Stop the execution of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham)

The case of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) is a text book example of why there must be a national moratorium on the death penalty and ultimately abolishment.

Although there was trouble in his life 19 years ago when a young Gary Graham was arrested for the murder of a Houston store clerk, there is overwhelming evidence that he should not be executed on June 22 for a crime he may not have committed.

Consider the following:

� Graham�s lawyer at that time, Ronald G. Mock, assumed his client was guilty, according to his co-counsel and a defense investigator.

� Atty. Mock called no witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial and called only two witnesses during the penalty phase, when he could have persuaded the jury against the death penalty.

� A gun owned by Graham did not match the murder weapon.

� Atty. Mock, himself, says he has five petitions pending in court by death row inmates accusing him of incompetence.

� Graham was convicted only on the testimony of one eyewitness, while other eyewitnesses who would have provided conflicting testimony never were called.

� Atty. Mock says he has had more clients sentenced to death than any lawyer in the country.

Death row is full of inmates whose only crime was not having enough money to afford good counsel. Such cases is one of the main reasons there is a growing call for review of all death sentences.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush and others who support the death penalty point out that there has been no evidence that an innocent person has been executed. Well, American history is full of examples of innocent Black men, and women, being put to death, starting with the murders of rebellious slaves to the numerous picnic style-lynchings where the skin of Black men sometimes was roasted to the delight of a white audience.

This attitude toward Black lives runs from slavery through the criminal justice system today. While Black America comprise only 13 percent of the American population, 35 percent of death row inmates are Black, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Furthermore, nearly 90 percent of persons executed were convicted of killing whites, although people of color make up over half of all homicide victims in the United States.

And no one can show where the death penalty has been a deterrent to crime in America; there are too many more variables to deal with in this society before executing people will serve as a deterrent to crime.

Even the American Medical Association, the nation�s largest physicians group, is entertaining a resolution calling for a death penalty moratorium, citing the possibility for innocent people to be put to death.

"The possibility exists that in several states innocent individuals may be executed because medical technology will not be made available in time to prevent their death," the resolution says.

While no one has proven that an innocent person has been put to death, it might be because they can no longer speak for themselves. There have been numerous people released from death row in past years because evidence has shown that they are innocent.

They escaped the ultimate injustice of the American criminal justice system. We may never know how many have not.