Warren and Lois Green owned and operated a Western Auto Store in Mount Vernon, Alabama, a small town located approximately 30 miles north of Mobile. On December 1, 1977, (Warren's 40th birthday) they were murdered during a robbery of their store. They were forced into a back room, bound back to back with extension cords and shot in the head at point blank range. Warren was pronounced dead at the scene and Lois died about two hours later at a local hospital. They left behind one daughter who was sixteen years old at the time of their murders. Freddie Lee Wright was found guilty of the robbery and of their murders in 1979 and sentenced to die in Alabama's electric chair. He along with three other accomplices were on their way to another town 30 miles north of Mount Vernon to rob a store there when they stopped along the way at the Western Auto to purchase tape to repair a rip in the seat of their car. They made the decision to rob this store instead of going on to the other town. One of the items stolen was Warren's new Seiko watch his wife and daughter had given him the night before for his birthday. It was recovered at a pawn shop in Mobile.

Moratorium Now!

Freddie Lee Wright (Alabama)

On March 3, 2000, the State of Alabama, with the acquiescence of the federal government, executed Freddie Lee Wright in the electric chair. The state and federal governments failed to ensure Wright's right to a fair and impartial trial, free of racial discrimination. The unfair and racially discriminatory trial resulted in Wright's execution.

Crime

Warren and Lois Green, a white couple, were shot and killed during an armed robbery at their Western Auto Store in Mount Vernon, Alabama. A woman entering the store later identified Theodore Otis Roberts as one of the robbers and he was arrested. The state identified a handgun belonging to Roberts as the murder weapon. Months later, charges against Roberts were dropped and four other black men, including Freddie Lee Wright, were indicted in the case. Wright's three co-defendants named him as the shooter in the robbery, and he was tried and convicted of armed robbery and murder.

Salient Issues

Wright's first trial ended in a mistrial with eleven out of twelve jurors voting to acquit. - No physical evidence linked Wright to the crime. - Wright's co-defendants testified against him in exchange for receiving lesser sentences. Two of those co-defendants later recanted. One named another man as the killer. - The man who was originally arrested for the crime was never tried, even though his gun was identified as the murder weapon. - Key exculpatory evidence was suppressed by the prosecution. - The prosecution in Wright's second trial excluded all African-American persons from serving on the jury. - The detective who did much of the state's investigation admitted in court that he "bullshits his witnesses to get confessions" and that he lied to one of the co-defendants toward this end. - Two state Supreme Court justices voted to stay Wright's execution finding clear and convincing evidence of his innocence.

Trial

It took two trials to convict Freddie Lee Wright. The first trial, with a mixed-race jury, voted eleven to one in favor of acquittal, resulting in a mistrial. An all-white jury convicted him of armed robbery and capital murder in the second trial.

The prosecution in Wright's first trial relied on the testimony of two of his co-defendants. One later recanted his testimony, saying the prosecutor threatened him with the electric chair if he did not name Wright as the shooter. The other later provided a written affidavit saying that he, too, was pressured by the prosecution to name Wright. This second co-defendant named another man as the killer. In exchange for their testimony, both men were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges. One received a ten-year sentence and the other was permitted to serve his Alabama sentence concurrently with a sentence he had for another crime in Mississippi. The third man received a 25-year sentence but was later paroled. In spite of these witnesses' testimony at trial, a mixed-race jury voted eleven-to-one to acquit Wright of all charges, resulting in a mistrial. The same witnesses the state used to convict Freddie Wright were later deemed to be non-credible witnesses when they admitted that they had only fingered Wright to avoid the death penalty.

Wright's second trial took place before an all-white jury. The state's new witness was Doris Lambert, Wright's former girlfriend and the mother of their child. She claimed Wright had confessed his guilt to her, although in his first trial she had planned to testify for him, and was never called to the stand. The prosecution suppressed Lambert's history of drug addiction and mental illness. Also, Lambert reportedly received help regaining custody of her children in exchange for her testimony against Wright. Wright's lawyer claimed he had been unable to locate a key alibi witness, an insurance agent, with whom Wright did business shortly before the murders. The jury discounted the testimony of Wright's friends, who were with him in a club at the time of the murders. Wright was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.

