Michael Moore
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.
( see complete news articles below ... )
More webpages/links about Michaels case:
| News About Michael's Execution |
| The Story of Michael Moore - An Essay By Michael's Mother |
|
Michael Moore, Producer
of Roger & Me,
TV Nation,
and The Awful Truth,
and Bowling for Columbine (amongst others), fought to raise awareness about Prisoner Michael Moore's case. 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 |
|
Michael Moore's Official Homepage
Official Webpage by Michael's Mother and Michael's Supporters ( http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/m999126 is no longer online ) |
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
phone: (512) 406 5852
fax: (512) 467 0945
The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
Contact us for more information.
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