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Jeffery Eugene
TUCKER
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
July 11,
1988
Date of arrest:
3 days after
Date of birth: January 1,
1960
Victim profile: Wilton B. Humphreys
(male, 65)
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Parker County, Texas, USA
Status:
Executed
by lethal injection in Texas on November 14,
2001
Summary:
In July 1988, Tucker, then 28, answered a newspaper ad for a pickup
truck and travel trailer for sale. Using the alias J.D. Travis,
Tucker went to see the owner of the vehicle, Wilton B. Humphreys,
65, and his wife, Peggy.
After test driving the vehicle, Tucker told Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys
he would buy the pickup and trailer and pay the $18,000 asking price
in cash.
Mr. Humphreys said he would accompany Tucker to the bank so he could
deposit the money once the paperwork was completed.
Once the two men were in the truck alone, Tucker pulled a pistol
from a paper sack he had been carrying and told Humphreys he was
stealing the truck and trailer. A struggle ensued, and Tucker shot
Humphreys three times in the chest and face.
He then shoved him out
of the truck and ran over his legs while driving off. Humphreys'
body was found by a passing motorist later that day.
Tucker was arrested in New Mexico three days later, after he robbed
a service station of $800. He confessed the Humphreys murder to
police. He said that he wanted the truck and travel trailer to use
to roam the country while committing robberies.
Prior to the capital murder of Humphreys and the two armed robberies
that followed, Tucker had been convicted of nine felony offenses and
had been to the penitentiary three times.
Texas Attorney General
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Media Advisory -
Jeffery Tucker Scheduled to be Executed.
AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn
offers the following information on Jeffery Tucker, who is scheduled
to be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001:
FACTS OF THE CRIME
On the afternoon of July 11, 1988, a passing
motorist found the body of Wilton Benthel Humphreys lying on a rural
road in Parker County about 20 miles outside of Granbury, Texas.
Humphreys had been shot twice in the chest and once in the face, had
blood coming from his mouth and back of his head, had broken legs,
and had tire marks on his pants.
Humphreys' driver's license found
in his pants pocket led investigators to his home where his wife
explained that her husband had left earlier that day with a man,
later identified as Tucker, to finalize the title transfer of a
truck and travel trailer they had advertised for sale in the Fort
Worth Star Telegram.
Tucker was arrested three days later in New
Mexico driving the stolen truck in the course of a high-speed chase
resulting from an armed robbery of a gas station.
After Tucker's
arrest, he confessed in detail to Humphreys' murder and to other
crimes committed during the four-day crime spree culminating in his
arrest, including an armed robbery of an Arlington motel clerk the
day after Humphreys' murder.
The day before Humphreys' murder, Tucker, who had
recently been released from prison, searched the classified
advertisements for a vehicle suitable for travel and camping where
Tucker could inexpensively and unnoticeably travel cross-country in
a nationwide robbery spree.
Tucker spotted the Humphreys' ad in the
newspaper, and, using an assumed name, called to arrange a test
drive. Then, Tucker stole two checks from his brother's checkbook
and wrote one out for $423, which he then cashed at his brother's
bank.
Next, in violation of his parole, Tucker used the money to buy
a gun at a pawn shop, which he used in the murder of Humphreys and
in two armed-robberies following the murder.
Tucker's confession revealed the following
details: The Humphreys', who were selling the truck and trailer
because they had purchased a large RV to travel in together, met
with Tucker at their home.
Tucker went on a test drive with
Humphreys and later visited with Mrs. Humphreys in her living room
while Humphreys left to get some attachments for the trailer.
Then,
after making a pretextual phone call, Tucker and Humphreys left
together in the truck to go to the bank in Granbury to transfer the
paperwork and finalize the sale. Once the two men were in the truck
alone, Tucker pulled out the gun from a paper sack he had been
carrying and forced Humphreys to drive out of town.
About 20 miles
outside of town, Tucker forced Humphreys to pull onto a road off the
main highway. Tucker instructed Humphreys to stop and get out of the
truck, allegedly so Tucker could tie him up on a fence post.
Tucker
alleges that while both he and Humphreys were out of the truck,
Humphreys tried to get back into the truck and lock Tucker out.
Tucker's confession states that a struggle then ensued that ended up
with Tucker shooting Humphreys two times.
The autopsy revealed that
Humphreys had been shot twice in the chest and once in the face.
