Memorial For Bruce Charles Jacobs
Executed May 15, 2003
Dear Friends,
I hope this e-mail reaches each of you having an exceptionally good day.
I'm as well as my situation and this cruel place will allow. Needless to
say, I could be much better, but considering the fact
that I am an innocent man condemned to the ultimate injustice,.punishment
of death, I am blessed.
I regret that this e-mail will be bad news. Actually, it will be
quite disturbing news. There are no words to describe the
absolute depression and helplessness I am feeling right now, but I'm sure
my feelings are by far overshadowed by those
of Bruce Charles Jacobs. Bruce is a mentally ill man that, barring a miracle,
will be strapped to the Texas killing machine
on May 15th. Just another mentally ill and probably mentally retarded person
to be exterminated by the State of Texas!
I'm writing this with the permission of Bruce, who according to his court
appointed attorney is not mentally retarded but is incompetent to make decisions
or give anyone permission to do anything. This same attorney, James Volberding,
refuses to pursue a stay of execution on the basis of mental retardation.
Voberding seems to have an unhealthy, bizarre desire for him
and his assistant to watch his client, Bruce, be killed. Hopefully, Bruce
refuses his ineffective lawyer's request to be present.
Let me tell you just a little bit about Bruce so you have an idea what
kind of human beings the state is killing. He was a
forceps baby, which is a practice no longer used, because it often killed
the baby or caused severe trauma and brain
damage. His mother immediately after birth said, I couldn't have given birth
to something like that. Throughout Bruce's
life his mother refused to accept him as her son. His father said, "His
head looked like a lopsided watermelon." Both his
brother and father describe Bruce as mentally retarded and not quite right
in the head." His father said, "When Bruce was
a child we had to keep him fenced in the yard so that he wouldn't hurt any
other kids." He further stated, "Bruce had many health problems other than
the mental illness and he's a dwarf because of a glandular problem."
Bruce Jacobs is a 56-year old man, who weighs about one hundred and twenty-five
pounds and can barely walk due to a "degenerative bone disease" that has
completely destroyed one of his hips. In addition to barely being able to
walk, he is
nearly blind. I ask you, could a man like this be a "continuing threat to
society" or to a "prison society?" What is the purpose
of killing him? Is it vengeance or justice?
Bruce was convicted of stabbing a 16-year old boy to death, but there is
reason to suspect that he may very well be innocent
of the crime. There is no physical evidence linking him to the murder, although
Bruce admits he was there when it happened
and says, "I was having a relationship with the boy's mother and was invited
there for a party." The victim's mother denied
all of this. She has reason to lie! She's a married woman! When Bruce was
asked how he could prove he knew the woman
and was having a relationship with her he said, "There's a birthmark in her
genital area," and went on to describe the birthmark. Bruce described it
perfectly, but as always the prosecution maneuvered around that by saying,
"He guessed she had a
birthmark there." That's amazing! How could anyone guess something like that?
Even if Bruce did commit this crime, he
cannot remember it. As his father said, "I doubt Bruce is capable of knowing
whether he did it or not."
When I asked Bruce about his life, he became very emotional and said, "They
didn"t love me or want anything to do with me. They used to drop me off
with other family members for months at a time, but they didn't want me
either."
Because he was worried that his attorney wouldn't do anything to save him,
Bruce asked for my help in filing a last minute appeal raising the issue
of mental retardation. When I asked Bruce what his IQ is, he told me, "It's
50. " I told him if he has
something that documents an IQ of 50, there shouldn't be any problem getting
a stay of execution. But a few days ago I reviewed all the documents pertaining
to Bruce and they show his IQ to be 77, which is seven points above what
is required
to get a stay of execution. Does that make him any less mentally retarded?
I don't think so! He thought his IQ was 50,
because he saw a global assessment score of 50.
The attorney, James Voberding, did file a "clemency petition," but it was
obviously a last minute thing with no effort put into
it at all. It's full of errors, spelling errors and misstatements. In describing
Bruces many medical problems, the attorney lists "degenerative bond disease."
Maybe the lawyer concocted this term himself, meaning Bruce does not bond
with others well,
but I think he meant "degenerative bone disease." Obviously the attorney
sees the clemency petition as the futile effort it is.
After all, according to the court and our wonderful, compassionate, conservative
governor, "there ain't no mentally retarded folks in Texas."
Bruce wasn't wanted or loved (as a baby, as a child or as an adult), because
he is a mentally ill, undesirable person. Now the State of Texas will extinguish
the life of this poor undesirable man. Where's the MERCY?
Obviously our hard earned tax dollars are efficient at eliminating undesirable
Iraqis, oh I'm sorry, liberating Iraqis and
removing undesirable, mentally ill human beings from the gene pool.
MERCY IS THE HIGHEST ATTRIBUTE OF MANKIND. But our ignorance is holding
up the evolving standards of
human decency.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO ANYONE INTERESTED.
Sincerely,
Michael Toney
AN INNOCENT MAN
3872 F.M. 350 South #314
Livingston, TX 77351
WEB SITE: www.michaelaim.org