Clinton Lee Young Case The Injustice continues! Gov. Perry at it again !

Give this man a fair trial!

Dear Representative

Dear Government Official,

I am writing this letter today to request that you urge Governor Perry to stop the execution of Clinton Lee young. I am not asking you to stop his execution because I believe him to be innocent or guilty. That is not for me to decide but for the courts. We will get to that in a minute. I am doing this for two reasons. The first reason is that I don’t believe in capital punishment. Capital punishment is inhumane and contributes to the vain circle of violence and retaliation within society. Capital Punishment reduces society’s sensitivity against violence and violent behavior. How can we teach our children that it is not okay to kill and then we turn around and execute someone? It sends the wrong message, why kill people who kill people to show that killing is wrong.

Capital punishment is barbaric and violates the "cruel and unusual" clause in the Bill of Rights. We as a society have to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality if civilization is to advance. A good friend of mine once asked me, he said “how many idiots are too many?” I really didn’t have an answer for him; I thought he was going to start talking about President Bush again. The he replied “one idiot is too many”. Dear Governor Perry if some idiot goes out and kills someone, are you going to be idiot number two who allows that person to be executed? Two wrongs don’t make a right. So far no country in the world has been able to produce any evidence that shows us signs of decrease in crime by enforcing capital punishment. Life in prison is a worse punishment and a more effective deterrent.


Psychological side-effects of executions are damaging to the victims’ survivors. How is that possible you might ask? Well it is useless to execute someone because it does not bring the victim back. The victim’s family and friends only get a temporary satisfaction. Then they have to live with the fact that some idiot killed there loved one, and another idiot put him to death for it. Executing the prisoner doesn't change the fact that the victim is gone and will never come back. Hate, revenge, and anger will never cure the emptiness of a lost loved one. Forgiveness is the only way to start the healing process, and this won't happen in a revenge-focused individual. When you forgive someone you don’t do it for them, you do it for yourself. You do it so that you can continue and move on with your life. It’s really hard to forgive someone who is no longer alive. What about the Prisoner’s family? Aren’t they Americans too? The prisoner's family must suffer from seeing their loved one put to death by the state, as well as going through the emotionally-draining appeals process. Why double the suffering when we don't have to?

Okay now that was just my personal opinion, however, I believe that that is the opinion of many Americans. Now let’s talk about the second reason.

The Texas death penalty system has shown us time after time and case after case that it has been wrong too many times. How can you play with somebody’s life? In the case of Clinton Lee Young, he was not able to afford an attorney. When the accused is unable to afford their own representations because of economic difficulties in Texas, they must resort to court-appointed lawyers. The quality of court-appointed attorneys has on occasion been found to be very low for capital cases in Texas. In some confirmed cases, these lawyers have been simply incompetent. In the case of Calvin Burdine, the lawyer fell asleep as many as ten times during the trial. Appeals were first turned down on the grounds that the constitution does not say anything about the lawyer needing to be awake during the trial, and that the lawyer had not missed important parts of the trial.

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004 by the state of Texas for murdering his three daughters—two-year-old Amber Louise Kuykendall and one-year-old twins Karmon Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham— in 1991 by setting his house on fire. In 2009, a report conducted by Dr. Craig Beyler, hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission to review the case, found that "a finding of arson could not be sustained".

A study done in 2000 shows a 68 percent error rate found in death case studies, Maria Coyle, the author of this report went as far as to call this an “Epedemic”. Her study shows that in the past two decades, federal and state courts have overturned 68 percent of the death sentences they have reviewed because of serious errors in their trials, according to a new study. And in cases sent back for retrials, 82 percent of convicted capital defendants received new sentences that were other than death—including 7 percent who were found innocent. Now with that said, Texas has the second-highest rate of executions per capita. It’s pretty scary if you ask me!


In the case of Texas vs. Clinton Lee Young the ballistics consultant issued his official report in which he states “Because of the physical dimensions & limitations involved, it is the opinion of this examiner that it is unlikely that these two shots (State's Exhibits # 9 & 10) were fired inside the automobile by the front seat passenger Clinton Young, into the left side of the head & back of the head of the victim, Doyle Douglas, while he (the victim) was in the driver’s position in the automobile”. Was this report not read to the jury? Was the judge ever there, or was he also asleep?

In fact this is how the report ends.

It is further the opinion of this examiner that the profound inconsistencies discovered between the physical evidence associated with this shooting incident and the sworn testimony at trial by Mark Ray should cast doubt on the truthfulness of the account(s) rendered by Mark Ray in the matter of this case. All opinions stated above are stated within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, and are the opinions developed by the author of this report based upon the documentation provided, the physical evidence and the testing performed by the author at the time of the writing of this report. If new or other evidence should come to light it may or may not have an influence on the opinions expressed in this report depending on the nature of the evidence.

Respectfully Submitted,
Richard N. Ernest, B.S.
Forensic Consultant





I know that asking you to do this is something that you really don’t want to do. I understand where you are coming from. I was born in Texas myself. We like our guns and we like to be safe. I also know that Texas's appellate judges are elected by the people of the state, and not appointed by another authority. As Texas's political tone is generally conservative, elected officials might find it advantageous to take a tough stance on crime to ensure reelection. I understand that you want the people who elected you to feel safe, and you want them to know that you are doing everything possible to keep them safe and locking up criminals and executing those that are murderers, and rapist, but after looking at the reasons why capital punishment should be abolished, and looking at the history of the Texas death penalty system. I think it would only be fair to retry the case of Clinton Lee Young. Even if you loose a couple of votes, not only is this decision in your hands but it should also be on your conscious. It will be there for the rest of your life. Like I said when I started this letter, I am not doing this because I believe Clinton Lee Young is innocent. I am doing this because justice should be for all, and I don’t believe he has had a fair trial.

Please I ask you, for the foundation of a civil society, for democracy, for human rights. Ask your representatives to retry the case of Clinton Lee Young and urge government officials to promote a non-violent culture, and the abolishment of capital punishment. We may have different political, social, cultural believes, or objectives, but the importance of abolishing capital punishment is a point we will all have to agree on. For a better America!

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