East-Green, 26, says she immediately was drawn to the articulate young man with a boyish face and engaging smile who had grown deeply religious, introspective and remorseful about his past.
This was no one night stand. East-Green would trade duties with co-workers so she and Green could be together.
"We talked about everything. He has a very positive attitude. He never lets his situation get him down," she said. "He's not the same person that he was. I would not have fallen in love with that person."
When the prison found out, she had to leave her job. They got married, and she visits him every week--usually with Gabriela. (Death row inmates are only allowed one visit a week.) Of their relationship now, she says:
"We're so in tune; I know what he's thinking. It's like we finish each other's sentences."
Gabriela doesn't yet know about the execution date. Edward is going to tell her if he doesn't get a stay.
Edward Green just turned 18 at the time of his crime. By 19, he was on death row. By killing him, we create one more victim, a little girl who her mother describes this way:
"She always hogs the phone," East-Green said. "And she'll just stop the conversation and say, 'Daddy, I love you.' "
Here is a petition to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to use his power of reprieve to save Edward's live. Among the petiton's grounds:
...even though the jury deadlocked during sentencing deliberations, an automatic life sentence was not applied as it should have been, apparently because defense counsel neglected to raise the issue at trial. Further, the Trial Court neglected to explain various vital definitions to the jury even when the jury requested same, and that had the jury been properly advised, their deadlock might have resulted in the automatic life sentence.
Update: If John Kerry is elected President....
Should Sen. John F. Kerry be elected in November, the United States would have as president its strongest opponent of the death penalty in at least the last half-century, capital punishment opponents believe. Kerry would be "the most anti-death penalty president elected in the modern era," according to David Elliot of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
