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September 3, 2015

Texas: Judge Withdraws Execution Date for Prisoner Who Lacks Lawyer 
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And a federal judge in Texas has issued an unusual order to withdraw the
execution date for a man set to die by lethal injection later this
month. District Judge David Mendoza ruled Tuesday that Perry Williams
should not be put to death on September 29 without a lawyer to handle
his appeals. Williams has been without a lawyer since early February.
Democracy Now! correspondent Renée Feltz spoke to Williams Wednesday
during an interview on death row.

Perry Williams: "I feel like I should have legal representation, no
matter what. But that's not how it is. So, basically, we've been writing
letters, asking people to get on my case. It's kind of hard, being that
it's this late in the stage. And it's just I feel like it's an injustice
not to have an attorney when my life is on the line."

Williams was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder and robbery of a
medical student in Houston. Williams says his gun went off by accident
and that his court-appointed lawyer failed to raise evidence that might
have spared him a death sentence. Advocates say several more men on
death row in Texas are also facing execution without lawyers.

 

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