After Tucker shot Humphreys, Tucker shoved him out of the truck and
drove off, at which time the rear wheels of the truck and the wheels
on the left hand side of the trailer ran over Humphreys' legs.
Procedural History
Tucker was indicted on October 13, 1988, for the
capital offense of murdering Wilton Benthel Humphreys in the course
of committing and attempting to commit robbery.
On Tucker's plea of
not guilty, he was tried and convicted of capital murder. A
punishment hearing followed, and based on the jury's answers to the
special issues, the trial court assessed a punishment of death in
accordance with state law.
Tucker's appeal was automatic to the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the conviction and
sentence in an unpublished opinion dated June 9, 1993. Tucker then
filed a petition for writ of certiorari, which the Supreme Court
denied on March 28, 1994.
Because Texas law at the time did not provide
indigent defense for state habeas appeals, Tucker filed an initial
application in federal district court without going through the
state habeas appeal process.
The federal district court limited
Tucker's federal claims to those that he had raised on his state
direct appeal. He appealed this ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals. The Fifth Circuit dismissed Tucker's federal petition
without prejudice to permit Tucker to go back to state court and
file a state habeas appeal in light of a then newly-enacted state
law that provided for the appointment of counsel to indigent
applicants.
Through court-appointed state habeas counsel, Tucker
filed his original application for writ of habeas corpus in the
state trial court on April 11, 1997, followed by a supplemental
application. The state trial court issued findings of fact and
conclusions of law recommending that relief be denied.
Based on the trial court's recommendation, the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief in an October 21,
1998, unpublished order.
Tucker initiated his federal habeas proceedings
on November 2, 1998, by filing a preliminary petition for writ of
habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.
On September 9, 1999, the
court denied Tucker's request for federal habeas relief. The court
next denied Tucker's motion to alter or amend the judgment, but
granted Tucker's application for a certificate of appealability.
Appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
followed. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment
denying Tucker habeas relief. Tucker's petition for rehearing was
denied on March 28, 2001.
Finally, on June 25, 2001, Tucker filed a
petition for certiorari review in the Supreme Court, which denied
both the writ of certiori and the stay.
By order dated July 2, 2001,
the 43rd Judicial District Court of Parker County, Texas, scheduled
Tucker's execution for September 11, 2001. Tucker's application for
stay of execution in the Supreme Court is also pending.
Criminal History
Tucker's documented criminal history reflects a
decade-long pattern of offenses, increasing in severity and
indicating an unwillingness to conform to society's laws. Prior to
the capital murder of Humphreys and the two armed robberies that
followed,
Tucker had been convicted of nine felony offenses and had
been to the penitentiary three times.
In 1979, Tucker was convicted of two counts of
passing a forged check that, after parole violations, resulted in
two concurrent three-year terms of incarceration.
In 1980, Tucker
was convicted of third-degree felony theft and sentenced to three
years in prison. Also in 1980, Tucker was found guilty of possession
of marijuana and was sentenced to four years incarceration in the
Texas Department of Corrections.
Tucker's prison records reflect
that he was found guilty of several disciplinary offenses, including
soliciting the assistance of an inmate to violate prison rules and
failing to obey orders.
In 1984, Tucker was convicted of two counts of
forgery by the making of a check and was sentenced to concurrent six
year terms of imprisonment.
On November 30, 1984, Tucker was convicted of
third degree felony theft and was sentenced to six years
incarceration.
Tucker's prison records revealed that during this
term of incarceration he was found guilty of numerous disciplinary
offenses, including damaging property, possession of contraband,
sexual misconduct, destruction of property, possession of a weapon,
refusing to obey orders, fighting without a weapon, failure to work,
creating a disturbance, and stabbing an inmate.
The stabbing
incident involved Tucker's attack on his cellmate by stabbing him in
the head with a homemade knife made of a metal rod and a toothbrush.
Testimony at Tucker's capital murder trial revealed that the
cellmate was found shoved under the bunk in the cell with a piece of
a toothbrush handle attached to a metal rod protruding from his
temple, and another rod that was stuck in his throat.
A search of
the cell revealed another weapon fashioned from a sharpened piece of
a red drinking glass found underneath Tucker's mattress. Tucker
pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received a five-year
sentence.
