Gerald Lee Mitchell

Mitchell was executed by lethal injection on October 22, 2001.

Date of offense: June 4, 1985
DOB: 12/27/67
17 at time of offense
Race: Black
Race of victim: White

In June 1985, 20-year-old Charles Marino and his 16-year-old brother-in-law went to meet Gerald Lee Mitchell in a Houston park to buy drugs. Mitchell offered to sell them marijuana, but then pulled a 12-gauge sawn-off shotgun on the pair and forced them to drive to a vacant house. There, Mitchell took the car keys, forced the pair to sit on the ground and shot them from ten feet. Mitchell then left them for dead, taking the car and $25. Fleming survived the gunshot wound to his hip. Mitchell received the death penalty for the capital murder of Marino, and 60 years for the attempted murder of Fleming. Marino had just finished his basic training in the Navy. In a separate trial, Mitchell received another sixty years for the shooting death of Hector Manguia. Mitchell shot Manguia the same day as the other killings when Manguia refused to give Mitchell a necklace that Mitchell demanded.

Mitchell was caught one week after the killings driving Marino's car. Mitchell was tried by an all white jury.

The attorney for Mitchell argues that at the time of the murder Mitchell had an IQ of 75 and has been diagnosed as functioning on the borderline level of retardation. Also, it is argued that Mitchell may be suffering from organic brain disorder and experiences temporal lobe seizures. He has a severe history of drug use, which began when he was fourteen years of age.

In 1992, during a prison fight, two other Texas death row inmates stabbed Mitchell. He was treated and recovered.

Mitchell is currently 33, and has been on death row for 15 years.

Case Summary

Juvenile Offender Gerald Lee Mitchell Facing Execution in Texas on October 22, 2001.

Gerald Lee Mitchell -- a 17 year old with an IQ of just 75 at the time of his offense -- is now scheduled for execution on October 22, in Texas. On June 4,1985, he murdered Hector Mungia and Charlie Marino. Less than a year later, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of Mr. Mungia and sentenced to death for the murder of Mr. Marino. Because he was under 18 years of age at the time of his crime, Gerald's execution would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness, and decency as well as international law. This is a call for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison. In appealing for clemency on behalf of Gerald Lee Mitchell, we do not, in any way, seek either to excuse the crime or to minimize the pain and suffering it caused the family and friends of the victims.

I. Gerald Has Expressed His Remorse and Regret for Committing Murder and Has Worked Steadily to Improve Himself.

In the 15 years Gerald has been on death row, he has matured significantly and is not the same person who committed these crimes. In his words, he has "come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17 year young person (sic)." He has educated himself, become deeply religious and has endeavored to live a better life, even on death row. In a letter to the mother of Charles Marino, Gerald expressed his deep remorse and asked for her forgiveness. He acknowledged that at the time of his crimes he was a young person with a "very disturbed personality, very uncaring, unreasoning and unthinking." He described the fear and pain he experienced on death row but acknowledged that "it is nothing compared to what you have to go through every single day.. I understand that there is nothing that I can ever do that will make up for the precious treasures that I have taken from yo u..."

II. Gerald Suffered from Severe Drug Abuse, Possible Neurological Damage, Substantial Family Distress and "Borderline" Intelligence at the Time He Committed His Crimes.

Gerald's serious behavior problems began in 1982 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Thereafter, Gerald's mother was unable to work and Gerald became extremely fearful that she would soon die. The family situation was further aggravated by his father's loss of work the next year. The Mitchell family fell into poverty and even greater emotional turmoil while having to deal with the mother's terminal illness. This prolonged family crisis deeply affected an already limited Gerald who was in the midst of a difficult adolescence. With his world crumbling, his grades at school dropped and he began to abuse drugs. Gerald became increasingly angry, alienated and destructive. There were few, if any, support systems in place for either Gerald or his family.

Prior to his trial, Gerald's IQ was measured at just 75, placing him in the borderline range of intellectual functioning. According to the American Association of Mental Retardation, one of the criteria which distinguishes a person as having mental retardation is an IQ below 75. An evaluating psychiatrist concluded that Gerald's low intelligence would have significantly impaired his ability to think, process information and exercise sound judgment. Gerald's limited thinking, judgment and impulse control would have been further and dramatically impaired as a result of his serious drug abuse. It was reported that he regularly smoked a substance containing marijuana, embalming fluid and angel dust. Moreover, while the psychiatrist suspected that Gerald may have suffered from temporal lobe seizures -- a serious neurological condition that can cause confusion, erratic and even violent behavior -- no follow up examination was ever conducted.

