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Napoleon Beazley - Juvenile Death Penalty

Juvenile Death Penalty
Napoleon Beazley

The State of Texas executed Napoleon Beazley at 6:17 p.m. Central time.

Read the Petition for Reprieve of Death Sentence (a .pdf file)
Letter to Governor Perry
May 27, 2002

Please see the end of this alert for additional information on this case news coverage, and clemency letters.

You can also read the May 22, 2002 Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court (a .pdf file), the May 7, 2002 Clemency Petition (a .pdf file), or the April 26, 2002 Submission to the District Court in and for Smith County, Texas (a .pdf file).

JUVENILE OFFENDER NAPOLEON BEAZLEY FACING
EXECUTION IN TEXAS.

Napoleon Beazley -- who had no prior criminal history and who was just 17 years old at the time of his offense -- is now scheduled for execution in Texas on May 28, 2002. He was sentenced to death for the April 19, 1994 murder of Mr. John Luttig in Tyler, Texas. Because he was a juvenile at the time of his crime, Napoleon's execution would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness, and decency as well as international law. This is a call for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison. In appealing for clemency on behalf of Napoleon Beazley, we do not, in any way, seek either to excuse the crime or to minimize the pain and suffering it caused the family and friends of Mr. John Luttig.

I. NAPOLEON HAS EXPRESSED HIS REMORSE AND REGRET FOR KILLING MR. JOHN LUTTIG.

Shortly after committing this crime, 17 year old Napoleon told friends that "he had made a big mistake" and that being involved in killing Mr. Luttig was the "stupidest thing he had ever done." He was reportedly even suicidal in the days following the murder. He has stated, "[i]t was an impulsive act, one I regretted instantly." He says that he is overwhelmed by what he did and "thinks about it every day." He continues to struggle to reconcile his crime with whom he has since become and has stated that "there is no justification for what happened... I don't blame anybody else for being here (on death row) but me."

In the eight years he has been in prison, he has continued to read and write, to mature emotionally, and to make his life as productive and meaningful as possible. For example, when at the Ellis One Unit near Huntsville, Texas, Napoleon was trusted by prison officials to move outside of his cell and to do various jobs within the death row facility. "I wanted to say...first and foremost, to Mrs. Luttig and her family. As I see, none of them are in the courtroom today. I want to say it anyway, and hopefully, maybe, they will hear it. 8 years ago, I involved myself in a crime I instantly regret. I knew it was wrong. I know it is wrong now. I've been trying to make up for it ever since that moment. I've apologized ever since that moment, not just through words, but through my acts.... It's my fault. I violated the law. I violated this city, and I violated a family -- all to satisfy my own misguided emotions. I'm sorry. I wish I had a 2nd chance to make up for it, but I don't."

II. NAPOLEON DID NOT HAVE ANY PRIOR CRIMINAL RECORD AND WAS WELL LIKED AND RESPECTED BY HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS, SCHOOL, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY.

Prior to this crime, Napoleon had never been arrested or involved in any juvenile or criminal proceedings. Moreover, he was elected president of his senior class in high school, was runner up for his hometown's "Mr. Grapeland" and was also runner up for his high school's title of "most athletic" (excelling in baseball, track and football). He attended church regularly and was considered kind and helpful by members of his church. In his community, he had a reputation for being "polite, courteous, respectful, friendly and kind."

Indeed, at his sentencing hearing testimony regarding his good character and achievements was given by teachers, coaches and his high school principal as well as members of his community, family, church and school board. As one of his teachers testified, "good people can do some horrible things" and there was much more to Napoleon than the terrible crime that he had committed. Even Cindy Garner, the District Attorney from Napoleon's home county (Houston County), testified at the sentencing hearing on Napoleon's behalf. While she has been a strong proponent of the death penalty, she continues to maintain that the death penalty is inappropriate in Napoleon's case.

III. NAPOLEON WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH BASED ON WEAK AND INHERENTLY UNRELIABLE EVIDENCE THAT HE POSED A CONTINUING DANGER TO SOCIETY, INCLUDING SELF-SERVING STATEMENTS BY HIS ACCOMPLICES MADE IN EXCHANGE FOR AN AGREEMENT THAT THEIR LIVES WOULD BE SPARED.

