Houston Chronicle -  9/20/01

Texas Legislators Urge Governor to Commute Juvenile Death Sentence

      Eighteen state legislators asked Texas Governor Rick Perry to commute Napolean Beazley's death sentence, citing the fact that he was only 17 at the time of the crime.  "Texas' practice of executing juvenile offenders like Napoleon runs counter to a well-established worldwide norm," the lawmakers wrote. "Every nation with a working government, except the United States, has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which bars giving the death sentence to anyone under 18 at the time of the offense."   The letter also noted that Smith County state District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent, who presided over Beazley's trial, had also written to Perry and recommended that he commute Beazley's death sentence because of his age at the time of the crime. 

     Another juvenile offender on Texas' death row, Gerald Lee Mitchell, is scheduled for execution on October 22.