Houston Chronicle Editorials

The Houston Chronicle

Graham Case; Shadow of Doubt Remains Ill-Defined

June 21, 2000, Wednesday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 22

Storm clouds are gathering over Texas this week that could both take the life
of convicted killer Gary Graham and breath renewed life into the nation's
ongoing debate over capital punishment. And if those moral and legal dilemmas
weren't enough to wrestle with, the push of presidential politics also plays a
complicating role in the unfolding drama.

Barring unforeseen intervention by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles,
Graham will be put to death Thursday for the 1981 robbery-shooting death of
Bobby Lambert.

The killing took place here in the middle of seven days of nearly nonstop
mayhem and violence perpetrated on a number of victims by Graham. It set off
nearly 19 years of appeals, reviews and an off-and-on public relations war that
has reached a crescendo this week.

Three threads scramble this Gordian knot.

One is the broad general debate over the death penalty itself, which has
taken on new urgency after a recent spate of studies and high-profile cases in
which DNA testing and other factors have raised new questions about the fairness
of the system and whether innocent people are being put to death.

But even that debate has its nuances and complications.

One highly touted study, for example, cites the high reversal rate of death
penalty cases across the country. It could be argued, however, that that offers
proof that the system is working. It also paints with a broad brush that doesn't
recognize a place like Harris County, which produces the highest number of death
sentences in Texas yet also has one of the lowest reversal rates.

That is not to say that there aren't real problems with the death penalty
that should be thoroughly debated. One particularly troubling aspect is evidence
that poor people receive the death penalty more often than people of means who
can hire more adequate attorneys.

The second thread in this tangle involves presidential politics and the
desire on the part of some to put Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who has presided
over some 130 executions during his administration, on the political hot seat.
Bush, in a sense, invited extra scrutiny by declaring with unequivocal certainty
that no one in Texas had been wrongly executed on his watch. It may be true. It
may not. And, quite properly, there is no shortage of people willing to call it
into question.

And the final thread involves Graham himself and the issue of whether he
received a fair trial and adequate hearing of substantive issues after the
trial.

That is, of course, the bitter debate upon which this tale hangs.

As a strict legal matter, Graham has been afforded dozens of judicial
reviews, and the letter of the law has been followed.

In a broader sense, his supporters have tried a number of different
approaches to raise doubts about all of those proceedings and, to date, have not
done a convincing job, in our opinion, of making a substantive case for Graham.

Former Chronicle reporter Susan Warren, when she looked extensively at Graham's case in 1993, wrote that, "Lambert's murder is the subject of a complex
tapestry of half-truths and unsupportable conclusions woven" by Graham's
defenders.

Setting emotions and motives aside, that, for whatever reason, appears to
remain the case today.

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Capital Punishment; Many Will Continue to Doubt Graham's Guilt

June 23, 2000, Friday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 36

The case of Gary Graham, who was executed Thursday night in Huntsville,
became a conduit for rising national concern about the fairness of capital
punishment and the possible innocence of many defendants in Texas and elsewhere
who have been convicted and put to death.

Those who wanted to spare Graham's life included many who also wanted almost
as much to embarrass George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and the likely
Republican presidential nominee.

Considered on their own merits, the facts and jurisprudence of Graham's
prosecution and punishment argue that justice has been done.

Graham's admitted involvement in a series of cruel assaults, shootings and
robberies does not prove his guilt in the 1981 shooting death of Bobby Lambert,
but it makes a poor case for his innocence.

The 36-year-old Graham, who wished to be known as Shaka Sankofa to reflect
his African heritage, maintained his innocence, saying as part of a long final
statement: "I die fighting for what I believed in. Truth will come out." He
remained true to his promise "to fight like hell" against his fate. Witnesses
said he was heavily restrained and officials confirmed he had to be subdued by
prison guards.

"His spirit never surrendered," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson who was one of
Graham's invited witnesses. Jackson also called Graham's death "a political
sacrifice."

Bush could not act to spare Graham in the absence of a majority vote by the
Board of Pardons and Paroles, which declined to stop the execution.

Its chairman stated that the board's decision not to recommend clemency for
Graham was reached after a thorough and unbiased review of the petition and
evidence presented by Graham's very capable lawyers.

Yet doubt will always remain in the minds of many about Gary Graham's case -
whether he received a fair trial, whether he was truly guilty and whether this
state's capital punishment laws are just and applied evenly.

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