Man faces execution for being in car with killer

danarhea · Aug 30, 2007

I don't feel sorry for Kenneth Foster. He and his friends were drinking and robbing people that night. However, even the state of Texas admits he did not kill anybody, yet he is going to die this evening for a crime which somebody else did. He had let one of his passengers out to talk to a girl. The girl's white boyfriend showed up, and then there was an altercation in which the passenger shot the boyfriend. There was no conspiracy to kill the boyfriend. He was not even there when the passenger got out of the car.

Kenneth Foster was convicted on 2 charges:

1) Capital murder.

2) DWB - Driving while black (yea, I threw that one in, because it is true).

People say the days of the Ku Klux Klan are over, but when a white man is killed by a black man in Texas, there is still hell to pay. Kenneth Foster may have gotten a trial, but they might as well have just taken him out behind the courthouse and lynched him. Texas justice strikes again, and Judge Roy Bean is smiling from his grave.

Article is here.

The Mark · Aug 30, 2007

danarhea said:
I don't feel sorry for Kenneth Foster. He and his friends were drinking and robbing people that night. However, even the state of Texas admits he did not kill anybody, yet he is going to die this evening for a crime which somebody else did. He had let one of his passengers out to talk to a girl. The girl's white boyfriend showed up, and then there was an altercation in which the passenger shot the boyfriend. There was no conspiracy to kill the boyfriend. He was not even there when the passenger got out of the car.

Kenneth Foster was convicted on 2 charges:

1) Capital murder.

2) DWB - Driving while black (yea, I threw that one in, because it is true).

People say the days of the Ku Klux Klan are over, but when a white man is killed by a black man in Texas, there is still hell to pay. Kenneth Foster may have gotten a trial, but they might as well have just taken him out behind the courthouse and lynched him. Texas justice strikes again, and Judge Roy Bean is smiling from his grave.

Article is here.

From the article, it would seem a serious miscarrage of justice has be made.

Perhaps there are other circumstances that I do not know of.

What can we do about it at this late date, though (as in, the day of his execution)?

americanwoman · Aug 30, 2007

Wow, I knew Texas didn't **** around but this is absolutely crazy!

Kandahar · Aug 30, 2007

The Mark said:
From the article, it would seem a serious miscarrage of justice has be made.

Perhaps there are other circumstances that I do not know of.

What can we do about it at this late date, though (as in, the day of his execution)?

Call Rick Perry, if you know him. Other than that, there's not much that can be done. And I wouldn't hold my breath, given the glee with which Perry likes to kill people.

Cold Highway · Aug 30, 2007

Sad just sad and whats even more pathetic is that the state said he didnt commit the crime. What a load of bull.

RightinNYC · Aug 30, 2007

Two things:

1) He's not going to be executed. Perry just commuted his sentence to life.

Associated Press - August 30, 2007 1:25 PM ET

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Governor Rick Perry says he'll spare Kenneth Foster from his scheduled execution tonight and commute his sentence to life.

In doing so, Perry accepts a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which voted 6-1 today to urge the commutation.

Foster's had faced execution tonight in Huntsville for being the getaway driver in the 1996 attempted robbery and murder of Michael LaHood in San Antonio.

Perry didn't have to accept the highly unusual recommendation from the board, whose members he appoints.

But in a statement issued today, Perry said he believes "the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment."

2) In your glee to label this a lynching or race-based prosecution, your description of how the incident occurred became a bit lacking.

He had let one of his passengers out to talk to a girl. The girl's white boyfriend showed up, and then there was an altercation in which the passenger shot the boyfriend. There was no conspiracy to kill the boyfriend. He was not even there when the passenger got out of the car.

This is a ridiculous re-telling of the events.

Foster was driving around 3 of his friends all night as the four of them got drunk and high. At least one was carrying a gun. As he drove them around, they stopped two separate times to commit robberies. They then saw a girl driving a car and started following her for over 5 miles. She got scared and drove to her boyfriends house. As she got out of the car and the boyfriend came out to meet her, one of the guys who Foster was driving took the gun, got out, walked over to the boyfriend and tried to rob him, demanding his car keys and wallet. When the boyfriend didn't give them over quick enough, he shot and killed him in front of his girlfriend, ran back to the car, at which point Foster drove away.

