, my supporters, my attorneys. They have all supported me throughout this. I thank you for proving my innocence, although it has not been acknowledged by the courts. May you continue in the struggle and may you change all that's being done here today and in the past. Life has not been that good to me, but I believe that now, after meeting so many people who support me in this, that all things will come to an end, and may this be the fruit of better judgements for the future. That's all I have to say."
Odell's Last Letter to Friends
In Memory of Odell Barnes, Jr. from
Friends in NorwayWednesday March 1: Barnes in final countdown on death row
Wednesday, March 1: French politicians seek clemency for Odell Barnes, Jr.
Monday February 28: An Update of Odell's Legal Situation from Attorney Gary Taylor
For Immediate Release February 27, 2000
Support From the French President Jaques Chirac
Press Release February 17, 2000Please email Turid Sandberg regarding improvements of this web-page. For questions regarding Odell Barnes Jr., please email Frances Patrick. For further information regarding his case, please use the email addresses to the attorneys presented on the very bottom of the Memo-page.
A substantial number of death row inmates are indeed innocent and there is a high risk that some of them will be executed. Odell Barnes Jr. became one of them. Odell Barnes Jr. became another victim of this highly fallible, racist, political and arbitrary justice-system. He was executed by the State of Texas on March 1, 2000, despite proven innocence. Generally, the danger of executing the innocents is inherent in the death penalty itself and the fallibility of human nature. The danger is enhanced by the failure to provide adequate counsel and the narrowing of the opportunities to raise the issue of innocence on appeal.
Once an execution occurrs, the error is final. This is what the situation for Mr. Odell Barnes Jr came to!
Too often, the reviews afforded death row inmates on appeal and habeas corpus simply do not offer a meaningful opportunity to present claims of innocence. After trial, the legal system becomes locked in a battle over procedural issues rather than a reexamination of guilt or innocence.
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 charge to the states to overhaul their death penalty laws to make them less arbitrary, and more fair, innocent persons are still being sentenced to death, and the chances remain unacceptably high that the innocent persons have been or will be executed because of inadequate counsel, lack of meaningful judicial review, and racial bias.
Please read the documentation offered by these web-pages, and check in often as more information will be available shortly. Thank You!
Recommended:
The Zephyr, February 21, 2000 Will the State of Texas Execute an Innocent Man? by Ward S. Larkin
Justice: Denied The Magazine for Wrongly Convicted: The Wrong Man -- The Odell Barnes Affair
The Houston Press - Killing Time