8/14/2019 Regs Newsletter 2
1/13
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REGINALD BLANTONTexas Death Row.
Interview with Dee, Founder of the Abolishment
Movement 2008
HELP SAVE A LIFE
Page 1 of 12
When I first received a letter from Reggie in
December, he said to me "You know what
makes no sense at all? My having almost all my
clothes on, I mean all the clothes I own,including head covering and an ugly green
jacket, just to stay warm in my cage. I'm
dressed as if I were outside." Reggie is a fighter,
a fighter for human rights and member of
DRIVE, an online death row organization that
uses peaceful measures to fight against prison
abuse, and injustices. Listed on the DRIVE site
are numerous articles and poetry Reggie has
written. Reggie was one of the participants of
the Texas Death Row Hunger strike in whichseveral inmates protested the conditions on the
Polunsky death row unit in Livingston Texas by
going on a hunger strike.
.
Here is my interview with Reggie, from his death rowcell, he speaks about his case, about his friend who h
was accused of murdering, and shows how he i
innocent.
Reggie, can you please give us a bio of yourself
I was born blue behind my twin brother, Robert, in a
Oakland California hospital. My dad retired from th
Navy and we moved to Texas, to be closer to mmamas side of the family, while getting away from
California's earthquakes and rapidly growing gan
culture. For 11 years I grew up in a househol possessed by dad's alcoholism, and because da
would quit his jobs a lot, we had to move a lot. A new
kid in the neighborhoods we moved to, I had to fight
lot, not necessarily to fit in, but to be left alone
Though initially fighting was something I didn't lik
to do, I had to eventually adapt to its norms. Anywa
early one morning mama rounded up my sistebrother, me and as much of our belongings we could
fit into her bronco and moved us to an apartment sh
already had waiting, divorcing herself from dad, th
fights, and from what alcoholism was doing to ou
lives.
However my relationship with mama was shattere
by what I felt was stress-relieving, overkillin
whippings she gave me. I held them against mam
just as I did the divorce. Mama and I began arguinjust as she and dad did. I would leave the house teither get into a fight at school, or on my way hom
from school, then again once I got home with mama.
www.myspace.com/freereggieb
www.freereginaldblanton.com
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So when it came time to deciding whose rules Iwould live by, mama's or the subculture, both of
which were diametrically opposed to one another,
I chose the latter especially since the family I
identified with was outside mama's house. A
family I identified with because we were alllargely rebelling with anger against something wedidn't understand. So living as one of them, I
became one of them, a locc'd out crip
Gangbanging and criminalism was the subculture
norms, norms that led to my incarceration several
times for non-felony crimes. After going to T. Y.C. (Texas Youth Commission), when I was 16, by
the time I got out at 18, something about me
changed. I wasn't changed by their so called
"resocialization" program, but because I was
disgusted with being caught up in the system, and
the subculture that had me enslaved to it.Interesting enough, when I said "it" I meant both
the "system," that is, the juvenile system as well as
the subculture, both of which should be seen as
part of the same body. At the age of 16 I was
already in the 10th grade. When I was released, if
that is the appropriate word, from T. Y. C. I hadmy GED. I had intentions of taking T. Y. C. up on
their offer of 2-years of free college education tobecome a licensed vocational nurse, but my parole
officer John Rubulcava, refused to do the
necessary paper work to make it happen. In what I
felt was a dire attempt to save my life, whichmeant getting away from my parole officer who
seemed more concerned with violating my parole
by forcing me to work full time while reporting
and doing more community service than he was
allowed to give me each week all by city bus, then
writing me up if I was late, I tried to get him toauthorize, as they had done for another parolee,
for me to take the A. S. V. A. B. after which if I
passed, I would have been released from parole
and into the hands of the military.
But he flat out refused to even do this. So I took him
to his supervisor who begged me to give him
chance, and I did. Then a week or so later, I wa
being snatched away from my girlfriend and her
year old son whom I wanted to adopt, for th
Capital murder of a friend of mine.
Your currently on Texas Death Row, What wa
your conviction and how long have you been on
The row.
