Washington, DC - Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney met with reporters today to call for a stay of execution in the case of Frances Newton, who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 14, 2005, at 6 pm Central Standard Time.

According to the editors of the Austin American Statesman "The public cannot be certain of [Frances Newton's] guilt, but she's going to die for the crime anyway. Newton was denied a basic requirement for a fair trial - a competent lawyer." Unless granted a stay of execution, Newton would be the first African-American woman killed in Texas since Reconstruction.

"There are clear grounds for giving Ms. Newton a new trial," said McKinney.  "We have a case where a second gun in the murder has been found, one that was never tested in a crime lab and was never linked to Ms. Newton.  The Harris County crime lab itself is notorious for botching cases.  Thus it is entirely possible, and even appears that it may be likely, that the State of Texas is going to murder an innocent woman today, unless she is granted a reprieve.  If innocent, then we have a woman who lost her family, who spent 16 years on death row and who will receive the ultimate punishment of judicial murder.  I urge, no I DEMAND, that the authorities of the State of Texas and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant a reprieve and start the paperwork rolling for a new trial."