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Anthony Fuentes
TEXAS Nov. 17, 2004
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Anthony Fuentes, a 20-year old Latino man, Nov. 17 for his alleged role in the 1994 shooting death of Robert Tate during a Harris County convenient store robbery. Fuentes' case is particularly alarming because there is a possibility he is innocent.
Fuentes robbed the store with Steven Vela, Kelvin Templeton, and Terrell Lincoln all of whom received prison terms for aggravated robbery. Fuentes was convicted based on the eye-witness testimony of Templeton and a man named Julio Flores. Templeton's testimony stated that he believed Fuentes was likely to have shot Tate although he did not see who actually fired the shots. Flores testimony could be considered unreliable as he was 500 meters away from Fuentes and the crime took place on a dark evening causing poor visibility.
Evidence supports the claim that Tate was killed by bullets from what was likely a 9 millimeter weapon. However, there is no conclusive evidence as to which person -Fuentes or Vela was using which gun at the time of the robbery. A mutual friend of the two men testified that he knew Vela to own and use a 9mm gun and Fuentes a .22 revolver. Fuentes confirmed this during the trial. The evidence the prosecution used to refute this was eye-witness testimony and arguably unreliable.
There are other concerning issues surrounding the trial including the fact that the state struck four African-American individuals from the jury without giving a specific reason apart from stating that the jurors were not "pro-state" enough.
Fuentes' scheduled execution takes place amid a heightened scrutiny surrounding the death penalty in Harris County due to massive problems with the crime lab. Police are in the process of reviewing hundreds of boxes of evidence from thousands of cases that had been forgotten. The crime lab suspended DNA testing in December of 2002 because of widespread problems.
Earlier this month, the Houston Chief of Police requested no one be executed until problems with the lab are fully resolved. State Senator Rodney Ellis also called for a halt to executions in Harris County. However, these pleas along with those of many concerned citizens in Texas, have been dismissed by Governor Perry.
Overall, upwards of 150 men and women are currently on death row in Texas from Harris County. Texas has approximately 450 death row inmates. Harris County accounts for approximately 30 percent of the inmates on Texas Death row and has more people on death row than 31 of the 38 states that use the death penalty.
It is inconceivable that inmates in Texas, and particularly those in Harris County could continue to be executed despite such widespread problems with the Houston Crime Lab as it serves as an indication of a system which is too fraught with error to assert guilt with absolute certainty.
Please write Gov. Perry urging him to commute Anthony Fuentes' sentence.
