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Thread: Gary Lee Graham a/k/a Shaka Sankofa (JUVENILE) - Texas Execution - May 22, 2000

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    Gary Lee Graham a/k/a Shaka Sankofa (JUVENILE) - Texas Execution - May 22, 2000




    Summary of Offense: Convicted and sentenced to death for the May 13, 1981 robbery and murder in a Safeway parking lot in north Houston.

    During the period May 14 through May 20 of 1981, Gary Graham robbed some 13 different victims at nine different locations, in each instance leveling either a pistol or a sawed-off shotgun on the victim. Two of the victims were pistol-whipped, one being shot in the neck; a 64-year old male victim was struck with the vehicle Graham was stealing from him; and a 57-year old female victim was kidnapped and raped.

    A total of 19 eyewitnesses positively identified Graham as the perpetrator. Graham pled guilty to and was sentenced to 20-year concurrent prison sentences for 10 different aggravated robberies committed May 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20, 1981. During the armed robbery of one victim, Richard B. Sanford, Gary Graham boasted of having killed six other people already.

    Four out of the original five witnesses described the murderer as a young, thin black male, from medium height to tall. On May 27th, 17-year-old Gary Graham, a 5'9", 145 lb. black male, was positively identified as Mr. Lambert's murderer by Bernadine Skillern, the one eyewitness who clearly saw the killer's face. Five months later, Graham was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.

    By the time he was executed 19 years later, Graham had secured the support and following of anti-death penalty activists who insisted that he was innocent and the death penalty was racist, including Danny Glover, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. Graham resisted and fought the guards who took him from death row and made a long, defiant final statement just before his execution.

    Victim: Bobby Grant Lambert, 53

    Manner of execution:
    Lethal injection

    Time of Death:
    8:59 p.m.

    Last Meal:
    None

    Final Statement:
    "I would like to say that I did not kill Bobby Lambert, that I'm an innocent black man that is being murdered. This is a lynching that is happening in America tonight. There's overwhelming and compelling evidence of my defense that has never been heard in any court of America. What is happening here is an outrage for any civilized country to anybody anywhere to look at what's happening here is wrong. I thank all of the people that have rallied to my cause. They've been standing in support of me. Who have finished with me. I say to Mr. Lambert's family, I did not kill Bobby Lambert. You are pursuing the execution of an innocent man.

    I want to express my sincere thanks to all of y'all. We must continue to move forward and do everything we can to outlaw legal lynching in America. We must continue to stay strong all around the world, and people must come together to stop the systematic killing of poor and innocent black people. We must continue to stand together in unity and to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must not let this murder/lynching be forgotten tonight, my brothers. We must take it to the nation. We must keep our faith. We must go forward. We recognize that many leaders have died. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and others who stood up for what was right. They stood up for what was just. We must, you must, brothers, that's why I have called you today. You must carry on that condition. What is here is just a lynching that is taking place. But they're going to keep on lynching us for the next 100 years, if you do not carry on that tradition, and that period of resistance. We will prevail. We may lose this battle, but we will win the war. This death, this lynching will be avenged. It will be avenged, it must be avenged. The people must avenge this murder. So my brothers, all of y'all stay strong, continue to move forward.

    Know that I love all of you. I love the people, I love all of you for your blessing, strength, for your courage, for your dignity, the way you have come here tonight, and the way you have protested and kept this nation together. Keep moving forward, my brothers. Slavery couldn't stop us. The lynching couldn't stop us in the south. This lynching will not stop us tonight. We will go forward. Our destiny in this country is freedom and liberation. We will gain our freedom and liberation by any means necessary. By any means necessary, we keep marching forward.

