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| Anthony Graves |
Former Texas death row inmate Anthony Graves filed a state bar grievance Monday asking that former Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta be held accountable by the State Bar of Texas for Graves' wrongful murder conviction.
Lawmakers who flanked Graves as he made the announcement at Texas Southern University touted a new state law that allows a grievance against a prosecutor to be filed within four years of a wrongfully imprisoned person's release.
"I am asking prosecutors who operate with the highest integrity to support me," Graves told reporters. "I am seeking justice for the man who wrongfully prosecuted me."
Graves, who was convicted in the 1992 murder of 45-year-old Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter and her four grandchildren, was released on Oct. 27, 2010, more than 18 years after his conviction.
Sebesta maintains that Graves is guilty of capital murder.
Graves was released from prison after his case was returned to Burleson County on appeal to be retried. The district attorney who succeeded Sebesta declined to prosecute Graves again, freeing him.
Graves's complaint to the state bar follows on the heels of last year's plea agreement for former Texas prosecutor Ken Anderson, who was sentenced to a 10-day jail sentence for the wrongful murder conviction of Michael Morton. Morton's case was the impetus for the new law, said state senator John Whitmire.
Anderson was also disbarred and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service. Morton was released from prison in 2011 after DNA evidence showed he didn't beat his wife to death in 1986.
Source: Houston Chronicle, January 20, 2014
Former death row inmate Anthony Graves taking action against man who prosecuted him, alleging misconduct
HOUSTON — Former death row inmate Anthony Graves, who who spent 18 years behind bars before being exonerated, announced Monday that he is taking action against the man who prosecuted him, alleging prosecutorial misconduct.
“We’re here today, Martin Luther King Day, seeking justice for me and my family and the citizens of this state,” Graves said to a crowd at Texas Southern University while announcing that he would file a grievance against former Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta.
Graves spent 12 of his 18 years in prison on death row — where he twice neared execution. Graves had been convicted of killing a Somerville family of six, even though another man, Robert Carter, confessed that he was the sole killer. Both men were sentenced to death. Then, in 2006, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Graves' conviction, ruling that Sebesta had used false testimony and withheld Carter's confession from the defense.
“I’m asking prosecutors to cooperate with the highest of integrity,” Graves said. "It took me 18-and-a-half years to get back home. Two execution dates. All because a man abused his position."
Robert Bennett, Graves’ attorney, said Graves could elect to pursue criminal charges against Sebesta in addition to filing a grievance with the State Bar of Texas. Sebesta could not immediately be reached for comment, but he has denied that he withheld evidence in the case. On his website, Sebesta defends his actions and points to the State Bar's dismissal of a previous grievance over the case.
State Sens. John Whitmire and Rodney Ellis and Rep. Senfronia Thompson, all Houston Democrats, joined Graves at Monday's news conference. Supporting Graves' pursuit of a grievance, they called on the State Bar to provide justice for Graves.
“It doesn’t hurt to have some transparency,” Thompson said. “No one is above the law.”
In 2013, Whitmire authored Senate Bill 825, which changed the statute of limitations for a wrongfully imprisoned person to file a grievance in cases of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. The new law allows Graves to take action against Sebesta up to four years after the date of Graves’ release from prison. Previously, the four-year statute began on the date the misconduct was discovered.
Whitmire said that while district attorneys will always be needed, “the message today is, we’re watching them.”
Graves was released Oct. 27, 2010, which meant that under SB 825 he is eligible to file a grievance through Oct. 27 of this year. At the conclusion of Monday's news conference, using an aide’s iPad, he submitted his grievance electronically.
“It’s a great day to be alive,” he said.
Source: The Texas Tribune, January 20, 2014
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