Michael Moore 
Executed In Texas, 6:32pm January 9, 2002

Moore told his family members, including his mother and
  stepfather, that he would be waiting for them in heaven.
"Do not disappoint me by not showing up," he said.

He nodded twice, then gasped and sputtered as his
family broke into a verse of the hymn "Amazing Grace."

9 minutes later, at 6:32 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Michael Moore, Documentary Filmaker, fought to raise
awareness about Prisoner Michael Moore's case in 2001

Visit his Official Webpage at:  www.michaelmoore.com
The Following two articles are no longer online
Article from 01.06.2002 -  http://www.michaelmoore.com/2002_0106.html
Article from 03.26.2001 -  http://www.michaelmoore.com/2001_0326.html

Information provided by Michael Moore's Supporters

 WAS JUSTICE SERVED ? POINTS TO PONDER
WHY THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CHANGE OF VENUE FOR THE TRIAL

There was a hearing to decide if there should be a change of venue due to excesive publicitiy.
Mr. LL was called to testify as an unbiased business man and he stated that in his opinion Michael would receive a fair trial in this county.

1..BUT.....The fact is that LL is a close and personal friend of the victim's husband.
2..The victim worked at the school named after LL's father.
3..LL's sister is married to the victim's lawyer

We had informed the defense lawyers that Police Detective DS was going to coffee call at the local resturant in Cove every night and discussing inside police info with everyone there. In addtion to the facts she added her own opinions and gossip which everyone took to be facts becasue she was a police officer.
70% of the potential jurors came from Cove and may have been exposed to this gossip.
Mike's attorneys did not bring this up at the change of venue hearing, nor was her discussing the case in public even mentioned.

Reporters were called in to testify that news reports on the case were not excessive or inflammatory.
The DA's husband was a local newspaper owner and reporter and had great influence over the other reporters.

The DA herself was friends with Judge G. Judge G's wife was on Mikes list and is also friends with the trial judge, Judge Z

Copperas Cove is a small town where everyone knows everyone. I myself, as a nurse cared for LL's parents and in-laws at the local nursing home where I worked.
With as extensive as Mike's list was it was impossible for anyone from Cove or surrounding community to not have been personally involved with someone on that list
Headlines in local paper stated "THIS IS THE BIGGEST CASE TO HIT AREA IN 4 YEARS

THE JURY

At jury selection Mike asked his lawyer Mr H to ask a potential juror a specific question which would no doubt have disqualified him from jury duty.
Mr H said he would but then never did and that juror was indeed selected

The principal of the school the victim had worked at was named RW..
and one of the jurors selected was LW (same last name) and they looked very very much alike

Juror #5 was a close neighbor of the victim and just sat glaring at MIke throughout the whole trial,
never even listening to the testimony

PUNISHMENT PHASE OF TRIAL

Dr. Richard Coons was Psychiatrist for the prosecution. Dr Coons never met or examined Mike in anyway.
His 'professional' opinion was based soley on what he read in the CONNORS REPORT.
Based on this report, and this report alone...he concluded that MIchael needed to be put to death as he was antisocial and a threat to society

I had informed Mike's lawyer, Mr H BEFORE the punishment phase started that I had LIED in that report to make Mike sound worse than
he was so the home would accept him. I even told Mr H what some of the specific lies were.
Mr H told me NOT to testify that I lied in that report because they would think I was lying now.
When that report with the lies in it (that they knew about) was read into evidence by the DA it was not objected to or cross examined at all by Mikes lawyers.
I again went to Mr H after I heard some of the lies the DA was bringing up from that report, and asked him if I could re-take the stand and tell the jury I had lied in that Connors report. He said NO that it wasn't that important and wouldn't matter....and yet Mike was sentanced to death soley on that report!!

The CONNORS REPORT was so full of hearsay reports who can testify that they never said any such things. For example it was read as gospel truth into evidence that Mrs. Humphrey states that she was afraid of Mike.....Well Mrs. Humphrey is my sister with whom Mike stayed with and she swears she never said any such thing!!
But Mike's lawyers conveniently messed up the days of the trial so she couldn't arrive here to testify.

With the tragic attacks on America, people are concerned that we protect the constitutional rights of the terrorist and John Walker,
even those of Bin Laden should he be caught...BUT..right here in America, one of our own citizens had his constitional rights grossly violated.
...and NO ONE CARES!
The constitution states we have the right to face our accusers! The DA swore herself in and read accusations against Michael from the Connors report...
WHERE WERE HIS ACCUSERS? She stated that he threw a cat in front of a car...did she see it happen? Where were the ones accusing him of doing this?
Were these statements she made important...well when his appeal was denied one of the reasons given was that he threw a cat in front of a car...
 

One of the Cove police officers was a friend of ours and Mike's. She had stated at one time before the murder,
that Mike was the type of guy she would want her daughter to marry.
After the murder, she knew that her daughter was one of the one's on his list and yet she still wanted to testify in his behalf.
As of the morning the trial had began, the defense lawyers still had not even contacted many of the witnesses we wanted and were trying to locate some of them.
When we got upset and insist this police friend be called we were told by Mr H that she REFUSED to come.
Yet later when we talked to her, she said Mr H told her NOT to come that she wasn't needed!!
I had submitted a list of over 22 people from Copperas Cove that wanted to give character testimony FOR MIchael....
NONE of them were even contacted.
Only a handful of close family memebers were used as defense witnesses.

