63 Days to live

by Steven Woods on Saturday, July 16, 2011

 

I’m terribly troubled by the media and our society.  Recently, we got this wonderful spectacle of this woman, Casey Anthony, who “allegedly” killed her little girl. We’ve got this fantastic look at the United States justice system at work. For weeks, we were able to peer behind the curtain. The result here, apparent outrage.  The verdict, NOT GUILTY.   
"What?  How could this happen?  INJUSTICE!!  They got it wrong!  They let her get away with murder!" (..Or did they?)

Of course, the death of a 2 year old girl is tragic.  More than tragic.  If she really was murdered, it’s an atrocity!  That said, the justice system worked here. Here’s how it is:
The DA has to prove every element of an offense, which they failed to do.  Period.
They relied on emotion, illusions and non-science.  They couldn’t even prove if it was murder, let alone who did it. I agree: Casey’s actions were questionable and downright hideous, but how many of you have ever gone through the trauma of losing a 2 year old daughter? 

There are 2 possible scenarios that would have lead to this verdict:  Either the state didn’t do their job, or they couldn’t do their job. A majority of Americans are disgruntled about this injustice. Do you want to know what the real injustice is?  Casey will make a huge profit off this, and in that, you’re complicit.
YOU are the one’s saying her name, letting her shine in the media.
YOU are helping her profit from the death of a child.

Don’t be mad at her…..be mad at yourselves.  Then if you don’t think it works, be mad at the system. Be mad at the media, who’ve sensationalized this whole ordeal! Do you know how many MILLIONS of dollars those scavengers have made off of this disaster?  And do you know who’s paying them? YOU are.

What deeply bothers me about this whole situation is how everyone can be so outraged, can spend all their energy screaming about how 'this system doesn’t work', but turns a blind eye when the STATE is doing it. The only way these people care is when you rub their noses in it, and even then, it’s just a another commercial. If you actually care about justice being brought forth, take initiative and DO something about it for a change.

My friend here is innocent- he can prove it with expert scientific evidence yet he has an execution date for August 18... because the courts don’t care.
I’m innocent- the real killer has confessed, but I have an execution date for September 13th..  because, again, the courts don’t care.
We don’t see you raising a fuss about any injustice here, and it's genuinely disturbing. (The few you who are actually helping, please disregard).

“Two thirds of Americans are outraged with Casey Anthony verdict". Yeah, nice. Where are the two thirds of Americans who are outraged that innocent people are going to be put to death?

You know what I think?  Had I been tried through the media, like OJ or Casey, or anyone who gets the coverage in the courtrooms, I wouldn’t have never ended up in here.  Because if there was a camera crew on the DA, he wouldn’t have been able to play the lies he played.  He would have had to play it straight.  And my own counsel?  I’m sure they would have about ten times more competent than they had been.
 I feel like I’m talking out of two sides of my mouth here: 'the system works; it doesn’t work. Media scavengers are evil; I could have used the attention.'
It all goes to prove that there is an undeniable amount arbitrariness in the way America handles legal cases- and it just isn't right.

