There is more coverage today on yesterday afternoon news conference by faith leaders calling for a commutation of Tim Adams' death sentence.
The Texas Tribune report is, "Religious Leaders Advocate for Ex-Veteran's Clemency." It's written by Aziza Musa.
Timothy Adams begged his father for forgiveness in his first call from death row in 2003.
Without hesitation, Columbus Adams said yes. He forgave Timothy Adams for fatally shooting his 19-month-old son — Columbus Adams' grandson — in the chest. Today, a week before his son is scheduled to die for the crime, Columbus Adams and a host of religious leaders asked the state to forgive Timothy Adams, too. Timothy Adams was a hard-working Christian and an Army veteran, he said, who never committed a crime before the day he lost control during an argument with his wife and killed their son.
Columbus Adams, the Texas Defender Service and more than 90 religious leaders from across Texas urged Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Timothy Adams' death sentence to life in prison. Three jurors from Timothy Adams' trial also signed a clemency petition submitted to the board last week.
"The truth is that Timothy snapped and did something wrong, but the crime is an aberration in his life," said Kate Black, Texas Defender Service staff attorney.
And:
Religious leaders spoke of Timothy Adams' deep faith and his character, and they said that if jurors at his trial had known that, they wouldn't have handed down the death penalty.
"At the end of our lives, which of us wants to 'get what we deserve' for the single worst act of our lives, with complete disregard for all the good things we may also have done?" asked Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.
"Clergy urge clemency for Timothy Adams," is the AP filing, via the Houston Chronicle.
More than 90 leading clergy members have signed a letter to Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas parole board, appealing for clemency for Timothy Wayne Adams.
The clergy members represent eight Christian denominations and the Unitarian Universalist church. Adams is set to die Tuesday for fatally shooting his 19-month-old son during an argument with his estranged wife at their apartment in Houston.
The signatories to the letter include Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston Catholic archdiocese, Bishop Emeritus Raymundo Pena of the Brownsville Catholic diocese and Bishop Michael Rinehart of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
The letter asks Perry to commute Adams' death sentence to life imprisonment.
"Family of Texas man set to die pleads for his life," is the Reuters report by Corrie MacLaggan.
"This is a constant pain, day in and day out, that we're about to lose another member of our family," Adams' father, Columbus Adams, told a press conference at the Texas Capitol.
Columbus Adams was joined by several clergy members who are part of a group of more than 90 Christian leaders who wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles asking that Timothy Adams' death sentence be commuted to life in prison without parole.
Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said that "the governor fully considers each case before making his final decision."
Adams' supporters said that his actions on that 2002 day were out of character and that he is not a danger to anyone. Adams' wife testified that her husband followed her and once told her that he hoped to catch her with another man so that he could kill them "right then and there." according to the attorney general's account of the case.
The Rev. Lawrence Scott of New Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, the Adams family's church, said at the press conference that it's time to break the chain of "murder for murder."
"He's a good man," Scott said of Adams. "What he did was horrible, but to take his life is not going to do anything for the situation. His mother can't sleep. His father can't sleep."
Jordan Smith writes, "Clemency Sought for Veteran," for the Austin Chronicle.
Jurors Rebecca Hayes, Ngoc Duong, and Kathryn Starling each say they were not provided key information about Adams during the sentencing hearing that would have made a difference in the outcome. Moreover, Hayes and Duong told Adams' attorneys that they were leaning toward a life sentence but gave in to extreme pressure from other jurors who had decided Adams was coldhearted. It is now clear to both jurors that Adams' defense attorneys were ill-prepared for the hearing and failed to present compelling personal information about Adams – including that he came from a close-knit family, was a hard worker, and was very religious. "After the trial, I learned additional information that confirmed my conviction that Adams should not have been sentenced to death," Hayes said in a statement included in the clemency petition. "To this day, I do not believe that Timothy Adams deserves to die for his crime."
Austin's Belo-owned KVUE-TV reports, "Houston family pleads with Texas Governor's office for clemency." It's by Shelton Green. There is video at the link.
The day after the State of Texas executed the first of five people scheduled to die on death row this year, a family pleaded with staff members with the Governor’s office to save the life of the second death row inmate waiting in the wings.
Timothy Wayne Adams, 36, of Houston is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, February 22, 2011.In 2002, Timothy Adams shot his 19-month old son Timothy Jr. twice in the chest, killing him during a heated custody battle. Adams was threatening to take his own life at the time of the tragedy.“He's been remorseful from day one. He knows that he did something terrible and when he called home he asked me, 'Momma, can you forgive me?' And I said, 'Yes son, you're my son and I love you,'” said Wilma Adams, Timothy’s mother, who travelled to Austin Wednesday with her husband, several jurors from Adams’ trial and a minister representing 90 Houston preachers, all of whom say they believe that Adams deserves a life sentence and not death.One juror says she would have opted for a life sentence for Adams had she known more about his religious upbringing.“He is a young man who has good moral foundations and he is worthy of redemption and reconciliation and we feel like there ought to be discernment about people like this who face the death penalty," said Bishop Joe Williams of Houston, who supports clemency for Adams.
An attorney for Tim Adams says the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole is scheduled to make a decision about Adams’ fate on Friday.
The clemency petition, filed with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, is in Adobe .pdf format. There is more on the case at the Timothy Wayne Adams website.
You can sign a petition urging clemency at the website. You can send a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles at:
Rissie Owens, Presiding Officer
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P. O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
You can e-mail Governor Rick Perry or send him a tweet, as well.
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