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BACK TO SCHOOL School starts Monday, September 27, for most students -- elementary, middle school, high school and college-- in San Antonio.

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Governor Thinks Capital Defendants Should Have Separate Trials

In a rare and unexpected move, Texas Gov. Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster’s death sentence to life in prison, but it was for a different reason that what Mr. Foster’s supporters and anti-death penalty advocates had argued for the past several weeks. Their premise was that Mr. Foster should not be executed because he killed no one and that he could not have anticipated that his friend, Mauriceo Brown, would kill Michael LaHood. Mr. Foster and Mr. Brown were tried together, convicted and sentenced to death in the case in 1997. He was driving the car in which he, Mr. Brown, Julius Steen and Dewayne Dillard had used in two robberies earlier that night.

Gov. Perry said it was in the interest of justice that he commuted Mr. Foster’s sentence, following a 6-1 recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Parole that he do so. The Parole board gave no reason for its stance. He expressed concern about state statutes that allow capital defendants to be tried together and said that he hoped that the Legislature would address it in a future session. Mr. Foster, who went to jail when he was 19, is not eligible for parole until he is over 60 years of age. His new wife, Dutch rapper Jav’lin, had proclaimed that he was coming home soon, indicating that the fight to overturn his conviction may not be over. He was immediately moved from death row to the general prison population. The late Mr. LaHood’s brother, Nicholas, was en route to Huntsville to witness Mr. Foster’s execution when he heard of the commutation. The La Hood family, he told the press, had not been notified nor contacted by anyone regarding the possible commutation of the sentence. He said the Governor succumbed to political pressure.

Police Chief Overrules Citizen Board in Beating Case

His fellow officers voted to give him a 30-day suspension, but the four citizens who are members of the San Antonio Police Department’s Citizen Advisory Action Board felt that he shouldn’t be punished at all. Despite a beaten, bruised face and charges of assault and evading arrest against San Antonio police officer Alfaro, they said 18- year old Tamara Vaughn’s case did not have merit. Mr. Alfaro is alleged to have beaten Ms. Vaughn after she told him to put out his cigar at an apartment swimming pool which had no smoking signs posted. Pictures of her bruised and battered face were all over the media. When Bexar County Sheriff’s officers went to arrest Mr. Alfaro, he fled and later barricaded himself in his home. Chief McManus’ ruling means that is unlikely that Mr. Alfaro, who has been on suspension with pay since the incident, will ever wear the uniform of a San Antonio police officer again. Police Chief Bill McManus over ruled the CAAB and issued an indefinite suspension in the case. Unless Mr. Alfaro prevails in the criminal cases against him, an indefinite suspension is tantamount to being fired. The chief used his own unique word to describe the vote of the citizens on the CAAB - ‘concerning’. He also used the word at a press conference after Mr. Alfaro’s arrest. His action against Mr. Alfaro brought a swift and angry response from Teddy Stewart, president of the San Antonio Police Officer’s Union who accused Chief McManus of caving in to attorney James Myart.

Mr. Myart has represented several San Antonions who allege to have been victims of police brutality over the past several months and has used the press to call attention to what he says is rampant misconduct and abuse of power by SAPD. Ms. Vaughn is his client. His latest case involving SAPD is the case of four African-American men who say police did a cavity search for drugs on them as they were walking an East Side street. According to news reports, the officers stuck their fingers up the men’s rectums after they detained them, on the street. One search yielded marijuana; the others had no drugs on them. One of the men, Paschal, filed a complaint with internal affairs and subsequently received a letter from Chief McManus informing him that the officer’s action was inappropriate and the information would be placed in his personnel file Mr. Myart has demanded that sexual assault charges be filed. Last spring, a local businessman called African- American Reflections newspaper to complain that SAPD officers were performing cavity searches, without gloves, on young African- American males.