Letter from Lily--Don't let them execute her friend Justin

*** Please forward and circulate ***

* Call, e-mail, and fax Gov. Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles *
* Tell them: Stop the execution of Justin Fuller *

Send e-mails and faxes from this page:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/tmn/campaign.jsp?campa
ign_KEY=4941&t=cedp.dwt

Gov. Rick Perry: phone (512) 463-2000, fax (512) 463-1849
Leave Gov. Perry a message here: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles: Phone (512) 406-5852, Fax (512) 467-0945

Dear friends,

My friend Justin Fuller is scheduled to be executed on August
24. Justin and I have been writing for about 8 years and visiting
for at least 6 years. Over the years we have grown to know one
another well. He has been a good friend to me and I hope I have been
to him. He is a smart, generous and beautiful young man. I'd like
to do whatever I can to try to save his life, and I want you all to
help me do that.

His case has numerous problems, like most death row cases. The
main issues in the case have to do with incompetent or ineffective
assistance of counsel. I have attached a fact sheet that Justin and
I put together so that folks can get some idea of the issues. The
two things that stand out are 1) the fact that the prosecution
offered Justin a plea before trial and his defense lawyers never told
him about it and 2) his state habeas lawyer filed a writ for Justin
that was actually a writ he had done for a previous client named
Henry Dunn. He didn't even change the name to Justin's in parts of
the writ, and it contained facts that had to do with Henry's case,
not Justin's.

Justin has admitted his involvement in the crime that landed him
on death row. But he has always maintained that he was not the
triggerman in the murder. Four people took part in a robbery,
including Justin, a man named Samhermundre Wideman and a young woman
named Elaine Hays. Justin claims Wideman was the shooter, a claim
substantiated by Hays. She has stated that she believes Wideman was
the shooter. She says that after Fuller and Wideman returned to the
vehicle, where she had been waiting for the two men, Wideman said,
"It felt good to shoot someone." The state of Texas denied Justin's
appeal arguing that the state can still execute "non-triggermen."

The case is at the U.S. Supreme Court right now. So far all the
state and federal courts have denied all of Justin's claims. The
Supreme Court will only decide if they will hear his case when they
come back into session. If they do, Justin will get a stay. If they
don't, the case goes back down to the state courts for the 11th hour
appeals. If that happens, Justin's lawyers will file a claim about
lethal injection as well, and there could be a stay based on that.

If Justin's execution goes forward, he has asked me to be a
witness. This means I would travel to Huntsville and have to will
have to watch them put my friend to death, something I cannot even
imagine. When I visited him this week, he told me about how he had
to ask his parents to begin to make funeral arrangements. Meanwhile,
this is a healthy man, only 28 years old. It is so sick, I can
hardly stand to think about it.

I am asking everyone to please send a fax / call / email to the
Governor of Texas and the Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking them
to stop this execution. If there isn't a stay, I am asking folks in
Austin and Huntsville to participate in a protest against Justin's
execution

Please take the time to contact these people. The phone numbers
are listed above, as well as an option to send a fax and/or and email
requesting a stay. In addition, please check out an interview with
Justin conducted by fellow activist and Texas death row prisoner Tony
Ford at:
http://www.myspace.com/tonyegbunaford999075

--Lily Mae Hughes

Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Austin, Texas