Post by CCADP on May 7, 2005 12:35:51 GMT -5
"But my attorney didn't call any witness on my behalf," he wrote. "The jury heard only the prosecution side. Because of this I had a gut feeling I'd be found guilty but I tried to stay positive. I kept saying to myself, 'They can free me.' I didn't take the stand. I wanted to, but my attorney said it was better not to."
He was found guilty. The Coalition's Web site says that Johnson's appeals limit is almost up. Johnson goes on to reflect on life in prison and the hardship his conviction has brought to his family, which consists of his mother and a son and daughter. He claims life on death row is not pleasant due to frequent strip searches and seven minute showers, an unclean environment, the lack of proper heating, and spoiled food. He says death row inmates are permitted only two hours of recreation and that a color TV is mounted on a wall outside the cells, "about three meters away" and that has to be watched "through wire mesh." He claims staff members are also allowed to come into inmate cells, cuff them, pull them out of the cell and lock them in the showers while they rummage through their personal property.
"They can take anything they think you shouldn't have," he wrote. "If they feel like it they destroy family pictures and property and leave your cell in chaos. You have no rights while you're in this hotel."
And it is his version of life which has Schultz and McCaffrey so upset. They say the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty have not done any background checking to see if Johnson's version of the murders or if his claims of mistreatment on death row are accurate.
It was McCaffrey's brother-in-law who first discovered the Coalition's Web site. After McCaffrey saw the site for herself, the first thing she did was to call Schultz.
"I was mad," McCaffrey said. "After I read it all and sat and thought about it, I called Chris and told her. There was a guy on there (a Coalition member who published Johnson's writing on the Web site) and I wrote him. I just told him what I thought."
McCaffrey said she sent the publisher an e-mail, asking him what was wrong with him. Why would anyone defend these people and put this junk on the Internet, she questioned. She told the Coalition member that Johnson's statements were nothing but lies.
The publisher did respond to McCaffrey's e-mail saying that America was similar to China, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and to Sept. 11's terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden in that the government was not protecting its citizens by not murdering them to make victims happy. McCaffrey claims the Coalition publisher said Americans should be content to lock convicted murders up in life imprisonment.
"And then I went off on him (e-mailing the Coalition publisher again)," McCaffrey said. "Who is supposed to feed and clothe them? I told him I had a good suggestion, why don't they just ship them (convicted murderers) all over there and let them feed them and clothe them and take care of them and let them loose with their friends and families."
The publisher did not respond back. Schultz also e-mailed her views on the Web site to the Coalition. Schultz said Johnson's story does not even coincide with the events of the trial. "You really should check the true facts of this case," Schultz wrote in an e-mail dated April 21, 2002 to the Coalition. "My child ... can not speak for himself and now another crime is being committed by this trash being allowed without checking for truth."
Both mothers also maintain that their sons were not racist as Johnson recounts on his Web pages through the Coalition. Schultz said that her son, Fulk, had many black friends and that he often got upset when derogatory remarks were made against race.
And the women say that Johnson's concern for his family doesn't compare to what they are going through as mothers. Schultz said that "at least his mother and children can still visit Johnson and prepare for his death."
"We have only these files and newspaper clippings to use in understanding our sons' deaths," Schultz explained. "We can only visit our sons at the graveyard."
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, they were not familiar with Johnson's claims of death row mistreatment. But a spokeswoman did say that inmate showers are in their own cells and that the inmates are not removed to a main shower location. The Department spokesperson also said they are not allowed to restrict letters the inmates mail to others in any form or fashion.
"They can write to anyone in the free-world," the spokesperson explained.
The Web pages that claim to represent Johnson's view of life on death row was established, according to Coalition co-founder Tracy Lamourie, as a means of letting the inmates express their views on the death row system and not to take a side in claiming innocence.
"If there wasn't a death row, there would be no need for the Web site," said Lamourie. She explained that because the Coalition is non-profit, they do not have the means to hire personnel to censor or fact-check what the inmates write. She said that visitors to the site should check into what death row inmates are claiming by looking up court documents and searching for newspaper articles about the cases before taking a side on innocence.
"That info is available. Prisoner info is online (elsewhere) and people can look up what they did. There are newspaper Web sites online also. We are putting forth a perspective (of life on death row) that most people haven't seen. If any of these people are lying, they are not going to be able to get an attorney to help them appeal."
