Parole Board Recommends Reprieve For Female Death Row Inmate



POSTED: 10:12 am CST November 30, 2004
UPDATED: 4:37 pm CST November 30, 2004


HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted Tuesday to recommend Gov. Rick Perry delay the scheduled execution this week of condemned inmate Frances Newton for 120 days.

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Newton, 39, is set for lethal injection Wednesday for the 1987 shooting deaths of her husband and two children at their Harris County apartment. In Texas, she could become the first black woman executed and only the fourth woman executed since the Civil War.

In a 5-1 vote, the board agreed with Newton and her attorneys that she should be given the extra time so her attorneys can investigate claims that she may be innocent, that evidence against her should be retested and that she had poor representation at her trial.

Newton testified at trial that she was innocent of the murders at the family's Harris County apartment. She recently told The Associated Press that she was innocent and wasn't going to agree to a plea deal that suggested otherwise.

Her attorneys are seeking more time to do new ballistics tests on a pistol and chemical analysis on clothing she was wearing.

Perry can agree with the board or ignore their recommendation and allow the execution."




I'm really praying that this man will have the conscience and human decency to consider the recommendation of the parole board, and for a permanent stay of execution.

One would think that if there is ANY chance that she is innocent Perry would permit the extra time. But it seems that that really doesn't matter to many of the pro-death penalty people-- I don't kno whow they sleep at night

Well the stay is a start...but I hope and pray that it is made permanent!
Unfortunately, the stay is only a recommendation.

December 1, 2004

Texas Board Recommends Execution Delay

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:07 a.m. ET

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- The Texas parole board has recommended delaying the execution of a woman accused of killing her husband and two young children, leaving the chance for a reprieve in the hands of the governor.

Gov. Rick Perry can agree with the board's 5-1 vote or allow the execution to go ahead as scheduled Wednesday. Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said late Tuesday the case was under review.

Defense attorney David Dow noted that Perry rejected a clemency recommendation earlier this year for a mentally ill inmate.

``I'm cautious until the governor endorses the recommendation,'' Dow said.

Frances Newton, 39, could become the first black woman executed in Texas.

She was convicted in the 1987 shooting deaths of her husband and two children, ages 20 months and 7. Prosecutors said Newton killed her family to collect $100,000 in insurance benefits.

The parole board recommended delaying her execution for four months so her attorneys can conduct new ballistics tests on the pistol prosecutors said was the murder weapon and chemical analysis on the clothing she was wearing.

On Monday, the state's highest criminal court refused to delay the execution, as did a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have opposed the requests, saying Newton's claims were resolved at her trial and are nothing new.

Ten women have been executed in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, two of them in Texas. Newton would be the fourth woman executed in Texas since the Civil War.

Newton's punishment was shaping up as a relatively low-key affair, unlike in 1998, when hundreds of demonstrators and reporters flocked to the prison as Karla Faye Tucker was executed for hacking a man to death with a 3-foot pickax.

Two years later, 62-year-old Betty Lou Beets went to her death for killing her fifth husband.

About 50 women are on death row in the United States.

Who are these people that decide one's fate? I agree how can they sleep at night? Who gave them the right to kill whoever? I don't believe in the death pentaly either. Who are we as humans to decide who must die for their actions?

Whether this woman is in fact guilty or not guilty, Texas does not have the right
to kill anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:angry:

Let's hope the governor grants the permanent stay !!!!!! *fingers crossed and holding my breath*

I have a friend in prison who when i discussed the execution of females said this. "Kel as far as executing females is concerned, all of the men agree that execution is a "mens only club" thing". However he does not condone the execution of anyone. Most inmates feel that women should not be included in this fate. I dont think anyone should be included in this fate.

Perry delays Newton execution



04:22 PM CST on Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Gov. Rick Perry stopped the execution of Frances Newton on Wednesday, agreeing with a rare recommendation from the parole board that she should be temporarily spared from lethal injection for the slayings of her husband and two children.

The decision came a day after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a 5-1 vote, endorsed a plea from Newton and her lawyers that the punishment be put off for 120 days and about two hours before she was scheduled to be put to death.

Newton, 39, would have been the first black woman and only the fourth female put to death in Texas since the Civil War. She denied any involvement in the fatal shootings more than 17 years ago at her family's Houston-area apartment.

Perry could have agreed with the panel or ignored the recommendation.

Newton's lawyers said if the governor had refused their request for a delay, they would have made a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment.

"Somebody murdered my family and they haven't had to account for that," she told The Associated Press in a recent interview on death row.

The former tax accounting clerk may be innocent, her lawyers said, and additional scientific testing needed to be conducted on the murder weapon and on the clothing she was wearing the night of the slayings.

The .25-caliber pistol and blue dress prosecutors said had traces of gunpowder residue were introduced as evidence at her trial, where appeals attorneys insisted her legal representation was shoddy.

The board historically has turned aside such requests from condemned prisoners. In May, the panel recommended the life of a mentally ill convicted murderer be spared. Perry, however, rejected the vote of the board, whose members he appoints, and the inmate was executed.

Perry's decision then marked the first time a Texas governor rejected a parole board's clemency recommendation for a condemned killer since executions resumed in the state in 1982. During that period, 336 inmates received lethal injection, two of them women: Karla Faye Tucker in 1998 and Betty Lou Beets two years later. Before them, it was 1863 when a woman executed, hanged for the ax slaying of a South Texas rancher.

The Texas governor is empowered to issue a one-time 30-day stay of execution, but beyond that, any pardon, commutation or clemency first must be recommended by the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Prosecutors said Newton hoped to collect $100,000 in life insurance benefits on policies she recently had purchased, including one where she forged her the signature of her husband, Adrian, 23, who was killed along with their son Alton, 7, and daughter Farrah, 20 months.

