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
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