(Washington, D.C.) — Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today
condemned the scheduled August 30 execution of Kenneth Foster,
who was convicted of a murder he did not commit and has consistently
denied knowing would occur. The human rights organization
has mobilized its international membership to urge the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Rick Perry to grant
clemency.

Foster was sentenced to death in 1997 for the murder of
Michael LaHood under Texas’ controversial “law of parties.”
This law abolishes the distinction between principal actor
and accomplice in a crime and allows both to be held equally
culpable.

“This is a new low for Texas,” said Larry Cox,
executive director of AIUSA. “Texas has the most far-reaching
‘law of parties’ in this country, further marking it as
the death penalty capital of the United States. In essence,
Kenneth Foster has been sentenced to death for leaving his
crystal ball at home. There is no concrete evidence demonstrating
that he could know a murder would be committed. Allowing
his life to be taken is a shocking perversion of the law.”

In the early hours of August 15th, 1996, Mauriceo Brown,
DeWayne Dillard, Julius Steen and Kenneth Foster stopped
outside the house of Michael LaHood. Brown got out of the
car, robbed LaHood, and then shot him. To convict Kenneth
Foster of capital murder under the law of parties, the prosecution
had to prove that there was a conspiracy between him and
Brown to rob LaHood, and that Foster should have anticipated
that murder might have occurred during the robbery. At the
trial Brown testified that there had been no discussion
of robbing LaHood before he got out of the car.

Dillard testified at a state appeal that after the shot
was heard, Foster had appeared surprised and panicked. Steen
signed an affidavit in 2003 stating that, “There was
no agreement that I am aware of for Brown to commit a robbery
at the LaHood residence. I do not believe that Foster and
Brown ever agreed to commit a robbery. I don’t think
that Foster thought that Brown was going to commit a robbery.”

Brown was executed on July 19, 2006. Neither Steen nor
Dillard, the two other accomplices, was prosecuted for LaHood’s
murder. Yet, as the evidence stands today, their and Foster’s
culpability in the crime appears to be the same.

Contact: Wende Gozan at 212/633-4247
or Brian Evans at 202/544-0200 x496

Texans are apparently still living in the Wild West of the 19th Century.  Time to catch up, killers.