At Texas Monthly, Michael Hall has published an extended open letter to the governor pleading for executive clemency in the case of Max Soffar, who has "been on death row for a third of a century for a crime I'm certain he did not commit." Soffar has liver cancer and will likely perish before the courts decide his pending habeas corpus writ. Hall urged the governor to allow Soffar to die at home with his family instead of in prison.
RELATED: See an essay on Grits from Texas Southern journalism chair Michael Berryhill about Soffar's case.
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We all know good & well that Perry Inc. will not be issuing a Full Pardon - based on / for innocence regarding: Mr. Soffar. It has nothing to do with Mr. Michael Hall not having the juice to persuade via an Open Letter, it has everything to with Mr. Perry and his owners'.
After reading a sorta recent GFB posting back in Aug. regarding Mr. Soffar and a subsequent heart wrenching comment by Mr. Cook, I decided to contact Mrs. Davis & Mr. Abbott asking if they'd consider ordering their Clemency Section (and Investigators) to perform an emergency Application on his behalf. Or, simply ask Mr. Perry to intervene.
As expected, (Mr. Abbott was too busy to reply) Mrs. Davis and her multitudes of spokespeople ignored the correspondence but had the audacity to launch a never ending email campaign soliciting donations. The creepy part is the first name basis that Wendy and I are now on despite her blatantly ignoring what brought us together in the first place.
I'm asking those with empathy and a beating heart to consider contacting both camps for public statements regarding their emergency plans for Mr. Soffar. It's going to take more than an Open Letter folks, it's going to take public protest, petitions, letter writing campaigns along with some calls to Mr. Perry, if you can find him. (Please put your replies / non-replies here).
I yield to Mr. Cook, you have the floor sir, let 'em have it and please don't hold back, we have a life to save.
Grits, while we await on Mr. Cook to arrive. Since the IPOT made exceptions for the victims of the Galveston dirty drug scandal (waving the Rules as can be seen on the Homepage - "one must have exhausted all appeals") and represented them anyway, with a life on the line, why would they not consider bending the rules again by representing Mr. Soffar in this urgent matter (years ago)?
I'm asking you to ask your boss to do the right thing for the right reason (or ask him to ask the I.P. to overlook the non-DNA aspect). As it is, the cool phrase is forever tarnished and tainted by the very office in which it was utilized as an in house motto by some of the state's worst ADAs. Thanks.
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