said doing the right thing was easy or pain free. Hopefully Foster will choose to make his life a lesson to others, but I don't hold a lot hope there. I am totally amazed that his sentence was commuted.

This is a major step backwards in the global war on terrorism. Nathan Lewin has argued very persuasively that the only effective countermeasure against suicide bombers is the execution of all immediate family members of the perpetrators.

you old Irish Catholic reprobate.

http://mauberly.blogspot.com/

It's been said that those who choose justice over mercy don't know justice.

Well Foster put out the bait and everyone bit it. The Foster campaign put out a story that made him an "unkowing bystander" and everyone fell for it. I was at the trial everyday. I was friends with Michael LaHood since I was 10 years old so I know everything about the case and the scene of the crime. There is NOT A CELL in my body that doubts that Foster knew of the intent to commit a violent crime when he followed Mary Patrick home (who was following Michael). At 2AM out in the middle of nowhere he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. This was PROVED in a court of law to 12 impartial people. Their plan was to rob the girl or maybe worse. Imagine if Michael wasn't there what they would have done to an attractive girl who was all alone in the middle of nowhere. This decision wasn't about upholding the law or justice, this was about politics. If Perry wants to move forward he has to be seen as a compassionate conservative. With a 6-1 vote, he had no choice (Politically). Foster made himself a victim. It was a story that worked for him, that people bought. Find anywhere on his site where it states he was on probation for shooting 2 people prior. Find on his site, where he turned the car around at the home intentionally even though the street continued on for as long as the eye can see. Find where Brown (the shooter) got out with a bandana over his face when he approached the girl & LaHood. You will find it NOWHERE, even though this was ALL part of the trial. Why? Because he didn't want YOU to. How would he get sympathy from people if they knew everything. He spoke his "message" and people like the Sean Paul, the media, & democratic state reps were his disciples who spread it.
On a personal note, I feel SP was used like a pawn for Foster. His name was used as all over the place like all of Mikes friends didn't want Foster to be executed. Mike had 2300 people at his Funeral, he had a lot of friends, but for just 1 (SP) to do interviews without telling media to speak to the family or his real close friends was irresponsible. SP, you have a right to your opinion, but your opinion was backed up by information given to you by Foster. You did not attend the trial nor did you research any information about Foster. If you write an opinion back it up with hard facts. That is what a good journalist does. You even state that you do not "know the extent of Kenneths involvement that night or if he was just along for the ride" If you don't know then don't give an opinion on what his punishment should be.

If you weren't at the trial and out of the country during the trial for a year or so, please don't give your opinion. Especially if you are getting the information from the Foster campaign.

Foster played everyone, I am just disappointed in myself that I took him and the activists for granted until it was too late. Thanks for spreading the lies over my best friends murder.

Justice to me is not vengence or mercy. Justice is about the truth and upholding the truth.
Foster got off once after shooting 2 people himself, then look at what he did with that chance. Now, he has a chance to kill or mame again.

Dday

<he is pretty cocky when he shouldn't be, I guess he forgot how to use a pen or pencil

Texas Inmate Spared Hours Before Death

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 12, 2007

Filed at 7:30 a.m. ET

BEEVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Kenneth Foster, the only condemned Texas inmate to win a commutation from Gov. Rick Perry without the prodding of a court, believes other miracles may be headed his way.

''I don't feel I've come this far to stop here,'' Foster said from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice McConnell Unit, about 100 miles south of San Antonio. ''I think something more is going to happen... I don't know where it's going to come from, but I do believe it's going to happen.''

The 31-year-old Foster's new sentence, along with the time he's already been imprisoned, mean he won't be eligible for parole until 2036.

But at least he's alive.

He was in his cell on death row, expecting the parole board to answer his plea for mercy two days before his Aug. 30 scheduled execution for being present at a fatal shooting in San Antonio. Foster claimed he was in the car when a robbery turned deadly and had no idea his companions intended to kill anyone.

His death sentence brought protests -- and ultimately the state's decision to spare him -- because he was condemned under the state's law of parties, in which anyone involved in a crime is held equally responsible regardless of his or her role.

When his execution was to be held in 24 hours, prison officials and a squad of guards showed up outside his death row cell.

''They asked me to come out,'' he recalled. ''I didn't know what was going on. As I was coming out, it was like a frenzy out there.

''I laid down on the ground. I told them I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where we're going. I was supposed to have my last visits the next day.''

Concerned about protests, prison officials altered their usual schedule and planned to take him early to the death chamber in Huntsville, 45 miles away. He'd get his final visits with relatives there, they told him.

''I was pretty upset,'' Foster said. ''I couldn't say I trusted their word. I was calling them terrorists. They were terrorizing me.''

He was driven to the Huntsville Unit in a four-vehicle caravan.

''It's real dark,'' he said of the holding cell just outside the death chamber. ''It's like a catacomb. It's like a dungeon, almost medieval-like.''

The morning of his scheduled execution, he was permitted a visit with his Dutch wife and an attorney.

His father unexpectedly walked in just before noon.

''He goes: '6-1.' He was ecstatic, crying,'' Foster said. That was the parole board vote for commutation.

It ''might be your lucky day,'' a prison official said.

Then the warden walked up, a cell phone in his ear, and told Foster his sentence was being commuted.

''I said: 'Right now?' He said: 'Right now.'

''I dropped and said a prayer,'' Foster said. ''I was thinking about giving thanks.''

He was whisked back to death row, where people offered congratulations.

''They got me out of there quick,'' he said. ''And I was happy to go, too.''

Foster and a companion, Mauriceo Brown, were tried for the Aug. 15, 1996, shooting of Michael LaHood on the driveway of LaHood's home in San Antonio. Foster insisted he was 80 feet away in a car, had no idea Brown was going to kill LaHood and didn't participate in the shooting.

A Bexar County jury convicted Foster and Brown of capital murder and sentenced both to death. Brown was executed last year.

Perry, a staunch capital punishment supporter, said the commutation was the ''right and just decision'' in this case. He said he was troubled that the men had been tried together.

More than 17,000 messages of support for Foster were sent to the governor and the parole board.

''How can 17,285 people be stupid?'' Foster asked. ''How could all those people be wrong?''

Twelve messages called for his execution, and LaHood's relatives accused Perry of bowing to political pressure.

He said he planned to write Perry and the parole board thank-you letters but his typewriter broke.

''I appreciate it,'' Foster said of Perry's decision. ''He did a good thing.''

Life is dramatically different. On death row, inmates are in near total isolation, even spending their daily hour of recreation by themselves. Meals are served in the cells.

Now he gets some meals in a prison day room.

''Even the food is better,'' he said, reveling over the butter on his breakfast tray. ''I hadn't seen butter for years.''

Despite the publicity over his case, he said only a few inmates and officers were aware of his past.

''I'm not so talkative,'' he said. ''It's a positive thing because I like to stay out of the mix of things.''

But when asked about his history, he'll volunteer: ''I just got off death row.''

''That's kind of a conversation starter,'' he laughed.