    I love you, Mr. Jackson. Bianca, make sure that the state does not get my body. Make sure that we get my name as Shaka Sankofa. My name is not Gary Graham. Make sure that it is properly presented on my grave. Shaka Sankofa. I died fighting for what I believe in. I died fighting for what was just and what was right. I did not kill Bobby Lambert, and the truth is going to come out. It will be brought out. I want you to take this thing off into international court, Mr. Robert Mohammed and all y'all. I want you, I want to get my family and take this down to international court and file a law suit. Get all the video tapes of all the beatings. They have beat me up in the back. They have beat me up at the unit over there. Get all the video tapes supporting that law suit. And make the public exposed to the genocide and this brutality world, and let the world see what is really happening here behind closed doors. Let the world see the barbarity and injustice of what is really happening here. You must get those video tapes. You must make it exposed, this injustice, to the world. You must continue to demand a moratorium on all executions. We must move forward Minister Robert Mohammed.

    Ashanti Chimurenga, I love you for standing with me, my sister. You are a strong warrior queen. You will continue to be strong in everything that you do. Believe in yourself, you must hold your head up, in the spirit of Winnie Mandela, in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. Y'all must move forward. We will stop this lynching. Reverend Al Sharpton, I love you, my brother.

    Bianca Jagger, I love all of you. Y'all make sure that we continue to stand together. Reverend Jesse Jackson and know that this murder, this lynching will not be forgotten. I love you, too, my brother. This is genocide in America. This is what happens to black men when they stand up and protest for what is right and just. We refuse to compromise, we refuse to surrender the dignity for what we know is right. But we will move on, we have been strong in the past. We will continue to be strong as a people. You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot stop the revolution. The revolution will go on. The people will carry the revolution on. You are the people that must carry that revolutionary on, in order to liberate our children from this genocide and for what is happening here in America tonight. What has happened for the last 100 or so years in America. This is the part of the genocide, this is part of the African (unintelligible), that we as black people have endured in America. But we shall overcome, we will continue with this. We will continue, we will gain our freedom and liberation, by any means necessary. Stay strong. They cannot kill us. We will move forward.

    To my sons, to my daughters, all of you. I love all of you. You have been wonderful. Keep your heads up. Keep moving forward. Keep united. Maintain the love and unity in the community. And know that victory is assured. Victory for the people will be assured. We will gain our freedom and liberation in this country. We will gain it and we will do it by any means necessary. We will keep marching. March on black people. Keep your heads high. March on. All y'all leaders. March on. Take your message to the people. Preach the moratorium for all executions. We're gonna stop, we are going to end the death penalty in this country. We are going to end it all across this world. Push forward people. And know that what y'all are doing is right. What y'all are doing is just. This is nothing more that pure and simple murder. This is what is happening tonight in America. Nothing more than state sanctioned murders, state sanctioned lynching, right here in America, and right here tonight. This is what is happening my brothers. Nothing less. They know I'm innocent. They've got the facts to prove it. They know I'm innocent. But they cannot acknowledge my innocence, because to do so would be to publicly admit their guilt. This is something these racist people will never do. We must remember, brothers, this is what we're faced with. You must take this endeavor forward. You must stay strong. You must continue to hold your heads up, and to be there. And I love you, too, my brother. All of you who are standing with me in solidarity. We will prevail. We will keep marching. Keep marching black people, black power. Keep marching black people, black power. Keep marching black people. Keep marching black people. They are killing me tonight. They are murdering me tonight."
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    March 28, 2001

    Related:

    Hawkins gets life in friend's robbery death


    The son of one of death row's most famous inmates was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the robbery and slaying of a friend.

    After almost 13 hours of deliberations, jurors found Gary Lee Hawkins, 22, guilty of capital murder in the death of Melvin Ray Pope a year ago today.

    Because the state was not seeking the death penalty, the verdict meant Hawkins received an automatic life sentence.

    He will not be eligible for parole for 40 years.

    Hawkins is the son of Gary Graham, also known as Shaka Sankofa, who was executed June 22 for robbing and killing a man in 1981.

    At the time of Hawkins' arrest in April, Graham's pending execution was drawing national attention from Hollywood celebrities, death penalty foes and black activists who claimed Graham was unjustly convicted.

    They said there was evidence to clear him that the courts refused to hear.

    Different aspects of Graham's case were reviewed by numerous courts.

    Graham supporters filled the courtroom during Hawkins' trial that began last week. On Monday, one supporter said it appeared Hawkins had received a fair trial.

