‘You Don’t Have to Kill Us. You Don’t Have to Throw Us Away.’

Clinton Young stepped out of the Midland County Jail the way station between his previous address for the last years and the free world on the afternoon of January He d been anxious all day sitting in the cell block with an ankle monitor already affixed to his leg awaiting release on bond When he at last exited the building he hugged his little sister now a woman in her s for the first time since she was Their last hug had taken place when Young was years old and on trial for capital murder It was below freezing in West Texas but Young wasn t worried about the temperature Even as he greeted his family and supporters he was already fixated on time He figured he should leave the jail as soon as feasible in circumstance leadership changed their minds After all Young s home for nearly two decades hadn t been a house or even a typical prison cell He d been kept in isolation after being sent to Texas death row a Midland jury having weighed the likelihood of his future dangerousness and determined based on his alleged crimes and conduct that the state should execute him because he was too dangerous to be allowed to live Young had two hours to shop for clothes and other necessities before he needed to be at the Midland apartment where he d been approved to stay At the mall the open space and throngs of people didn t bother him but he sped through anyway grabbing duplicate pairs of jeans without much thought as if prison guards or police were in pursuit He knew already as he puts it that the eyes of Texas were upon him He made it to the temporary apartment in time even after a wrong turn that could have raised alarm bells for anyone tracking his ankle monitor After hours of disbelief hurried reunions and apprehension the tension began to dissipate YEAR-OLD ME WOULD NEVER MAKE THAT DECISION THAT -YEAR- OLD ME MADE Then Young had not been in the free world for decades He d been convicted in following the shooting deaths of two men Doyle Douglas and Samuel Petrey in Midland and Harrison counties According to the state Young and three other young men were involved Young has unfailingly maintained he was not the shooter in either circumstance But in Texas Young could be sentenced to death without ever pulling a trigger based on the so-called law of parties Under the law juries can convict someone of capital murder if they believe that person was involved in planning or carrying out a crime such as robbery and should have known someone could die in the process In Young s occurrence only he was tried for murder while the others allegedly involved testified against him and received lesser sentences for their parts in the crimes Two accepted plea deals Mark Ray was convicted of second-degree kidnapping and was sentenced to years in prison and David Page got years for aggravated kidnapping Darnell McCoy who according to court documents was present at the first murder was not charged As Young s appeals made their way through the courts he slowly gained international allies In advocates in the Netherlands who d learned about his circumstance and considered his sentence unfair launched the Clinton Young Foundation That foundation would be instrumental in backing his legal fight and supporting him during his time on bond Over time Young s scenario gained even more attention because of the bizarre misconduct of one prosecutor In the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals CCA the state s highest criminal court threw out his conviction after the Midland County District Attorney s Office revealed that during Young s trial its employee Weldon Ralph Petty Jr had been quietly working for both the prosecution and the judge Petty while working on cases including Young s drafted judicial opinions and orders that agreed with his arguments often getting them rubber-stamped by the judges He held these dual roles for nearly two decades Only after he left did the DA s office eventually tell Young s defense lawyers about this long-hidden conflict of interest Petty s misconduct sullied the circumstance against Young who d come within eight days of an execution in before receiving a stay from the CCA In October a month after the CCA ultimately vacated his conviction he was transferred from death row to Midland County Jail where after a three-month stay he was ultimately issued on a bond pending word on whether he would once again be tried for capital murder Young knew he had won release against extremely long odds Since the Death Penalty Information Center reports that Texans formerly on death row have been ordered distributed and won their freedom Four were acquitted while the rest saw charges dismissed based on overzealous prosecutions inadequate evidence ineffective defense or flawed forensics Still Young hoped that during his time as a free man he could demonstrate he d changed He aimed to prove he no longer presented the threat of future dangerousness a legal requirement for the Texas death penalty He yearned to establish that he wouldn t squander his second chance at life Death row becomes what prison is supposed to be but often isn t Young mused to the Texas Observer in a January letter Death row is a place of reformation rehabilitation and correction Ironically the one place where it matters the least In the years Young spent in a high protection prison in Livingston people were executed by the state while new people were condemned by Texas juries In the last half-century approximately former death row occupants have had their convictions overturned or sentences reduced to life or even a lesser sentence according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice But rarely were these people distributed on bond while the courts worked out their cases On that January day Young became an outlier an exception to the rule which states that the main exit from Texas death row is through lethal injection I made a little video of me touching grass Young advised the Observer in a January interview But unfortunately I was in West Texas so the grass was dead It was kind of anti-climactic