Sabine
05-29-2002, 05:45 PM
The following is a letter written to Brian Crowther, USA Death Penalty Coordinator for Amnesty International, U.K. The letter was written by Daniel Reneau, who has an execution date set for June 13, 2002.
04.04.02
Dear Brian Crowther,
Hello. I received the message you sent through K. Bandall and I’m just writing to say thanks. I can feel the trend towards abolition growing stronger. I think I heard that the overall support for the death penalty in this country is down to 57%. I’ve always kind of figured though that when something positive does finally happen about it, that it would be just after they killed me. And now I have a date for June 13th, as I’m sure you’re aware of. And unless something positive happens on my behalf then I will probably die on that date or shortly thereafter. My appeal to the Supreme Court will be filed by April 9th and if they were to rule in my favor on the main issue, it would affect many other cases and even though it would be the right thing to do, I would be surprised if they did.
I don’t feel like writing any other letters tonight so I’m gonna ramble on in this one for a minute. When I was out there, I was almost completely ignorant about anything concerning the death penalty and capital crimes/punishment, trials, appeals process, etc. None of it was a part of my life and so I wasn’t concerned about it. I thought a capital crime was just treason or trying to kill the President or something of that nature. Didn’t know there was an appeal process. Just figured that there was a few dudes in line waiting to be killed. I figured that whoever was on Death Row must’ve done something to get there and that they had to be the absolute worse of the worst monsters.
And so I’ve never been against the death penalty. I also knew when I was out there that I would never believe a word said from someone on Death Row (or prison period) simply because I figured they would say anything and whatever it took to get out of their situation or to get anything. When I was 18, I was in a County Jail in Fredericksburg, Texas, for 21 days on a misdemeanor probation revocation. It was a nonviolent misdemeanor and I left the jail everyday on work release.
During this time, Jose Santelon (who is a few cells from me and has a date for April 10th) was in a different part of the jail for this case. Didn’t know or see him then, just knew a person was there for capital murder and I remember thinking about it briefly for a moment and how it just seemed weird and beyond me and how incomprehensible for me it was. Didn’t think anything of it past that brief moment.
Four years later, I was in the same cell he had been in back then and I was going to trial for capital murder and it was even weirder looking back. And than I got here in March of 1997, and it was nothing of hypocrisy and I prefer to keep my own at a minimum so I didn’t all of sudden become against the death penalty just because I received it. As I started to get to know people, it didn’t take long for me to realize that even in my support of the death penalty, that there are people here that don’t belong here. Not saying they shouldn’t be serving somewhere, just saying they shouldn’t be on Death Row. And there were other people that I felt didn’t deserve any appeals and should’ve been hung on the spot back wherever they came from. Felt that way the strongest about child molester/killers.
I’ve always believed in God and Jesus and have always known I needed to give myself to Him and being in here I’ve always known that it was wrong for me to support the death penalty, even for child molesters on the simple premise that, God says, “Thou shall not kill,” and the way I look at it is that He didn’t say that, “Thou shall not kill except for this or that” and that people can believe it however you want. They call it capital punishment, justice or whatever but that doesn’t change the act that it is killing, murder, people knowingly and intentionally (which constitutes capital murder to begin with) taking a life or another human being, breaking God’s commandments. Even so, I continued with my selective support of the death penalty. Chalk it up to my human sinful nature. But as more time has moved on, as I continue to grow up and develop personally and spiritually, as my won life appears to be coming to an end, I’ve given way more and more to what I truly believe is right and know that this just isn’t right.
As for myself, many inmates and guards have asked me why I’m here and I’ve always thought that to be a good question. I in no way attempt to make light of what I’ve done or get out from under any responsibility of it. I’m here for robbing a gas station and shooting once, the clerk that was working there. I’m not saying that I shouldn’t be serving a sentence somewhere. But I think that is a good question, on a lesser level. I have no criminal record/history. Never been arrested for any felonies, thefts or violent crimes. I went to school. I’ve lived on my own since I was 16. I’ve worked and I have 2 children.
I’m not close to being perfect but when you compare my case and background to other people who are inmates in general population, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. There’s many inmates in general population in Texas alone that have committed murder, multiple murder, gotten released, killed again and still aren’t on Death Row. People that have been in trouble all their lives.
There are even capital cases here in Texas where someone was butchered, cut up by someone with extensive criminal histories and they’ve gotten life sentence. One guard will say you must’ve gotten the wrong lawyer or judge and I say both. A guard will say, well we’ve got worse people in population right here in this Unit, and I’m aware of that. A guard will say that there’s guards working here that have done worse than me and I believe that too.
Anyways, I appreciate the efforts of people like yourself and thank you again.
