Texas

March 16, 2005

Mother of murder victim convinced Texas is set to execute wrong man for her son’s death

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Pablo Melendez, for the Sept 1, 1994 murder of Michael Sanders, a white man in Tarrant County.  Melendez was convicted of shooting Sanders during a robbery which also resulted in the injury of survivor Tommy Seagraves.  Melendez was 18 years old at the time the crime was committed.

Melendez’s case is alarming because he has a strong innocence claim. His case is surrounded by evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, conflicting witnesses, and undeniable facts which point to his innocence.  Perhaps most compelling, is the fact that Gracie Jett, mother of victim Michael Sanders, is convinced that Melendez did not murder her son.

Melendez was a member of a gang called “La Loma,” or “The Hill.”  On the night of the shootings, Melendez was drunk and had been sniffing paint.  He said he did not remember the details of the evening or whether or not he shot the victims but that other members of the gang who were present at the time of the crime told him he was at fault.  Melendez was the only member of the gang not related by blood or marriage. 

However, ten days after the murder, Tommy Seagraves gave authorities a description of the man he said shot him and Sanders.  He described a young Latino man with a ponytail, mustache, beard, heavy black eyebrows, and a tattoo on his right shoulder.  Melendez’s probation photo which was taken five days before the shooting showed a hairless face, light brown eyebrows, and short hair which was not in a ponytail.  Supporters avidly maintain that due to Melendez’s youth, he was not able to grow facial hair.  At the time of his probation photo and nine months later, when Melendez was arrested for the murder of Sanders, no tattoo was described on his shoulder. 

There were other witnesses who gave accounts of a man fitting the same description running from the scene of the crime on the night of the murder.  The witnesses gave their accounts to Jett and Mickey Ross, Seagraves’ sister who notified the prosecution.  Ross claims she went back to the scene of the crime in Feb. 2001 to speak with the prosecution’s witness Susie Carrillo.  When shown a picture of Melendez, Carrillo said Melendez was not the man she saw running from the scene of the crime.  Supporters of Melendez, including Sander’s family members, maintain Carrillo said she testified against Melendez at the trial due to pressure she received from the prosecution.  She noted she was distraught at the time because her son had recently been killed in prison.                  

Melendez was originally arrested when a member of the gang, John Ayala, was offered a plea bargain in exchange for testimony against Melendez.  Ayala is related to the man Gracie Jett believes killed her son.  This suspect perfectly matches the description given by Seagraves including a tattoo on his right shoulder.  

For reasons unknown, Melendez’s trial attorneys did not show the jury the probation photo of Melendez showing his hairless face and lack of ponytail until after the verdict had been reached – at the sentencing phase of trial.  Little direct discussion of the probation photo appears in the trial record.  The trial court attorneys did not fully capitalize on the fact that another gang member closely resembled a composite sketch of the suspect and that a photo of Melendez taken days before the incident reflected an 18 year old who did not resemble the sketch.    

Melendez’s direct appeals attorney focused on yet another witness, Jeffrey Jackson, who had a business near the scene of the crime.  Jett talked with Jackson who said he would testify to conversing with several Mexican American men near the victim’s truck.  Jett informed the prosecution of the witness.  The prosecution in turn never gave this information to the defense. The defense did not find out about Jackson until after the trail.  At that time, the defense met with the witness and he agreed to testify.  However when Jackson was later served with a subpoena he stated that he intended to ignore it.  Jackson later changed his story including the timing of when events took place. 

Furthermore, as admitted by a U.S. District Court in 2003, Melendez did not confess to the murders and there is no physical evidence connecting him to the crime.  He has been sentenced to death based largely on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of gang members who were related the man many think actually committed the murder.   

Like many people on death row, Melendez suffered a difficult childhood.  He was involved in various crimes including drinking and sniffing paint early in his young life.  As a young teen he was treated for substance abuse. His sister reported that their father unjustly claimed Melendez was not his son.  He is said to have abused Melendez, including picking him up and drop kicking him when he was three or four years of age.  Twice during Melendez’s trial, prosecutors sited an early conviction as evidence of Melendez’ s potential future threat to society.  The incident involved Melendez’s younger half sister and was said to have occurred when Melendez was eleven years old.  Melendez and supporters maintain his stepmother falsely told police of this violence against her daughter in an effort to get Melendez out of the home.

There is a disturbing amount of evidence pointing to Melendez’s innocence.  The state of Texas will be committing a devastating and irreversible miscarriage of justice should they execute this young man.  Please take a moment to write the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Paroles requesting commutation or at minimum, clemency for Melendez. This execution cannot be carried out in our names.