I've been on death row now for 7 years which ca
only be understood as lifetimes of incarnations. A
for what I was convicted of, you are speaking of
different type of conviction that I only hope leave
people feeling convicted that the Judicial system, a
least here in Texas, is broken. My brother Robe
and his girlfriend Latoya arrived unexpected at mapartment, to cruise around and visit family an
friends. With nothing to do, I left with them. Of th
family and friends we visited with, Carlos Garz
was one of them, or at least we tried to visit himHere is where things get difficult to discuss. Whe
we left from Carlos's apartment after getting n
response, we went to the other side of town to se
some other friends. On our way to our respectiv
homes, I asked my brother to stop by the pawn sho
so I could pawn some jewelry. It was a last minutdecision on my part. What makes this difficult t
talk about is the fact that the jewelry had previousl
belonged to Carlos. So this alone is supposed
infer my guilt. And, superficially, it would seem
questionable. But while we were on the East side
the particular side of town we were leaving frombefore we stopped by the pawn shop, somebody wa
kicking in Carlos's door, killing him.
Carlos and I had always traded or rolled dice fo
jewelry we both wore. We always had a lot jewelry that was expendable to the both of u
Besides I had been in a cleaning up process. I hamoved in with my girlfriend and changed my job t
be closer to our apartment. I had told her that after
sold the rest of my marijuana, I wasn't going to se
drugs anymore.
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I had already been pawning my jewelry, not because
I needed money but because I was slowly cleaning
myself up. The District Attorney asked the question,
which I couldn't answer because my trial attorneyswouldn't let me testify, why I had gone all the way
to the other side of town to pawn jewelry whenthere were pawn shops in the vicinity of where
Carlos lived. If I had testified I would have
explained that I didn't "go all the way to the other
side of town to pawn jewelry."The friends and myDad we attempted to visit, who all lived in the same
neighborhood as Carlos, was already on "the other
side of town" from where my brother and I lived.
We were just cruising, and seeing friends. The DA
said "the other side of town" to imply we were
running from something. Secondly, we went to "theother side of town" that is, the Eastside, to see some
more friends, not to pawn jewelry. Again, pawning
jewelry was a last minute thought. We were there,I
had some jewelry I was slowly getting rid of
already, so I sold it. As for why a pawnshop on the
Eastside instead of where Carlos lived? Not onlywasn't I thinking about pawning anything, even if I
had, a week or so prior when I attempted to pawn
some jewelry at pawn shops in that area, they
refused to give me anything close to the jewelry'svalue.My dad who had always pawned things, even
warned me not to do business with the pawn shops
in that area. But this is not it. Two and a half months
before Carlos's murder, his girlfriend took some
pictures of Carlos and me together with some other
friends. In these pictures, not only did he have on
some of my jewelry, but I had on the very same
jewelry I was pawning. There were also pictures of
another mutual friend of ours wearing some of the
same jewelry, which he had gotten from me. These
pictures were admitted into evidence at trial.
Furthermore, Carlos's girlfriend who took these
pictures,and the mutual friend wearing the jewellery
I had given to him both testified at trial that the
jewelry did belong to me, and that Carlos and I had
traded jewelry in the past. What does this all mean?.
Reginald Blanton On Texas Death Row
That anybody that has something that previous
belonged to their friend better not hope that frie
is murdered? That's ridiculous! The real question
why was all this evidence overlooked? T
pawnshop was a rare incident of coinciden
Carlos was my friend. Kill him for jewelry? Chea
jewelry? If I was hard up for money like that, whdidn't I take any of that money that was said to b
just laying around his apartment? Then, why m
friend instead of a stranger? It doesn't make sens
Besides, I'm not petty like that. I mean, I drove
Mercedes Benz. On top of it all, I'm loyal. Carl
and his cousin knew this. I've spent my money o
them and was willing to die for them. They kne
this. My realness is unquestionable. And though
have done some stupid things in my ignorant year
never would I pawn something I stole. That beyond comprehension. It's a commonly knowfact that pawned items are ran through t
computer to determine if they are stolen.
I must emphasize we weren't the only one wh
went to Carlos's apartment before his murder eith
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But I need him to understand that my love for him
is one that can't be devoured by this predatory
system, one that was only concerned with using
him. The other day in utter disgust, I finally threw
away the only letter I had from my brother, one in
which he was fighting to express emotions, another
part of him was fighting to conceal. And as I say
this, I feel like puking. Never, I mean never, has he
told me he wanted to kill himself except for in that
letter. I feel like I've lost my brother. My mama and
step-pops has even said he's not the same. And just
a couple of months ago, his girlfriend, a new
girlfriend, searched me out and left a message on
my Myspace page maintained for me by a friend,
concerned about my brother. Here's a women I've
never met telling me that all my brother does is talk
about me. She was also trying to find out thesignificance of the number 7 because it was a
number my brother was distraught over. I told her
my brother thought as I did, that I was going to be
murdered by the state last year, 2007. She said he's
holding something inside that is tearing him apart
and that she is losing her boyfriend. This death
penalty thing is a Frankenstein. A living death that
destroys lives. There is no healing in it. None! We
are only killing ourselves spiritually, morally, and
physically, by letting it go on it's rampage.