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78 Days to Live: Death 101

I was just talking to another inmate here. He just got an execution date. This is the third execution date he has gotten so far this year. This September is going to be really busy. 4 of us will be executed in a matter of 8 days. He will be there in September for his third time around. I, for my first. I started asking him to tell me what he'd gone through previously. I was wondering what it was like, getting to the Walls Unit, being so close to death.
This inmate was telling me about what stuck with him the most was how fast the time went. I was trying to get as much information from him as I could, to sort of prepare myself. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to be prepared. Just hearing about it, I  could feel panic coursing through me.
Here's what I learned:
At 1:30pm or so, you will be delivered to the Walls Unit. Upon arrival, they take you out of the van and take all of your chains and handcuffs off, but only after you tell them that you're not going to cause them any problems. So after all these years you'll finally be able to walk without your hands cuffed behind your back. Imagine that. The warden over there gives a rundown about how the remaining 4.5 hours of your life will look like.
You will go to a cell about 10 feet from the execution chamber. The door is like one of those bulkhead doors on a ship. There is a chaplain over there, Chaplain Collier, who is supposed to cater to your needs. You will get access to a telephone until around 3.
At 3, if you have a spiritual adviser, they'll go in an adjacent cell and they'll talk to you. If you choose to opt out of the spiritual adviser ordeal, you can stay on the phone instead. I imagine I'll probably want to stay on the phone.
At 4, they bring your final meal. It's nothing special, just what's in the kitchen commissary. I'll probably forgo the last meal. You can stay on the phone until 5pm and then it's prep time.
At 5, you sit in a room and prepare to die. You sit, you wait, you try not to hope, and you finally come to terms with what is about to happen to you- you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. Once they find out that your last minute appeals have been denied, they ask if you're going to walk. If not, what they'll do is pick you up, strap you to a board and carry you to the gurney. You will be secured by straps and will have a shunt in your vein hooked up to a saline solution IV.
At 6, Warden Jones will ask you about your last words. He says that if you become vulgar or spew profanities, he will push the button, this will signal to the executioner that he should start the execution. The first drug, he says, will paralyze me. He says he'll give the drug about 5 minutes to take hold. Then, the other drugs flow. The two others? They'll cause your lungs to collapse and your heart to explode. It will take about 9 minutes to die.
Please excuse me for a second while I vomit.
Once you're dead, your family will have a chance after 10 or so years, to finally hold you. You will never be able to feel it. I am not ready for this, but it will be happening in 78 days. It's maddening to be this powerless, unable to say anything or do anything about it. The utter feeling of helplessness we must cope with, silently... This is probably the worst part about these past 10 years spent in Polunsky.

Steven Woods is Scheduled to Die September 13 2011.

I was wrongfully convicted by the state of Texas for capital murder in 2002. Three months after I was convicted, the real murderer, Marcus Rhodes stood up in court and testified that he was the one who knowingly and intentionally killed both victims. He never once mentioned me. There is no physical evidence connecting me to the crime scene. Marcus' fingerprints were all over the murder weapons. Mine were not. The victims' backpacks were in Marcus' car, which was littered with bullet casings. Most, if not ALL of what the prosecution said about me was false. My family will be happy to confirm this. It makes no difference though. I am here to take blame for this crime, so that a rich, well-connected family would not have to deal with negative media and the burdens that come with death row. How convenient. Well, not really. Not for my family. The next time my mom will get to hug me or even hold my hand will be this September, after I'm dead. Funny how at some point I believed I was going to have a future. I somehow convinced myself that everyone would know that something just isn't right, and they'd act on it. So much for that.

I'm not sure when I lost all hope. Not that it matters. Either way, all I can ever do is sit around in confinement 23 hours a day, waiting to die, expecting it. Imagine waking up every day in a hot humid cell, knowing that you didn't do anything to find yourself there. Knowing that so many people know that they got the wrong person, but no one can be bothered to waste their time fighting for you. Knowing that you will be executed on September 13 2011, at the age of 31. It will be a Tuesday. At around 5:45 a man in a suit will come to get me. He'll have 6-8 large men with him in case I'm not willing to cooperate. We'll go about fifteen feet to another room. This one's centerpiece will be a kind of table, it will be the same table all my friends lied down on before they died. Each side of the table will have boards and heavy duty straps. They'll get me on this table and strap me in, and a man who isn't a doctor, but will be wearing a doctor's smock, will put a shunt in my vein. I'll be completely restrained, barely able to even move my head. Facing the table, there will be windows. The curtains will be pushed aside, so that some spectators can look at me die. On one side people are hoping for my painful death, the other completely devastated by what's about to happen. I will have a moment to make a kind of statement, never to talk again.

Time's up. Someone behind a window will push a button and poison will flow from a hose into the shunt in my vein; First an anesthetic, second something to shut my lungs down and third a sedative and enough barbiturates to explode my heart. I will suffer both cardiac arrest and suffocation. It just does not seem right. I've seen my friends go through it and it terrifies me. Even writing about it gives me a panic attack. Can you imagine it? What it would be like? The build up sitting in a cage for a decade, completely removed from the world without having any human contact what-so-ever? Living with the knowledge that whenever they decide it's your time they can simply shut you off? I hope you don't ever have to experience it. I'll take some kind of terminal illness over this hell anytime. Then at least there would be a reason or explanation for it...I just don't get it.

Steven Woods on Death Row

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To write Steven personally:
Steven Woods #999427
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351
USA


[Thanks to our friends www.abolitionuk.org for spreading the word about Steven Woods!]