J.J
08-12-2004, 04:39 AM
Aug. 11, 2004, 10:15PM
State is asked to spare artist inmate
Advocates want a commutation for a man they say is 'rehabilitated'
By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - Advocates for an inmate who killed a young convenience store clerk 19 years ago and has since blossomed as an artist and model prisoner on death row asked state officials Wednesday to spare him from a scheduled Aug. 26 execution.
Attorneys for James Allridge supported by four former members of his jury, asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry to commute his sentence to life in prison on the basis that he has been rehabilitated.
No Texas governor has commuted the death sentence of any inmate on rehabilitation grounds since the state resumed executions in 1982, and a spokeswoman for Perry declined to comment on Allridge's petition.
Perry can commute the sentence only if the parole board recommends it, but the governor isn't bound by a clemency recommendation.
In May, Perry allowed killer Kelsey Patterson, who suffered from severe mental illness, to be put to death, despite a board recommendation that Patterson's sentence be commuted to life.
The only commutation approved by Perry was for Robert Smith, a mentally retarded convict from Harris County, whose sentence was commuted to life earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court banned execution of the mentally retarded.
Lisa R. Fine of Washington, one of Allridge's lawyers, acknowledged that her client was guilty of a "senseless murder," the fatal shooting of Brian Clendennen, a 21-year-old Fort Worth convenience store clerk, during a robbery in 1985 that netted $300. Allridge was 22.
"James accepts full responsibility for his actions and is deeply remorseful," Fine said, but he is seeking mercy.
"James is deserving of a commutation. James is completely rehabilitated."
The victim's brother, Shane Clendennen, a Fort Worth machinist, recently disputed that opinion.
"If (Allridge) was born again, I could maybe forgive him. But I still think he should die for what he did," Clendennen said last month.
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Allridge, now 41, opposes commutation. Prosecutor Mike Parrish said the killing was one of three that occurred while Allridge and his older brother, Ronald, were on a robbery spree in which they took turns driving the getaway car.
Ronald Allridge was executed nine years ago.
People supporting James Allridge's commutation petition include four former members of his jury, members of his family, a retired assistant director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Fort Worth City Councilman Ralph McCloud, a neighbor of the Allridge family.
Juror Laury Robertson said Wednesday that she regretted, almost immediately, her decision at his 1987 trial to side with the other jurors in finding that Allridge represented a continuing threat to society, a requirement for the death penalty.
"I thought I had to go along with the group. I was young," she said.
Jim Marcus of Houston, a lawyer for the Texas Defender Service, which also represents Allridge, said that, under the law in effect at the time of his trial, Allridge would now be eligible for parole if his sentence were commuted. But he said he didn't expect that the parole board would free him.
"There's a drastic difference between parole eligibility and parole," Marcus said. "We're not asking them to consider releasing him."
From his cell, Allridge has been selling colored-pencil drawings of flowers and animals. Marketed on a Web site, a large print sells for $465 and a box of greeting cards for $10.
One of his customers, actress Susan Sarandon, an anti-death-penalty activist, visited Allridge on death row last month.
Please Let's stand together and pray this execution DOES NOT happen.
State is asked to spare artist inmate
Advocates want a commutation for a man they say is 'rehabilitated'
By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - Advocates for an inmate who killed a young convenience store clerk 19 years ago and has since blossomed as an artist and model prisoner on death row asked state officials Wednesday to spare him from a scheduled Aug. 26 execution.
Attorneys for James Allridge supported by four former members of his jury, asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry to commute his sentence to life in prison on the basis that he has been rehabilitated.
No Texas governor has commuted the death sentence of any inmate on rehabilitation grounds since the state resumed executions in 1982, and a spokeswoman for Perry declined to comment on Allridge's petition.
Perry can commute the sentence only if the parole board recommends it, but the governor isn't bound by a clemency recommendation.
In May, Perry allowed killer Kelsey Patterson, who suffered from severe mental illness, to be put to death, despite a board recommendation that Patterson's sentence be commuted to life.
The only commutation approved by Perry was for Robert Smith, a mentally retarded convict from Harris County, whose sentence was commuted to life earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court banned execution of the mentally retarded.
Lisa R. Fine of Washington, one of Allridge's lawyers, acknowledged that her client was guilty of a "senseless murder," the fatal shooting of Brian Clendennen, a 21-year-old Fort Worth convenience store clerk, during a robbery in 1985 that netted $300. Allridge was 22.
"James accepts full responsibility for his actions and is deeply remorseful," Fine said, but he is seeking mercy.
"James is deserving of a commutation. James is completely rehabilitated."
The victim's brother, Shane Clendennen, a Fort Worth machinist, recently disputed that opinion.
"If (Allridge) was born again, I could maybe forgive him. But I still think he should die for what he did," Clendennen said last month.
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Allridge, now 41, opposes commutation. Prosecutor Mike Parrish said the killing was one of three that occurred while Allridge and his older brother, Ronald, were on a robbery spree in which they took turns driving the getaway car.
Ronald Allridge was executed nine years ago.
People supporting James Allridge's commutation petition include four former members of his jury, members of his family, a retired assistant director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Fort Worth City Councilman Ralph McCloud, a neighbor of the Allridge family.
Juror Laury Robertson said Wednesday that she regretted, almost immediately, her decision at his 1987 trial to side with the other jurors in finding that Allridge represented a continuing threat to society, a requirement for the death penalty.
"I thought I had to go along with the group. I was young," she said.
Jim Marcus of Houston, a lawyer for the Texas Defender Service, which also represents Allridge, said that, under the law in effect at the time of his trial, Allridge would now be eligible for parole if his sentence were commuted. But he said he didn't expect that the parole board would free him.
"There's a drastic difference between parole eligibility and parole," Marcus said. "We're not asking them to consider releasing him."
From his cell, Allridge has been selling colored-pencil drawings of flowers and animals. Marketed on a Web site, a large print sells for $465 and a box of greeting cards for $10.
One of his customers, actress Susan Sarandon, an anti-death-penalty activist, visited Allridge on death row last month.
Please Let's stand together and pray this execution DOES NOT happen.