Well, anyway, as we prepared for trial the DAs
offered me a capital murder life sentence if I didn't
force them to spend money by taking my case to
trial where they would seek death against me.
However, when I went back to court for an
evidentiary hearing concerning my state habeasappeal on my wrongful conviction, when my
appellant attorney, Scott Sullivan, asked the district
attorney that tried my case, Tamura Butler, to takethe stand, I found it peculiar that when she was
asked if she offered me a plea-deal she lied, saying
she hadn't and that doing such wasn't the practice inthe Das office.
Only later, after reading Supreme Court Justic
Thurgood Marshall's opinion in Furman V
Georgia, the 1972 case on which the death penal
was abolished, I realized why Tamura Butler ha
lied. You see, Thurgood Marshall said, DAs can
claim the death penalty as a deterrent to crime
they use it to manipulate defendants to plea for
lesser offense. What I'm trying to say is how ca
they claim that I'm such a "severe threat
society" that I need to be killed by leth
chemicals that they cannot even use on animal
after offering to keep me alive if I didn't take them
to trial? Hypocritical.
I know I'm being a bit long winded, but it is vit
that the people are made aware of how careful
constructed my case and conviction was. When wpaneled the venire members, that is, called the 10
people from which we were going to compose ou
jury to come into the courtroom, after Tamu
Butler made a comment to my attorney about
black juror being the sole "holdout" juror in
previous trial, which led to a mistrial, she calle
for a jury shuffle, shuffling all the Africa
American venire-members who were seated in th
front of the courtroom, to the back. This was he
first attempt to keep African Americans off mjury. She was hoping that we would amass a jur
before interviewing them in a process called vo
dire. And listen to that, "them." Here it is 2008 an
we are still dealing with the "them" phenomenon
Well, we fought our way through interviewin
each venire member until we finally made it to ou
first African African venire member. Yet, minu
one, the district attorney only ended up using h
peremptory challenges or strikes, which t
defense gets the same number of, to exclude th
rest of the African Americans from serving on
jury.
.
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In light of the comment Tamura Butler made about
the holdout African American jury and her jury
shuffle, my court appointed attorneys raised a
"Batson" claim, requiring her to give "race neutral"
reasons for using peremptory strikes, which may be
used to strike a venire member for any reason
except race or religion Little surprise Tamura
Butler's reasons were deemed "race-neutral" by the
presiding judge, Juanita Vasquez-Gardner.
During my appeal, after examining the transcripts
of the interviews of each venire member it was
revealed that Tamura Butler asked questions
differently toward those that became jury members
than she had the African Americans she kept off.
Whereas she educated the former as to the
application of the law, she left the latter to theirown misconceptions as to justify excluding them
from serving on my jury based on their so-called
inability to apply the appropriate law. Then when
we, my trial attorney, educated them of the law and
they said that they could apply it accordingly,
Tamura Butler claimed "vacillation," swaying
opinion, as her race-neutral reason for striking
African Americans from serving on mv jury. Aclassic example of using a persons ignorance
against them.
Going back to my State Habeas Corpus evidentiary
hearing, after Tamura Butler took the stand, my
attorney had also asked her what her reasons werefor her jury shuffle. She said that she wanted to
move to the back venire members that were defense
attorneys, social workers, and teachers, while
moving to the front those with ties to law
enforcement. However in the first 20 venire
members, where 3 of the 5 African Americans onthe panel sat, there was only one teacher and
nobody with any of. the occupations she said she
was trying to shuffle to the back of the courtroom.