Young spent about a month in his Midland County apartment his rent funded by the Dutch foundation determined to successfully tackle his early days of freedom on his own Then he got permission to return home to East Texas Marion County where he was raised and near where one of the two killings that changed his life took place He temporarily moved in with his younger sister Jessi Gonzalez about minutes from the tiny town where both grew up Gonzalez watched her three sons now and develop a relationship with the uncle they d only seen during prison visits I d seen my nephews grow up behind glass Young explained the Observer He declared he enjoyed the little stuff he d missed like playing video games which required a crash program since they d grown much more sophisticated in two decades The family settled into as at ease a routine as realizable in close quarters Young got his driver s license played with his nephews on the trampoline and zipline in the backyard and helped with household chores He and Gonzalez tried to tackle the sudden rekindling of their day-to-day sibling dynamic They had grown up together until Young as a teenager was taken into custody by the Texas Youth Commission for juvenile offenses Gonzalez announced her brother has invariably been energetic having trouble sitting still He s extremely intelligent and he knows it Hard-headed Gonzalez fondly calls him Sometimes you can t win with him she laughed He s gonna be right Young in a prison visitation booth Michelle Pitcher After a sparse weeks Young moved back to their childhood home nearby The cedar-and-log house with a green metal roof that Young s parents built had been expanded and renovated But his parents with no children at home had moved and left the big house empty Lake O The Pines is visible from the porch Young could take in the view but he still wore the ankle monitor which at first only allowed him to go up to feet away from his house He could see the water but he couldn t reach it without tripping an alarm Young set himself up in the living room the largest space after too multiple years confined to a cell He pushed the couch up against the back wall and he spread out his things Alone again he noticed that the place held ghosts I can t say I had a lot of good memories as a kid he reported This particular homecoming wasn t really a joyful experience He also worried that unwelcome people from his past those he knew when he was involved in crimes as a juvenile and young adult might arrive They re still stuck years ago and that s how they still picture me he stated They don t know the man who s had an execution day and dealt with people all over the world My world views have changed drastically Young got a job with an oil and gas company He was able to move around more for work and he began to earn money He eventually switched to a larger company which paid for him to get his commercial driver s license It was a well-paying gig with physical condition insurance and he could cross state lines while working He still feared his time as a free man might be limited but each day on the outside took him one step further from death row In August he and particular coworkers cut through Mississippi on their way to a work site in southeast Louisiana They d stopped to get something to eat when their work trucks were surrounded by police cars Young s coworker turned to him and commented Man I think they re here for you Young it turned out had been indicted by a special grand jury in Harrison County for capital murder for one of the fatal shootings The new indictment came as a shock Young had previously been tried for both cases only in Midland County I was living good he advised the Observer Everything was great I had shaken off the side effects of prison and solitary confinement for the majority of part And then boom Young was jailed for two weeks in Vicksburg Mississippi far from his home and job The judge initially set bail at million but his lawyers got it reduced to the same amount as his original bond That meant his supporters who were already helping to pay his legal bills and had secured prominent criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin to represent Young in his retrial had to raise more funds Eventually they secured enough donations and paid the new bail all in cash and Young was once again distributed on August He returned to work in the oil fields Juan Gonzalez Young s supervisor for several months in called Young a hard worker who spoke openly about his life I believe that what he was accused of just can t be him Gonzalez stated the Observer in December He is a well-spoken very smart guy Good attitude invariably a little smile on his face Young began to see a therapist at the suggestion of a judge and his own attorneys He discovered a post-traumatic stress specialist who had done time in federal prison and he saw him for several months To his supporters Young was doing surprisingly well in his years as a free man after so long behind bars DeGuerin who s practiced criminal law for nearly years declared multiple people in prison with extreme sentences become defeated and lose initiative But Young used that time to educate himself DeGuerin communicated the Observer He spent years locked up and all of a sudden you can see the sky and you can walk barefoot on grass It s a wholly new experience It s impressive to me that he was able to handle that While out on bond Young advocated for others on death row In February he testified in front of the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence about the death penalty appeals process In November he participated in the Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin Why I do everything is to be heard to convey my sense of what s right Young stated the Observer MY WHOLE MINDSET HAS UNFAILINGLY BEEN LIKE Y ALL AIN T GONNA BREAK ME He filed a lawsuit against Midland County personnel including Petty whose conflict of interest had led to Young s conviction being reversed His lawsuit is temporarily stayed while Texas courts wait to see if the U S Supreme Court will take up a similar incident