Under Texas law, one of the most critical factors that a jury must consider in imposing a sentence of death is "whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" -- otherwise known as future dangerousness. Texas juries are permitted to consider this factor notwithstanding scientific and medical proof that "future dangerousness" is impossible to predict on an individual basis. At Napoleon's trial, the most damaging witness against him was a psychologist who had never testified for the defense in a capital trial, who had never found a defendant in a capital case NOT to be a future danger, and who did not personally interview Napoleon or review his life history.

Conceding that the best indicators of future dangerousness are past criminal acts and that Napoleon had none, the psychologist nevertheless found Napoleon likely to be a future danger. The psychologist admitted that he based his opinion on a number statements about Napoleon which were made by Donald and Cedric Coleman (who were also involved in the killing and robbery of Mr. Luttig). Since the trial, the Coleman brothers have signed affidavits admitting that several of these statements and much of their critical trial testimony were untrue. They have also admitted that they testified for the State of Texas against Napoleon on the basis of an undisclosed deal that secured them life sentences.

Perhaps the most damaging piece of evidence relied on by the psychologist (and by the trial jury and appellate court) was testimony by Cedric and Donald Coleman that -- prior to the murder -- Napoleon had stated that "he wanted to feel what it was like to kill someone." Donald Coleman now admits that he never heard Napoleon say this. Cedric Coleman now swears that Napoleon never made such a statement prior to the murder. Rather he now states that, days after the crime, Napoleon was suicidal and depressed for having killed Mr. Luttig and -- in an effort to make sense of why he had done such a terrible thing -- stated, "I guess I was tripping and wanted to see what it was like to shoot somebody." Therefore, critical evidence used by the jury as the basis to sentence Napoleon to death was either unreliable, untrue or taken out of its actual context.

IV. EXECUTING JUVENILE OFFENDERS RUNS COUNTER TO BASIC AMERICAN STANDARDS OF JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS

The execution of a juvenile offender is contrary to fundamental principles of American justice which punishes according to the degree of culpability and reserves the death penalty for the "worst of the worst" offenders. By their very nature, teenagers are less mature, and therefore less culpable, than adults who commit similar acts but have no such explanation for their conduct. Adolescence is a transitional period of life when cognitive abilities, emotions, judgment, impulse control, identity -- even the brain -- are still developing. Indeed, immaturity is the reason we do not allow those under eighteen to assume the major responsibilities of adulthood such as military combat service, voting, entering into contracts, drinking alcohol or making medical decisions. This is not to say that juvenile offenders do not know right from wrong and should not be punished, but that we as a society and a legal system have deemed that juveniles are simply different from adults.

A number of organizations such as the American Bar Association, The American Psychiatric Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the Children's Defense Fund, the Youth Law Center, the Juvenile Law Center, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the National Mental Health Association, and the Constitution Project have come to oppose executions for crimes committed by offenders under the age of 18. Similarly, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Vatican have expressed their strongest opposition to the execution of juvenile offenders.

V. A MAJORITY OF STATES HAVE RECOGNIZED THAT SUBJECTING ADOLESCENTS AND TO THE DEATH PENALTY IS CONTRARY TO BASIC AND EVOLVING STANDARDS OF DECENCY

Of the 38 states that permit the death penalty, only 22 permit the execution of persons who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes. Among these 22 states, only 16 have juvenile offenders on their death rows while only 7 have carried out actual executions of juveniles since the death penalty was reinstated in 1973. In 2002, Indiana abolished the juvenile death penalty while Florida came extremely close (a bill passed the Senate unanimously but died in the House, which had passed a bill the previous year, only because it ran out of time). In 1999, the State of Montana abolished the juvenile death penalty while the Florida Supreme Court raised the age of eligibility from 16 to 17. A growing number of states are considering legislation to abolish the execution of juvenile offenders, including: Arizona, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Indeed, in the Texas 2001 legislative session, a bill to eliminate the death penalty for offenders under 18 passed the House and gained significant support in the Senate before it was procedurally barred from reaching a vote on the Senate floor. Moreover, a recent national poll conducted by the Houston Chronicle indicated that solid support for the capital punishment of juvenile offenders has fallen to only 26%.

