Letter from Nanon -- June 20, 2007

June 20, 2007

Dear Friends, Supporters & Abolitionist,

I just received the final report concerning the Houston Crime Lab Independent Investigation. It’s been hard knowing that most city/state officials were never concerned with justice or the fact that our legal system only creates more victims. They only were concerned with sweeping these existing problems under the rug. The sad part of it is that this is not dust that can be removed but the lives of people spending decades in prison, the lives of people facing execution, and about the others who have been executed.

Over the years, the greatest argument has been one based on common sense. A system cannot simply investigate itself and come out with results that have a negative impact on itself. While it is now clear that hundreds of more convictions have faults, thus far only Rep. Kevin Bailey has called for a special master to continue the investigation. District attorney, Chuck Rosenthal rejected the need for an outside investigator from the onset just as he now rejects the need for a special master. With over 400 convictions with major issues, one would think that he would welcome the help. Sadly, it’s not about doing what is right but about how much it will cost. On the contrary, it wasn’t about money when poor people standing trial requested money to support their innocent claims and sat helpless while motion after motion was denied.

As I sit here reading the report concerning my case, I can’t say that it is a form of relief. The results just confirmed the fact that lab experts presented false evidence at my trial that led to my death sentence. I was a bit down yesterday. The prison made a decent meal for the celebration of Junteenth, which celebrates the freedom of Texas, slaves a whole two years after Lincoln declared slaves free in other states. I can’t help but correlate that fact with the fact that more black men make up the prison population than any other race. I work in the fields and the sight of the guards on horseback with guns reminds me of the slaves on plantations. I could not see myself celebrating this day while still in chains. So I sat in my cell awaiting news of the HPD lab investigation report.

Legally, anytime false evidence is introduced in a trial, the case should be reversed. I was convicted on a prosecution’s theory and the scientific evidence used to convict me has now proven to be false. New affidavits have since been obtained and the lies told at trial totally contradicted. But after fifteen years I find myself still in chains and behind prison walls. It is hard to have confidence in a system where individuals in power have too much influence. It is not up to whether the citizens in Texas want the investigation to continue but up to those in power, who often do what is popular and not what’s right. Thousands are wrongly convicted on half-truths and half-lies. Hundreds have already been executed. Granted victims deserve justice and closure but there is a great difference in wanting someone to be guilty and those individuals that are truly guilty. Based on theories, ways to many people are executed or face a slow rot in a cage. If fairness, justice, and equality played any part in our judicial system, a special master to continue the HPD lab investigation would be encouraged, not rejected.

My life is still a struggle, still is painful, and although I am no longer on death row, it doesn’t feel like victory. I never asked for mercy. I did not kill anyone. I did not kill the victim Adonius Collier. I did not rob nor ever attempted to rob Adonius Collier but I have mourned his chance at life. My heart mourns with his loved ones. I’ve mourned the hundreds of men I’ve seen executed. I’ve mourned the thousands of men around me in this chaotic prison. I mourn the millions of kids who are faced with the same circumstances that destroyed my life and took Adonius Collier’s life.

I have an idealistic hope that justice will someday come but freedom will never come. I’ve felt too much pain and injustice to chase after a fairytale. I am bound by too much understanding that there are other Nanon William’s who suffer as I do. There are other Gary Graham’s who are now dead and buried because of lies. I will be 33-years old in a month and I am still condemned by a prosecutor who said I was a 17-year old kid who was absolutely evil, a killer and that my life was worthless. He said all this by not having spoken one word to me in his life. His theories, along with his expert’s false testimony gave him the power to kill me. I was not like the rich white kids on the Lacrosse team from Duke who consequently have gotten the district attorney disbarred for his errors. Yet the prosecutor who persecuted me still works in the DA’s office. I’ve learned that American justice is truly about how much of it you can afford. I realized long ago that I may never see it, but I will fight on. My battles may never reach a final conclusion; the blood and tears may still seem one and the same. But I’ll fight on so that more boys like myself won't have to find their manhood from a dungeon that I pray most will never see.