    But after the verdict was read Tuesday, another supporter said she was "enraged."

    "We're going to go back and continue to struggle and fight. We must always fight injustice," said Njeri Shakur, a member of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement and a friend of the Graham family.

    Hawkins' defense lawyer, James Lindeman II, maintained that police stopped investigating once the finger was pointed at his client.

    Hawkins was identified by his cousin, Stanley White.

    White was charged with aggravated robbery in the incident. He testified he agreed to go along with the robbery but turned Hawkins in a few days after the killing.

    The state is recommending White receive 10 years probation for his role.

    During the trial, Lindeman said police never asked White for the clothes he was wearing that day, never searched for another person who was with Pope earlier and never checked Pope's cell phone for calls received or placed before his death.

    Lindeman also pointed out that White had a juvenile record for robbery and was a suspect, but not charged, in two others.

    "The evidence clearly showed that Stanley White was the killer," Lindeman said Tuesday. " ... We just saw the testimony differently and felt that the criminal record and the violent past of their witness would have made his testimony uncredible."

    Lindeman said Hawkins was "stunned" by the verdict.

    "I went back and spoke with him briefly," Lindeman said. "He was just stunned. Certainly he was prepared for this possibility, but until it occurs you just don't know how you're going to respond."

    Lindeman said the case will be appealed.

    Prosecutors said Hawkins and White robbed Pope, a friend of theirs, because they thought he was carrying $1,500 in back rent Pope and his girlfriend owed on their apartment.

    No money was found on Pope's body. And no money was found on Hawkins when he was arrested.

    Prosecutor Mark Vinson said Hawkins shot Pope, 32, in the back of the head as Pope was driving his Honda Accord.

    Vinson said Hawkins then leaned up from the backseat, grabbed the wheel of the car and forced it off the road.

    Vinson said when White, who was in the car, refused to help dispose of the body, Hawkins dumped Pope on the side of the road in the 8500 block of Parkhurst.

    The jurors -- two black men, four black women, four white women, one white man and one Hispanic man -- looked tired as they entered the courtroom Tuesday.

    They had deliberated almost seven hours Monday, were sequestered for the night and resumed for almost six hours Tuesday.

    One juror was obviously shaken by the decision.

    As state District Judge George Godwin pronounced Hawkins' sentence, she openly wept then cupped her hand over her mouth.

    In capital cases, the jury's decision must be unanimous.

    Each panelist was polled in the courtroom. When the crying woman was asked if that was her verdict, she said "Yes" as she cried.

    "I can't speak for the jury and I can't speculate," Vinson said about the woman afterward. "I can say they (jurors) did put a number of working hours in, trying to reach a verdict. That could have different effects on different people."

    But Vinson said he did not believe Graham's notoriety swayed Hawkins' trial.

    "I believe the jury did give him a fair trial," Vinson said. "And I think they looked at his conduct and not the conduct of his father."

    Pope's family gave little comment afterward. His mother, Clara Frank, said, "We thank God. ... He got what he deserved."

    White's wife, who spent the two days following Pope's death with her husband, Hawkins and Hawkins' girlfriend at different motels, defended their actions. She said they were afraid to leave Hawkins.

    "My husband was doing what was best for us not to get killed at the time," Latoya White said. "He didn't know what Gary was going to do or none of that."

    Latoya White said her husband felt bad about turning in Hawkins.

    "So do I. I feel bad for him, but you shouldn't do something like that," she said. " ... I'm glad Gary got what he deserved."

    http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ha...th-2001973.php
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Controversial death penalty lawyer Ron Mock dead at 72

    The Ku Klux Klan gathered outside, and helicopters buzzed overhead the night Gary Graham was put to death. The crowds in Huntsville were thick and volatile. A cause celebre for activists and reformers, the young black man had to be forcibly strapped to the gurney, where he proclaimed his innocence up to his last breath.

    That was 18 years ago. When Ron Mock — the much-maligned defense attorney best known for his handling of the case — died last month, it was a much quieter affair. Years after the death penalty trials that gained him notoriety, Mock died peacefully in Houston on Dec. 30. He was 72.