The Coalition began the Web site in 1998. It did help one innocent death row inmate get free. But he, explained Lamourie, did post facts concerning his case. She says some on the Web site have reams of documentation giving light to their situations.
"We don't say it is true," she added. "In some cases, they may lie. If they do that though, they are shooting themselves in the foot."
Canada's last execution was performed in 1962 and a law making it legal to sentence criminals to death was repealed in the 1970s. The Coalition's founders claim instituting a death sentence does not work to deter murder anyway. In the entire country of Canada, they say, there have only been 40 murders - less than most major American cities.
"People have the impression that those sentenced to death are the worst of the worst," Lamourie said. "But serial killers are not all getting put to death. It is not the people you would expect to see on death row. Most of those who are there are the ones who couldn't afford lawyers."
Lamourie did say she personally feels horrible by e-mails she receives from the families of murder victims. She says the Coalition's members do care about the families but that the Coalition maintains their view that "there wouldn't be a Web site if there was no death penalty." There are currently no provisions for the families of crime victims regarding such Web sites or the publication of false information regarding the cases.
Tomball resident Marsha Craven, co-chairman of the Houston chapter of the Parents of Murdered Children, said that the families of murder victims are in need of more rights in order to battle Web sites such as the Canadian Coalition's, but that until citizens band together to pressure law makers to create more laws, there is little that can be done.
In the mean time, she recommends that Schultz and McCaffrey continue to send letters to the Coalition's site and she urges them to enlist the help of other family members and friends and neighbors to do the same in protest of the site.
She also said the women may want to get involved in another organization called MINE (Murder Is Not Entertainment) which protest the trend of glamorizing killing. Craven said that is basically what the Coalition's Web site is doing by publishing the criminals' writings.
Schultz did say she was planning to get active in various organizations again. She was once a member of Parents Of Murdered Children but her ill health forced her to subdue her involvement. She said other than receiving periodic appeals Johnson has made in attempts to get off of death row, she thought the victimizing of her son and his friend were over. She was wrong, she said. "We are having to relive this all over again," she said. "I am mad right now, but I will allow myself to cool off so that I can be level headed in my involvement to boost the rights of victims. I don't want an innocent person to go to death row but Johnson is not an innocent person. And what he is doing on that Web site is wrong."
He was found guilty. The Coalition's Web site says that Johnson's appeals limit is almost up. Johnson goes on to reflect on life in prison and the hardship his conviction has brought to his family, which consists of his mother and a son and daughter. He claims life on death row is not pleasant due to frequent strip searches and seven minute showers, an unclean environment, the lack of proper heating, and spoiled food. He says death row inmates are permitted only two hours of recreation and that a color TV is mounted on a wall outside the cells, "about three meters away" and that has to be watched "through wire mesh." He claims staff members are also allowed to come into inmate cells, cuff them, pull them out of the cell and lock them in the showers while they rummage through their personal property.
"They can take anything they think you shouldn't have," he wrote. "If they feel like it they destroy family pictures and property and leave your cell in chaos. You have no rights while you're in this hotel."
And it is his version of life which has Schultz and McCaffrey so upset. They say the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty have not done any background checking to see if Johnson's version of the murders or if his claims of mistreatment on death row are accurate.
It was McCaffrey's brother-in-law who first discovered the Coalition's Web site. After McCaffrey saw the site for herself, the first thing she did was to call Schultz.
"I was mad," McCaffrey said. "After I read it all and sat and thought about it, I called Chris and told her. There was a guy on there (a Coalition member who published Johnson's writing on the Web site) and I wrote him. I just told him what I thought."
McCaffrey said she sent the publisher an e-mail, asking him what was wrong with him. Why would anyone defend these people and put this junk on the Internet, she questioned. She told the Coalition member that Johnson's statements were nothing but lies.
The publisher did respond to McCaffrey's e-mail saying that America was similar to China, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and to Sept. 11's terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden in that the government was not protecting its citizens by not murdering them to make victims happy. McCaffrey claims the Coalition publisher said Americans should be content to lock convicted murders up in life imprisonment.
"And then I went off on him (e-mailing the Coalition publisher again)," McCaffrey said. "Who is supposed to feed and clothe them? I told him I had a good suggestion, why don't they just ship them (convicted murderers) all over there and let them feed them and clothe them and take care of them and let them loose with their friends and families."