Jeffery Eugene Tucker
Txexecutions.org
Jeffery Eugene Tucker, 41, was executed by lethal
injection on 14 November in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and
murder of a man whose classified ad he answered.
In July 1988, Tucker, then 28, answered a
newspaper ad for a pickup truck and travel trailer for sale. Using
the alias J.D. Travis, Tucker went to see the owner of the vehicle,
Wilton B. Humphreys, 65, and his wife, Peggy.
After test driving the vehicle, Tucker told Mr.
and Mrs. Humphreys he would buy the pickup and trailer and pay the
$18,000 asking price in cash. Mr. Humphreys said he would accompany
Tucker to the bank so he could deposit the money once the paperwork
was completed.
Once the two men were in the truck alone, Tucker
pulled a pistol from a paper sack he had been carrying and told
Humphreys he was stealing the truck and trailer. They turned onto a
rural road.
Tucker told Humphreys to get out, so he could tie him to
a fence post. While both men were out of the truck, Humphreys tried
to get back in and lock Tucker out.
A struggle ensued, and Tucker
shot Humphreys three times in the chest and face. He then shoved him
out of the truck and ran over his legs while driving off. Humphreys'
body was found by a passing motorist later that day.
Tucker was
arrested in New Mexico three days later, after he robbed a service
station of $800. He confessed the Humphreys murder to police. He
also confessed other crimes committed over a four-day span,
including an armed robbery of a motel clerk the day after Humphreys'
murder. He said that he wanted the truck and travel trailer to use
to roam the country while committing robberies.
Tucker had been in prison three times over the
previous eight years for forgery, possession of marijuana, and
felony theft. He served 22 months of a 4-year sentence from 1980-82,
12 months of a 4-year sentence from 1982-83, and 3½ years of a 7-year
sentence from 1984-88.
During this prison term, Tucker stabbed his
cellmate in the head with a homemade weapon and received another
five-year sentence for aggravated assault. He was paroled in June
1988, one month before murdering Wilton Humphreys. (At the time,
parole was easily obtained in Texas because of strict prison
population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.)
A jury convicted Tucker of capital murder and sentenced him to death.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and
sentence in June 1993. All of his subsequent appeals in state and
federal courts were denied.
In a death row interview, Tucker said that he
only meant to steal the truck and trailer to support his expensive
cocaine and heroin habit. "I'm sorry it happened," he said. "I've
had to wake up every day for the last 13 years and look at myself in
the mirror and know that I took a man's life."
He accepted full
responsibility for the crime and he also accepted his punishment. "I
am guilty of this crime," he said in a death-row interview. "If my
death will give [Humphreys' family] peace, then I will give them
that peace."
However, he also said that his life of crime and
Humprhey's murder might have been avoided if the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice had attempted to get him off of drugs. "I wish they
would have rehabilitated me. If they'd put me in a drug rehab and
counseling the first time I was in, it would have been over and that
would have been it."
Tucker was scheduled to be executed on 11
September 2001, the day that terrorists destroyed the World Trade
Center in New York City and caused other destruction in Washington,
D.C. and southern Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Supreme Court had already
denied Tucker's appeal, and Tucker himself had expressed a wish to
drop his final appeals. Nevertheless, his lawyers filed another
appeal a few days before his execution date.
Governor Rick Perry
issued an emergency 30-day stay, citing the terrorist acts and the
fact that the courts were closed, preventing the appeal filed by
Tucker's lawyers from being heard.
This was the first time Governor
Perry used his power to grant an emergency stay of execution since
he took office in January 2001. Tucker's final appeal was denied by
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on 10 October, and his execution
was then rescheduled for 14 November. At Tucker's insistence, his
lawyers filed no further appeals.
At his execution, Tucker reiterated his feelings
of apology and acceptance. "To the Humphreys family, I am sorry for
the pain and suffering I caused them," he said, looking at Peggy
Humphreys. "It was just a simple accident, and if my death can bring
you peace and solace, then I bring that to you. I know that I leave
this world for the crime I committed."
He then thanked his family,
attorneys, and spiritual advisor and recited the Lord's Prayer.
After he said "Amen", the lethal injection was administered. Tucker
was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m.
ProDeathPenalty.com
On the afternoon of July 11, 1988, a passing
motorist found the body of Wilton Benthel Humphreys, 65, lying on a
rural road in Parker County about 20 miles outside of Granbury,
Texas.
