On  February 18, 1994, Kelvin Templeton, Terrell Lincoln, Steve Vela and myself entered the Handi Food Mart in Houston. Templeton stole 2 packs of beer and went out, Vela jumped the counter and demanded money. At that time Robert Tate, armed with a gun, was in the parking lot. When Templeton left the store, Mr. Tate chased and caught him, pointed the gun to his head and told him to drop the beer. Suddenly Templeton heard two shots and first thought that Mr. Tate had shot him. But Mr. Tate was hit twice in the chest and died.. While Templeton was running away, he saw me with a gun in my hand running behind him. As the only co-conspirator at my trial , Templeton testified that he could not see Steve Vela and thus assumed that I had killed Mr. Tate. Almost 1 �years after the crime Julio Flores identified me in a photo line-up. Mr. Flores changed his testimony many times, but then testified that he saw me walk up to Mr. Tate and shoot him twice in the chest.  Another witness, however, Yvonne Miller, who had parked right  in front of the store, thus could see the robbery and was closer to the shooting than any other witness, testified that the robber who jumped the counter was the same that she saw shoot Mr. Tate and she described Vela’s hair style.  Two years after the crime Vela was confronted and he admitted that he was the robber who jumped the counter. In his affidavit, however, which could never be cross-examined at my trial, he stated that I was the shooter and that he was unarmed. The day of the crime the state’s witness Raymundo Soria said that the gun that I had was an “old “  gun, but at my trial over two years later he changed to an automatic gun. James Draffin who took a step inside  the store before he noticed the robbery, said he saw that the robber who jumped the counter  (Vela) did have a gun. Mr. Draffin was receiving weapons training from the U.S. Army and he testified that this gun was a semi-automatic pistol. Mr. Tate was shot with two 9-millimeter slugs, which are most commonly used in automatic guns. Ms. Miller who grew up with Mr. Tate and Mr. Draffin who worked with him at the same company both knew the victim. They saw the robbery and Mr. Tate get shot and they both testified that I was not the shooter.  The autopsy report showed that  the guns wounds were downward. Mr. Tate was 6I 2 II, I am 5I 9II. The State ‘s theory was  that Mr. Tate was shot while he was bent over to Tackle Templeton. But Templeton as well as the witnesses testified that there was no wrestling, tackle or struggle at all and that Mr. Tate only pointed his gun to Templeton’s head.

Despite all the contradictory testimony  at my trial the State of Texas found me guilty and sentenced me to death. I deeply regret that Mr. Tate lost his life, but I did not kill him and I want to prove this. There are still so many unanswered  questions in my case: if the state was so sure that Steve Vela was not the shooter, why was his location never clarified and why did the prosecution not want him to testify at my trial? The scenario the state provided  would  have clearly made Vela another witness. The state did not want Vela to testify because there were witnesses testifying that the shooter was the robber who jumped the counter—and that was not me. Did Raymundo Soria change his testimony from the “old gun” the he described from the beginning to the automatic gun 2 years later to make his testimony match the autopsy report? How could I have inflicted downward gun wound to the taller Mr. Tate? Julio Flores who changed his testimony several times, was the only one who stated  that Mr. Tate was bent over to tackle Templeton. All other witnesses, including Templeton himself, testified there was no tackle and no struggle at all. Why did the state accept Vela’s affidavit when the prosecution knew that there were 2 guns involved?  I have only a court-appointed lawyer  who does not do any investigation of his own. I need independent crime scene and ballistic experts to review my case  and to find the truth, but I cannot afford hiring any. Please help me to prove that I did not kill Mr. Tate .