Please stop the execution of Troy Kunkle

Troy Kunkle *05/27/66


The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Troy Kunkle on July 7, 2004 for the murder of Stephen Horton in 1984. Troy Kunkle and four others were high on Alcohol and LSD, were looking for someone to rob and found Stephen Horton. Stephen Horton was lured into the car, and after a short trip Troy Kunkle shot Horton in the back of the head. Eyewitnesses said, Troy Kunkle recited lyrics from the Heavy Metal Band "Metallica":"Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath". Also they said, Troy Kunkle called the murder "beautiful".

It is an undisputed fact that this was a terrible crime. And we, the undersigned, feel very much sympathy for Mary and Nolan Horton, Stephen's parents, and for his two daughters. No one can comprehend the pain they have suffered.

But we also oppose the use of the death penalty in all cases on humanitarian grounds and in this case on following grounds, too:

1.The media concentrate in their reporting on the crime only on the following things: Alcohol, LSD and the lyrics by "Metallica". They didn't concentrate on also Troy Kunkle's difficult youth. So the jury was negative influenced.

2.Another very important influence was and is till now the southern protestant fundamentalism. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth"...But the message of God and of the Bible is love, not revenge.

3.The 8th. Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

4.An execution would be in violation of the right to life as proclaimed in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

5.Troy Kunkle was under the influence of Alcohol and LSD. So it is doubtful whether the murder was really willfull murder.

6.Troy Kunkle was 18 and had neither a criminal record as an adult nor as a juvenile.

7.Troy Kunkle's trial counsel failed to prepare and present mitigating evidence in the punishment phase of the trial. Also the trial counsel failed to discover an expert report claiming that he suffered from psychological problems.

8.Troy Kunkle's father was in the military and disciplined his son as if he was a soldier. One time the father threw Troy Kunkle down so hard it bruised his spleen. The mother was in a psychiatric hospital because she tried to choke Troy Kunkle, shortly after he was born.

9.Troy's younger brother died in a motor-cycle crash only a few months after his arrest, and his father died from diabetes at the age of 42. And now, the only child of Troy's mother is going to be executed on July 7th.

On the basis of these grounds we urgently request that you, Governor Perry, commute the death sentence of Troy Kunkle.