As activists face a countdown toward the June 22 execution of Texas death row inmate Shaka Sankofa, formerly known as Gary Graham, more questions about capital punishment have emerged�and his defenders are kicking their campaigns to save Mr. Sankofa�s life into high gear.

Gov. George W. Bush, who has the power to commute Mr. Sankofa�s sentence, has stuck by his state�s record on executions. He argues no innocent person has ever been put to death and that the state allows proper access to court for appeals.

Mr. Sankofa has exhausted the appeals process.

"American capital sentences are persistently and systematically fraught with serious error. Indeed, capital trials produce so many mistakes that it takes three judicial inspections to catch them, leaving grave doubt whether we do catch them all," counters Professor James S. Lieberman of the Columbia Law School. His study, released June 12, found when courts finally did review cases, seven out of 10 times errors were serious enough to overturn death sentences.

The Columbia Law School study examined every capital conviction and appeal between 1973 and 1995 (nearly 5,500 judicial decisions). During that 23-year study period, the overall rate of prejudicial error in American capital punishment system was 68 percent, he found.

Errors that led courts to overturn capital sentences were not mere technicalities. The three most common errors: incompetent defense lawyers (37 percent), prosecutorial misconduct, often the suppression of evidence of innocence (19 percent) and faulty instructions to jurors (20 percent).

"Let�s look at the evidence. Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa) owned a 22-caliber pistol. Police officers said ballistics tests on the bullet that killed the man Graham was convicted of killing did not match Gary Graham�s gun. And this new evidence was never presented at trial," said Rep. Jesse L. Jackson (D-Ill.).

The Sankofa conviction was based largely on the testimony of a single eyewitness, whose credibility is questionable, no physical evidence links the death row inmate to the killing and his counsel was ineffective, said Rep. Jackson and other death penalty opponents.

Ronald Mock was Mr. Graham�s attorney at the time of his conviction. Attempts to reach Mr. Mock were referred to his attorney Mike Moriarty, who was also unavailable for comment at press time. Mr. Mock�s record of handling cases includes by his own account in the Washington Post "about 16 or 17" clients that have gone to death row and at least five have been executed. He called no witnesses in the Graham case and relied on his closing argument to win the case.

"Short of DNA evidence�which is simply not available in most cases�it is difficult to imagine more compelling evidence of actual innocence than the evidence in Gary Graham�s (Sankofa�s) case," said Professor Lawrence C. Marshall, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, the nation�s leading expert on the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, said the eyewitness procedures employed in the Sankofa case were seriously flawed. "The photo array that police showed to the key witness in the case was suggestive because Graham (Sankofa) was the only man shown in the array who matched key aspects of the victim�s initial description," she said.

"Then, in a lineup the witness viewed the following day, Graham was the only person whose picture also had been in the photo array. We know beyond a doubt that mistaken eyewitness testimony is the major cause of wrongful convictions. Let�s recognize that scientific truth before we execute an innocent person in ignorance of it," Dr. Loftus said.

"There is no evidence of any sort linking Gary Graham to the crime�no fingerprints, no blood, no hair, no confession, not even any circumstantial evidence," added Prof. Marshall.

"This case is nationally significant not because the governor of Texas is a candidate for higher office or because of the new national debate over the death penalty. It is significant because of its extraordinary facts and because, unless Governor Bush and the Board of Pardons and Parole intervene, Texas may execute an innocent man who was in no way involved in the crime for which he would die," he said.

"In Texas it�s better to be rich and guilty than poor and innocent. The case of Shaka Sankofa is the quintessence of everything that is wrong with the criminal justice system in Texas and the United States," said Nation of Islam Southwest Regional Min. Robert Muhammad, based in Houston�s Muhammad Mosque No. 45. Min. Robert has criss-crossed the state speaking at rallies and attending protests to free Mr. Sankofa. Min. Robert started a fast May 22, vowing not eat until Mr. Sankofa is freed.

Major demonstrations are planned for June 19 in New York and Los Angeles, and in Houston June 15-17 at the state Republican convention, said Tonya McClary of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Mr. Sankofa�s supporters have also called for 10,000 people to converge on the state prison in Huntsville, for an emergency day of protest and resistance June 22, beginning at 11 a.m. His execution is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Thousands are writing and emailing letters to Gov. Bush�s office, asking for clemency. Letters can also be sent to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.

"It has been hard to identify a sustained effort by the Black community to free innocent victims on death row or the prison injustice system. If Black people were more aware of the injustice, particularly with people who are going to die at the hands of the state, they would naturally support those innocent and not innocent on death row," said Stan Willis, a Black activist attorney in Illinois.

"Our communities have a problem with this issue because we are disproportionately victims of crime due to the poverty in our community. We have become fairly conservative on those issues because we haven�t been open in re-evaluating our position," he said.

In addition to the Sankofa case, he is fighting for Pennsylvania death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and Illinois death row inmate Aaron Patterson, who activists say police tortured into giving a confession.

A rash of exonerations through DNA evidence and other means has forced many to rethink the death penalty. According to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C, of the 87 people freed from death row since 1973, 41 were Black.

Still the questions haven�t changed Democrat Al Gore�s position on capital punishment. "Gore supports the death penalty for the most heinous of crimes. He believes that in any death penalty cases, there shouldn�t be any reasonable doubt about the guilt and innocence of the accused. Because the scientific evidence of DNA testing, he feels that in some cases, where you can conclusively establish that guilt or innocence of a criminal, our legal system should consider the evidence," said Alejanero Cabrea, a Gore campaign spokesperson. The likely Democratic presidential nominee has taken no position on the Sankofa case.

The Republican governor of Illinois responded to the exonerations with a death penalty moratorium and appointed a commission to study the state�s capital punishment process.

Activists stress hard work and faith can yield results.

"I am a living witness of the injustice of Black men being sent to death row unjustly in America. I fought for over 20 years to get free and if it wasn�t for a group of dedicated lawyers and public support I would be in a grave right now in the state of New Jersey. We must now prevent Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa) from going to a cemetery in Texas," said Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.

On June 7 Maryland Governor Parris Glendening commuted the sentence of death row inmate Eugene Colvin-El (see page 4 for related story).

"I have always been concerned about the death penalty," said Rev. Herbert Daughtry, whose House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn recently sponsored a rally for Mr. Sankofa. "I feel that the church must make saving this young man a priority," he said.

Pam Africa of MOVE, who has devoted much of her life to defending Mr. Abu-Jamal, argues, "Shaka was thrown out there, as a measure to see what Black people will do."

Convicted at the age of 17 for the killing of a white man in Texas, Mr. Sankofa has faced five execution dates. Attorney Ashanti Chimurenga, a coordinator for the Shaka Sankofa Justice Coalition, says she has witnesses who say her client did not commit the murder. They have passed lie detector tests, confirming that Mr. Sankofa, was with them at the time of the murder, she said.

Since Illinois reinstated the death penalty in 1977, 13 death row inmates have been freed and 12 were executed. Of the 13 exonerated, 8 were Black.

Illinois state Rep. Pugh also attributes the crime factor to lack of concern in the Black community about capital punishment.

"Almost everyone in the Black community has, at some point, been a victim of crime. The fact that individuals on death row are perceived as guilty, nobody takes into account that they are still a part of our community. Our community does acknowledge the series of problems that are inherent within the system that leads to individuals being placed on death row. It starts with racial profiling and is further exacerbated by prosecutorial, police and judicial misconduct," stated Rep. Pugh.

Photo: Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, points out problems in the Gary Graham case June 12, during a news conference in Houston.

(Saeed Shabazz and Memorie Knox contributed to this report.)