III. Gerald Was Sentenced to Death Based on a Jury's Inherently Unreliable finding that He Posed a Continuing Danger to Society. Moreover, the Sentencing Jury was not Presented Any Evidence Regarding the Developmental Factors of Adolescence and Their Mitigating Effect on Any Determination of Future Dangerousness.

Under Texas law, one of the most critical factors that a jury must consider in imposing a sentence of death is "whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" -- otherwise known as future dangerousness. Texas juries are permitted to consider this factor notwithstanding scientific and medical proof that "future dangerousness" is impossible to predict on an individual basis. In this case, the prosecution relied on Gerald's past crimes, testimony and alleged lack of remorse to prove that he would constitute a danger in the future. The defense failed to present any evidence or argument as to why these factors cannot be determinative of future dangerousness.

Moreover, the defense failed to present any substantive evidence or argument as to how the qualities inherent in youth itself could affect any determination of future dangerousness. The jury was presented with no information regarding the many ways in which adolescents are still developing -- mentally, emotionally and morally. The jury was presented with no information regarding how adolescents lack a mature sense of risk, are unable to think about the long term consequences of their actions and have less control over impulses and behavior. The jury was presented with no evidence as to how adolescents can continue to develop in ways that make them less dangerous, more responsible, more remorseful and more mature. It was not adequately explained to the jury that most adolescents "outgrow" impulsive, aggressive -- even dangerous -- behaviors. In short, the sentencing jury was presented with no evidence that would have allowed it to consider how Gerald's youth influenced his conduct. Therefore, any jury determination of dangerousness, even if it could be accurate, would inevitably be affected by the transient qualities of youth itself. In the fifteen years since Gerald's trial, the psychological, medical and neurological sciences have made substantial discoveries and progress in understanding the many ways in which adolescents are indeed developmentally different than adults. Neuroscience, for example, has found that the areas of the brain that inhibit violent impulses, regulate emotions and assess risk are still developing -- even as late as age 19. None of this information was presented to, or considered by, the jury that sentenced Gerald Lee Mitchell to death.

Executing Juvenile Offenders is Contrary to International Law

The execution of child offenders is in contravention of international law and fundamental standards of human rights. The ultimate goal of the international community is to abolish the death penalty under all circumstances, however, until that time there are restrictions on the categories of persons who can be executed, juveniles being one of the restricted categories. The prohibition of the execution of juveniles is referenced in a number of international treaties, declarations, and statements by international bodies, in addition to the laws of the majority of nations. Please refer to the International Instruments section, for more explanations of juvenile offenders and international law.

Juvenile Offenders: Issues of Mitigation

By their very nature, teenagers are less mature, and therefore less culpable than adults. Adolescence is a transitional period of life when cognitive abilities, emotions, judgment, impulse control, and identity are still developing. The IJP offers overviews on brain development and trauma as possible mitigation factors for juvenile offenders.

Action Available

Under Texas law, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has the exclusive power to commute a sentence of death to life in prison. Please write to:

Urgent Action

TEXAS:

Gerald Lee Mitchell, black, aged 33 Gerald Mitchell is scheduled to be executed in Texas on October 22, 2001 for a murder committed when he was aged 17. International law prohibits the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime. Gerald Mitchell was sentenced to death in 1986 for the murder of Charles Angelo Marino, white, who was shot dead in Houston in June 1985. Mitchell was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury, in a county whose population was about 20 percent African American. After the original jury pool had been pared down to individuals who were qualified to serve, the state removed all 7 African Americans from the remaining group using peremptory strikes, the right to dismiss jurors without giving a reason. Many blacks have been sentenced to death in the USA by all-white juries selected after such use of peremptory strikes against blacks. After the prosecutor was challenged on his apparently discriminatory use of peremptory strikes, he stated that he used a basic standard when selecting jurors: 'I was looking for someone who's a solid citizen, who had a background in the community, had a stake in the community..'. He also said that he did not want jurors who would view youth as such a mitigating factor that they could not vote for a death sentence, or those who would look at the defendant as if he were their son. The trial court ruled that his use of peremptory challenges had been racially neutral, emphasizing his removal of prospective black jurors who had friends or family who were or had been in prison, and those who had teenaged children. Among the white jurors selected were reportedly individuals who fell into this category.