Appeals

Wright's attorney continued to represent him in the appeals process, even after claims of ineffective representation were raised. Wright's attorney was subsequently disbarred. The District Attorney acknowledged that he should have disclosed evidence about Doris Lambert's psychiatric history and about deals made with Wright's co-defendants. In the course of denying Wright's habeas corpus petition, the U.S. District Court was critical of the state's conduct. The court also wrote that "numerous imperfections in the state court proceedings were revealed," that "some of these imperfections like the state's failure to disclose certain exculpatory materials - do not in any way deserve the blessing of this Court." However, it believed that a federal court was not the proper forum in which to re-try the case, so it denied relief and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The Eleventh Circuit found that virtually all of these claims were procedurally barred from review because they had not first been presented to the state courts. Two Alabama Supreme Court Justices voted to stay Wright's execution citing evidence that "his conviction resulted from a lack of a fair trial" and "the likelihood that we are sending an innocent man to his death." Wright was, nevertheless, executed on schedule.

Conclusion

Freddie Lee Wright was convicted despite compelling evidence of his innocence and overwhelming evidence that he failed to receive a fair and impartial trial, free from racial discrimination. The State of Alabama withheld information from defense lawyers. It failed to provide Wright with competent legal representation. It excluded all African-American persons from the jury in order to secure a conviction - a practice later found to be an unconstitutional form of racial discrimination. (Batson v. Kentucky) Nonetheless, both state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, upheld both Wright's conviction and his death sentence.

CCADP - Freddie Wright Homepage

SUMMARY OF FACTS RELATING TO MY INNOCENCE

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN WITH PROFOUND EXPRESSION OF MY REGARD.

I am a Alabama death row inmate that has nearly run the complete appellate gauntlet and am in dire need of any and all intervention. I have no doubt that because of recently publicized events in regards to death row inmates being found innocent of the crimes they have spent many years on death row for, the internet has been consumed by request such as my own. Any attempt on my part to distinguish my case, from the many others innocent death row inmates now being housed throughout the United States would be futile. I can only stress, that because my case/appeals have reached the 11th Circuit Court of appeals and the overwhelming demands for your type of assistance, my options have run out.

Below I have briefly summarize the facts relating to my innocence each and everyone can be verified in their totality . . .

(1). I was convicted of murder and robbery at a local Western Auto Store, two individuals were killed. Stock was removed from the store by the assailants. Several of the stolen items were eventually recovered. Another person Theodore Robinson was subsequently arrested and charged with these crimes.

(2). Ms. Charlene Tilton, at the time of the crime was the girlfriend of Mr. Robinson. Ms. Tilton gave a statement to Det. Stroh, which lead to Robinson's arrest, a weapon was discovered subsequent test of projectiles removed from the victims and test fired from the weapon by the Alabama Department of Forensic Science resulted in a "match".

(3). Ms. Mary Johnson, a patron of the local Western Auto Store was leaving the store as a man later identified as Mr. Robinson was entering. Ms. Johnson notices four (4), men in an automobile later identified as being owned by Robinson at the front entrance, a short period of time before the discovery of the victims. (a). Ms. Johnson, was summoned to testify at Mr. Robinson's preliminary hearing where she confirmed under oath the above. (b). Ms. Johnson has never testified to the above facts at any stage of my trials or hearing to this date.

(4). An individual whose name is unknown to myself, but was identified by the investigating officers as being in possession of items removed from the crime scene, identified Robinson as the person from whom he received the stolen goods. Inquiry into the investigative file will result in the accurate name of this individual.

(5). Roger McQueen and Percey Craig, initially implicated me as the shooter in this crime. Prior to trial both attempted to recanttheir statements. Their attempts were met with the threat of prosecution of this capital offense, which led them to again implicate me as an member of the ones who robbed the store.

(6). A third accomplice Mr. Regintal Tinsley, initially implicated me in this crime, but prior to trial on his own volition requested to give a statement to my trial counsel exonerating me of any involvement in this crime, before the prosecution had the chance to convince him otherwise.

(7). Additionally Mr. McQueen, stated under oath that we first met in the month of February 1978, some three (3) months after the crime occurred, making our participation in this crime together impossible.

(8). Ms. Doris Lambert, a former girlfriend of mine testified that during a June 1977 confession to her Catholic Priest stating that I confessed my involvement in this crime. The murder/robbery occurred six (6), months after her confession making her statement an obvious lie.

(9). The trial court judge issued an order for the exclusion of any and all testimony relating to Mr. Otis Theodore Robinson and his involvement in this crime. Which hindered my defense and the presentation of exculpatory evidence.

All of the above was requested vis motion of discovery by the defense counsel, but the prosecution and/or person having control and custody of these facts, either by act or lack of action failed to disclose the information which has lead to the technical exclusion otherwise known as procedural barring of evidence of my "actual innocence".

I am in desperately need of any and all help, if there is any additional information needed please do not hesitate to contact me. It's clear if I don't get help I am going' to lose my life, I await your response...

Sincerely, Freddie Lee Wright

Freddie's PENPAL REQUEST !

My name is Freddie Lee Wright, #Z-389, I am African-American, presently incarcerated on Alabama death row, since July 5, 1979. At the present time my future is looking pretty bleak, but I am still very much hopeful that things will change and my life won't end here by my being put to death. I am now down to my last two rounds of appeals. I hope my present situation won't keep any one from writing. I really need some one I can relate to doing whatever time I have left. I am 47 years old, born April 29, 1951, dark brown complexion, weight 229. Home town Mobile, Alabama. I am open-minded, with a good sense of humor, I am also sincere. My life may be ending but I still have a lot to offer through friendship in the way of touching others heart and minds, to enlighten them about myself and my many walks in life. I am interested in hearing from any one who is sincere, open-minded and down to earth. Age, sex, race or religion doesn't matter. Freddie Lee Wright

News Reports & Updates Re: Freddie Lee Wright

Mobile Register

Freddie Lee Wright, who came within one vote of being acquitted in his 1st capital murder trial 21 years ago, only to be convicted and condemned to die in a 2nd trial a month later, was executed in the state's electric chair early today at Holman Prison.

Wright, 48, convicted of the murders of a popular Mount Vernon couple in their hardware store in December 1977, was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m. He made no statement before his death.

Over 2 decades, Wright, a former cook and dishwasher from Mobile, who family members said grew up on the streets, maintained his innocence. He denied he was at the store the day Warren Green, 40, and his wife, Lois, 37, were slain. According to trial testimony, the Greens were each shot once in the head as they sat tied back-to-back in a rear room of their Western Auto store in Mount Vernon, about 30 miles north of Mobile.

Among the witnesses to Wright's execution was Kim Green, daughter of the slain couple. Other witnesses included Wendy Sancher Wright, the condemned man's wife, and Ryan Russell, a private investigator who had helped Wright through the years of appeals. Outside the prison gates, some 70 family members and friends of the Greens gathered to show support for Kim Green and pay their respects to her late parents. They stood in the cold in a cordoned-off area alongside the highway that runs in front of Holman, about a half-mile from the execution site. "One of the officers said this is very unusual to have this many people," said Kathy Simison, a friend of the Greens from Mount Vernon. "He said it was a testimony to them that this many family and friends would be here."

Wright's journey through the appeals process over the years was thwarted at every level. And in the last week, he saw his chances of surviving Friday morning depleted one by one as desperate appeals were turned down by the Alabama Supreme Court, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and, late Wednesday, Gov. Don Siegelman. "It is clear to me that the death penalty is appropriate in this case," Siegelman said in a prepared statement.

