Houston Chronicle, June 4, 2000: 

Hoping presidential politics will open a door that 19 years of legal maneuvering and Hollywood stars have failed to budge, death penalty abolitionists on Saturday pleaded the case of condemned killer Gary Graham at Gov. George W. Bush’s front door.

“It’s really important to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Gary (Graham) as he faces execution at the end of the month,” Austin defense attorney Rob Owen told a group of about 50 demonstrators in front of the governor’s mansion.

Bush was not at the mansion, though; campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan said the governor was at his ranch in Crawford.

With a handful of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Austin police officers watching from a distance, the abolitionists chanted slogans as they marched up and down a sidewalk across the street from the mansion.

Ever since Bush entered the presidential race, protesters have been required to carry out their demonstrations on sidewalks and parking lots across the street from the mansion.

Citing Bush’s decision last week to grant a 30-day reprieve to another death row prisoner to allow his attorneys time to retest DNA evidence, Owen cautioned demonstrators against believing that DNA is the only evidence that might prove a defendant’s innocence.

“If the governor persuades the public through the media that DNA testing is the only thing that will separate the innocent from the guilty, then we are going to kill a lot of innocent people,” Owen said. “There are a lot of people on death row because of the testimony of one eyewitness.”

Bush, the probable Republican nominee for president, last week recommended a 30-day reprieve to allow attorneys for condemned killer Ricky McGinn time to retest DNA evidence in the rape that preceded the murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Stephanie Rae Flanary of Brownwood.

Because Bush was out of state campaigning, the reprieve technically was granted by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, president pro tempore of the Texas Senate.

The McGinn case, however, marked the first time since the governor took office in 1995 that he has granted a 30-day stay to a convicted killer facing execution. Bush has allowed 131 executions to be carried out, including 20 this year.

Graham, who faces a June 22 date with the executioner, was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1981 robbery and murder of Bobby Grant Lambert, 53, in a Houston grocery store parking lot.

The slaying was followed by a weeklong crime spree in which more than a dozen people were robbed at gunpoint, including three who were shot.

Graham pleaded guilty to 10 aggravated robberies, but he has maintained his innocence in the Lambert murder. He was convicted largely on the testimony of one eyewitness.

His case has been reviewed in the courts about 30 times, but supporters of Graham, who now prefers the name Shaka Sankofa, have never convinced a court to order a new trial. His supporters have contended for years that they have eyewitnesses who were never called
at trial who would testify that Graham was not the shooter.

Over the years, as Graham’s case grew in notoriety, Hollywood stars Danny Glover and Ed Asner have campaigned on his behalf.

Graham has embarked on hunger strikes to bring his plight to the forefront, and seven years ago he found one Austin judge – state District Judge Pete Lowry – who ordered the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to conduct a full and open hearing on clemency in his
case. Lowry’s ruling, however, was overturned on appeal by the state.

Owen said later that the governor’s action in the McGinn case signals “a growing recognition of the concern about wrongful convictions in capital cases,” a concern that has been heightened by Bush’s presidential ambitions.

“I’m hoping he’ll transfer that (concern) from the McGinn case to our case,” Owen said.

Owen, who no longer represents Graham, said he doubts that Graham will be granted relief in any court because all levels of courts have turned him down over the years.

“I’m not aware whether there’s another round of litigation planned or not,” Owen said. “(But) I think it will be very difficult – even not knowing what they’re doing – I can say with some confidence it will be very difficult to get relief from the courts right now.”

His only hope, then, is with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is reviewing his clemency petition, and with Bush.