...
A man named Robert Carter confessed to the crime but the prosecutor
wasn't satisfied with his confession. The prosecutor believed there
was another person involved in the crime. To prove his theory, the prosecutor
threatened to indict Carter's wife...Unless Carter named an accomplice.
The
first of many stories that Carter gave the police, resulting in my arrest,
was that I wanted a girl to have sex with. Within hours, I was arrested
and charged with capital murder. I was interrogated for hours, and continued
to plead my innocence. I continued to tell the officers that I didn't
know anything about the crime, but they insisted that I did and attempted
to coerce a false statement from me.
Three
weeks later, at the Grand Jury hearing, Robert Carter voluntarily went
to speak to the prosecutor, against his attorney's advice, and told
them that he had lied, and that Anthony Graves was innocent. Robert
told them that he had made the whole story up, because he was scared.
Robert told the prosecutor that one Texas Ranger told him that if he
told who did it they would let him go.
When
I spoke to the Grand Jury, I told them I was innocent. I also told them
that if they had further questions they could call me back and I would
come back without an attorney. I didn't feel that I needed an attorney
because I hadn't done anything wrong. My alibi witness and her parents
testified to the Grand Jury about my whereabouts on the night of the
crime....Two weeks later, I was given a bond hearing , at the hearing
, a jailer and some local police officers said that they heard me make
incriminating statements against myself in the holding cell. I was denied
bond because of these statements. A few weeks later I was indicted by
the Grand Jury on Capital Murder charges....I waited over two years
for my trial to start. Robert Carter's trial was first , in the early
part of 1994..He was found guilty of Capital Murder and sentenced to
die by lethal injection.
On
October 20, 1994 my trial began. Robert Carter was brought in as a witness
for the prosecution and he testified against me, giving a whole different
story than the one that got me arrested. Robert told the adult court
that one of the victims had gotten a promotion at work that my mother
should have gotten. Carter testified that I got him and we went together
to the house of the victims..Robert Carter said he knocked on the door
to talk to the adult victim, and spent about 30 minutes talking to her,
and then said he had something in his car that he wanted her to see.
He said that then he came out to the car to get me..Robert Carter testified
that I went into the house and started shouting at the woman, and when
he came back in the house there was blood everywhere.
During
the trial it came out that a deal was made with Robert Carter. If Robert
testified against me , the prosecutor would not charge Robert's wife
and if the charges against Robert were reversed they would not seek
the death penalty against him again.
The
first story that Robert gave the police, resulting in my arrest, was
that I wanted to have sex with a girl. So he took me to the house and
I ran inside. Robert said he was outside and heard screaming and came
into the house and saw blood everywhere and got some gasoline and set
the house on fire.
A
few years before the crime took place , a former employer of mine had
given me a knife as a gift. My employee had bought one for himself also.
An investigator found out that I had once owned a knife., but had lost
it two years before the murders. So the prosecutor got the ex-employer's
knife, and testified in court that it fit the wounds of the victims,
claiming that the knife I used to own could have possibly been the murder
weapon. The actual murder weapon was never found, and therefore never
tested. But a knife owned by someone else was used to convict me.
My
alibi witness was at the trial to testify that she was with me at my
mother's house on the night of the crime..Just before my state appointed
attorney was about to call my alibi witness to the stand, the prosecutor
asked the Judge to clear the Jury out of the courtroom so that he could
put something in the record outside the presence of the Jury. The Judge
granted his request...When the Jury was cleared from the court room,
the prosecutor said that my alibi witness had become a suspect in the
crime...The prosecutor went on to say that if my alibi witness chose
to testify, it was possible that they would seek an indictment of Capital
Murder against her. My attorney was so surprised that he went out the
court room and told my alibi witness what the prosecutor had just said..She
was so frightened that she refused to testify. She refused to even come
in the court room again. She had previously testified at a Grand Jury
proceeding that I had been with her from the night before the killings
to the following dawn. The prosecutor was present at the proceeding,
questioned my alibi witness, and knew the substance of what she would
testify to at the trial.She further testified that I never left her
side., and that she never saw me with Robert Carter, nor did she and
I leave my mother's apartment from the night before to the morning after
the killings.
My
state appointed attorney was ineffective, becoming unraveled at the
prosecutors threat. My attorney should have called my alibi witness
to the stand about why she would not testify on my behalf. The lack
of her testimony led the jury to believe that I was lying.
During
closing arguments, the prosecutor asked the Jury, "Where is this
alibi witness that Mr. Graves claims to have been with"? " Why wasn't
she here to testify ??"
