Again, the great letter that Danny wrote a short while ago..
After 5 years on deathrow Danny is scheduled to die tomorrow. With all my heart i hope and pray for a miracle that will save Danny's life.
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
http://www.deathrow.at/polunsky/inmates/reneau.html
Danny Reneau
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