TEXAS DEATH ROW FOR DRUG DEAL

Dear Ann Landers:

I am on death row in Texas for a drug deal gone bad. I have been a longtime
reader of your column, and hope you will print my letter for your young
readers. It may not be too late for many of them.

I cannot find the words to explain the feeling of emptiness I get from the
smothering confines of this steel cage I call home. I have been in and out
of prison since I was 18 years old, but my problems started long before
that. When I entered junior high school, I began smoking dope, cutting
classes and hanging out with the wrong crowd. I drifted along, not making
any plans for my future. I thought, "Let other people worry about things
like that, I'll just have fun." I didn't realize it at the time, but I was
headed down a road I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams.

For those who are reading this letter, if you are hanging out with a bad
crowd, doing drugs, thinking you will get it together eventually--BEWARE.
You are going down the wrong road. Get off that road NOW and find the
strength to change. I was once just a kid in a little trouble, and now, I am
on death row. It is too late for me to go back and change the decisions that
sent me down the wrong path. I only hope it isn't too late for you.

Steven in Huntsville, Tex.

Thank you for a letter that could change lives. You have performed a
wonderful service by writing to me. And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to
use your letter as an opportunity to speak my piece.

I have long opposed the death penalty no matter how heinous the crime.
According to the Chicago Tribune, 125 homicide convictions have been
reversed in Illinois over the past 20 years due to misconduct by
prosecutors. Nationally, 381 homicide convictions have been overturned since
1963. And this does not include prisoners who were executed but may have
been innocent. How does the state make amends for such a miscarriage of
justice? In my opinion, no excuse is good enough.