Just hours before tonight’s (August 30) sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Kenneth Foster, Governor Rick Perry (pic­tured) has accept­ed a Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rec­om­men­da­tion to stop Foster’s exe­cu­tion and com­mute his sen­tence to life. Perry was not oblig­at­ed to accept the high­ly unusu­al 6 – 1 rec­om­men­da­tion from the board whose mem­bers he appoints. The com­mu­ta­tion is the first of its kind in his eight years in office. The board deci­sion was announced about sev­en hours before Foster was sched­uled to die. Perry’s announce­ment came about an hour lat­er. ​“After care­ful­ly con­sid­er­ing the facts of this case, along with the rec­om­men­da­tions from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just deci­sion is to com­mute Foster’s sen­tence from the death penal­ty to life impris­on­ment. I am con­cerned about Texas law that allows cap­i­tal mur­der defen­dants to be tried simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, and it is an issue I think the leg­is­la­ture should exam­ine,” Perry said.

Foster was sen­tenced to death under the Texas Law of Parties that per­mits a per­son involved in a crime to be held account­able for the actions com­mit­ted by some­one else. Foster was tried along with a co-defen­dant who actu­al­ly shot the vic­tim in this case. Two oth­er co-defen­dants pled guilty and received less­er sen­tences after tes­ti­fy­ing in Foster’s tri­al. In Foster’s case, Texas main­tained that he deserved the death penal­ty because he should have antic­i­pat­ed that a pas­sen­ger in his vehi­cle, Mauriceo Brown, would exit the car with a weapon and fatal­ly shoot the vic­tim, Michael LaHood. 

(Associated Press, August 30, 2007). Read Governor Perry’s press announce­ment and state­ment about the com­mu­ta­tion. See Arbitrariness and Clemency.

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