VI. EXECUTING JUVENILE OFFENDERS IS CONTRARY TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS

In continuing to execute juvenile offenders, the United States acts in defiance of international law and almost complete agreement among nations. Indeed, such executions have all but ended around the world, except in the United States. The death penalty for juvenile offenders is expressly prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the American Convention on Human Rights and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The United States and Somalia (which has no recognizable government) are the only two countries that have failed to ratify the CRC -- 191 nations have adopted the fundamental standards articulated in this treaty.

In the last decade, the United States has executed more juvenile offenders than all the world's nations combined. Since 1990, only seven countries are reported to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years of age at the time of the crime: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The nations of Pakistan, and Yemen have since abolished the juvenile death penalty, while Saudi Arabia and Nigeria deny that they have executed juvenile offenders. In the last three years the number of nations that execute juvenile offenders has dropped significantly to only three: Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States. Moreover, just this past year, Iran stated that it no longer executes juvenile offenders while the leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo commuted the death sentences of four juvenile offenders.

In February 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the monitoring body of the Organization of American States (OAS) which is responsible for furthering and ensuring observation of the inter-American human rights system, issued precautionary measures in the case of Napoleon Beazley. In granting precautionary measures, the IACHR requested that the United States preserve Napoleon's life pending investigation of the allegations raised in his petition. The United States is one of the 35 members of the OAS, a regional agency created by American States further to Article 52 of the United Nations Charter.

The execution of Napoleon Beazley would further alienate the United States from the international community, thus damaging our legitimacy as a leader on the protection and promotion of human rights, particularly the rights of children.

LEGAL IMPACT OF ATKINS V. VIRGINIA

Napoleon is petitioning the United States Supreme Court to stay his execution pending its decision in Atkins v Virginia where the Court will decide if American "standards of decency" have evolved so far as to bar the execution of the mentally retarded under the 8th Amendment. There may well be legal issues in Atkins which overlap with the execution of juvenile offenders. Napoleon is also petitioning the Court to reconsider whether it now violates the 8th Amendment to execute juvenile offenders. In addition to urging the Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Napoleon clemency, please urge them to at least issue a temporary reprieve until after the Court has had a chance to decide Atkins.

ACTION AVAILABLE

Under Texas law, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has the exclusive power to commute a sentence of death to life in prison. The Board may do this upon the request of an inmate or if two of three trial officials seek a commutation. The trial officials are the trial judge, the trial prosecutor, and the county sheriff. In order to avoid burdening the court, please do not write the trial judge. Otherwise, please write to:

Governor Rick Perry
Attn: Office of General Counsel
fax: 512/463-1849
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Attn: Executive Clemency Section
fax: 512/463-8120
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78757

J.B. Smith
Smith County Sheriff
106 E. Elm Street
Tyler, Texas 75702

Jack Skeen, Jr.
Smith County District Attorney
100 N. Broadway
Tyler, Texas 75702

David Dobbs
ex-Smith County Assistant District Attorney
112 E. Line, Suite 300
Tyler, Texas 75702

Copies of letters may be sent to:

Houston Chronicle
Attention Janet Elliott
1005 Congress Avenue, Suite 1060
Austin, TX 78701
janet.elliott@chron.com

Additional Information:

Please click here for all updates May 24-27 while the ABA performs routine maintenance on its web site.

Please click here for all updates May 24-27 while the ABA performs routine maintenance on its web site.

Please review a selection of clemency letters:

Please click here for all updates May 24-27 while the ABA performs routine maintenance on its web site.

Please review a selection of news coverage of this case [please note that many newspapers only keep articles on-line for a short time, although they may be available from an archive, we do our best to remove links to articles that are no longer on the web]:

For additional information on the juvenile death penalty, please visit: