I have a recording of his last interview before he was murdered by the state.
He said, "You know mama, I got off track for just three months and it ruined my whole life."
He did.
I always enjoy and feel joyful when speaking about him.
He was kind of quiet,
very athletic, excelled in whatever he did.
And he played the violin.
He liked the violin.
So when I was called with the news that he had been arrested, I was shocked.
Lee Greenwood is the mother of Joseph Nichols, a man convicted of murder and executed in
Texas as a result of the Law of Parties.
The Law of Parties states that a person can be criminally responsible for the actions
of another in certain circumstances.
This law seeks to punish criminal associations and impose harsh penalties for even being
linked to a felony through a conspiracy or planned crime.
This means that while Joseph's accomplice pled guilty and was executed for the killing,
Joseph was eventually retried and suffered the same consequences as the man who was initially
convicted of firing the fatal shot.
Do you recall a time that you or Joseph were ever hopeful?
We were always hopeful.
I came here
with the idea we will soon be out of this.
I was told by various attorneys that I spoke to in California, in San Diego, he may have
done six months at California Youth Authority.
Maybe.
Because he had no record, he may have even gotten probation.
But I soon learned that the thing about justice was a farce.
Especially in Harris County, Houston, Texas.
They tried Joseph, the jury was a hung jury.
They said that they were hung on the punishment phase.
They found him guilty under the Law Parties.
But they said that they could not sentence him to life imprisonment nor the death penalty
because he had not been the shooter.
He had not fired the fatal shot.
They tried him, no new evidence, nothing different.
They tried him and they got a conviction and they sent him to death row.
Joseph was executed in Harris County, Texas, on March 7th, 2007.
Twenty five years after his arrest.
Joseph said in the last days, "Lady, stand on your faith and be at peace.
I got this."
If he could say that, who am I to dishonor him by falling on the floor, rolling and flailing
and crying and all of that.
The day that we went to visit Joseph for the last time, which was a Wednesday, we were
turned toward a big window, and when they opened the curtains they had already strapped
him down on the gurney.
And there was a microphone over the gurney.
They allowed us to hear his heartbeat until it was no more.
After he was murdered, I got a, and I still have— it's a box, a little cylinder, full
of Tootsie Rolls.
I hate chocolate,
full of Tootsie Rolls.
And it had a balloon on top and it was from several inmates.
They had gotten someone to buy that for them and send it to me saying he had either helped
them learn how to read because they couldn't read very well, he helped them read and understand
their case.
He helped them with their diction and how to write certain things about their case.
This is the type person he was.
What is your hope for the future
in sharing Joseph's story and also for criminal justice reform?
I think that I will not be alive to see a lot of reform.
I think that Texas will be the last one to go down if they ever abolish the death penalty.
They'll go down screaming.
And I think a lot of people will not admit that there really is a problem because they
just might have to get up off their behinds and be a part of the solution.
If it makes one person, not maybe change their idea or their, or the way they look at the
death penalty.
If it just makes them start thinking.
It won't bring Joseph back.
But Joseph doesn't have to be brought back in the body.
He's here and in his family and his friends' minds and hearts every day.