Newton acknowledged hiding the existence of the policy from her husband but said from death row she didn't want him to know she had been saving money to purchase the insurance.

"With my husband, if he knew we had any extra money at all, it would be gone," she said.

Newton maintained a drug dealer she knew only as Charlie, whom Adrian Newton owed $500, was likely responsible for the 1987 slayings.

Prosecutors opposed any additional delay in the punishment, saying her claims to the parole board and in late appeals rejected this week by state and federal courts offered nothing new.

"We have a jury system," said Harris County assistant district attorney Roe Wilson, who handles capital case appeals. "The jury gave a verdict 17 years ago. We have an obligation to carry out that verdict after due process has occurred. And in this case due process has occurred."

Newton would be the 24th Texas inmate executed this year, equaling the total number of executions in the state last year. A record 40 were injected in 2000.

Nationally, she'd be the 11th woman executed and the first since Florida injected a woman in 2002.

Thank goodness for that. We can only hope and pray it becomes permanent.
But at least the stay went through.

Perry stays woman's execution



04:59 PM CST on Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Gov. Rick Perry stopped the execution of Frances Newton on Wednesday, agreeing with a rare recommendation from the parole board that she should be temporarily spared from lethal injection for the slayings of her husband and two children.

The decision came a day after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a 5-1 vote, endorsed a plea from Newton and her lawyers that the punishment be put off for 120 days and about two hours before she was scheduled to be put to death.

Newton, 39, would have been the first black woman and only the fourth female put to death in Texas since the Civil War. She denied any involvement in the fatal shootings more than 17 years ago at her family's Houston-area apartment.

Perry could have agreed with the panel or ignored the recommendation.

"After a lengthy review of the trial transcript, appellate court rulings, and clemency proceedings, I see no evidence of innocence," Perry said in a statement. "However, I am granting the additional time to allow the courts the opportunity to order a retesting of gunpowder residue on the skirt the defendant wore at the time of the murders and of the gun used in the murders.

"Although this evidence was evaluated by the jury and appellate courts, new technology is available for testing gunpowder residue."

Every death penalty case is unique and his decision was based on the issues in Newton's case, Perry said.

"Justice delayed in this case is not justice denied," Perry said. "The courts are the ultimate arbiters of evidence, and this case is now back in the hands of the courts."

Newton's lawyers said if the governor had refused their request for a delay, they would have made a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment.

"It was disappointing," said Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney who handles capital case appeals and opposed the parole board's recommendation. "Obviously, our office did not think it was necessary to have a 120-day reprieve. But we will go forward with the case just as any other."

Prosecutors said her claims to the parole board and in late appeals rejected this week by state and federal courts offered nothing new.

The former tax accounting clerk may be innocent, her lawyers said, and additional scientific testing needed to be conducted on the murder weapon and on the clothing she was wearing the night of the slayings.

The .25-caliber pistol and blue dress prosecutors said had traces of gunpowder residue were introduced as evidence at her trial, where appeals attorneys insisted her legal representation was shoddy.

The board historically has turned aside such requests from condemned prisoners. In May, the panel recommended the life of a mentally ill convicted murderer be spared. Perry, however, rejected the vote of the board, whose members he appoints, and the inmate was executed.

Perry's decision then marked the first time a Texas governor rejected a parole board's clemency recommendation for a condemned killer since executions resumed in the state in 1982. During that period, 336 inmates received lethal injection, two of them women: Karla Faye Tucker in 1998 and Betty Lou Beets two years later. Before them, it was 1863 when a woman executed, hanged for the ax slaying of a South Texas rancher.

The Texas governor is empowered to issue a one-time 30-day stay of execution, but beyond that, any pardon, commutation or clemency first must be recommended by the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Prosecutors said Newton hoped to collect $100,000 in life insurance benefits on policies she recently had purchased, including one where she forged her the signature of her husband, Adrian, 23, who was killed along with their son Alton, 7, and daughter Farrah, 20 months.

Newton acknowledged hiding the existence of the policy from her husband but said from death row she didn't want him to know she had been saving money to purchase the insurance.

"With my husband, if he knew we had any extra money at all, it would be gone," she said told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Newton maintained a drug dealer she knew only as Charlie, whom Adrian Newton owed $500, was likely responsible for the 1987 slayings.

"Somebody murdered my family and they haven't had to account for that," Newton said.

Newton would have been the 24th Texas inmate executed this year, equaling the total number of executions in the state last year. A record 40 were injected in 2000.

Nationally, she'd have been the 11th woman executed and the first since Florida injected a woman in 2002.

I'm glad that she has been given the chance to have ballistics test the gunpowder residue. I really dont know whether she is innocent or not, but Texas have in the past, murdered innocent people!!

Great News!!:)

Thank the GOOD LORD for that - I was really stressing about her. I'm so glad for this - now I really pray the truth will come out. But WHATEVER Execution IS NOT a solution.

"It was disappointing," said Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney

How do these people sleep at night????

What on earth can it cost them to take just a LITTLE more time to be sure someone is guilty before they are put to death????

This is why the death penalty is wrong, plain and simple. :angry:

Personally, I found Perry's remarks particularly offensive. "Justice delayed is not justice denied"? Where will Ms. Newton's justice be should she be found innocent? I am sure if that is the case it will indeed be justice denied. JMO.

I wonder, because most testing in Harris county, goes to the Houston crime lab that in currently under investigation. I believe they should of commuted her sentence, because it bothers me, if the evidence comes up that it is no good to test anymore, and unsure, what will the courts do then? Perhaps execute a innocent woman?
This is great news that she recieved a stay, and I pray for a positive outcome for her as well.