Kenneth Foster did not murder anyone. The prosecutor admits it. The courts admit it, too. Everyone knows someone else is the murderer. But the state of Texas will kill Kenneth Foster anyway, because he was once in a car with the murderer.
Never fear, soon it will be up to Alberto Gonzales to kill people.
The real killer, Maurecio Brown, was executed last year. Everyone admits that. But a Texas law called the "law of parties" means that, even for a death penalty case, someone who is convicted of having aided a crime is punished the same as the primary actor. It's like if you distract the shopkeep while your friend stuffs Snickers in his pockets, you get punished the same as your friend.
Only Kenneth claims not to know his passenger was going to murder anyone. Also, Kenneth is going to be killed.
Amnesty International says there is evidence not heard at trial that not even Maurecio knew he was going to murder somebody, that it was an unplanned act.
A federal district judge overturned Kenneth's sentence, but the Fifth Circuit put the sentence back on.
Links:
The Save Kenneth Blog
The Free Kenneth Petition
Write to the Governor
For Texans
Update:
gchaucer2 brings us the text of the law in question.
Deathwatch brings us Kenneth's letter to the Governor: "Unaware of what I could possibly say that could make a difference, I decided to grasp this opportunity to write to you from my heart."