*******************************************

Background Information:

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) prohibits the use of the death penalty against those who were under 18 at the time of the crime. When the USA ratified the ICCPR in 1992 it entered a 'reservation', reserving the right to execute juvenile offenders. This reservation has been widely condemned as invalid, including by the Human Rights Committee, the expert body which monitors compliance with the ICCPR. Recognizing a young person's immaturity and potential for rehabilitation, the Convention on the Rights of the Child also prohibits the use of the death penalty against under 18-year-olds. This treaty has been ratified by 191 countries, all but the USA and Somalia. The USA has signed the treaty, and in so doing obliged itself to respect its principles in good faith, pending its decision on whether to ratify it. The ban on the death penalty against children is so widely respected that it has become a principle of customary international law, binding on all countries regardless of which treaties they have or have not ratified. The USA leads a tiny group of countries which have carried out such executions in the past decade. The only known such executions worldwide in the past 4 years were in Iran (3 juvenile offender executions), Democratic Republic of Congo (1 juvenile offender execution), and the USA (8 juvenile offender executions -- 4 of those 8 executions were in Texas). Over 80 prisoners are on death row in the USA for crimes committed when they were 16 or 17. There are 31 of them are in Texas. More than 730 people have been executed in the USA since it resumed executions in 1977. In over 80 % of cases, the original crime involved a white murder victim. Yet blacks and whites are the victims of murder in almost equal numbers in the USA. In Texas, which accounts for a third of US executions, over 20 % of executions have been of black defendants convicted of killing whites. In juvenile cases, the figure is 33 %. In no case, out of over 250 Texas executions, has a white defendant been executed for the murder of a black. For more information, see: Too young to vote, old enough to be executed. Texas set to kill another child offender (AMR 51/105/2001, July 2001). On August 14, 2001, in its report on the USA, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted the 'disturbing correlation between race, both of the victim and the defendant, and the imposition of the death penalty...' The Committee urged the USA to ensure that 'no death penalty is imposed as a result of racial bias on the part of prosecutors, judges, juries and lawyer s...'.

**************************************

Recommended Action:

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in your own words: To the Board of Pardons & Parole: (addresses below)

• expressing sympathy for the family of Charles Angelo Marino;
• expressing concern that, in violation of international law and standards of decency recognized around the world, Texas has scheduled the execution of Gerald Mitchell, who was under 18 at the time of the crime;
• also expressing concern that this is another case of an African American tried by an all-white jury after all blacks had been removed by the state;
• urging the board, in the name of international law, commonly-held standards of decency, and the reputation of the State of Texas, to call on the Governor to commute Gerald Mitchell's death sentence.

Appeals To:

Gerald Garrett, Chairperson
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P.O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
Fax: 1 512 463 8120

(Salutation: Dear Mr Chairperson)

Salutation: Dear Board Member [last name]

Charles A. Shipman, Abilene Board Office.
Fax: 1 915-676-4921 Lucinda

Simons, Amarillo Board Office.
Fax: 1 806-358-6455 Daniel Lang and Linda

Garcia, Angleton Board Office.
Fax: 1 979- 849-8741 Lynn F. Brown, Juanita

Gonzalez and Filiberto Reyna, Gatesville Board Office.
Fax: 1 254-865-2629

James E. Bush, Rissie Owens and LaFayette Collins, Huntsville Board Office.
Fax: 1 936-291-8367

James Paul Kiel, Jr., Brendolyn Rogers-Johnson, and Roy A. Garcia -- Palestine Board Office.
Fax: 1 903-723-1441

Alvin Shaw, Gerald Garrett, and Paddy Burwell, San Antonio Board Office.
Fax: 1 210-226-1114

To the Governor of Texas:

Governor Rick Perry c/o Bill Jones, General Counsel
P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711

Fax 1 512-463-1932 (General Counsel's Fax), or 463 1849

(Governor's fax) To the President:

• urging him to meet his obligation, under international law, to intervene to prevent this violation of international law, by calling on the Texas authorities to commute Gerald Mitchell's death sentence.

President George W. Bush
c/o Albert R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Fax: 1 202 456 6279 (Counsel's fax) or
1 202 456 2461 (President's fax).