In
more than 7 years since the trial, my alibi witness has never been charged,
indicted, arrested, or publicly discussed outside the court as a suspect
in these killings. No evidence , forensic, physical, testimony, or otherwise,
ever materialized to remotely connect my alibi witness with these events,
other than her alibi of me.
My
brother, testified that he was with us at our mother's house that night,
and that we had all stayed up late that night talking....The testimony
of my mother's supervisor made it absolutely clear that my mother had
never even applied for the job to which the adult victim had been promoted.
They worked in the same institution, but were employed in different
capacities there. The prosecutor lost it's " motive"...Robert Carters
step-daughter testified that her step dad didn't even know me and that
I had not visited their house since he had been married to her mother.
One
of Robert Carter's neighbors testified that he had never seen me around
Robert's house and that he had never seen Robert and I together.
On
November 1, 1994, I was convicted of the murders and sentenced to die
for a crime I did not commit...On January 13, 1995, I was granted a
hearing on a petition for a new trial...During the hearing, my alibi
witness took the stand and testified that she and I had been together
the whole night that this crime was committed . She told them she hadn't
testified at the trial because the prosecutor threatened her. The Judge
denied the motion for a new trial...My case was sent to the State Court
of Criminal Appeals. And on April 23, 1997, the Court of Criminal Appeals,
in an unpublished opinion, affirmed my case.
November
12, 1997 and December 1, 1997, I was granted an evidentiary hearing
at this hearing, Dr. Harold Gill-King, director of the laboratory for
Human Identification and Forensic Anthropology , testified that a person
can manipulate a blade once it is in the wound, and the methods used
to test this twin knife were unreliable. He said the methods they used
had altered the evidence , and that such tests could lead to false or
misleading impressions of what the evidence actually showed. He also
stated that the conclusions drawn from the testing were ill founded
and not reliable.
Robert
Carter recanted his testimony and stated that Anthony Graves is innocent
of the crime on viseo tape and in a written statement. He also said
that he repeatedly told the investigators , the prosecutor and his attorney
of my actual innocence. But no one would listen to him. His recanted
testimony was admitted to the court during the evidentiary hearing but
because he wasn't there to be crossed examined by the prosecutor , the
Judge would not admit it as evidence , nor would he allow the video
taped statement into evidence.
All
the new evidence was filed into my state habeas , and presented to the
court of appeal, except Carter's recantations. After reviewing my case,
the court set aside a rare date for oral argument in front of the nine
Judges . On February 3, 2000, the court of criminal appeal ruled against
my case. Two of the Judges said that my case should have been granted
relief.
Robert
Carter was executed on May 31, 2000. In his last statement,
he said that " Anthony Graves did not have any part in the murders
and was not present before, during, or after I committed the multiple
murders at the Davis home ..."
On
May 18, he also gave an 85 page deposition to the court about my innocence
.Also, he said that the night before my trial he had told the prosecutor,
investigators, and his own attorney, that he did not want to testify
against me because I was innocent. The prosecutor never told my attorney
this information.
I
sit on death row today, waiting to be executed for a crime I did not
commit. There was no evidence against me. I didn't even know the victims.
I barely knew who Carter was. I was not involved in those murders.
My
case has never been investigated. I have always had court appointed
defense attorneys who were not allowed the money that is necessary to
investigate a crime of this magnitude. Currently, I have a good court
appointed attorney but with very limited funds. There is only so much
he can do.
I
am literally fighting for my life. I am asking for your help.
Please
help Save my Life!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Anthony
Graves
|
Robert
Carter's Last Words :
Date of Execution: May 31, 2000
Offender: Carter, Robert #999091
Last Statement: To the Davis family, I am sorry for all of the
pain that I caused your family. It was me and me alone. Anthony
Graves had nothing to do with it. I lied on him in court. My wife
had nothing to do with it. Anthony Graves don't even know anything
about it. My wife don't know anything about it. But, I hope that
you can find your peace and comfort in strength in Christ Jesus
alone. Like I said, I am sorry for hurting your family. And it
is a shame that it had to come to this. So I hope that you don't
find peace, not in my death, but in Christ. Cause He is the only
one that can give you the strength that you need. And to my family,
I love you. Ah, you have been a blessing to me and I love you
all and one day I will see y'all, so I hope y'all find y'all peace,
comfort, and strength in Christ Jesus alone, because that's where
it's at. Abul, behold your son, and Anitra, behold your mother.
I love you. I am ready to go home and be with my Lord
|
Update
: The federal court granted an habeas corpus in March 2006.
A
new trial trial is scheduled on October 2010
