The Texas Legislature is currently considering HB 2267 and HB 304, which would both prohibit the state from imposing the death penalty on people convicted under the Law of Parties.
The Law of Parties allows people who "should have anticipated" a murder to receive the death penalty for the actions of another person. A person sentenced to death under the Law of Parties has not killed anyone.
Under the Law of Parties, a person can be held criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if, "in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."
On February 24, we held a press conference at the Texas capitol with members of the families of Kenneth Foster and Jeff Wood (video on YouTube), both of whom were convicted and sentenced to death under the Law of Parties, even though neither of them ever killed anyone. Foster's death sentence was commuted to life in prison on August 30, 2007. Wood remains on death row.
On March 24, several organizations held a Death Penalty Reform Lobby Day. The main focus of the Lobby Day was to advocate for an end to the death penalty under Law of Parties cases.
Everyone who has been executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 participated in a crime in which at least one victim died. In most cases, the person executed directly killed the victim. In a small minority of cases, the person executed ordered or contracted with another person to carry out the murder.
In another group of cases, the person executed participated in a felony during which a victim died at the hands of another participant in the felony. The defendant in such cases was typically found guilty of "felony murder"or under the "law of parties," and in some states can receive the death penalty, despite not having killed or directed the killing of the victim.
Texas has executed three people under the Law of Parties out of the 435 total executions Texas has conducted since 1982.
No one should be put to death for a murder committed by someone else. The death penalty should certainly not be used for people who do not actually kill anyone. While most people in Texas may still support the death penalty, I am quite sure that even most people who support the death penalty only want it used for the worst of the worst murderers and not for people who do not actually kill anyone. Dutton's bill would eliminate the death penalty sentencing option for people convicted under the Law of Parties, but it would still allow people who play lesser roles in a case to be convicted and sentenced to prison under the Law of Parties.
Are you on Facebook? If you add our Abolish the Death Penalty Project on Amazee to your Facebook profile by Sunday afternoon, you could help us Win $1,000 to Use in the campaign against the Law of Parties.
Amazee.com is having a contest and we could win $1,000 to use to advocate for passage of the bill to end the death penalty in Law of Parties cases.
Go to the Abolish the Death Penalty project on Amazee and add it to your Facebook profile.
Go to the link above and click on the blue button that is on the right side of the page. It says "Add to Facebook".
If you want to skip a step, click this link to bypass the visit to Amazee and add the Abolish project directly to your Facebook profile.
You have to have a profile on Facebook in order to add the project to your Facebook profile. If you do not have a profile on Facebook, you can create one and then add the Amazee project to it.
This contest ends on Sunday, April 5, in the afternoon.
At last count, we were in second plase, 23 people behind first place. The project that has the most people who add the project to their facebook profile wins $1,000, which we will use towards the campaign to pass the bill to end the death penalty under the Law of Parties.
We want to organize Law of Parties forums in Houston, San Antonio, and other cities while the Legislature is in session, so if we win the $1,000, we will use the money to do that. We are also planning a phone bank to make calls into key legislative districts asking people in those districts to contact their state representatives and urge them to vote for the Law of Parties bills (HB 2267 and HB 304).
The Law of Parties allows people to be sentenced to death even though they did not kill anyone. Kenneth Foster, Jeff Wood and others were sentenced to death under the Law of Parties.
The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board wrote on March 23 in "Editorial: Change way accomplices are punished":
Conventional wisdom suggests that the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst criminals - those who commit the most heinous murders.
But in Texas, we sometimes execute accomplices, people who never pulled the trigger and who might have been only peripherally involved in a crime. The law of parties permits the court to hold someone criminally responsible for the acts of another.
Incredibly, an accomplice can be put to death for the triggerman's crime. That accomplice might not even get his own trial, as Texas allows joint trials in capital cases.
But proposed legislation would change that.
Several lawmakers are pushing for needed reforms that would guarantee a defendant's right to his own trial in a death penalty case. Other bills would rule out sentencing an accomplice to death using the law of parties.
This common-sense legislation, which got a hearing Thursday (March 19) in a House subcommittee, would ensure that defendants in capital cases have their own day in court and are not punished for another's actions. Even death penalty proponents should welcome these safeguards.
Gov. Rick Perry, who has shown little hesitancy about the death penalty, expressed concerns about simultaneous trials in 2007 when he blocked Kenneth Foster's execution and reduced his sentence to life in prison. The governor urged the Legislature to look at the issue.