Salutation: Dear Mr President

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

**************************************************

UA 220/01 Death penalty / Legal concern

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
web site address:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881

Motion for Stay

Click here (PDF Format)

October 11, 2001 - Gerald Mitchell's Successor State Petition for Habeas Corpus was Rejected

Today Gerald Mitchell's successor state ha beaus petition was rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals with three judges dissenting from denial of stay of execution. Now a petition will be filed at the US Supreme Court, which seeing no relief in Texas, may grant cert in Mitchell.

October 11-Texas

Execution stay denied juvenile killer
Houston Chronicle

The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday refused to stay the Oct. 22 execution of Gerald Lee Mitchell, who was 17 when he killed a man and stole his car during a drug deal in Houston.

Mitchell's age was a factor in his appeal. His lawyer, Stanley Schneider of Houston, will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution.

3 of the 9 Court of Criminal Appeals judges said they would grant the stay. They were Judges Paul Womack, Cheryl Johnson and Charles Holcomb. The court's 3-page order noted that all the issues challenging Mitchell's conviction and sentence had been raised before.

Mitchell, 33, was convicted of capital murder in the June 4, 1985, death of Charles Anthony Marino, 20. Marino, who had just completed Navy basic training, was shot with a sawed-off shotgun after he and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, tried to buy a small amount of marijuana from Mitchell. Fleming was seriously wounded.

Later that day, Mitchell shot and killed Hector Munguia, 18, while trying to steal his necklace.

Mitchell's case has not attracted nearly the attention given to Napolean Beazley, another juvenile offender whose execution was stayed last August by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Gov. Rick Perry's office received 332 letters from around the world opposing Beazley's execution.

Mitchell had a juvenile crime record for robbery, burglary and taking a pistol to school. Beazley had a clean record and came from a good family in tiny Grapeland when he and 2 friends drove to Tyler on March 17, 1995, looking to steal a luxury car.

The victim was John Luttig, the father of a federal appeals court judge in Virginia. Luttig was gunned down in his driveway as he and his wife returned home in their Mercedes.

The judge who presided over Beazley's trial and 18 state representatives have asked Perry to commute his sentence to life.

Mitchell wrote his own letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, according to The Associated Press. "I have come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17-year-young person," he wrote. "I have truly matured."

Amnesty International Report: "The day of my scheduled execution is fast approaching..." A plea for life and respect for international law.

Click here

Reuters

Activists Say Upcoming Texas Execution Breaks Law

Death penalty opponents on Thursday accused Texas of violating international law by planning to execute next week a man who committed murder when he was 17.

Unless he gets a stay, Gerald Mitchell, now 33, is due to receive a lethal injection on Monday for the June 4, 1985, shooting death of Charles Marino, 20, during a drug deal gone bad.

Death penalty opponents told reporters that the case violates international law because the United States is the only country that permits the execution of people for crimes they committed before they were 18.

They said all other nations have signed accords or accepted the notion that juvenile criminals should be protected from capital punishment.

"We stand alone in the world in killing children," Mitchell attorney Tom Moran said at a news conference.

A similar controversy arose in August when Napoleon Beazley, now 25, barely escaped execution for a murder he committed at 17. A Texas appellate court granted a stay a few hours before he was to die and still has the case under consideration.

Texas is the nation's most active death penalty state, with 252 executions since the Supreme Court lifted a national ban on capital punishment in 1976.

It is also 1 of only 5 states that allows execution of juvenile criminals and is a frequent target of anti-death penalty groups.

Moran said the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had been asked to commute Mitchell's death sentence to life in prison. Also, a motion to stay the execution was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"We're asking the court to say that international law just simply forbids it," he said.

Texas officials have not directly responded to that contention but have demonstrated their apparent disagreement by executing a number of people who committed murder before they turned 18.

Along with the age issue, Mitchell supporters say he did not get a fair trial because is black and was sentenced by an all-white jury. Mitchell was convicted and sentenced to die in April 1986.

"Personally, I don't think an all-white jury is a jury of one's peers (in this case)," said Dave Atwood, director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Marsha Mitchell, sister of the condemned man, said her brother had become religious in prison and was "hanging in there" as he awaited his fate.

"I guess he's come to terms with the fact that he may die Monday," she said. "He's praying for the best, but he's expecting the worst. We all are."

Clemency, reprieve denied for killer set to die Monday -- Inmate was 17 at time of slaying during drug deal in Houston

October 21-Dallas Morning Star.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday unanimously rejected requests for clemency and a reprieve for condemned killer Gerald Mitchell, who is set to die next week.

