www.deathrow.at/rmc/irene.htmlA Mother’s Plea
By Irene Rekitzke
Mother of Richard M. Cartwright
a Texas Death Row Inmate
Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 8th this year. On Thursday, May 19th, the best son a mother ever had is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas.
Let me tell you about Richard Cartwright, the man. Richard is a son and a father, a brother and an uncle, a nephew and a cousin, a friend and an advocate for the underdog. He is loyal and trustworthy, and would literally give you the shirt off his own back, even if it were the only shirt he owned.
As I write this, I am 36,000 feet above the ground, on the way to Houston to visit my son at Polunsky unit, the infamous sensory deprivation unit where death row has been housed now for the past 5 years. Today my 35 year old son is 35 days from his “date” with death.
This time I am scheduled for a special visit. For TDCJ, this means I am allowed two, four hour visits, on two consecutive days. For me, it means that this is likely the last private visit I will have with my son before they execute him. As I write, my throat closes in, and try as I might, a single tear escapes. I cannot afford to fall apart. I am his mother, and right now, he needs me more than he has ever needed me in his entire life. He needs me to fight for his life, and to fight for the others on death row.
Yet what I really want to do is go into a dark corner somewhere, and simply cry. I want to cry for the carefree, happy baby I brought home from the hospital, for the beautiful blonde toddler that brightened my life, for the average student that was always one of the most popular kids in his class, for the talented hockey player that loved being on the ice, and the young teenager that saw his family dissolve at 13, and his beloved, charmed life come apart at the seams through a very bitter divorce.
All of these make up my son. Today he is the father of an 8 year old, beautiful blonde little girl with huge brown eyes. She has a smile that lights up the room, a wonderful, sarcastic sense of humor, and a love of life and her family. If the State of Texas has its way, she will never feel her Dad’s hugs, have him attend her graduation, or have him walk her down the aisle when she meets her Prince Charming. Instead, she will have memories and beautiful pictures he drew for her. She will have wonderful letters and cards he has sent her over the years. She will know that she was the center of his life, and his passion. She is the main reason he hasn’t given up or given in, but continues to fight for his freedom and his life.
I had the first of my two four visits yesterday. Last night, I went to see Ricki, Rich’s daughter. It seems that the stress of having her father about to be executed has affected her. Once a model student, except for talking too much, she is now experiencing behavioral problems in school. Her mother says that she tried to stab another child with a pencil. And now, in second grade, she got her first ever N (Not Satisfactory) in behavior. It breaks my heart once again to see the far reaching effects of the wrongful incarceration and probably execution of my son.
While I do know it is not about me, I write this to share the pain of my family. I am not the only one that is hurting. Rich’s daughter, sister, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends are in deep pain and suffering every day. Rich does not deserve to die. Ricki does not deserve to be deprived of her Dad. He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. But he did NOT commit murder, he did not inflict the terrible loss and pain on the victim’s family, and his daughter does not deserve to know at the ripe old age of 8 that she will grow up without her Dad.
I ask every mother, father, son and daughter to come together against this barbaric practice called the death penalty. We need to let God decide when and if men and women should die. Only his judgment is perfect. As a mother, I can tell you that the pain, fear, and emotions I feel are no different that the mother of a cancer victim feels as she battles that enemy.
Let me ask, what do you know about the death penalty? Do you know that one out of seven people sentenced to the death penalty have been found innocent? Is that an acceptable percentage? Would it be acceptable if your son or daughter was the one wrongly sentenced to die?
The following information is written from my point of view as the mother of a death row inmate. Since my son is held in Texas, I have gained more knowledge about the death penalty in that state than I ever wanted to know. What I have learned is frightening. This fear is not only for my son, but because the reality is that the State of Texas is executing people more often than all the other states combined. Those executed in Texas include the innocent, the retarded, and those without proper representation, just to name a few. And none of the families deserve the intense pain they have experienced, and continue to experience, as they watch their loved ones be executed.
I brought my children up to respect teachers, people in authority, police officers, and those in government. When my son went to trial, he was offered a plea bargain. He refused, telling me that “ I am innocent and I am not going to accept a guilty plea just to speed things up, Mom.” We both thought the truth would come out, and that would be that. We were wrong, terribly wrong. My son now sits waiting for his “date with death,” May 19th, as prescribed by the State of Texas.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor stated, “If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.” Does anyone disagree?
The Constitution Project, based at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, reviewed the difficult legal and constitutional issues associated with the death penalty. They assembled a study commission of former prosecutors, judges, and other national figures active in the legal community to review the state of the death penalty across the nation. Some of their recommendations include the following:
· The right to effective counsel. Do you assume that this is and always has been the case? Not in Texas. A defendant in the State of Texas is entitled to effective counsel only at their initial trial and on direct appeal. After that, they are entitled to counsel, but it has been upheld in court that counsel does not have to be effective. ·<br>
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Texas authorities who claimed that a man received adequate representation from a lawyer who slept through portions of his trial. Calvin Burdine’s 1984 conviction was eventually overturned because his public defender slept through substantial portions of the trial and the sentencing phase. The State of Texas did not feel that a death penalty attorney needed to stay awake while representing his client. Fortunately for Calvin Burdine, the United States Supreme Court did not agree.
During the entire time since my son was first arrested for this crime, not once has any attorney assigned to him even requested funding for a private investigator or expert witness. Had they requested, it would have been granted. And maybe, we wouldn’t be looking to May 19th with such dread.
The pleading filed in the Supreme Court contained wonderful issues. However, every single one of them was procedurally barred from consideration because they were not raised at the State level.
Did you know that death penalty attorneys assigned to a capital case in Texas get paid a flat amount for each of the filings at each level, but if they file a successor writ, bringing new information into the case, they are not paid, and their payment on the main filing is delayed until the inmate moves to the next level. Now I ask, what do you think this encourages attorneys to not do???
· Expanding and Explaining a Life Sentence. As a member of the public, until I was thrust into the death penalty arena, I had heard many stories of criminals that committed crimes while out on parole. The public has a general impression that no matter what sentence is handed out, the inmate will be eligible for parole before the end of that sentence. Life in Texas means the prisoner is not eligible for parole for 40 years. But it is not required that anyone explain this to the jury. In my son’s case, even when the jury asked this question twice during sentencing deliberation, they were told “You have been given your instructions.” No further explanation was given to them. ·<br>
Various statistical studies show a large percentage of people in favor of the death penalty. It is my firm belief that they think the above guarantees are already in place for all the accused. If the public were educated about these facts and knew these guarantees were not in place, their opinion would quickly change. My reason for writing this article is to draw attention to this matter before someone else’s son or daughter is sitting in the cell my son will soon vacate forever. I want to educate them about the death penalty so whether they are for it or against it, they are educated and understand what it is all about and how it is administered.
In his February 2005 State of the Union address, President Bush stated “Because one of the main sources of our national unity is our belief in equal justice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and backgrounds have confidence in the system that provides justice.”<br>
“In America we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a crime he or she did not commit -- so we are dramatically expanding the use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction.”<br>
“Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side.”
