Media Links

The case I was writing about below has been the focus of heavy media attention in Houston. The life sentence, chosen over a death sentence, has caused an outcry in one of the most conservative parts of America.

Here are some media links to check-out:

The Houston Chronicle (the local paper) - pay attention to the comments at the bottom




KHOU - the local CBS television station -
Immigration and Crime story -
Footage of the Sentencing -

ABC13 - the local ABC television station -
Story on the Punishment phase -
Victim Impact Statement, done after the sentence -
ABC's take on the sentencing process -

You can run a search for 'Quintero' in any of those sites.

After 3 months of incredibly intense work the interns at GRACE are off to New Orleans this weekend. A post should follow...

Two Sets of Tears

I haven't posted here for a long time. All this time I have been investing all I can into a trial that could mean life or death for a man. The intensity has been one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. From the small, cluttered but never lifeless corridors of the Gulf Region Advocacy Centre (GRACE) in Houston, Texas, a team has brought together the defense of a man that would seem indefensible. A few minutes, 8 bullets and circumstance that should never have happened on September 21, 2006, brought us all here. But they did happen. The question for all our human dignity was what response should come.

There has been no life between my for me since my last post and this moment, 1 hour after the final punishment phase. Juan Leonardo Quintero Perez was convicted of the murder of Officer Rodney Johnson, of the Houston Police Department (HPD), on 8 May 2008. Since then the process of saving a person's life came into full swing. The culmination of 18 months work by devoted people. All the conflicts, late nights and cans of red bull had to come together for something. In between being in the office and living with other interns, there has only been dinner and drinks with the same people. The intensity has been blinding.

Harris County, the home of Houston, is known as the Capital of Capital Punishment. It alone executes more people than all other counties in Texas and the County alone executes more people than any state in the USA; a fact that makes many Houstonians very proud. It's a very wealthy place, filled with oil and resource money, and can afford the huge expense of capital trials and their lengthy appeals. In Harris County if you are convicted of killing a Police Officer you get executed. It's a rule of thumb basically.

But today Juan Leonardo Quintero Perez will not contemplate his death at the hands of other humans, but instead will be considering what can be made of life behind bars without parole. It could be hollow success if not for knowing the worth of a life, even when that life will continue to be struggle in a place no one would freely chose to be.

The Harris County District Attorneys Office put on an impressive show. They argued for death with full force. Here in Texas a trial looks just like it does in the movies, no joke. With all the walking around the room, aggressive cross-examinations and grand opening and closing speeches. The overriding feeling is the undisguised desire for retribution. A reminder for the jury that the 'community is watching you'; send that message. On 20 May 2008 a message was sent. The value of life is more important than vengeance and retribution. 12 jurors made a decision no one could honestly predict with full confidence. A decision that brought out the true anger and hate in the hearts of so many Houstonians that treat you with a daily smile and kind word. It's a contradiction that must be experienced to be believed.

There are no words to describe the feeling of what has been achieved. The Johnson family have been through an experience that no-one could imagine or compare. Their tears flowed and their pain could be seen all through the three week trial. Juan Leonardo Quintero Perez will suffer as a result of all these events, his life the subject of public spectacle and now public containment. No one act will bring closure. But as we returned to the office there were tears streaming down the faces of the Quintero family that came from Mexico to Houston to be their kin. Those tears were matched with smiles, the first I had seen on them since they arrived. It was not elation, probably not even happiness, only they could know the depth of that feeling. But in that moment on the steps of GRACE it all came together for me.