This summary of Dominique's case, written by Andrew Lofthouse in early 2004 at Sheila Murphy's request, was intended to serve as an information sheet to be distributed to the press and other interested parties. I include it here because it is an admirably terse summary of Dominique's story.
HOW RACISM AND A FLAWED LEGAL SYSTEM
CONSPIRE TO EXECUTE DOMINIQUE GREEN
Dominique Green is a 29-year-old African American who is nearing the end of his appeals on Texas Death Row. We believe that after a review of the facts of the case, you, like us, will see racism and a flawed legal system prevented justice from prevailing in Dominique's case.
Dominique Green was an unloved, African American young man, who was poor in spirit as well as material goods. His parents were alcoholics and his father was addicted to marijuana. His mother was mentally ill and repeatedly tortured and physically abused Dominique and his younger brothers, going so far as holding their hands over a flaming stove.
To save his fragile siblings, Dominique took their punishment. Once he took his brother to a homeless shelter where they lived to avoid the constant abuse at home. When Dominique, at age 15, and his younger brother Marlon were thrown out of their house by their mother, Dominique rented a storage shed for the two of them to live in and sold drugs to support Marlon and himself.
One evening in 1992, when Dominique was 18 years old, he allegedly went out with a group of three men whom he knew. They were said to have robbed people at gunpoint. One man, Andrew Lastrapes, was killed by a single shot to the chest.
There were no eyewitnesses or scientific evidence that indicated Dominique participated in this crime. The only evidence against him came from the other young men who all testified against Dominique. In return, the State dropped capital murder charges against them a few days before Dominique's trial. Dominique was also offered a deal in exchange for testimony about the other men, but Dominique refused, saying he was innocent.
Two of the other men, the black men, went to prison, while the white man who admitted being present at the murder and sharing the proceeds from the robberies was not indicted or prosecuted at all. Indeed, prosecutors encouraged him not to speak to anyone about the case, even though he was never charged. This all occurred in Houston, a part of Harris County, Texas, a place that has sent more inmates to their executions than 47 states and has thus gained the infamous title “Death Penalty Capital of the World.”
During the sentencing phase of the trial—when the jury was determining whether Dominique should live or die— his court-appointed lawyer chose psychologist Dr. Walter Quijano to testify in defense. To analyze Dominique's future dangerousness, Dr. Quijano took into account the fact that Dominique is African American. He did not, however, share this bias with the jury.
Recently, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Victor Saldano after a former Texas attorney general, John Cornyn, admitted error in multiple cases in which prosecutors called Dr. Quijano, who had testified in a similar capacity as he had in Dominique's trial, saying Mr. Saldano was more likely to be violent because he was Hispanic.
Racism again infected this phase of Dominique's trial when the prosecution construed the words of a rap song to be his own. While Dominique was locked up awaiting trial, he wrote a letter to a friend. At the end of the letter he quoted a popular rap song with the words “trigga happy nigga.” Dominique, who was only 18 at the time, meant this as a tongue-in-cheek reference to how he thought the police saw him, not to any future plans.
The jury, which had no African Americans on it, was not informed the phrase was from a song. The prosecution argued Dominique should be executed because he is a “trigger-happy nigger” even though he had no prior convictions for violent crime and only one shot was fired after an apparent struggle where the victim pulled out a knife.
The “defense” also put Dominique's mother on the stand even though her doctor told them she suffers from psychological problems, including multiple personality disorder, and was not stable. The defense lawyer [in this case, Diana Olvera is meant], however, told the judge that she knew how to determine which personality was testifying. The mother then stated that Dominique should be executed.
The judge in Dominique's case, Judge Shaver, appointed the defense counsels to represent Dominique even though neither one had ever principally represented a defendant charged with the death penalty. In fact, the only other capital case the defense counsel had worked on was the infamous “sleeping lawyer” case that also was before Judge Shaver, who afterwards remarked to the Los Angeles Times: “The Constitution entitles you to a lawyer. It doesn't say that the lawyer has to be awake.”∗
While this may seem like a comedy of errors, unfortunately in Harris County this comedy is performed routinely. No matter what view you may have of the death penalty, all must agree that those facing the ultimate punishment should receive a fair trial, free of racism and incompetent counsel.
Since being convicted, Dominique has grown and matured dramatically, making one wonder just what the state will achieve by executing him. He has helped numerous other inmates to survive the torturous nature of Death Row and has submitted his engaging artwork and poetry in various exhibits around the country and world.
We hope you will find the space in your life to support Dominique as he fights for his life.
∗ Shaver's pronouncement has been reported in slightly different words by others (see p. 27) but the import is always the same.