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.
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