Anthony Haynes is seek­ing clemen­cy from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Haynes was only 19 when he killed an off-duty police offi­cer who stopped his car in Houston. He had no pri­or crim­i­nal record. His defense lawyers failed to present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence that was avail­able at the time of his tri­al. More than three dozen peo­ple have signed state­ments say­ing they would have been will­ing to tes­ti­fy that Haynes’ crime was extreme­ly out of char­ac­ter and that he was known for being a respect­ful and non-vio­lent teenag­er. The jury also nev­er heard about Haynes’ his­to­ry of men­tal health prob­lems. Among those who have request­ed clemen­cy is his father, a retired Assistant Chief Investigator with the Houston Fire Department. He said, ​“The exe­cu­tion of my son by the State of Texas will have a dev­as­tat­ing effect on my whole life….Since Anthony is my only child, one of my main pur­pos­es for liv­ing will be tak­en away from me by his exe­cu­tion. I am ask­ing you to spare my son’s life, because I know the deci­sions he made as a teenag­er are not the deci­sions he has made as a man. My son is a changed per­son who has a heart of remorse for tak­ing Sgt. Kincaid’s life.” Haynes is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on October 18.

(“USA: Clemency urged for Texas man fac­ing exe­cu­tion for crime as teenag­er,” Amnesty International, October 4, 2012). See Clemency. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Clemency.

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