    An affable man and a “lawyer from the old school,” Mock started practicing in Harris County just after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in the 1970s, launching his career in an era when he was one of few black lawyers standing in front of the bench.

    “He was a lovable rogue, he was charming — he was Fifth Ward-made-good,” said high-profile defense attorney Brian Wice.

    But despite his endearing demeanor, Mock was known for the number of capital cases he took and criticized for the number he lost. Some saw him as a cog in the state’s most aggressive death penalty machinery, doing little to fight the harshest sentences in a county that consistently sought them.

    He racked up reprimands from the State Bar of Texas, and once got a rare, 35-month suspension after he took a woman’s money and never told her he lacked experience in handling sexual harassment cases.

    “I have a permanent parking spot at the grievance committee,’’ he told the New York Times before Graham’s execution.

    Known for his speed in picking a jury and his willingness to take on new cases, the Houston Press found that he was consistently one of the court-appointed lawyers taking home the most money from county coffers in the 1980s and 1990s.

    He was once jailed for contempt for his mishandling of criminal cases, and his courtroom record was the focus of a Chicago Tribune investigation into problems with the death penalty in Texas.

    Longtime friend and fellow attorney Andrew McGee defended Mock’s legal prowess, pointing out that Mock took on the toughest clients, the men no one wanted to represent.

    “He did appointed cases of baby killers, husband killers — he did all the worst of the worst and he was good at it,” McGee said. “If they ended up on death row it was probably because they deserved to be there.”

    Between 1986 and 2001, Mock handled 19 capital murders. Sixteen of them ended in a death sentence. At one point, he said that he’d likely had more clients sent to death row than any other lawyer in the country.

    “I know I have represented these folks to the best of my ability,” he told the Tribune. “I’m a good lawyer. It ain’t bragging if you can do it.”

    Longtime friend and fellow attorney Andrew McGee defended Mock’s legal prowess, pointing out that Mock took on the toughest clients, the men no one wanted to represent.

    “He did appointed cases of baby killers, husband killers — he did all the worst of the worst and he was good at it,” McGee said. “If they ended up on death row it was probably because they deserved to be there.”

    Between 1986 and 2001, Mock handled 19 capital murders. Sixteen of them ended in a death sentence. At one point, he said that he’d likely had more clients sent to death row than any other lawyer in the country.

    “I know I have represented these folks to the best of my ability,” he told the Tribune. “I’m a good lawyer. It ain’t bragging if you can do it.”

    While some of Mock’s clients earned their convictions, Graham’s case was never as clear-cut. The Houston man, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was convicted without any physical evidence and on the testimony of a single witness. Mock — a third-year attorney at the time — didn’t put on any witnesses to argue his client’s innocence.

    It was a case that became a political flashpoint and one that still incites ire among anti-death penalty activists and capital defense attorneys. David Dow, a Houston lawyer who handled some of Graham’s appeals, called Mock “one of the worst” attorneys taking on capital trials.

    And, despite his colorful posthumous image of the man, years earlier Wice dinged his lax preparation and casual handling of a different capital case as so bad it constituted a “breakdown of the adversarial process,” according to the Washington Post.

    Defense lawyer Feroz Merchant dismissed the negative comments as a reflection of the sorts of cases his friend took.

    “He was a good-hearted soul and a good human being, he got people charged with the worst offenses and you can only do what you can with what you’ve been given,” he said. “I can’t make a steak from a piece of cardboard no matter how much you might want to.”

    Outside the courtroom Mock was known as a likable guy, quick with a joke and always easy to find at Buster’s, a favorite watering hole near the courthouse.

    “Nobody could tell a story like he did,” Merchant said. “He walked into a courtroom and everybody knew.”

    Mock started his law career in 1978 after earning a degree from Texas Southern University.

    “He paved the way for so many people of color to practice criminal defense and that was a good thing,” Wice said. “But if you were an indigent defendant charged with capital murder and the state was going to seek the ultimate punishment, you knew that your days were likely numbered.”

    Mock leaves behind a wife and two children, who declined to comment.

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...hp?src=hp_totn
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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