Updated: Shooting Victim's Case Sent to Federal Court
Updated July 20, 2011 (11:45 a.m.): A federal judge today heard Rais Bhuiyan's lawsuit pursuing a stay of execution for Mark Stroman, a man who shot Bhuiyan in the face and killed two others seeking revenge for the 9/11 attacks.
The judge is expected to have a decision by early this afternoon.
Stroman is scheduled to be executed tonight.
Updated July 18, 2011 (4:15 p.m.): A Travis County judge today sent Rais Bhuiyan's lawsuit seeking a stay of execution for the man who shot him in the head to federal court for further ...
Comments (11)
Katie Plass
What is an Israeli Muslim?
I have looked all over both of the internets and I have not found anything to support the Texas Tribune's claim that Rais Bhuiyan is an 'Israeli Muslim.'
The online news stories have indicated Rais Bhuiyan immigrated from Bangladesh to Dallas, TX and would now be referred to as an American Muslim.
Where did y'all find this mythical 'Israeli Muslim' stuff?
Jan Anderson
Um, Katie Plass, that's a typo.
The term is Ismaili Muslim. That's I - S - M - A - I - L - I. It is a lesser known branch of Islam, as opposed to the more reported on Sufi, Sunni, Wahhabi, & Shia branches of Islam. I only know of them because I have a neighbor of Pakistani descent who is Ismaili and I have talked to her about the differences. So it is just a glaring lack of sufficient proof-reading, not a mythical creation by the reporters.
Other things that need fixing:
If the suit was filed on Thursday the 14th, why would the Governor's office know anything about it on Wednesday the 13th?
And they could have explained that no resident of Texas' Death Row has direct access to a computer (they don't even have real A/C in the Summer or real heat in the Winter for that matter). To blog one must mail the entries to someone on the outside who would then post them. Most people think Death Row, and prison in general is much more comfortable than it is in reality. Imagine being in a small room, alone, with no windows or TV, 163 hours a week, with one hour out of it each day Monday though Friday.
Now, there are people who live inside the boarders of Israel who are practicing Muslims, but I have heard them called Arab Israelis, since there are also Christians of Arab ancestry living in Israeli.
More journalists really should learn about different faith communities, at least the correct terminology and spelling of important words. I don't know about other Journalism programs, but SMU offers a class in reporting on religion, which I think should be mandatory. An NBC on air reporter called the Archbishop of Canterbury the head of the Church of England during their coverage of the Royal Wedding this spring, so that some journalists do not even know that the current head of the Church of England is HM Elizabeth II, shows that more and more journalists need some education before trying to be detailed on the subject.
Ioanna Makris
In response to the two comments, Rais is an Israeli citizen and who practices the Muslim faith.
Jan Anderson
I've personally heard Rais Bhuiyan speak and say that he is from Bangladesh originally. If you look at a map, that's next to India. No where else have I seen any reference to any Israeli citizenship for Mr. Bhuiyan in any press reports. And here's a quote from NPR (http://www.npr.org/2011/06/19/137283467/9-11-hate-crime-victim-seeks-to-save-his-attacker) "Further complicating matters, Bhuiyan's family was still living in his native Bangladesh."
Ioanna Makris
Thank you for bringing the mistake to our attention and our apologies. Rais is a naturalized American citizen who moved to the United States from Bangladesh. Please note the correction.
Dudley Sharp
None of Mr. Bhuiyan's efforts, inclusive of the baseless lawsuit, will result in the stated goal of Stroman's commutation, as Rais Bhuiyan and his attorneys well know.
The real goal is to publicize another anti death penalty effort, which will have little effect on the discussion.
Some points:
The greatest violator of vicitm's rights in this case is Stroman.
Rais Bhuiyan avoided the obvious.
The only one exhibiting hate in this case is Mark Stroman. His hatred resulted in him murdering two innocent people and the attempted murder of Mr. Bhuiyan.
Mr. Bhuiyan has forgiven Stroman for that attempted murder.
Such forgiveness is important.
For clear reasons, both Gov. Perry and the parole board should reject Mr. Bhuiyan's petition to commute Stroman's death sentence to a life sentence.
Considering Mr. Bhuiyan's position, the commutation request should be rejected, because the foundation for Stroman's death sentence is justice, not hatred. Mr. Bhuiyan has, simply, invented that it is based in hatred. Therefore, there is not foundation for the commutation request, as it is wrongly based upon false allegation of hatred. (1)
Additionally, Mr. Bhuiyan's believes that his forgiveness should provide enough to commute Stroman's sentence to life.
First, Stroman is not on death row for the attempted murder of Buiyan, but for the capital murder of Vasudev Patel.
In addition:
1) Mr. Bhuiyan has the moral authority to forgive Stroman for the attempted murder. Mr. Bhuiyan does not have the moral authority to forgive for crimes committed against others.
2) Anyone can forgive someone for the crimes committed against themselves and still find that a proper sanction, justice, is appropriate in that case.
3) Importantly, forgiveness cannot preclude punishment. In fact, punishment can be an important part of forgiveness.
Both parties, the victim and the perpetrator, can give and seek forgiveness, respectively, and both can understand that a proper sanction should be a part of the forgiveness process. The criminal should take responsibility for their crimes, confess to them, accept the sanction given and seek forgiveness based upon true sorrow and repentance.
Hopefully, that is what Stroman will do.
4) The only one who can forgive the perpetrator for the crime is the victim of that crime. Stroman's two murder victims cannot offer their forgiveness. They're dead.
As Mr. Bhuiyan's commutation efforts are solely founded on the wrongful charge of hatred and his erroneous understanding of forgiveness, both offer no foundation for commutation.
As time goes by, it is clear that Mr. Bhuiyan's crusade is, strictly, an anti death penalty effort.
Mr. Bhuiyan's is not trying to end all sanctions against Stroman, but is making a plea to commute Sroman's death sentence to a life sentence - meaning that Mr. Bhuiyan does understand that sanction and forgiveness have no conflict and that hatred need have no connection to sanction, as is in evident in this case and realized by Mr. Bhuiyan.
Justice is the connection to sanction. (2) The death penalty is given by juries for the same reason lesser sanctions are, that is that they are a just, appropriate and proportional sanction for the crime committed.
There are, more solid reasons, to deny commutation in this case, but I was only addressing Mr. Bhuiyan's.
Stroman's crimes
Stroman, a white supremist, additionally,confessed to the Sept. 15, 2001 Dallas murder of Wagar Hasan, an immigrant and Pakistani Muslim. The two murders and the attempted murder were all hate crimes, committed from September 15, 2001 to October 4, 2001, based upon Stroman seeking revenge against Muslims for the 9/11 attacks.
Stroman, previously, served a two year sentence for one count of burglary of a building and one count of theft of property; released on parole in absentia; returned from parole in absentia with an 8 year sentence from Dallas County for two counts of credit card abuse and one count of robbery; released on parole on 08/26/1991.
1) "The Death Penalty: Neither Hatred nor Revenge"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/20/the-death-penalty-neither-hatred-nor-revenge.aspx
2) "Death Penalty Support: Christian and secular Scholars"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-support-modern-catholic.html
NOTE Any violation of vicitm's rights should be condemned, with a pursuit of remedy, inclusive of legal action, if merited.
Dudley Sharp
To Ingrid Husby and Ioanna Makris:
Have you been able to confirm
1) that Stroman's had a half-sister;
2) the name of that half-sister; and
3) that she died in the WTC bombings?
If so, can you provide details?
Katie Plass
Jan Anderson-
LOL. A really stupid typo. The writers and editors did not practice reading over their work, a common exercise in 6th grade writing classes. I know about the different types of Islam, not in super detail, but I know they exist because I am interested in the world and like to look things up.
Right on about Death Row and peoples general ignorance on life inside correctional facilities. I was wondering about the Blog post as well. Correctional facilities restrict phone access and mail correspondence (BTW free-world peeps, the materials for mail correspondence and hygiene are purchased through commissary and are only free to indigent inmates) Also many journalist use the word jail and prison interchangeably, further complicating the public's understanding of incarceration and the criminal justice system.
I agree about the need for Journalist to have a broad education so they are able to inform the reader.
Although, I would prefer them to go to TTU over SMU ;)
Linny Meakins
Firstly, I would advise that Gov Rick Perry has told one of his World Famous Lies again. He indeed did know that Rais Bhuiyan was sueing him and about this case. Worse than this and something that media are failing to report and I wonder are you aware of the new proceedure that has recently been adopted by the Texas Judicial System to execute the prisoners. Gov Perry is most definatley aware of the following as is the rest of the Worlds Governments who have asked him to put a halt on the proceedure while it is investigated further to ensure a new more humane proceedure is found. 'Perry' has chosen to ignore their requests...
The Texas Justice Department are using a new three drug cocktail which involves the first of the drugs Pentobarbital to put the prisoner to sleep while strapped down on the Gurney. Pentobarbital, was never designed for such a purpose, and this proceedure was untrialled. Eyewitnesses, such as Doctors, Attorneys, and family members, have seen the prisoners trying to mouth words, pain contorting his face, the prisoner lurching upwards off the Gurney, mouth and eyes open.
A recent independent Doctor's written affidavit stated that the prisoner died in agony. Please see attached link:http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2011_06_30_execution_pentobarbital_Blankenship/
The prisoners are not dying immediately either, and in some cases taking up to 12 minutes to die. This is legalised TORTURE RESULTING IN DEATH!
Now, whether one is for or against the 'Death Penalty', this is 2011 this is barbaric and completely unacceptable, and anyone condoning this kind of TORTURE surely has morals as bad as a convicted murderer, and is but one step away from them. These sanctamonious people, who say that this kind of suffering is deserved, please do us all a favour and stop trying to convince the World and it's neighbour you are a Christian, you are delusional.
The executions are botched, the rest of the World Governments have already asked Texas to stop killing the prisoners in this inhumane way.
The buck stops with Governor Rick Perry, and he is, I'm told, well aware of the present Torture Proceedure but has declined to put a halt to executions while an alternative is found.
Another issue the good Texan people need to consider is the FACT there have been 2 people executed in more recent years who have proven to be innocent! This is the wonderful legacy of your 'Law of Parties'. Google it, if you are unsure what this could mean to you or a family member. I have attached a link for you to see what effect that had, on the family of Mr Gregory Wright, executed in 2008: http://www.freegregwright.com/
More recently it was the turn of Mr Carey Kerr to be 'mistakenly' executed.
The following words were the final recorded words of Carey Kerr,
as he lie on the gurney and was asked, as is standard practice, if he would like to make a statement.
"Yes, tell my sister Tracey, I love you. Nicole, thank you and I love you. Wanda and all of my friends, I love you and thank you for your support. To the State of Texas, I am an innocent man. Never trust a court-appointed attorney. I am ready Warden. Thank you, Brad, I'm sorry. Check that DNA, check Scott. Here we go. Lord Jesus, Jesus"
I am not politically motivated in any direction, this is an independent statement of facts and good people, this is real, this is happening in the State of Texas, if you are not comfortable with this I suggest you lobby whoever it is that's your Senator or Governor and ask them to stop right now, before the next victim of TORTURE RESULTING IN DEATH is on your concience too, .
Cat White
Really a remarkable story that I am glad to see is getting press coverage. And as a journalism student, I agree it is good to be educated about others' religions and cultures in order for more delicacy with those differences in reporting.
Anyway, if you want another update I noticed on Democracy Now! today (7/19) they had a video interview with Mr. Bhuiyan, here is the link:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/19/muslim_victim_of_post_9_11
Annette Bryant
Mark Stroman not only had the half-sister who was killed in the Tower but he also has three other half sisters and a brother. He lived in a 6' by 6' cage for nine years. Mark prayed everyday for forgiveness, he never removed the cross from around his neck or removed the pictures of his four children and grandchild from his pocket...which he looked at everyday. Mark acted out of love and anger against what took place on American soil. I could give many details, however; these are personal and not everyone's business. If you want more information on Mark's personal life, I suggest you write to his attorney. Mark is not a monster, he is a very loving, loyal, and caring person. It is a shame he was murdered by the largest murdering State in the U.S. He was a changed man and could have done so much to help with the world hating and how it affects lives, war and death for so many years of pain on so many people. He is an excellent writter and planned to write a book about this and going from the making of a monster to the new Mark Stroman. Mark wanted to make a difference and I know when he died, 12 minutes after the injection, that God had his arms around him and took him away with him. Mark did not go to the end of his life; he began a beautiful new one and was never afraid of his the new life - he was at peace.