Published: December 06, 2007 09:34 pm      

Panelists to discuss capital punishment

Texas author Bill Crawford, best known for his compilation book of photos and last statements from executed inmates in Texas, will host a roundtable on the 25th anniversary of the first lethal injection in the nation at 6:30 p.m. today at the Texas Prison Museum.

The discussion will bring several witnesses to executions in Texas into one room to discuss the form of capital punishment at the forefront of a U.S. Supreme Court case.

The event will feature a panel of four who, collectively, have witnessed nearly every execution in the state’s 25-year history of lethal injection.

The exhibit, dubbed “Texas Death Row: Executions in the Modern Era,” features a stark-black posterboard with mug shots of the 405 men and women executed by the state in Huntsville.

Crawford, whose book “Texas Death Row: Executions in the Modern Era,” chronicles the last statements of each, put together the exhibit and seminar along with museum director Jim Willett.

“I put together the first edition of the book in 2000 and people liked it an awful lot,” Crawford said. “It seems to me executions are such an important act for the state to carry out that it requires more attention.”

Crawford said that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, historians and the media began using his book as a reference to past executions.

“I ran into some friends working with TDCJ and noticed they were using my book as a reference,” Crawford said. “That a book is useful as a reference, that’s the greatest compliment an author can have.”

While Crawford has shown his exhibit several times, this will be the first time it is completely up to date.

In September, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case from two condemned inmates in Kentucky over the constitutionality of lethal injection — a process pioneered in Texas when it executed its first inmate on Dec. 7, 1982.

Charlie Brooks became the first man to be executed by the process in the U.S.

The timing of the discussion and the hiatus of executions was not on purpose, Crawford said, but he hopes everyone will come to the discussion more informed after the recent attention paid this topic.

“In only a few months, the Supreme Court will determine whether lethal injection violates the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment,” he said. “Though the panel is timed to coincide with the first lethal injection 25 years ago, it’s also coming at a time in which Americans are increasingly aware of the controversy surrounding this method of execution.”

Among the panelists are Michael Gracyzk, a correspondent for the Associated Press who has witnessed more than 300 executions; former TDCJ Public Information Manager Larry Fitzgerald who has witnessed more than 200 executions; and Jim Willett, who in his tenure as warden of the Huntsville “Walls” Unit proceeded over 90 executions.

The panel will also include Paula Kurland, a victim’s right advocate who was one of the first victim’s to meet face-to-face with her family member’s killer.

“Paula has been a very eloquent victim’s family members spokesperson and has a very interesting angle and perspective,” Crawford said. “I wanted to include Paul because some of the criticism we’ve had in the past is it doesn’t honor the victim’s enough. Paul has been very active and I wanted to provide that perspective to the panel.”

Crawford said the memories of those who have witnessed executions are important parts of history that might go unrecorded if it were not for these types of discussions.

“Really, there is no recording made of the execution so the only record we have are those maintained by TDCJ and people’s memories,” Crawford said. “There are some last statements that have been made in Spanish and no one there understood what Spanish was. Everyone sees an execution slightly differently and that’s reflected in their memory.”

Along with the exhibit of mug shots of executed offenders, a listing of the names of each victim Crawford compiled will be on display as well. A short video compiled from interviews with Willett and other witnesses will be displayed.

The latest version of the book that is the basis for the exhibit will be released by Plume Press in January 2008, the first time the book has been up to date at its release.

The panel will be recorded, and Crawford plans a public release of the findings upon conclusion of the panel.