August 25, 2007

Kenneth Foster Will Live!

The brother made some bad decisions as a youth. However, he didn't deserve to lose his life at the hands of the state for a crime in which he didn't have the gun that took the life. He does deserve to be in jail for a very long time. Texas governor Rick Perry felt the same way. As a result, Kenneth Foster will live.
In a last ditch appeal from supporters around the world to save Foster's life, along with recommendations from the Texas Pardons and Parole Board, Gov. Perry stayed the execution, that had been set to take place tonight ... he commuted Foster's sentence to life.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement.

"I am concerned about Texas law that allowed capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."

The AfroSpear caused me to make a phone call earlier this morning to the governor's office. I spoke with a harried receptionist who asked if I was in favor or against the execution. She indicated that she was keeping a "tally". Evidently, the tally was part of the flow of information to the governor that made the difference. Kenneth Foster should be glad that this Texas governor isn't running for president. The last Texas governor to run for president didn't have that level of compassion or reason.

Anyhow, much love to Eddie Griffin for leading the charge here in the afrosphere to raise this issue to an international audience.
Shaquanda Cotton, Hot Ghetto Mess, Kenneth Foster. When the history is told by cyberspace griots in the future it appears that we will have many positive moments to reflect on. Kenneth Foster being alive should be part of our cyberspace griot's story.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on this case and today's outcome!

4 comments:

Eddie G. Griffin said...

Thank you Village for doing such a great job on this case. Again, after reading this article, tears returned to my eyes. This was only the 3rd commuted sentence in Texas since 1982, when the death penalty was reinstated.

Unknown said...

Eddie - U da man! I'm privileged to have met you through our blogs. I look forward to watching you continue to shake up the system with your grounded commonsense honed by years of experience in the school of hard knocks.

peace, Villager

Unknown said...

My o my, I hadn't heard about this. Terrible situation, excellent reporting!

Unknown said...

KweenKong - The power of the afrosphere is that we can keep each other informed of issues that impact our community. One boys life was saved this week. Hopefully, we can see positive stories like this in the future as well.

peace, Villager