This following issue is VERY important as it was used later as an issue to deny him his first appeal.
While in county jail awaiting trial Mike was attacked and beaten by another prisoner. He did not even attempt to defend himself and was beaten badly.
There was another prisoner who witnessed the whole thing and was willing to testify that Mike just stood there and took it.
Come time for the trial and the defense couldn't seem to locate this prisoner. Oh he was still in prison...but they couldn't find him!
Like the state of Texas doesn't know where their prisoners are..
So it was brought up at trial..that Mike needed the death penalty because he was a danger to other prisoners and had already been in one'jailhouse altercation'.
 This of course went unchallenged by his lawyers

The DA told the jury that she could prove intent to kill..because Mike had stolen a gun from a previous house, and that he stole it so he could kill.
FACT: He stole it to sell it as he needed money. Immediately after stealing it he tried to sell it and told the guy he didn't even know how to use it.
Instead of buying it the guy showed him how to use it. This guy was on our witness list but was never contaced by Mike's lawyers.

The DA stated that despite severe childhood abuse there is a point in your life that you are responsible for your own actions.
Can someone with Alzheimer's control what they do...no matter how hard they try? Then why do we expect someone whose brain has been emotionally
damaged to the point they act and think like a child to behave like an adult and make adult decisions?

GENERAL INFORMATION

All during the trial and pre-trial hearings Prosecution Atty Miss D kept winking at Mikes other lawyer Mr T. This was witnessed by several people including Mike himself.
During all phases of trial Miss D and Mr T were seen in close huddles, giggling and laughing and holding hands First day of punishment phase,
Mike overhears Miss D tell Mr T something about the missionary position and Mr T laughs and says it is a great stress reliever!
this is his lawyer and the PROSECUTION!
Later on the day of sentencing...the judge gave Mike the death penalty and as his gavel hit the desk...Mr T looked at Miss D
and made a date with her for dinner...not inches away from Mike...who had just been told he would die!

Mike's life since discharge from the Connor's Home...20 years!

Mike has NO arrest.....good clean record

No fights, barroom brawls or acts of violence

9 year tour in Navy...veteran of Desert Storm. Despite ONE AWOL and ONE PETTY theft charge he reenlisted several times!
If his record had NOT been good as the DA implied, the Navy would not have allowed him to reenlist or give him an honorable discharge.

Despite the fact that the DA presented him as an 'unemployed drifter who slithered into town,
with no family ties' He was a member of the Copperas Cove VFW

He went to clubs, sporting events etc with brother and others. When his brother went to court prepared to testify that Mike had a NORMAL social life,
the lawyers told him they weren't going to use him as they WANTED to portray Mike as a MISFIT.
(being a misfit is what got him the death penalty!)

He earned his GED after getting out of the Navy

Had been engaged to be married and helped care for his finace's two small children with NO incidences of abuse or violence to her or the children.
She was not even asked to be a character witness for him.

Let a woman stay with him for the sole reason that she had no where else to go and fully supported her even though he was broke

Despite the DA making an issue of the OVERKILL and violent manner in which Christa was stabbed, with blood splatter ALL OVER THE ROOM....
these clothes held up in evidence did not have one single drop of blood on them!!

For more info, contact Michael Moore's mother Gloria Steele at: forhim301@hotmail.com

Michael Moore 999126
  TDCJ-ID Polunsky Unit
12002 FM 350 South
  Livingston, Texas
  77354   USA

IT WOULD BE UNJUST TO EXECUTE MICHAEL MOORE

Michael Moore is scheduled to be executed on January 9, 2002.  His case is a classic example of why
a moratorium on executions is needed in Texas.  Being poor, he received ineffective legal counsel during
both his trial and initial state habeas appeal.  He was given a stay of execution by the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals in March of 2001. Now, an new execution date has been set without explanation.

Moore's troubles began when he was born.  He was the victim of severe child abuse and neglect by his parents which included savage beatings and an attempt to kill him. 
After being shuffled around from one relative to another, he was placed in a children's home at a young age. He quit school at age 16 and attempted suicide at age 17.  Michael's mother later said, "I feel that Michael is sick.  He is definitely sick.  It is because of what I have done to him, and I don't believe we should kill sick people....I believe that we should put him somewhere where he will get some help, and I just don't think he should die for what I did. It is not his fault."

Moore did not receive effective assistance of counsel during his trial in violation of the 6th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. His trial attorney failed to (1) present any mitigating evidence to show the link between the crime and the abuse that Moore received as a child, and (2) rebut the prosecution's misleading characterization of the records relating to Moore's stay at a children's center.

As if this was not bad enough, Moore's attorney for his initial state habeas appeal has admitted in writing that he provided ineffective counsel because of inexperience.
He failed to obtain investigative and mental health expertise before fiing the initial state habeas application.
The application consisted entirely of record-based claims that had been previously raised and rejected on direct appeal.
Consequently, Moore's rights under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were violated.

To conclude, Mr. Moore has been victimized by counsel TWICE, both at trial and on habeas review.
There can be no equity in refusing to consider viable claims which have not been presented earlier because of factors outside the petitioner's control.
 With what has been shown in subsequent proceedings, it cannot be seriously argued that the jury's sentencing decision was reliable and is something
that should be trusted and upheld. Nor can it be suggested that Moore has had adequate access to the courts.

For all these reasons, Michael Moore deserves to have his case remanded to the district court for proper state habeas proceedings,
with representation by competent legal counsel, in compliance with Article 11.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure
and the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution.

For additional information on this case,  contact Attorney Walter Reaves by faxing him at 254-826-3713.

                         Contact Governor Perry:

                      Governor Rick Perry
                      Office of the Governor
                      PO Box 12428
                      Austin, TX 78711-2418

               phone: (512) 463 1782            fax: (512) 463 1849
                              e-mail: Governor's Email form

                   Also contact:

                      Board of Pardons and Paroles
                      Attn: Gerald Garret
                      Executive Clemency Section
                      PO Box 13401, Capitol Station
                      Austin, TX 78711

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Last updated December 29, 2010  Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty
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