Shaka Sankofa
Some of the facts were similar to Lambert's murder including one case where Graham threatened to shoot someone in a parking lot during a robbery.
[3] The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other supporters were able to get a copy of police reports that the prosecutors had refused to turn over to them.
Supporters also argued that there was other crucial evidence the jury did not hear and that he had poor legal representation at the time of his trial.
[5] The United States Supreme Court did not extend the prohibition on the juvenile death penalty to 17-year olds until Roper v. Simmons (2005).
"[6] Roper overturned Stanford v. Kentucky (1988) which had upheld the death penalty for crimes committed by 16 and 17 year olds.
Graham's post-conviction claims argued that the Texas statute required the jury to impose the death penalty when certain conditions were met such as a finding of "future dangerousness".
After Penry v. Lynaugh was decided a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his death sentence but it was reinstated by an en banc rehearing.
The National Review criticized Sankofa's supporters who had raised no objection when Arkansas governor Bill Clinton paused his 1992 presidential campaign to oversee the execution of a man with brain damage.
[3] Sankofa's supporters, including Coretta Scott King, bishop Desmond Tutu, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and celebrities Danny Glover, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee, brought his case international attention, arguing that his conviction was based on the testimony of a single eyewitness who said she saw him for a few seconds in the dark parking lot committing the murder.
A Cell Extraction Team was dispatched to force him towards the death chamber, where it took five jail guards to strap him to the gurney.
Police in riot gear managed parading Ku Klux Klan and New Black Panther Party members.
He was buried at Paradise North Cemetery in Houston in a gold-colored casket, wearing a turquoise and gold African garment.