Sincerely,
Danny Reneau
# 999223
Allan B. Polunsky Unit
Death Watch
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351-9630
USA
04.04.02
Dear Brian Crowther,
Hello. I received the message you sent through K. Bandall and I’m just writing to say thanks. I can feel the trend towards abolition growing stronger. I think I heard that the overall support for the death penalty in this country is down to 57%. I’ve always kind of figured though that when something positive does finally happen about it, that it would be just after they killed me. And now I have a date for June 13th, as I’m sure you’re aware of. And unless something positive happens on my behalf then I will probably die on that date or shortly thereafter. My appeal to the Supreme Court will be filed by April 9th and if they were to rule in my favor on the main issue, it would affect many other cases and even though it would be the right thing to do, I would be surprised if they did.
I don’t feel like writing any other letters tonight so I’m gonna ramble on in this one for a minute. When I was out there, I was almost completely ignorant about anything concerning the death penalty and capital crimes/punishment, trials, appeals process, etc. None of it was a part of my life and so I wasn’t concerned about it. I thought a capital crime was just treason or trying to kill the President or something of that nature. Didn’t know there was an appeal process. Just figured that there was a few dudes in line waiting to be killed. I figured that whoever was on Death Row must’ve done something to get there and that they had to be the absolute worse of the worst monsters.
And so I’ve never been against the death penalty. I also knew when I was out there that I would never believe a word said from someone on Death Row (or prison period) simply because I figured they would say anything and whatever it took to get out of their situation or to get anything. When I was 18, I was in a County Jail in Fredericksburg, Texas, for 21 days on a misdemeanor probation revocation. It was a nonviolent misdemeanor and I left the jail everyday on work release.
During this time, Jose Santelon (who is a few cells from me and has a date for April 10th) was in a different part of the jail for this case. Didn’t know or see him then, just knew a person was there for capital murder and I remember thinking about it briefly for a moment and how it just seemed weird and beyond me and how incomprehensible for me it was. Didn’t think anything of it past that brief moment.
Four years later, I was in the same cell he had been in back then and I was going to trial for capital murder and it was even weirder looking back. And than I got here in March of 1997, and it was nothing of hypocrisy and I prefer to keep my own at a minimum so I didn’t all of sudden become against the death penalty just because I received it. As I started to get to know people, it didn’t take long for me to realize that even in my support of the death penalty, that there are people here that don’t belong here. Not saying they shouldn’t be serving somewhere, just saying they shouldn’t be on Death Row. And there were other people that I felt didn’t deserve any appeals and should’ve been hung on the spot back wherever they came from. Felt that way the strongest about child molester/killers.
I’ve always believed in God and Jesus and have always known I needed to give myself to Him and being in here I’ve always known that it was wrong for me to support the death penalty, even for child molesters on the simple premise that, God says, “Thou shall not kill,” and the way I look at it is that He didn’t say that, “Thou shall not kill except for this or that” and that people can believe it however you want. They call it capital punishment, justice or whatever but that doesn’t change the act that it is killing, murder, people knowingly and intentionally (which constitutes capital murder to begin with) taking a life or another human being, breaking God’s commandments. Even so, I continued with my selective support of the death penalty. Chalk it up to my human sinful nature. But as more time has moved on, as I continue to grow up and develop personally and spiritually, as my won life appears to be coming to an end, I’ve given way more and more to what I truly believe is right and know that this just isn’t right.
As for myself, many inmates and guards have asked me why I’m here and I’ve always thought that to be a good question. I in no way attempt to make light of what I’ve done or get out from under any responsibility of it. I’m here for robbing a gas station and shooting once, the clerk that was working there. I’m not saying that I shouldn’t be serving a sentence somewhere. But I think that is a good question, on a lesser level. I have no criminal record/history. Never been arrested for any felonies, thefts or violent crimes. I went to school. I’ve lived on my own since I was 16. I’ve worked and I have 2 children.
I’m not close to being perfect but when you compare my case and background to other people who are inmates in general population, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. There’s many inmates in general population in Texas alone that have committed murder, multiple murder, gotten released, killed again and still aren’t on Death Row. People that have been in trouble all their lives.
There are even capital cases here in Texas where someone was butchered, cut up by someone with extensive criminal histories and they’ve gotten life sentence. One guard will say you must’ve gotten the wrong lawyer or judge and I say both. A guard will say, well we’ve got worse people in population right here in this Unit, and I’m aware of that. A guard will say that there’s guards working here that have done worse than me and I believe that too.
Anyways, I appreciate the efforts of people like yourself and thank you again.
Sincerely,
Danny Reneau
# 999223
Allan B. Polunsky Unit
Death Watch
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351-9630
USA