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Help for Ex Death Row Inmate Martin Draughon
Thursday, 21 September 2006
Got a call from Martin Draughon tonight from the Limestone County Jail. He is the man who walked off death row after pleading to a 40-year sentence. Martin had done 20 years so was released on parole. He went to death row because the Houston Police Crime Lab "experts" lied and said that a shot Martin fired into the air was deliberately shot right into a man. Finally an independent and real expert showed that the bullet ricochetted and wasnt fired directly into the man who unfortunately died. Martin was out from August 25 until he was re-arrested on September 12 on false charges and lies by his parole officer, Jim McKee, in Livingston, Texas.
Martin now admits it may not have been the best move to parole to Livingston, the home of the super-max, super-seg prison unit that houses and tortures the 400 men on Texas death row. But it is where his fiancée, Joy Weathers, lives and works and where he wanted to be. And he says, “I have done it and I will make it out here in Livingston!”
Martin says to tell all his supporters, “Thank you so much for your love and support. I send my love to you and want you to know that we need to show the public how ridiculous the state is for refusing to allow me to live my life.
“I have truth on my side. I am not a dishonest man. I did everything to follow their orders. I’ve even got witnesses. I am doing everything I can to rebuild my life, to walk the straight and narrow and they are doing everything they can to prevent me from doing this.
“There’s no way in the universe I would do anything to violate my parole 18 days after I got out, after spending 18 years on death row. I figured if I followed the rules, I’d be okay, but I didn’t expect them to out and out lie on me. Jim McKee, my parole officer, is trying to be a prosecutor, not a parole officer.
“We’re going to go through this thing and I will come out okay. I have wonderful supporters on my side. And I’ve got the truth and the Lord on my side. So how can I lose?”
These are some of the words I wrote down tonight as I spoke with Martin on the phone from the jail where he is being held. He is in good spirits but very disappointed with the parole system for trying to set him up for failure.
I told him he probably should have expected that and he said, “I hoped that Mr. McKee would support me and encourage me but instead he gave me faulty equipment from the first day. He put a box in my house with a GPS device and put an ankle bracelet on me. If I get too far away from it, the alarm on the box goes off, ringing. Then it will display ‘Bracelet gone, move closer.’ It has rung at all hours from day one. I live in a 12-room, 2-story, old Victorian house and he knows that. Why would he give me a device that has an alarm that goes off when I am in another room of my own home. I was paroled to 309 North Drew Street, not to one room in my house.”
“Why did Mr. McKee not do anything if, as he told me, the alarm went off continuously for the first two days I was out? McKee told me that for two days I didn’t have a signal. Obviously they have given me defective equipment. I can’t even hear the alarm if I am in another room. When I pass by the room he set it up in, I hear the alarm. It goes off at all hours of the day and night. One night I was up late and passed by the room at 3:00 AM and heard the alarm going off. So then I was told to stay out of rooms where’s there’s no signal!”
Martin is looking forward to going to court on Sept. 29th. He hopes supporters can be in Livingston for the hearing. He explained that it is a preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to hold a parole revocation hearing. I cannot imagine that there is—in fact, it seems there is enough evidence to show that Mr. McKee is deliberately setting up Martin and then lying about the truth. Shouldn’t McKee be the one facing a judge?
“The equipment is faulty to start with, plus 12 minutes at a bathroom stop is not a reason to revoke my parole.”
Please, quickly send off letters of support to Martin at:
Martin Draughon #35928
Limestone County Detention Center
910 Tyus Road
Groesbeck, TX 76642
If anyone wants to send a few dollars for his commissary up there, it sure would help. He doesn't need much, but would like coffee, etc. It is the same address, just send it to Inmate Trust Fund. Send a money order, not a check or cash, made out to Inmate Trust Fund with Martin’s name and number on it at the bottom.
And keep the calls and emails and faxes to the head of the whole parole division for the state of Texas as well as the supervisor for Mr. McKee, the regional director in Tyler:
Texas Parole Division Director: Bryan Collier
Phone: 512-406-5401
Fax: 512-406-5858
E-mail: "This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!"
Phone: 512-406-5401
Fax: 512-406-5858
E-mail: "This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!"
and
Jay Patzke Texas Parole Division Region 1 Director (which covers Livingston)
(His secretary told me there is no email address for Mr. Patzke! )
3915 Market St.
Tyler, Texas 75701
Phone: 903-581-8311
Fax: 903-581-8016
(His secretary told me there is no email address for Mr. Patzke! )
3915 Market St.
Tyler, Texas 75701
Phone: 903-581-8311
Fax: 903-581-8016
Make plans now to take off work or skip school or get a babysitter and be in Livingston on Friday, September 29, at 11:00 AM at the Polk County Courthouse, 101 West Church Street, the same street as Hi-way 190, 10-12 blocks east of Interstate 59.
"Without struggle, there can be no progress."
Frederick Douglass
contact: Gloria Rubac on
"This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!"