GALVESTON — After capital murder charges against Anthony Graves were dropped and prosecutors declared him innocent, his attorneys realized that state law required two crucial words to make him eligible for compensation for his 18 years of wrongful imprisonment: "actual innocence."
The October order dropping the charges lacked those words. Graves' attorneys discovered that only Burleson County District Attorney Bill Parham could ask the judge to insert them. The law gave him 15 days to do it.
But Parham, who had vociferously proclaimed Graves' innocence, refused to return phone calls from Graves attorney Jimmy Phillips Jr. "Once they put the two magic words in there, that would have solved the problem," Phillips said.
The 15 days lapsed. Without the words "actual innocence," the Texas comptroller's office last week refused to qualify Graves for $80,000 compensation for each year of wrongful imprisonment.
Graves, 45, doesn't blame Parham. He blames Burleson County District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett.
"Because of the political climate in this county he was put in a position where he had to back up" after proclaiming Graves' innocence, Graves said. "The judge showed blatant bias from the beginning and I think Parham knew he wouldn't get her to sign the order.
"It's hard for me to blame Bill Parham," Graves said. "But I just wish he had gone all the way to make sure I received compensation for this injustice."
No comment
Towslee-Corbett declined comment and Parham could not be reached Tuesday. In an earlier interview, Parham appeared uncomfortable answering why he had not asked Towslee-Corbett to amend the order.
Avoiding an explanation, he instead defended the wording of the dismissal order and said the compensation law should be revised for cases like Graves'.
"I put on there, there is no evidence" that incriminates Graves, Parham said about the order he prepared for the judge's signature. He said the wording should have been sufficient.
During an interview that lasted more than an hour, he never wavered in his defense of Graves and was withering in his criticism of the original prosecution.
"There is nothing to exonerate him for," Parham said. "There is nothing that ties that man to the commission of this offense."
Graves attorney Nicole Casarez defended Parham, saying he braved criticism to do the right thing by accepting special prosecutor Kelly Siegler's recommendation to drop the charges.
"He didn't have to accept Kelly Siegler's recommendation," Casarez said. "He did, and he had a press conference where he said (Graves) was innocent."
rest at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7428907.html
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