The publisher did not respond back. Schultz also e-mailed her views on the Web site to the Coalition. Schultz said Johnson's story does not even coincide with the events of the trial. "You really should check the true facts of this case," Schultz wrote in an e-mail dated April 21, 2002 to the Coalition. "My child ... can not speak for himself and now another crime is being committed by this trash being allowed without checking for truth."
Both mothers also maintain that their sons were not racist as Johnson recounts on his Web pages through the Coalition. Schultz said that her son, Fulk, had many black friends and that he often got upset when derogatory remarks were made against race.
And the women say that Johnson's concern for his family doesn't compare to what they are going through as mothers. Schultz said that "at least his mother and children can still visit Johnson and prepare for his death."
"We have only these files and newspaper clippings to use in understanding our sons' deaths," Schultz explained. "We can only visit our sons at the graveyard."
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, they were not familiar with Johnson's claims of death row mistreatment. But a spokeswoman did say that inmate showers are in their own cells and that the inmates are not removed to a main shower location. The Department spokesperson also said they are not allowed to restrict letters the inmates mail to others in any form or fashion.
"They can write to anyone in the free-world," the spokesperson explained.
The Web pages that claim to represent Johnson's view of life on death row was established, according to Coalition co-founder Tracy Lamourie, as a means of letting the inmates express their views on the death row system and not to take a side in claiming innocence.
"If there wasn't a death row, there would be no need for the Web site," said Lamourie. She explained that because the Coalition is non-profit, they do not have the means to hire personnel to censor or fact-check what the inmates write. She said that visitors to the site should check into what death row inmates are claiming by looking up court documents and searching for newspaper articles about the cases before taking a side on innocence.
"That info is available. Prisoner info is online (elsewhere) and people can look up what they did. There are newspaper Web sites online also. We are putting forth a perspective (of life on death row) that most people haven't seen. If any of these people are lying, they are not going to be able to get an attorney to help them appeal."
The Coalition began the Web site in 1998. It did help one innocent death row inmate get free. But he, explained Lamourie, did post facts concerning his case. She says some on the Web site have reams of documentation giving light to their situations.
"We don't say it is true," she added. "In some cases, they may lie. If they do that though, they are shooting themselves in the foot."
Canada's last execution was performed in 1962 and a law making it legal to sentence criminals to death was repealed in the 1970s. The Coalition's founders claim instituting a death sentence does not work to deter murder anyway. In the entire country of Canada, they say, there have only been 40 murders - less than most major American cities.
"People have the impression that those sentenced to death are the worst of the worst," Lamourie said. "But serial killers are not all getting put to death. It is not the people you would expect to see on death row. Most of those who are there are the ones who couldn't afford lawyers."
Lamourie did say she personally feels horrible by e-mails she receives from the families of murder victims. She says the Coalition's members do care about the families but that the Coalition maintains their view that "there wouldn't be a Web site if there was no death penalty." There are currently no provisions for the families of crime victims regarding such Web sites or the publication of false information regarding the cases.
Tomball resident Marsha Craven, co-chairman of the Houston chapter of the Parents of Murdered Children, said that the families of murder victims are in need of more rights in order to battle Web sites such as the Canadian Coalition's, but that until citizens band together to pressure law makers to create more laws, there is little that can be done.
In the mean time, she recommends that Schultz and McCaffrey continue to send letters to the Coalition's site and she urges them to enlist the help of other family members and friends and neighbors to do the same in protest of the site.
She also said the women may want to get involved in another organization called MINE (Murder Is Not Entertainment) which protest the trend of glamorizing killing. Craven said that is basically what the Coalition's Web site is doing by publishing the criminals' writings.
Schultz did say she was planning to get active in various organizations again. She was once a member of Parents Of Murdered Children but her ill health forced her to subdue her involvement. She said other than receiving periodic appeals Johnson has made in attempts to get off of death row, she thought the victimizing of her son and his friend were over. She was wrong, she said. "We are having to relive this all over again," she said. "I am mad right now, but I will allow myself to cool off so that I can be level headed in my involvement to boost the rights of victims. I don't want an innocent person to go to death row but Johnson is not an innocent person. And what he is doing on that Web site is wrong."