On Thursday, Wright spent time saying goodbye to relatives, including his wife Wendy Sancher, whom he married in a ceremony at Holman on Friday, said prison system spokesman John Hamm. He also met with the prison chaplain, Hamm said. Just hours before Wright's scheduled execution, McDonough had filed new appeals with the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for stays of execution. About 5 p.m., the state Supreme Court voted 7-2 to deny Wright's appeal. One of the dissenters was Justice Douglas Johnstone of Mobile, who wrote: "Whether Wright is electrocuted or injected seems insignificant compared to the likelihood that we are sending an innocent man to his death." At 9:30 p.m. the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal on a 5-4 vote, sealing Wright's fate. Wright's appeals over the years had been based largely on his lawyers argument that dying at the hands of the state in the electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment.

In a recent telephone interview with a New York radio station, Wright condemned capital punishment. "The death penalty itself, it's not about justice," Wright said. "It's about vengeance. I mean, and the bad part about vengeance is, most people believe in the system so strongly, even if it's an innocent man or when it's been evidence presented to show the person on death row is not the person who committed that crime. "We shouldn't have capital punishment, period, the way the scales of justice work," Wright told the radio audience. "I mean, it's not fair. It's not applied equally in no form or fashion. I mean, the way our system done changed now, a person, innocent, doesn't even matter any more."

The execution of another Alabama inmate, Robert Lee Tarver, was blocked last month by the U.S. Supreme Court when he challenged the state's use of the electric chair. But the court, on a 5-4 vote, later decided not to review the matter. Alabama's last execution was carried out Jan. 7 when David Ray Duren became the 20th person put to death in the state since it resumed executions in 1983.

Wright was convicted in Mobile County Circuit Court of shooting the Greens on Dec. 1, 1977, apparently to eliminate witnesses following an armed robbery. His admitted accomplices, Roger McQueen, Percy Craig and Reginald Tinsley, all testified that Wright fired the fatal shots. All 3 subsequently were convicted of murder. Craig and Tinsley served their time and are now believed to be living in the Mobile area. McQueen is serving time in a federal prison on an unrelated kidnapping conviction. When McQueen has finished the kidnapping sentence, McDonough said, he will be returned to Alabama to begin serving the murder sentence for his part in the hardware slayings. Wright's 1st trial, before a mixed-race jury ended with the panel unable to reach a unanimous decision. The vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal.

At his retrial a month later, an all-white jury convicted Wright, a black man, of capital murder and sentenced him to death. According to court records, Doris Lacey Lambert, Wright's former girlfriend and the mother of his child, testified at the second trial that the day after the murders, Wright told her "he had went out with some of his friends ... to Mount Vernon and that he killed two people with a gun." Lambert had not testified at the first trial.

McDonough said evidence of Lambert's psychiatric history, in possession of the Mobile County district attorney's office during the trial, was suppressed. According to McDonough, Lambert suffered from hallucinations, which included homicidal and suicidal fantasies and conversations with her father, who died when she was 7 years old. The prosecutor in the case, Chris Galanos, who later became a circuit judge and retired last year to go into private practice, said last week that Lambert's testimony was key in Wright's conviction. Early in the investigation of the murders, another man was implicated by his girlfriend, and a gun linked to the man was later labeled as the murder weapon by a forensic expert, according to McDonough. But some time later, McQueen contacted authorities from a Mississippi prison, telling them he was a participant in the store robbery and knew who the killer was.

When Wright was arrested at his home, McDonough said, police found a gun that was later identified by the same forensic expert as "consistent" with the murder weapon. Wright always denied he was at the store that day but was inconsistent in accounting for his whereabouts. He told one investigator he was at a basketball game when the Greens were killed. He told police he was at a private club. A handful of witnesses at the trials corroborated Wright's claims.

During Wright's trials, McQueen testified that Craig told Wright to "make sure the people were taken care of" because "the people would have identified the car." McQueen testified that Wright was the last to leave the store and when he returned to the car the others "asked him what took place and he said that he had took care of both people." McQueen said he challenged Wright to prove it and Wright handed him "2 empty cartridges from the gun."

At a 1996 federal hearing in Mobile, however, McQueen recanted his trial testimony and said that he had lied when he identified Wright as the killer. McQueen looked over at Wright from the witness stand and said: "I'm sorry, dude."