In Struggle,

Nanon Williams.

HPD Crime Lab Investigation Reveals Serious Errors

Below Article Published in Houston's IndyMedia (by Anita)

HPD Crime lab investigation on charges against Nannon Williams reveals serious errors
by nawisa Friday, Jun. 15, 2007 at 12:12 PM

Nanon Williams was sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit when he was a juvenile. After the US-Supreme Courts decision to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders in march 05, Nanons sentence had to be reversed to "life in prison", which in Texas means prison until death. After 40 years in prison, Nanon will be eligible for parole, which is hardly never being granted in Texas. Nanon is 31 years old. For 14 years he has been living in a tiny cell under inhuman conditions. He deserves a future.

Dear Supporters,

For those of you who do not know, the Houston Crime Lab investigator released his final report on June 13, 2007. Michael Bromwich and his investigative team confirmed what we already knew in the case of Nanon Williams and that is that the Harris County Criminal Justice System convicted Nanon Williams primarily on faulty ballistic evidence. Not only did the ballistic examiners at the HPD lab fail to test the only weapon used in the crime, they did not even use a microscope to examine the bullet fragments. Blatant mistakes and careless oversights were made from the beginning to the end in the Nanon Williams case. HPD examiner Robert Baldwin and Donald Davis knew that protocol had not been followed yet they steadfastly assured the trial court, that their findings were truthful and correct. They had three years to correct it and get it right prior to trial but never did.

I thought everyone in America had the right to a fair trial and the right to be tried by a jury of their peers who are suppose to make rational decisions based on the accuracy of evidence presented. This is extremely important when that decision hinges on life or death. When a jury is presented with evidence that is incorrect and that has not been tested, then in essence the jury is basing its decision to convict or not convict on untruths. This is plain and simple injustice. One would think that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals would be the buffer to catch such blatant errors. Wrong? In the case of Nanon Williams, they only served to rubber stamp the trial court’s decision. A Federal judge sided with the CCA and added another rubber stamp to a decision based on untruths. It’s like a domino effect. Nanon Williams’s case is before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. We can only hope and pray that this Court will do what is right and rule to give Nanon a new trial so that the real truth and nothing but the truth can finally come out.

It is a sad, sad moment in our history to know that many innocent people fell victim to the HPD’s Crime Lab’s sloppy work. Fourteen people have already been executed whose cases had inconsistencies tied with the HPD Crime Lab. It is highly likely that these were indeed innocent people. Dead people can’t be brought back. Poor people like Nanon Williams who was a 17-year old facing a death sentence were never given a fair shake from the onset. They are left lingering and wasting away in Texas prisons from sloppy HPD Crime Lab work with some facing a death sentence. This should be unacceptable in any civilized society. America is supposed to lead and set standards. Atrocities such as this makes one wonder how just how far we have actually come.

In Struggle,

Anita Babineaux

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4888577.html

http://www.hpdlabinvestigation.org/reports/070613report.pdf

http://www.nawisa.org

Nanon Williams #1306434
Coffield Unit
Rt. 1 Box 150
Tennesee Colony, Texas 75884

www.nawisa.org

HPD Crime Lab Final Report Released Today!!!!

Here is the Final Report of the Independent Investigator for the Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory and Property Room. It is a PDF file. (You will need to download a free version of Acrobat Reader to read the file if you do not have this program already.)

Scroll to page 266 in your PDF viewer to begin reading the report's coverage of Nanon's case.

Excerpts from the Report on Nanon's case:

The Williams case was selected for more detailed review by our investigative
team because three HPD firearms examiners misidentified potentially significant fired bullet evidence. One of the HPD examiners provided incorrect testimony at trial based
on the misidentification. Critics have also asserted that HPD investigators contributed
to the misidentification because they failed to submit a weapon associated with the
crime to the Firearms Section for examination and test-firing before Mr. Williams’s trial.
To assess the conduct of the Crime Lab in connection with the Williams case we
reviewed information gathered during the HPD investigation, evidence presented at the
trial, and evidence developed during post-conviction proceedings. Our forensic experts
conducted an independent examination of the fired bullet evidence that was examined
by the Crime Lab for the Williams case. We also evaluated the significance of the Crime
Lab’s conclusions and testimony relating to the misidentified evidence.

