WASHINGTON -- November 19 -- Frances Newton, out of Harris County, would be first African American woman to be executed in modern Texas history. The state of Texas is prepared to carry out the first execution of an African American woman in modern state history, despite resounding questions of whether she is guilty and whether she received a fair trial. Frances Newton faces execution Dec. 1 for the murder of her husband, Adrian Newton, and her children, Alton and Farah Newton in Harris County. Forensics evidence used to convict Newton is highly questionable and tests at the crime scene concluded that the Newton had not fired a weapon the night her husband and children were shot to death.

“Newton’s case embodies the core problems with the death penalty in Texas,” said Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. “Her trial counsel was egregiously incompetent, she has a strong innocence claim and her conviction rested in large part on the results of ballistics testing conducted by the now-discredited Houston Police Department’s crime lab."Newton joins a growing list of people on death row from Harris County who have raised questions about forensic testing used in their convictions. This list includes:

Nanon Williams. Williams was convicted and sentenced to death despite the fact that a Houston Police Department firearms examiner misidentified the type of gun used in the commission of a murder. Williams did not own the type of gun that was used.

Johnnie Bernal. A HPD firearms examiner deviated from professional norms of ballistics examination by firing 25 test-fires rather than the customary two or three, and even applied a solution to the barrel of the gun mid-test in an effort to obtain a ballistics match.

Anibal Rousseau. Rousseau was sentenced to death despite the fact that a file, located by Rousseau’s habeas counsel 12 years after Rousseau arrived on death row, revealed exculpatory ballistics evidence in the possession of HPD and the Harris County district attorney’s office.

NCADP and its Texas affiliate, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, joined Newton’s legal team in calling for a 120-day stay of execution so that evidence of her innocence may be pursued. Such evidence would include additional forensic tests as well as gathering information from other people who might be tied to the crime. Rust-Tierney noted that Newton’s hands were tested the evening of the murders for the existence of gunpowder residue. This test, called an atomic absorption test, was conducted just hours after the shootings and found that there was no gunpowder residue present. Newton’s lawyers argue that even if Newton had washed her hands after the crime, it would have been impossible to remove all gunpowder residue.

NOTE TO REPORTERS, EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: To receive a copy of Newton’s 39-page clemency application, please email David Elliot at delliot@ncadp.org “Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun once wrote that the execution of a person who can show he is innocent comes perilously close to simple murder,”Rust-Tierney said. “Frances Newton has never had the opportunity to demonstrate she is innocence, not for a lack of facts but for lack of a fair and objective forum. All we want is an opportunity for her state her case, backed by competent counsel and a thorough investigation.”

Texas has carried out 23 executions thus far this year, and 336 since it resumed capital punishment in 1982. This represents almost 36 percent of the total executions carried out in the United States since executions were allowed to resume in 1976.

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