Under Texas's law of parties, there is no difference between the perpetrator of a crime and an accomplice if the accomplice had prior knowledge that the crime would be committed.

The question was whether or not Foster could reasonably have expected his accomplice to rob/kill the guy. A jury found that he could have, and 3 different Appeals Courts upheld that conviction.

The Mark · Aug 30, 2007

RightinNYC said:
Two things:

1) He's not going to be executed. Perry just commuted his sentence to life.

Associated Press - August 30, 2007 1:25 PM ET

2) In your glee to label this a lynching or race-based prosecution, your description of how the incident occurred became a bit lacking.

This is a ridiculous re-telling of the events.

Foster was driving around 3 of his friends all night as the four of them got drunk and high. At least one was carrying a gun. As he drove them around, they stopped two separate times to commit robberies. They then saw a girl driving a car and started following her for over 5 miles. She got scared and drove to her boyfriends house. As she got out of the car and the boyfriend came out to meet her, one of the guys who Foster was driving took the gun, got out, walked over to the boyfriend and tried to rob him, demanding his car keys and wallet. When the boyfriend didn't give them over quick enough, he shot and killed him in front of his girlfriend, ran back to the car, at which point Foster drove away.

Under Texas's law of parties, there is no difference between the perpetrator of a crime and an accomplice if the accomplice had prior knowledge that the crime would be committed.

The question was whether or not Foster could reasonably have expected his accomplice to rob/kill the guy. A jury found that he could have, and 3 different Appeals Courts upheld that conviction.

Hmm, interesting.

Billo_Really · Aug 30, 2007

Texan's have some weird "Death Fetish" going on.

RightinNYC · Aug 30, 2007

Billo_Really said:
Texan's have some weird "Death Fetish" going on.

Considering they commuted his death sentence, this doesn't make much sense.

Trajan Octavian Titus · Aug 30, 2007

danarhea said:
I don't feel sorry for Kenneth Foster. He and his friends were drinking and robbing people that night. However, even the state of Texas admits he did not kill anybody, yet he is going to die this evening

As well he should he was aiding in a felony while a person was murdered by his accomplice, that makes him just as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger.

Thales · Aug 30, 2007

RightinNYC said:
Two things:

1) He's not going to be executed. Perry just commuted his sentence to life.

Associated Press - August 30, 2007 1:25 PM ET

2) In your glee to label this a lynching or race-based prosecution, your description of how the incident occurred became a bit lacking.

This is a ridiculous re-telling of the events.

Foster was driving around 3 of his friends all night as the four of them got drunk and high. At least one was carrying a gun. As he drove them around, they stopped two separate times to commit robberies. They then saw a girl driving a car and started following her for over 5 miles. She got scared and drove to her boyfriends house. As she got out of the car and the boyfriend came out to meet her, one of the guys who Foster was driving took the gun, got out, walked over to the boyfriend and tried to rob him, demanding his car keys and wallet. When the boyfriend didn't give them over quick enough, he shot and killed him in front of his girlfriend, ran back to the car, at which point Foster drove away.

Under Texas's law of parties, there is no difference between the perpetrator of a crime and an accomplice if the accomplice had prior knowledge that the crime would be committed.

The question was whether or not Foster could reasonably have expected his accomplice to rob/kill the guy. A jury found that he could have, and 3 different Appeals Courts upheld that conviction.

To me, it sounds like justice has been served. He's an accomplice to murder and drove the gettaway vehicle. While I don't think he should be killed, I think he deserves the life sentence.

I don't know the judge and I don't know what went through his head, but I'd hope that he would have gotten the same treatment if he was black, white or rainbow colored. To me it doesn't sound like anything overtly racist.

Man faces execution for being in car with killer

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Man faces execution for being in car with killer

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