The Federal Court Judge recently ruled in my cas
that the jury shuffle was "racially motivated" an
that Tamura Butler's race neutral reason for h
peremptory strike against one African Americ
was "more rationalization than rationale." Y
contradicting himself, the Federal Judge Orland
Garcia, unbelievably denied my claim that th
prosecutor, Tamura Butler racially exclud
African Americans from serving on my jury
Yet this is not, the extent of Tamura Butler
prosecutorial misconduct. The Northwest
University School of Law, Center on Wrongf
Convictions, compiled a study called "The Snitc
System" in which they reveal that the fir
wrongful conviction involved a "snitch." The stud
also revealed that of the 111 exonerated from dearow, about half, 45.9% involved snitches. What
this about? Every study I've read most cases I'v
read, as well as most stories I've heard from peop
on death row right now had a "snitch" most
"jailhouse-snitches" involved in their convictions
When I was going to trial my lawyer asked me if
knew a Frank Trujiilo. I told him that the the nam
wasn't recognizable. My lawyer told me th
person knew me and would be testifying againme. One day after going back to the county ja
from trial, I saw this one prisoner in the leg
booths in booking I had been locked up around.
threw my head back to say "what"s up" to him, yo
know, just to say hello. He faintly moved his hea
to say "what's up" back, but his expression struc
me. It was like he was either shocked or didnrecognize me. I just kept on stepping to m
destination. Then came the day during trial whe
this Frank Trujiilo was supposed to testify againme. Into the courtroom walked the same person
had said "what's up" to that day I came back from
court. I was beyond words.
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On that stand he told one lie after another. He said
that we were friends in the freeworld though I didn't
meet him until I was locked up in the county 6 for
this crime. He said that I use to give him drugs
"under the table" at this motel he supposedly worked
at to pay for the room. He even said that I came tothe motel one day trying to sell him a gun of the
same caliber used to murder Carlos. When I was
being booked for Carlos murder I was thrown into a
small room with about 15 people sitting around me.
Everybody was asking everybody what they were in
for." When I was asked I said "for the Capital Murder
of my friend." When somebody else asked if I did it I
emphatically said "hell nah, But this jailhouse snitch
Frank Trujillo who was also present in this room
which is when I first met him, said on the stand that Ihad bragged about killing Carlos in front of all these
strangers. I was enraged. But what could I do about
it? I wanted to curse him out but that would have
only made me look worse. On top of it all my trial
lawyers had me strapped in a testifying straitjacket.
This trial is the reason why I now have high-blood
pressure. Another day when I came to my lynching
of a trial, as I walked past the one-man holding cells
behind the courtroom, I passed one cell where
Tamura Butler a pretty prosecutor I might add, satnext to this same jailhouse snitch, knee to knee,
talking to him. When they saw me they sort of staredat me shocked, like I caught them doing what I
thought as I walked off: Tamura Butler using her sex-
appeal to further coax Frank Trujillo to stay the
course in their plot to kill me. During my appeal I
asked my court-appointed federal attorney what had
happened to this jailhouse snitch. He said though hehad several felonies pending in several states, after
my wrongful conviction, all he received was 1-year,time served..He went home. Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr.
said "If justice is perverted when a criminal
defendant seeks to buy testimony from a witness it is
no less perverted when the Government doesso."Where does it all stop? Little wonder why the
majority of brothers here on Texas' death row
subsist in various levels of despair. Her
recently, we just lost another brother to suicide
That's some 4 suicides in about as many year
It's enough to be urged by an imate forc
toward self-preservation, only to have youhands tied as you watch your own murde
approach you; let alone to be encaged falsel
under sensory-depriving conditions with a cas
like mine, as many brothers have; a case o
endless corruption, too much to begin breakin
down. So what does most of these brothers do
They sit silenced, until they are silentl
murdered by the state, If they dont silently ki
themselves.
.
Are You Innocent?
As for your question of "innocence" I cringe athat word. What does it mean? Obviously it ha
lost meaning to most Americans, or mor
specifically, citizens of Texas since they didn
demand abolition or at the bare minimum,
moratorium on the death penalty when th
Lone Star State killed Todd Willingham, GarGraham, Francis Newton, Justin Fuller, an
lord knows who else that was also innocent.sort of feel ashamed of that word "innocence
Probably because I'm ashamed of being here.
don't know how else to explain how that wor
makes me feel. It's not enough to be innocenhere in America.
REGINALDS MOTHER AT VISIT 2008
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You either better have DNA evidence or a video of
you at another location at the precise moment of the
crime, to prove your innocence. What does thismean for people with a messy case like mine?
