Stop the execution of Frances Newton

Support for Frances Newton grows daily. From every corner of Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, people have been moved by Newton’s case —and have turned their disbelief and outrage at the injustice done her into action to stop her Sept. 14 execution.

From around the United States and the world people are responding to an email campaign on the FreeFrances.org web site and the iacenter.org web site. They are sending postcards to the governor and showing DVDs of Newton speaking.

Frances Newton, who has maintained her innocence, is scheduled to be put to death by the state of Texas for the 1988 killings of her husband Adrian, her 7-year-old son Alton, and her 21-month-old daughter Farrah. Her state appeal was denied in August. Her case in now in the federal courts.

She would be the first African American woman executed in Texas since 1854, when an enslaved Black woman named Lucy was hanged in Galveston.

Gloria Rubac speaking in Austin, Aug. 27.

In July, Newton’s attorneys filed an addition to an application for a writ of habeas corpus when it was discovered Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson, who handles all death row appeals from Houston, had admitted to a Dutch journalist what Newton’s family had known for 18 years: There was another gun involved in the murders.

Frances Newton wound up on death row because she was forced to take court-appointed attorney Ron Mock, known for his incompetence and arguably one of the worst defense lawyers in Houston. Sixteen of his clients, including Shaka Sankofa who was executed in 2000, were sent to death row. Only four are alive today.

March to governor's house in Austin.

Newton tried to have Mock replaced after her family finally scraped enough money together to hire a private attorney, but the trial judge refused to dismiss him.

The state says Newton killed her family. Her mother says it’s impossible. “Frances adored her children,” says Jewel Nelms. “Frances was a conscientious mother who took such care with her children, including their education. It is not possible she could have harmed them.”

On Aug. 27, Newton’s supporters from Houston and Austin marched on the governor’s mansion to put Texas Gov. Rick Perry on notice that if he allows the execution to take place, he will have the murder of an innocent woman on his hands.

The Houston-based Com mittee to Free Frances Newton left early from the S.H.A.P.E. Community in Houston for the trip to Austin. On the bus, each person took the microphone and told what had gotten her or him involved in trying to stop this execution.

One of them was Karen Preston. She went to high school with Newton. “Every class reunion, we talk about Frances and how we can’t believe she would ever harm her family. I have to step up and try to stop her execution.”

Armed with banners and signs and an unstoppable spirit, the group was joined by anti-death-penalty activists in Austin.

After a march up Congress Avenue, the crowd rallied across the street from Perry’s home. Speakers included Barbara Acuna, whose son Robert Acuna was the last juvenile sentenced to death in Houston before the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the practice in October 2004. Also, Delia Perez-Meyers talked about her brother Louis Meyers, another innocent person on death row in Texas. Perez-Meyers presented Acuna with a beautiful drawing made by Gary Sterling, who had been executed two weeks earlier.

Speaking for Newton was Nelms, who thanked everyone for their commitment and activism on behalf of her daughter.

After the rally, Nelms left to go visit Newton. “She’s doing really good and is so excited about what’s going on in Houston and in Austin. Frances is doing well. She still has a wonderful, beautiful smile. Her spirits are high. She knows that the truth is on her side,” Nelms said.

Nelms noted the next day: “All the things are finally coming out that Frances and I have been knowing for a long time. Like the D.A. finally admitting another gun was recovered from the crime scene.

“It’s been a little frustrating with other people not knowing about what really happened when you know it is a fact. And when you know that those facts could change my daughter’s life.”

On the Aug. 27 bus ride back to Hous ton, activists mapped out plans for the next two weeks. There will be rallies and pickets and city council appearances. There will be a hip-hop program for the youth, and a tent at a community festival.

“I am so thankful for all the people coming together,” said Nelms. “I am thankful for all the people who are coming forward and standing up and looking at the case and voicing their opinions.”

Letters of support can be sent to: Frances Newton (#922), Mountain View Unit, 2305 Ransom Road, Gatesville, TX 76528.