83R15457 CBE-D
By: Dutton H.R. No. 971
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Exonerated former death row inmate Clarence
Brandley and citizens from across the Lone Star State are visiting
the Capitol on March 19, 2013, the Day of Innocence, in support of a
moratorium on executions and other related measures; and
WHEREAS, Since 1989, at least 117 individuals in Texas have
been exonerated, according to the National Registry of
Exonerations; these men and women were wrongfully convicted of a
crime and lost years of their lives in prison before eventually
being cleared of all the charges; data from 2012 ranks Texas among
the top three states for number of exonerations; and
WHEREAS, Convicted of murder in 1981, Clarence Brandley was
just weeks away from his scheduled execution when evidence of
coerced testimony and blatant racism in his first two trials
prompted the FBI to intervene; three years later, the charges
against him were dismissed; Mr. Brandley subsequently married,
apprenticed as an electrician, and became a Baptist minister; his
life became the subject of a book, White Lies, and a cable TV movie,
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story; and
WHEREAS, Other exonerees from Texas include Randall
D. Adams, Ricardo Aldape Guerra, Gilbert Alejandro, Billy
Frederick Allen, Gilbert Amezquita, Jason Barber, James
Blackshire, Michael Blair, Brandy Briggs, Stephen Brodie, Joyce
Ann Brown, A. B. Butler, Jr., Kevin Byrd, Domingo Calderon III,
Raul Cantu, Charles Chatman, Timothy B. Cole, Keith Coleman, Robert
Carroll Coney, Darian Contee, Roy Criner, Anthony Curlin, Richard
Danziger, Muneer Deeb, Gayle Dove, Dale Duke, Cornelius Dupree, Joe
Elizondo, Mary Ann Elizondo, Hicks Elliff, Jerry Lee Evans,
Hilliard Fields, Wiley Fountain, Sherri Frederick, Larry Fuller,
Ronnie Mark Gariepy, James Giles, Donald Wayne Good, Andrew
Gossett, Anthony Graves, Michael Anthony Green, Tony Hall, Ricky
Dale Harmon, John Michael Harvey, Andre Haygood, Eugene Henton,
Alejandro Hernandez, Raymond Jackson, Antrone Johnson, Morris
S. Jones, Entre Nax Karage, Martin Kimsey, Carlos Marcos Lavernia,
Johnnie Lindsey, Debbie Loveless, Federico Macias, Norman Mack,
Thomas McGowan, Richard Miles, Billy Wayne Miller, John Miller,
LaDondrell Montgomery, Patrick Montgomery, Brandon Moon, Michael
Morton, Fredda Susie Mowbray, Arthur Mumphrey, Lacresha Murray,
Christopher Ochoa, Randall Philen, Steven Phillips, Johnny
Pinchback, David Shawn Pope, Allen Wayne Porter, Ricardo Rachell,
Jesus Ramirez, Simon Angel Rivera, Shakara Robertson, Anthony
Robinson, George Rodriguez, Stephen Lynn Russell, Ben Salazar,
Christopher Shun Scott, Michael Scott, Daniel Roy Settle, Alberto
Sifuentes, Claude Simmons, Jr., Billy James Smith, Marcus Lashun
Smith, Robert Springsteen, Richard Sturgeon, Josiah Sutton, Ronald
Gene Taylor, Rickey Dale Thomas, Victor Larue Thomas, Stephen
Thompson, Michael Toney, Wesley Tuley, Keith Turner, Gilbert
Valdez, James Waller, Patrick Waller, Gregory Wallis, Nathaniel
Ward, Calvin E. Washington, Darryl Washington, Mark Webb, David Lee
Wiggins, James Curtis Williams, Joe Sidney Williams, Thomas Wayne
Williams, Ernest Ray Willis, Richard Winfrey, Sr., James Lee
Woodard, Michael Anthony Woten, and Rickey Dale Wyatt; and
WHEREAS, There is no way to return the time that those who
have been unjustly accused and imprisoned have lost, nor is there
compensation for the mental and emotional anguish that they have
suffered; notwithstanding their immeasurable pain, however, many
exonerees have found the resilience to take a terrible ordeal and
channel their response into constructive endeavors, and their
strength and determination to overcome are a continuing inspiration
to countless Americans; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
Legislature hereby recognize March 19, 2013, as the Day of
Innocence and honor Clarence Brandley and the many other exonerated
men and women for their tenacity in the pursuit of justice and for
their contributions to the debate over an issue of paramount public
concern.