Constant refusals from law firms I've contacted to
help me? Certainly everybody doesn't have cases
where there were DNA evidence.
This whole system will make you feel guiltywithout really knowing why. I think innocence
needs to be redefined because we are dealing with a
situation that goes beyond the black and white lines
of guilt and innocence which, when we are talking
about capital punishment, respectively means life in
prison or a death sentence and freedom. What 1mean is, what if I was indeed guilty? Does this take
away from the man I have finally become? Myredemption? Anybody who is keen enough to see
who I really am through my words, let alone my
activism, knows the ghettos and hoods need people
like me as much as they did Tookie Williams, to
encourage growth and development.
Texas, if not the whole American Judicial System,
has a policy of condemnation that never takes into
consideration that change is an inherent part of
human nature. I mean, Texas' prison industrialcomplex is less concerned with true rehabilitation,
and more with mere imprisonment.
This says it all. I guess I will say that I've seen too
many brothers around here who admit that they
were guilty for their crimes but it was clear that
they were changed men that could change the
communities that they came from. yet their stories
were poisoned and their value died on that gurney
with a needle in its arm. So what is innocence?
Do you feel that your lifestyle and gan
association had anything to do with your fals
conviction?
I absolutely do. They placed a spotlight on me
Police officers referring to my brother and I a
the "Blanton Boys" or "Blanton Twins"? Tha
says a lot. It's one of the reasons why I wacleaning up my look. I was even in the proces
of downgrading my car from a Mercedes t
something more practical. These things made m
a target. Then when you get in the courtroom an
you have golds in your mouth, Varsace glasses
tattoos, and you are a member of the "notoriou
CRIPS" with a criminal history? It doesn't matte
how petty that criminal history is. It doesn
matter that you don't "gangbang.". Skille
prosecutors will scare the average juror in believing you are dangerous. I guess the re
question is how do you become dangerous jus
because you have these things? Perhaps becaus
when these images are arranged right, the
become symbols that tap into and dances wit
those misconceptions that dwell in th
subconscious of each juro
Do you feel you were railroaded? Why?
I do feel I was railroaded and not only becausof what I've already said, but consider thi
Carlos' apartment door was kicked in. Detective
were able to take a clear close-up picture of th
tread-print left on the door. The shoes I wore th
entire day of Carlos' murder was taken by polic
to be examined for blood-splatter and anythin
else that would link me to his murder. Of cours
they didn't find anything. However, I told m
trial lawyer, Anthony Cantrell, to get these shoe
to show the jury that the 12-inch shoe-print oCarlos' door wasn't mine. These shoes are a siz
9. But my own attorney grilled me about i
saying "Okay, okay, we're going to get them
right now!" as if I was lying and to see if I woulfreeze up. Needless to say, he never got th
shoes.
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Railroaded? I presented to my State Habeas Corpus
attorney, Scott Sullivan, several vital claims for
him to include in the appeal he was supposedly
filing for me, one of which was about my shoes not
matching the shoe-print on the door. It was
especially important that he included all the claims
possible at this particular stage of my appeal
because if he didn't whichever claims he left out
would be lost forever, barred from ever being
raised in later appeals. Different character, same
plot. Mr. Sullivan refused to raise these innocent
claims in my appeal. So I compiled all the carbon-
copies of letters I sent him, pleading to him to file
my claims, and went to the court with it all
showing Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner, of the
399th District court in San Antonio, how my own
attorney refused to represent my legal interest. Butshe utterly ignored what I sent to her certified mail.
So, then I went to the State Bar of Texas about
what Scott Sullivan had done to my appeal but they
felt he had not committed any professional
misconduct and referred me back to Juanita
Vasquez-Gardner's court. I was ignored and swept
under the rug with all the other silenced. When my
Federal attorney attempted to file these claims to
the Federal court, the Federal judge said the claims
were procedurally barred from being heard withouteven considering how I diligently sought to have
my legal interest represented, only to be ignored by
my state habeas attorney, the judge over my State
Habeas Corpus appeal, who was also my trial
judge, and even the State Bar of Texas, who is
supposed to make sure that lawyers do their jobs.
This stuff makes me sick.
What stage is your appeals at?
My appeal was denied by the 5th circuit court of
appeals. My last resort, at least judicially, will be
the Supreme Court.
How do you spend your time on Death Row?
I try to divide my day into 8-hours of rest, 8
hours of self-reflection, research, and 8-hours o
writing. Because I'm largely at war with Maya
the Sanskrit term for illusion, I'm fighting my
self-illusions, seeking to realize my Highest selfI have found this is the only way I'm able to find
that space inside the pyramid of my being
imperturbable by the harmonious-chaos tha
surrounds me. From this place I find my inner
strength which I hope shines forth as inspiration
for all these brothers here on the row. From thi
place I find the strength to delve into intens
studies, searching for keys, keys that may unlock
within me insights, solutions to the problems tha
plague us within these walls, and the us outsidethese wails; that is, our brothers and sisters in
freeworld society.
This is why I have embraced the name Omar
Huduma, which is Swahili for "The Highes
Service." Not only do I strive to realize omari
the highest, that is, my highest self, but I dedicate
my life to the upliftment of my sisters and
brothers as the highest huduma, that is, service
have to give. Together with my cadre of brothers
Christopher Young, Gabriel Gonzalez, Rober
Will, and Kenneth Foster, who is now serving a
life sentence, we have breathed life into
movement we call D.R.I.V.E.: Death Row Inner
Communalist Vanguard Engagement
We are fighting for the abolition of the Death
Penalty and as humane living conditions a
possible as long as we must be confined under an
inhumane sentence of death. We're fighting by
not only educating the public of the atrocious andfar-reaching nature cf the Death Penalty, but by
hopefully being representative of the hope and
human dignity that still exist within these wall
of death.
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We have taken Direct Action within these walls of
death nonviolently protesting these sensory-
depriving conditions and for better treatment by thisadministration.
We dedicate a lot of time toward helping brothers
within these wails overcome their self-illusions,whether it be racism or misogyny, while trying to
get them to see that they shouldn't just givethemselves to a man-made demise as their fate
because they still have worth, one worth fighting
for. We are literally fighting from the inside out in
every sense.
What are your feelings about the death sentence?
It's counter-justice. It doesn't promote healing withthe victims' family; it creates extended victims with
the prisoners' family; it ignores the humanity of the
condemned; it hardens the hearts of those that in
some way or some form promotes the process
leading up to the condemned's state sanctioned
murder; and it takes not only tax-dollars away from
rehabilitation programs badly needed but it takes
the lives of the condemned, who could very well
promote the rehabilitation of others that will
identify more with them than anybody else.
The death penalty is racially inclined do you see this
as a form of genocide
You know genocide is defined as the systematic
destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.
Though the death penalty is racially inclined, ifracism wasn't a factor, it would be harder for
District Attorneys to secure convictions, we would
still be speaking of a systematic destruction via the
Judicial Persecution System of a cultural group oras I would rather say those largely from the
subculture. And the bottom line will always be thebottom class. If brothers and sisters on death row
could afford a topnotch defense team, they would
not be on death row.
If we look at those that made it off death row,
was largely one of two factors that played a rol
in it:
They either had a law firm or innocence projec
fighting for their lives, or a mass grassroo
movement.
What abuses have you and others endured at th
Polunsky Death Row Unit?
I watched as a neighbor of mine, Kenneth Clark
died in his cage because medical refused to hel
him. Geronimo Gutierrez is suffering from
painful medical condition and the medication his being given is not taking away his pai
Michael Sigala's sinus condition has gotten so ba
that fluid has built up in one of his ears to th
point that he has lost all his hearing in that ea
and the medication provided to him is n
enough. Medical has a notorious unwritten policof only being concerned about a death row
prisoners' health only if their lives are
immediate jeopardy. As long as we are alive unt
the state kills us, they have served their purpose
Our grievance system is broken. Generall
grievances either come up missing or we get runaround responses to them. Some of the food the
dish us is uneatable. Some brothers who ar
suffering from mental illnesses are mistreated b
officers who don't know how to deal with them
Officers refuse to feed or recreate some of them
As for my brothers in the DRIVE movement, as
result of our nonviolent protest, we have bee
subjected to excessive uses of force. We hav
been denied food, recreation, and showers. Whave had all our property taken away from u
against policy. We've had our mail tampered wit
or sometimes thrown away. There was even on
occasion where I was forced I mean carried into
cage smeared in feces and urine.
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FOR CONTACT DETAILS SEE OVER THE PAGE
Page 11 of 12
HOW CAN THE PUBLIC HELP YOU?
I need an attorney that will aggressively fight formy life as if it were their own in the Supreme
Court should my 5th circuit appeal get denied.
This attorney may just want to work in
conjunction with my Federal attorney. Thisattorney needs to be knowledgeable in the law as
it pertains to procedural default. Likewise, if mycase is reversed, I will need an attorney to
aggressively represent me at another trial.
My plight needs as much media exposure as
possible specifically here in Texas not only
emphasizing the injustices in a wrongfulconviction, but also my genesis into manhood,
my self-evolution, my redemption, in spite of
charges that I would never amount to anything.
I need people to relentlessly pursue,firstly,
influential people that are against the Death
Penalty such as senator Rodney Ellis, GreenParty's presidential candidate and former Georgia
senator, Cynthia McKinney, or Green Party
presidential candidate from San Antonio, Cate
Swift and those like them to persuade them to use
their influence to persuade the Texas State Bar to
accept and entertain the grievance I'm trying to
file against Scott Sullivan for refusing torepresent me; since the first grievance I attempted
to file against him was classified as an "inquiry"
and dismissed. We need pressure on the Texas
State Bar to do the right thing. This grievance can
be found on my myspace page.
We also need these influential people to persuade
others like them to stand with them in their
demand for true justice in my case. I need people
to use my plight as a means to further build thegrassroots movement to abolish the DeathPenalty.
I need people especially here in Texas and if the
are not in Texas to persuade people they may know
here in Texas to be willing to take to the streets; t be my voice and the voice for the voiceless; t
distribute literature on my plight everywhere the
go. Until someone enlightens me of a more viabl
approach this is the only way I believe we can levethis imbalanced scale of so-called justice.
At this time if there is anything you would lik
to add to the interview please do so
I need to say this to Carlos' Mama: Ma'am if tha
was you staring at me when my defense attorney
told me to sit facing those seated in the courtroom
if you are wondering what I tried to say to you said "I didn't do it." I can't find the words to encas
what I feel about the pain you have gone throughYour lost is mine. Though I don't know what yo
still feel I will say I hurt not only because of all tha
has grown out of Carlos murder but every time th
state of Texas kills one of my brothers.And the
guilt or innocence doesn't affect one way or anothe
this pain I feel. Just as I believe if Carlos was eve
sent to death row and the state of Texas killed him
whether he was guilty or not wouldn't affect on
way or another the pain that you would feel. Th
more important thing is I offer all the love of mbeing to you and your family. I mean all the love o
my being, everything I am. And Ms. Garza pleas
let me say also I would like for you to conside
meeting my Mama. Because I believe you will se
yourself in her as well as her pain.
May love, all our love, heal your wounds. I fight s
mothers like yourself, and family members for tha
matter, wont have these wounds.
Dee, thank you from the depths of my soul fo
giving me this opportunity. Being able to spill a
these things from my cup has done something t
me.
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POEM WRITTEN BY REGINALD BLANTON
WOUNDED (sos)
She has never cried so hard, so utterly, in her life. She cries as if her life depended on it. In fact,lives do depend on it. Dark, angry clouds havent even known raindrops the size of her tears. O the
hurt. Her gapping mouth frowns with wails from her agony. I havent realized how my face contortsfrom the mere sight, the mere sight ofmy wound. Ive been wounded by the mistreatment of
Humanity who sits curled up like an abused child, precious child, in the corner of our souls, neglected
by the US; neglected by the STATE; neglected by this administration; and what hurtso it hurtseven
more, neglected by my fellow death row prisoners, whose faces turn away from this child because they
feel they dont deserve her. And when they turned their confused faces with tears in their eyes, it rippeda hold through my flesh; one so profound, I can peer through it to my Soul, to that child, the child that
cries.
I lay wounded in the ditch of my cage, left to die, this child and me. Passerbys hear the cries from my
woundtheir reflection, but they refuse to face themselves, passing US by. My wound cries for US,
which means YOU. The child in me, in US, needs YOU. WE can heal, but it must be TOGETHER; Icant do it alone,
My wound is bleeding my Soul.
PleasePlease dont pass US by.
CONTACT DETAILS
PLEASE HELP SAVE A LIFE
Anna Terrell
Phone # 210 508 7616
Ann Morrison
Sandie Blanton
Phone# 011 44 1935 414176(please note this is a UK Phone #)
Or
Snail Mail Address
P.O. BOX OR 760776,
San Antonio,
Texas 78245
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