When someone is sentenced to death, it is because they are found guilty in a court of law. However, just because they are found guilty doesn't mean they truly are guilty. In a report released in 2014 by the National Academy of Sciences, at estimate 4.1% of people sentenced to death are actually innocent. The percentage does not include the 138 inmates who were extenuated from the death sentence after being proven innocent. Innocent people end up on death row due to multiple factors, including poor representation, biased judging and racial profiling.
A man by the name of Kenneth Foster Jr. was on death row because of a Texas law called "Law of Parties." This law made Kenneth's presence a co-conspirator to murder, and just as responsible as the man who pulled the trigger. What's even more outrageous about Kenneth's conviction is that it was in relation to a murder that the courts never claimed he committed. They never once implicated him in the actual crime, but because he was there he became open to the same punishment as the actual murderer.
Kenneth was 19 at the time of the crime, and was driving him and his buddies around the town. His buddies had him pull over to commit a few robbery's along the streets of Texas. Eventually, they decided to call it a night and Kenneth began to drive his three friends and himself home. At some point, they got lost and ended up in front of a house. Kenneth's friend, Mauriceo Brown, got out of the car and got into an altercation with the victim named Michael LaHood. Michael was shot by Mauriceo, which lead to his death. Kenneth was still in his car, 80 feet away, when the crime occurred. According to Kenneth, Mauriceo had never talked about murder in the car, and had no intent on shooting let alone killing someone that night.
Because of the the Texas "Law of Parties," Both Kenneth and Mauriceo were sentenced to death for this crime. Mauriceo was executed in 2006, and Kenneth was set to be executed not long after him. August 30th, 2007, Kenneth's execution date. Once his execution date was announced, many activities and grass-root movements came to his aid and shared the injustice he was facing. He was wrongfully being executed for a crime even the courts said he did not commit. On August 30th, just one hour before his execution, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 6-1 for clemency. The governor commuted Kenneth's sentence from death to life imprisonment.
It was a close call for Kenneth, but just one hour before his execution he was saved. He was one hour away from being killed for a crime he didn't commit. Although life is prison isn't better, considering his actions compared to his charges, but he is still thankful for all the support that helped shed light on the injustice that was happening. He admits to the burglaries earlier that night, but things he has now served too much time for the crime. He still has a long battle ahead of him, but he notes that he is one of the "lucky" ones.
Not many truly innocent people escape the death penalty. We are sending people who are innocent to death, sometimes because the court has already made up their minds before hearing the case. We need to call for change in the death row and justice system, because one innocent inmate death at the hands of the government is too many.
If you would like to learn more about Kenneth's story, you can watch it on episode two of Netflix's documentary series I am a Killer. You can also help support Kenneth's continued battle by visiting
www.freekenneth.com.
For more information on innocent prisoners and wrongful conviction, you can visit
www.innocenceproject.org.
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