Wilton had been shot twice in the chest and once
in the face, had blood coming from his mouth and back of his head,
had broken legs, and had tire marks on his pants.
Wilton's driver's license found in his pants
pocket led investigators to his home where his wife explained that
her husband had left earlier that day with a man, later identified
as Jeffery Tucker, to finalize the title transfer of a truck and
travel trailer they had advertised for sale in the Fort Worth Star
Telegram.
Tucker was arrested three days later in New
Mexico driving the stolen truck in the course of a high-speed chase
resulting from an armed robbery of a gas station of $800.
After Tucker's arrest, he confessed in detail to
Wilton's murder and to other crimes committed during the four-day
crime spree culminating in his arrest, including an armed robbery of
an Arlington motel clerk the day after Wilton's murder.
The day
before Wilton's murder, Tucker, who had recently been released from
prison, searched the classified advertisements for a vehicle
suitable for travel and camping where Tucker could inexpensively and
unnoticeably travel cross-country in a nationwide robbery spree.
Tucker spotted the Wilton's ad in the newspaper, and, using an
assumed name, called to arrange a test drive. Then, Tucker stole two
checks from his brother's checkbook and wrote one out for $ 423,
which he then cashed at his brother's bank.
Next, in violation of
his parole, Tucker used the money to buy a gun at a pawn shop, which
he used in the murder of Wilton and in two armed-robberies following
the murder.
Tucker's confession revealed the following
details: The Humphreys, who were selling the truck and trailer
because they had purchased a large RV to travel in together, met
with Tucker at their home.
Tucker went on a test drive with Wilton
and later visited with Mrs. Humphreys in her living room while
Wilton left to get some attachments for the trailer.
Then, after
making a fake phone call, Tucker left with Wilton in the truck to go
to the bank in Granbury to transfer the paperwork and finalize the
sale for $18,000. Once the two men were in the truck alone, Tucker
pulled out the gun from a paper sack he had been carrying and forced
Wilton to drive out of town. About 20 miles outside of town, Tucker
forced Wilton to pull onto a road off the main highway.
Tucker
instructed Wilton to stop and get out of the truck, allegedly so
Tucker could tie him up on a fence post. Tucker alleges that while
both he and Wilton were out of the truck, Wilton tried to get back
into the truck and lock Tucker out. Tucker's confession states that
a struggle then ensued that ended up with Tucker shooting Wilton.
The autopsy revealed that Wilton had been shot twice in the chest
and once in the face. After Tucker shot Wilton, Tucker shoved him
out of the truck and drove off, at which time the rear wheels of the
truck and the wheels on the left hand side of the trailer ran over
Wilton's legs.
Tucker's documented criminal history reflects a
decade-long pattern of offenses, increasing in severity and
indicating an unwillingness to conform to society's laws. Prior to
the capital murder of Wilton and the two armed robberies that
followed, Tucker had been convicted of nine felony offenses and had
been to the penitentiary three times.
In 1979, Tucker was convicted of two counts of
passing a forged check that, after parole violations, resulted in
two concurrent three-year terms of incarceration.
In 1980, Tucker was convicted of third-degree
felony theft and sentenced to three years in prison.
Also in 1980, Tucker was found guilty of
possession of marijuana and was sentenced to four years
incarceration in the Texas Department of Corrections. Tucker's
prison records reflect that he was found guilty of several
disciplinary offenses, including soliciting the assistance of an
inmate to violate prison rules and failing to obey orders.
In 1984, Tucker was convicted of two counts of
forgery by the making of a check and was sentenced to concurrent six
year terms of imprisonment.
On November 30, 1984, Tucker was convicted of
third degree felony theft and was sentenced to six years
incarceration.
Tucker's prison records revealed that during this
term of incarceration he was found guilty of numerous disciplinary
offenses, including damaging property, possession of contraband,
sexual misconduct, destruction of property, possession of a weapon,
refusing to obey orders, fighting without a weapon, failure to work,
creating a disturbance, and stabbing an inmate.
The stabbing incident involved Tucker's attack on
his cellmate by stabbing him in the head with a homemade knife made
of a metal rod and a toothbrush.
Testimony at Tucker's capital
murder trial revealed that the cellmate was found shoved under the
bunk in the cell with a piece of a toothbrush handle attached to a
metal rod protruding from his temple, and another rod that was stuck
in his throat.