Mr. Mitchell, 33, faces lethal injection Monday for a 1985 murder in Houston. He was 17 at the time of the slaying, and his execution has once again focused attention on the execution of inmates condemned for crimes committed before they were 18.

The parole board, in a pair of 18-0 votes completed Friday, refused the clemency request filed by his attorneys, as well as a request for a 30-day reprieve.

Mr. Mitchell was condemned for a fatal shooting and robbery during a drug deal in Houston on June 4, 1985. He does not deny his involvement in the crime, 1 of 2 murders he committed that day. He also shot and wounded a 3rd man the same day.

He would be the 19th U.S. prisoner to be executed since 1976 for a murder committed when the killer was younger than 18. He would be the 10th in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, where he is among 31 death row inmates who were 17 at the time of their crime.

Mr. Mitchell's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the punishment, contending it would violate international law.

"We want the world to support us in our quest for what we consider justice," one of his lawyers, Stanley Schneider, said Friday.

Mr. Mitchell's attorneys argue the United States is alone in its refusal to bar execution of people convicted of capital crimes committed when they are under 18.

Gerald Mitchell Executed

OCTOBER 22, 20:18 EDT

Man Who Killed While Teen Executed

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A man who spent nearly half of his life on death row was executed by injection Monday night for a murder he committed at the age of 17.

Before he was put to death, Gerald Mitchell apologized to the mother of his victim.

"I am sorry for the pain. I am sorry for the life I took from you. I ask God for forgiveness and I ask you for the same," the 33-year-old convicted killer said, looking at Diane Marino, whose son Charles was killed by Mitchell.

He then turned to his family and friends, advising them to be strong. His sister, Marsha, sobbed and slid to her knees on the floor of the witness area.

By the time he was arrested for shooting three people in 1985, killing two of them, Mitchell had a history of robbery and theft and had been expelled from an alternative school. Mitchell's attorneys, some mental health groups and death penalty opponents had contended his age at the time of the crime should have kept him from the Texas death chamber.

"Execution should not be the consequence of juvenile crime, no matter how horrendous," said Michael Faenza, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia-based National Mental Health Association.

Mitchell's lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to block his execution, arguing that the penalty would violate international law. The high court on Monday turned down the request to delay the execution.

"It is impossible to ignore this widespread recognition by applicable international bodies and officials," his lawyers wrote in their petition to the high court.

Congress, however, never has ratified provisions in treaties that would bar capital punishment for those convicted of crimes when they were less than 18.

But in asking for a review of the case by the high court, Mitchell's lawyers contended customary international law is law in the United States and that a "clear international consensus" has developed against execution of people under the age of 18 at the time of their offense.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant's rights were not violated when the death sentence was imposed on a murder convict who was at least 16 at the time of the offense. And Texas law allows the death sentence to be imposed on those convicted of capital murder at age 17.

Mitchell was condemned for killing Marino, 20, in June 1985. Marino was fatally shot after he and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, tried to buy $1 worth of marijuana from Mitchell, court records show. That same day, Mitchell shot and killed Hector Munguia, 18, while trying to rob him.

Mitchell had received two 60-year sentences for the Munguia and Fleming shootings.

This was the second capital punishment case involving a teenager in recent months in Texas.

But Mitchell's case has failed to attract the global attention given in August to fellow inmate Napoleon Beazley, who was spared hours before he was to have been put to death for killing the father of a federal appeals court judge when he was 17.

"I think everyone's attention has been drawn to the terrorist attack," said David Atwood of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "It's sometimes difficult to focus your attention on these local issues."

Letters for Clemency

• Petition for Clemency click here (PDF Format)

• European Union Appeal for Clemency
  • Letter to Gerald Garrett, Chairman Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
  • Letter to Governor Perry, Chairman State Capitol Office of the Governor
• Council of Europe Appeal for Clemency click here (PDF Format)
• American Bar Association clemency letter click here

• National Mental Health Alliance click here
• Children's Defense International click here
• Children's Defense Fund click here
• Human Rights Watch click here
• Child Welfare League click here

Project Overview | Execution Calendar | Juveniles | Foreign Nationals | Mental Retardation
Mental Illness | Brief Bank, General Resources & Statistics | Training & Events | Externships

Terms of Use and Privacy Statement

Web Development and Maintenance by: