TribBlog: Anti-Death Penalty Groups March Tomorrow

They could have been dead men walking. Instead, they'll be exonerated men marching tomorrow through the state's Capitol protesting Texas' prolific use of the death penalty. Six exonerees from around the country will march from Capitol steps at 2 p.m. in the 11th annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty, organized by a coalition of anti-death penalty groups.

Scott Cobb of the Texas Moratorium Network says Texas has seen a 60-percent decrease in death sentences since the 1990s. He credits the growing reluctance of juries to use the death penalty for the decrease.

Anthony Graves is the most recent Texas inmate to be released from death row after serving 18 years behind bars. Graves had been in jail since 1992, accused of assisting Robert Carter in a gruesome multiple murder based on Carter’s testimony that Graves was his accomplice. Carter recanted that statement in 2000 just before he was executed. In 2006, an appeals court overturned Graves’ conviction and ordered a new trial. After finding no evidence to move forward, Washington-Burleson County District Attorney Bill Parham filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Graves this week, and he was released from jail.