A search of the cell revealed another weapon
fashioned from a sharpened piece of a red drinking glass found
underneath Tucker's mattress. Tucker pleaded guilty to aggravated
assault and received a five-year sentence.
New Hampshire Coalition Against
the Death Penalty
Texas Death Row Inmate Jeffery Tucker Executed
Associated
Press
HUNTSVILLE - Spared two months ago on the day
when terrorist attacks disrupted the federal government, Jeffery
Tucker was executed tonight for fatally shooting a Hood County man
more than 13 years ago. "I'd like to tell the Humphreys family that
I'm sorry," he said as he looked at Wilton Humphreys' widow, Peggy,
from the gurney in the death chamber.
"It was just a simple accident
and if my death will give you any solace, I gladly give that to you."
He told his attorneys he knew they were upset him for stopping his
appeals. "I know you wanted to continue my appeal, but you know my
reasons," he said. "Have a happy heart knowing I leave this world in
peace." Tucker then began reciting the Lord's Prayer as his eyes
shut.
When Tucker finished the prayer, Humphreys' son,
Jon Brad Humphreys, said "Amen" with him. Humphreys' family
comforted each other following Tucker's death. Tucker took two deep
breaths. His eyes, behind thick-rimmed black glasses, were shut. He
made a slight gurgling sound as the drugs took effect. He was
pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m.. 11 minutes after the lethal injection
began.
Government offices, including the federal courts,
were shut in the immediate response to the attacks on New York and
Washington Sept. 11, the same day Tucker had been scheduled for
lethal injection. Gov. Rick Perry gave Tucker a 30-day reprieve,
fearing the courts would not be able to respond that day to any
11th-hour plea from attorneys for the condemned man. The reprieve
was not welcomed by the inmate.
"He sent us a letter saying he just wanted it go
through," Donald Schnebly, the Parker County district attorney, said
Wednesday. "He just wants the sentence carried out." When the
reprieve expired, the new execution date was set. "Death to me would
be relief," said Tucker, who declined interviews with reporters
since the Sept. 11 reprieve. "The hardest thing for me is to look in
a mirror for 13 years and know I took a life. "The memory haunts me.
I say put me on the gurney and maybe the pain will stop."
Tucker was condemned for the death of Humphreys,
65, of Granbury, who was shot July 11, 1988. Tucker had responded to
a newspaper ad Humphreys placed to sell his truck and the pair had
gone out on a test drive.
Tucker was the 15th condemned prisoner to be
executed this year in Texas and the first of two this week. A Dallas
man convicted of killing a restaurant manager during a robbery was
set to die Thursday evening.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier refused to halt
Tucker's punishment and no new appeals were filed since a September
request was rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. When
arrested for the slaying, Tucker already had been in and out of
Texas prisons three times, with convictions including drug
possession, check forgery, theft and assault from at least five
counties: Tarrant, Collin, Harris, Palo Pinto and Anderson.
While in prison in 1984, he pleaded guilty to
stabbing a cellmate, leaving a sharpened toothbrush stuck in
prisoner's head and a metal rod thrust in his throat, then shoving
the man under his bed. Less than four years later, the former truck
driver from Tarrant County was paroled. A month later, he was
arrested for the Humphreys killing. "I think he was truly just a
mean person, " Schnebly said. "Obviously, he had not been
rehabilitated."
When he was pulled over by state police in New
Mexico following a chase near Santa Rosa, N.M., Tucker was driving
Humphreys' truck and also was wanted for robbing a service station
three days earlier. He gave authorities a confession. Humphreys was
shot three times -- twice in the chest, once in the face -- then was
run over with his own truck. "He lunged at me," the convict said. "I
had the gun in my hand. It went off."
Testimony from a medical examiner at his trial
showed Humphreys was hit in the back of the head before the fatal
shots were fired. Prosecutors also insisted the killing was planned
since Tucker stole checks to buy the gun from a pawn shop and
falsified documents to obtain the weapon. "I'm guilty," he said from
death row. "I've never denied my guilt."
National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty
Jeffrey Tucker - Scheduled Execution Date and
Time: 11/14/01, 7:00pm EST.
Jeffery Tucker, 41, is scheduled to be executed
on November 14 in Huntsville, Texas. Texas has accelerated its rate
of killing in recent months, having four scheduled executions in
August and two more in September.