stemming from Petty s misconduct The thing I m greater part struck by is the fortitude of Young s spirit attorney Alexa Gervasi who s representing Young in his civil episode recounted the Observer He is still fighting and he s not giving up Young had unveiled love too In the heady early days of freedom he began a romance with a friend got married and on a stormy night in March months after his release he became a father He drove his wife to the hospital in heavy rain his hazard lights flashing and four-wheel drive engaged The birth wasn t smooth the doctors had to perform an exigency caesarean and the baby was born with fluid in his lungs The newborn spent time in a neonatal intensive care unit It was a tense period of waiting hoping for an outcome almost too precious to imagine a supremely anxious desire for life somewhat akin to the hope Young had experienced before his release The baby boy was eventually distributed to Young and his wife who petitioned not to be named to maintain their son s privacy My son is going to break the cycle Young disclosed My son is not having the life I have My biggest concern is protecting my son When people see him they re not going to think Clinton Young s son He s gonna have his own identity his own life While Young charted his new path as a free man and a father preparations for his return to court were underway In fact the process had begun before he ever stepped foot out of the Midland County Jail Shortly after his release the state attorney general s office took over his circumstance and began planning its strategy for reprosecuting the now decades-old crimes In October state lawyers attempted to revoke Young s bond because he had visited old friends who had also been circulated from prison and were affiliated with a prison gang in which he d once been developing Young informed the Observer he joined the gang when he was in the juvenile justice system looking for belonging and safeguard and that year-old me would never make that decision that -year-old me made Young is no longer affiliated with the prison gang and he got his tattoos removed while out on bond Young s new Midland County trial independent of the surprise Harrison County indictment was slated for October By then he would have shown for nearly three years that he could be a productive member of free society Young concluded that the state s development against him was thin but he d sat at the defense table before and he knew what could happen once a trial got underway The state was originally planning to seek a new death sentence but in late prosecutors broadcasted they would pursue a life sentence instead for only one murder Because Young was being tried for a crime that took place in before life without parole was available in Texas a life sentence with the possibility of parole was the harshest penalty a jury could impose During the trial the community seats in the courtroom weren t packed despite the notoriety of Young s conviction reversal and the retrial proceeded relatively quietly The state presented much of the same evidence it had at the original trial including testimony from one of his co-defendants The original trial testimony of one now-dead witness who claimed he d interacted with Young the night of the murders but who had recanted in the years since was entered into evidence without mention of the reversal Young who d been optimistic prior to trial knew that when the jury members left the courtroom to deliberate they would likely vote to send him back to prison for life As they weighed his fate Young stepped outside the courthouse and smoked a cigarette replaying the trial in his mind He knew chosen people expected him to flee but even if he somehow escaped he would never again see his son who d crawled for the first time the day prior Young had spent the past minimal years trying to show people that adjustment and rehabilitation were accomplishable and he didn t want to jeopardize that The hardest thing I did in life was turn around and walk back in that courtroom Young narrated the Observer I longed to show that people aren t what you make them out to be You don t have to kill us You don t have to throw us away for the rest of our life We re capable of changing and making the right decisions in life Young kisses his son Courtesy family The jury convicted Young once again for the murder in Midland County of Samuel Petrey this time sentencing him to life in prison with the possibility of parole He may face another trial for the Harrison County murder the outcome of the indictment he received while out on bond After hearing the verdict Young tried to look calm for his family and supporters But the mask fell when he was handed his baby boy Young knew he wouldn t be considered for parole for years and might never be free again My whole mindset has perpetually been like Y all ain t gonna break me he communicated the Observer When I disclosed goodbye to my son in that courtroom I broke Within hours Young was back in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice In November just a month later he began a blog post published with the help of the foundation with his trademark humor Now as I was saying before being interrupted by freedom life and more legal drama The matter with the justice system is When he spoke with the Observer in January he wore the standard-issue white uniform and he had the grown-out buzz cut and light facial hair worn by so a large number of others housed at the massive Coffield Unit in Anderson County southeast of Dallas Yet he smiled through the conversation cracking jokes and speaking with an easy candor He teared up only when sought about his son He sees him every week but he s not allowed to touch him or his wife he has no-contact visits given his current custody level Young continues to pursue legal appeals and to advocate for those still on death row The fight goes on he stated just a sparse minutes before prison functionaries communicated the interview was over I got nothing but time The post You Don t Have to Kill Us You Don t Have to Throw Us Away appeared first on The Texas Observer