I am a very strong supporter of the death penalty because I am absolutely convinced that capital punishment is a deterrent to premeditated murder. I know it is quite possible that a few innocent people may have been executed but that is no reason to abolish the death penalty. It goes without saying that I certainly do not want to see any innocent person executed.
I have often railed against the endless appeals for death row inmates because almost all of them have involved cold blooded killers where the evidence was overwhelming that they committed the murders for which they were condemned. However, in the case of Anthony Graves, I must admit that were it not for the numerous appeals in his behalf, an innocent man could have been put to death.
Anthony Graves, the victim of a malicious prosecutor, was freed Wednesday after serving 18 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. Kelly Siegler, a prominent former hard-nosed prosecutor, has blasted the ex-DA who prosecuted Graves for having committed the ‘worst’ case of prosecutorial misconduct she had ever seen.
Charles Sebesta, the DA in the Graves case, makes Mike Nifong, the disbarred malicious rogue prosecutor in the Duke rape case, look like Mother Teresa. There is only way justice can be served in this case and that is for Sebesta to be disbarred and made to serve 18 years on death row. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen. At the very least though, Sebesta should be sued by the state to reimburse it for the amount of compensation Graves will receive.
TEAM OVERTURNING GRAVES CASE BLASTS EX-DA
His handling of 1994 capital murder trial is labeled ‘travesty’
By Brian Rogers
Houston Chronicle
October 28, 2010
BRENHAM — A day after prosecutors dismissed the capital murder charges that sent Anthony Graves to death row in 1994, they accused the district attorney who convicted him of prosecutorial misconduct.
"Charles Sebesta handled this case in a way that could best be described as a criminal justice system’s nightmare," Kelly Siegler declared. "It’s a travesty, what happened in Anthony Graves’ trial."
Graves, now 45, was released from jail Wednesday after spending 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, according to Bill Parham, the current DA for Washington and Burleson counties.
Parham, Siegler and two investigators called a Thursday news conference at which they accused the former district attorney of hiding evidence and threatening witnesses.
Graves was convicted of capital murder in the 1992 deaths of a Somerville family: Bobbie Davis, 45, her 16-year-old daughter, and Davis’ four grandchildren, ages 4 to 9.
Sebesta on Thursday said the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct were "really stretching" and maintained that Graves is guilty. "Go back and look at the evidence," Sebesta said. "He was convicted by a jury."
Siegler said Sebesta indicted a woman without any evidence, fabricated evidence, manipulated witnesses and took advantage of victims. She said it "absolutely" was prosecutorial misconduct.
"The worst I’ve ever seen," Siegler said.
Asked if Sebesta should face criminal prosecution for his actions, Siegler said, "Well, the statute of limitations has run on all that." She also said Parham’s office has not discussed whether a complaint to the State Bar of Texas is appropriate.
Sebesta flatly denied any wrongdoing and responded to each allegation leveled at him by Siegler and Parham.
Graves was convicted of assisting Robert Earl Carter in the slayings, then helping set the family’s home on fire.
Carter was executed in 2000. Two weeks before his death, he provided a sworn statement saying that his naming of Graves as an accomplice was a lie.
He also said it minutes before his death sentence was carried out: "Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it. … I lied on him in court."
The most potentially damning allegation against Sebesta was that he threatened to pursue a conviction against Robert Carter’s wife if he did not testify against Graves, Siegler said.
Sebesta denied that he had a conversation with Carter like that. "We didn’t do that," he said.
KILLER CHANGED HIS STORY
Carter first named Graves as an accomplice days after the murders because he knew Graves was not there and thought he could easily provide an alibi for himself, Siegler said.
Two days later Carter recanted and said Graves was not involved, but months after that he told jurors in Graves’ trial that the two had worked together.
Siegler also said Sebesta threatened the woman with whom Graves was asleep with when the murder occurred by saying in open court that she was a suspect in the slayings.
Sebesta said it was hardly a threat when he alerted the court that she should be advised of her rights to not incriminate herself because she was a suspect.
Siegler said Sebesta indicted Carter’s wife, Theresa, without any evidence.
Sebesta said a grand jury returned the indictment after hearing evidence that included a burn on Theresa Carter’s shoulder. Robert Carter also had burns, which first led police to suspect him because the house had been torched.
Sebesta said he has never believed Carter’s recantations, which began two days after he first gave it to police. "I would not have tried him if I didn’t believe he was guilty," the former prosecutor insisted.
Parham said the case remains open because he believes there was a second man involved in the murder.
But, he said, Graves "unequivocally was not one of them."
Siegler noted that she and Parham could have dismissed the charges and said there simply was not enough evidence to convict again.
But it was important that the community and the victims’ family know that Graves did not "get away with murder," Siegler said.
"He’s an innocent man," she said.
Sebesta retired 12 years ago. In 2009, he took out ads in two Burleson County newspapers reiterating that he believed Graves was a killer, to dispute critical news media reports.
BAR COMPLAINT DISMISSED
In 2007, Houston attorney Robert Bennett filed a bar complaint saying Sebesta and two assistant district attorneys acted unethically in the prosecution.
The State Bar dismissed the complaint, and officials said Sebesta has no disciplinary record.
In 2006, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Graves’ conviction after ruling that prosecutors elicited false statements from two witnesses and withheld two statements that could have changed the outcome.
Since that ruling there were at least two special prosecutors before the case was handed to Parham, who hired Siegler, a former Harris County assistant district attorney, as a special prosecutor.
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