Mr. Tucker was convicted in
October, 1989 for the murder of Wilton Humphries. After being denied
state habeas relief in 1997, he first petitioned for federal relief
in 1998. His final appeals were denied this past February, when
several of his compelling claims were dismissively shelved by the
Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Tucker feels that his counsel did not
adequately represent him during the punishment phase of his trial,
failing to present significant mitigating evidence. Strickland v.
Washington established in 1984 that an appellant must not only
demonstrate the ineffectiveness of counsel, but also prove that the
jury’s decision would have been different had counsel presented this
additional evidence.
The court denied relief, asserting that this
additional evidence “would have had little mitigating effect”. The
evidence in question speaks to Jeffery Tucker’s long history of
physical and sexual abuse. It is perhaps rash to assume that this
evidence would have no affect on a jury’s decision to impose the
death penalty.
Mr. Tucker asserts that had counsel conducted a more
thorough investigation into his personal background they also would
have discovered his affliction with organic brain impairment and his
strong addiction to cocaine.
Mr. Tucker’s early years were both tumultuous and
bleak. His parents were forced to marry when his mother realized she
was pregnant at age sixteen. They subsequently divorced, remarried,
and divorced again.
Jeffery Tucker’s birth was the result of an
unwanted pregnancy; his aunt testified that Tucker’s mother admitted
that “she didn’t love him, never wanted him.” Tucker’s mother sent
Jeffery to a state home when he was a child and to another
residential program in his adolescence.
When released, Tucker contacted the state
authorities and requested that he be removed from the custody of his
mother. While still a teenager, Jeffery responded well to the
psychiatric medication prescribed by his therapist. His mother never
refilled his prescription, leaving his condition to worsen.
Several of Jeffery’s relatives described him as “insecure”,
“love-starved” and “very sick” due to such a miserable upbringing.
The State claims that most of this evidence is irrelevant to Mr.
Tucker’s crime and would fail to exert any influence over a jury
deciding his ultimate fate.
The state claimed that Tucker was unable to show
that “if the newly proffered evidence had been presented and
explained by counsel, there is a reasonable probability that the
result of the sentencing phase would have been different.”
As November 14 quickly approaches, please
petition on Mr. Tucker’s behalf as Texas continues to kill brutally
and excessively. If you live in Texas, it is especially important to
let your government know that killing in your name is unacceptable.
American Civil Liberties Union
September 7, 2001
The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of the State of Texas
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Re: Jeffrey Eugene Tucker
Dear Governor Perry:
Jeffrey Tucker is scheduled to be executed on
September 11, 2001. On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union,
we urge you to commute Mr. Tucker's sentence of death to life
imprisonment. A stunning combination of factors in this case merits
this extraordinary relief.
Mr. Tucker came into the world in the most
unfortunate of circumstances, which never improved throughout his
life. A frail child at birth, by the age of five, he had sustained a
number of serious head injuries and had been molested.
By the age of 8, he had been physically abused by
a number of adults and older children, had suffered further head
injuries, had been raped, and had been introduced to marijuana.
By the time Jeff Tucker was 11, a State psychiatrist had concluded that
Jeff Tucker would never be able to remain mentally stable, unless he
stayed on anti-psychotic medication for the rest of his life.
Mr.
Tucker's mother, in whose custody he was at the time, chronically
failed to ensure that her son take the medications prescribed. By
the time of the crime, Mr. Tucker had become a mentally ill man
addicted to drugs in an effort to dull the numerous traumas of his
life.
The State has ample records both of the diagnoses
issued to the young Jeff Tucker and the failure of his mother to
administer the medications. The State's attorney, however, failed to
turn these records to Mr. Tucker's trial attorney. As a result, the
history of Mr. Tucker's mental illness was not considered at the
sentencing phase of his trial.
The ACLU opposes capital punishment in all cases
as a barbarous anachronism and in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
In Mr. Tucker's case, the extraordinary relief of clemency is
particularly warranted, in mercy and as an act of grace, because Mr.
Tucker's guilt should be viewed through the prism of his mental
illness, of which the jury that sentenced him never had a chance to
learn.
Sincerely,
Diann Rust-Tierney
ACLU Capital Punishment Project
William Harrell
ACLU of Texas
Vladimir Kouznetsov
Pro Bono Counsel
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
1201 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004