.....

We believe that EB-1 was misidentified as a .25 caliber bullet because distortions
caused the bullet fragment to exhibit apparent similarities in class characteristics to
those of a .25 caliber bullet. That error was exacerbated by the subsequent submission
of EB-2, which, as we demonstrate above, had similar class characteristics. The failure
of HPD investigators to submit the .22 Magnum derringer to the Firearms Section with
a request to compare the bullet evidence to the firearm itself also contributed to the
misidentification.302 The misidentification was perpetuated because the Crime Lab
lacked appropriate quality assurance protocols at the time and during the years that
preceded ASCLD/LAB accreditation of the Lab. This case underlines the need to
strictly adhere to the revised protocol that was adopted in the period leading up to the
ASCLD/LAB accreditation.

We recognize, however, the unfortunate situation that existed where, based on the initial
misidentification, the investigators were operating on the assumption that a .25 auto caliber
weapon was involved in the homicide, not a .22 caliber firearm.

We disagree with Mr. Singer’s assertion that the recognition of EB-1 as a .22
Magnum caliber bullet should have been possible “even for a non-expert.” We note
that, absent the submission of the .22 derringer or any other suggestion that a .22 caliber
weapon may have been associated with EB-1 or EB-2, it would be possible to assume
that EB-1, a distorted bullet fragment, was similar to EB-2, a .25 caliber bullet. This is
especially true in this case because the recovery of a live round of .25 auto ammunition
at the scene of Mr. Collier’s murder reinforced that conclusion.

We believe that Mr. Davis reached the wrong conclusion partly because he had
only EB-1 available at the time of his examination. Additionally, Mr. Davis conducted
only a visual examination of EB-1; he did not perform a careful microscopic
examination. It is not uncommon for firearms examiners to determine class
characteristics with a cursory visual examination. However, deformation can change
the apparent class characteristics of a bullet or fragment, and a firearms examiner
should therefore conduct a careful microscopic examination.

We also agree with the results of Mr. Baldwin’s 1998 examination. The fact that
the Firearms Section did not reach these correct conclusions until several years after the
discovery of the evidence was not, in our view, caused by technical incompetence on
the part of Mr. Baldwin, who consistently demonstrated his competence in other cases
we reviewed. Rather, inadequacies in the Firearms Section’s policies were to blame for
the fact that the original error went undetected for so long.

In sum, we believe that the original error committed by Mr. Davis in 1992, which
was verified by Mr. Anderson in his 1995 report and further confirmed by Mr. Baldwin, was perpetuated by the lack of adequate quality assurance practices in the Firearms Section. HPD firearms examiners were apparently allowed to co-sign reports of other examiners without personally reviewing the evidence that was the subject of the report.

That practice was contrary to generally accepted forensic science principles and
obviated the purpose of secondary signatures on each report.
While the failure to correct Mr. Davis’s error before trial was unfortunate,
Mr. Baldwin’s revised findings and many other defense arguments have been presented
in great detail to three reviewing courts. Two of the three courts have concluded that
errors committed by examiners in the Crime Lab do not justify reversal of
Mr. Williams’s conviction, and the Williams case remains subject to ongoing review in
the federal courts. Additionally, Firearms Section polices and procedures have been
revised by the Crime Lab since the events described in this review. We believe that -- if
closely followed by HPD firearms examiners -- the updated policies and procedures
minimize the risk of mistakes like those that occurred in Mr. Williams’s case.

Legal updates - June 4, 2007

The Fifth Circuit Court erroneously closed Nanon's case and sent the files back to Houston. They then reopened it and requested the files, saying they would set a briefing schedule after the case was sent back. The district court in Houston took a very long time to return the files to the 5th Circuit Court(in New Orleans) . They were finally returned last week. Today, the Court set a briefing schedule for July.