In a few hours, the state of Texas will execute a man for a crime he did not commit. Many claim to be innocent, but few on death row can claim that their innocence is a well-established fact. Kenneth Foster will be executed today because he couldn't predict that his friend, Julius Steen, would step out of the car they were riding in, walk 80 feet and kill Michael LaHood. Foster is being put to death because he should have known better.
Under the Texas law of parties:
If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."
Steen and Foster had been on a spree of robberies that night, but Foster should not be held responsible for a crime that Steen committed and and for which he has been punished--he was executed last year.
No one contests Foster's innocence in the murder, it is merely argued that the law must be carried out. I can't get over the sick surreality of the case, but Foster's daughter says it so much better than I ever could:
A childhood friend of Lahood's, Sean Paul Kelley has joined the fight to save Foster. He writes movingly about his struggle with the subject.
There's not much time left, but if you feel the urge to help Kenneth Foster, please visit the Free Kenneth site and get more information about what you can do.
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