Associated Press & Rick Halperin

A man convicted of shooting a couple to death while robbing their rural hardware store in 1977 was executed in the electric chair early Friday. Freddie Lee Wright, 48, a former dishwasher and cook, was sentenced to death for killing Warren and Lois Green. They were bound together with an electrical cord and shot in the head in their store in Mount Vernon, north of Mobile. Wright made no final statement.

He had based his final appeal on the claim that the electric chair is inhumane, but it was rejected by the state Supreme Court, 7-2. State officials said Wright also raised the issue on appeal in 1985. In a 5-4 decision Thursday night, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Wright's last chance for a stay of execution. Wright was black and his victims were white, and his appeals also raised the issue of racial discrimination. His lawyers said a biracial jury voted 11-1 to acquit Wright, leading to a mistrial, before an all-white jury convicted him.

Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska are the only states that use the electric chair as their sole means of execution. Florida recently amended its laws to give inmates the option of lethal injection. Wright becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Alabama and the 21st overal since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Wright also becomes the 20th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 618th overall since America resumed executions on Jan. 17, 1977.

Associated Press

An Alabama prisoner was set for execution early Friday for a double slaying at a rural hardware store as his attorney introduced arguments in appeals courts against use of the electric chair, hoping to block his death.

Freddie Lee Wright, 48, a former dishwasher and cook from Mobile, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 for the fatal shootings of Warren Green and wife Lois Green. The couple were bound together with an electrical cord and shot in the head during a robbery at their hardware store in Mount Vernon, north of Mobile. Gov. Don Siegelman on Wednesday denied Wright's petition for clemency as the case headed for the Alabama Supreme Court and then the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It is clear to me that the death penalty is appropriate in this case," Siegelman said in a statement. Wright was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. (CDT) Friday at Holman Prison. Wright's case has had at least 14 post-trial reviews, one of the judges reviewing the conviction said this week in refusing to stop the execution.

Wright's attorney, Brian McDonough of New York, took his challenge to use of the electric chair as inhumane to the state Supreme Court on Thursday after being turned down by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. The appeal says Alabama's electric chair, which delivers 2,000 volts, is "nearly an antique." It claims the headgear is poorly designed and that the structure, built in the 1920s, is now a torturous means of execution. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said Thursday that the state hasn't responded to Wright's electric chair challenge because it's procedurally barred at this point in the case. But he said the chair is not an antique "All the electronic equipment on the electric chair was replaced in 1991, so it's not antiquated," Crenshaw said. He said Wright raised this issue on appeal in 1985.

The Dec. 1, 1977 killings that put Wright on death row came on Warren Green's 40th birthday. His wife was 37. The Greens were survived by an only child, who planned to witness the execution at Holman Prison with 2 uncles. Now married and a mother of 3, daughter Kim Green testified before a legislative panel Wednesday in opposition to use of lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair. "I don't feel that a convicted killer has a right to choose what form of execution they should have," Green told lawmakers who took no action on the lethal injection proposal.

Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska are the only states that use the electric chair as their sole means of execution. 3 co-defendants testified against Wright at his 2nd trial in Mobile. During his appeal, Wright's attorney raised the issue of racial discrimination, saying an all-white jury convicted the black man of killing the white victims. The 1st trial ended with a mistrial with an 11-1 vote for acquittal from the biracial jury. The accomplices later were convicted, but only Wright received the death sentence. The store robbery netted a stereo set, a television and a gold watch,which was Lois Green's birthday present for her husband.

The execution of another Alabama death row inmate, Robert Lee Tarver, was blocked last month by the U.S. Supreme Court when he challenged the state's use of the electric chair. But the court, on a 5-4 vote, later decided not to review the matter, clearing the way for Wright's electrocution. Attorneys for Wright say that, unlike Tarver, Wright raised the challenge to the electric chair both during his direct appeal and his federal proceedings, and that state court rules allow it to be reviewed again based on new evidence. Alabama's last execution was Jan. 7 when David Ray Duren was put to death.

Grassroots Investigation Project - Freddie Lee Wright