Tony Egbuna Ford was born on June
19th 1973 – on a day many refer
to as “Freedom Day”, the best recognized
day of commemoration of the ending of slavery. He
was given the middle name Egbuna by the Nigerian nurse
who helped to bring him into the world. Although
neither she nor Tony’s mother could have known
at the time, his middle name would prove as prophetic
as the date of his birth, because chillingly “Egbuna” in
translation means “Please Stop Killing Us”… And
it is the name by which Tony is known, by his fellow
inmates on death row.
In 1991 Tony was 18 years old. One
night he gave a ride to two brothers – one
of whom he considered a friend, the other someone
he knew only in passing. He drove the brothers
at their request to a nearby residence and waited
in the truck for them as they approached the house. The
brothers forced their way into the house and once
inside engaged in a heated dispute with one of the
occupants, an 18 year old named Armando Murillo. Tony
knew the brothers were going there to resolve a dispute
over a debt, however he never for a second anticipated
what followed. He waited and on the two brothers’ return
he drove them home and proceeded home himself. He
was aware that the brothers had taken property from
the house and assumed it had been taken by way of
payment of the debt.
The following day Tony was arrested and charged
with capital murder. At the time of his arrest
he was not told why he was being arrested but went
willingly with the police. He was an innocent
man and felt he had no reason not to do as they asked. Earlier
the same day one of the brothers, Van Belton, who
had been identified by Armando’s sister, had
also been arrested. This sister had attended
the same school as Van and so easily recognized him. At
the time of Van’s arrest he had been hiding
in the loft of his house hoping to evade the police. When
he was found both his brother Victor and his father
fought with the police in trying to prevent his arrest. Because
of this Victor was also arrested. This was
some 9 hours or so following the crime.
When Tony learned the charges against him
he was horrified. He had had no knowledge up
to that moment that someone had been killed the night
before. Tony was told that Van Belton had
made a statement alleging he had shot and killed
Armando, and had shot at the three female occupants
of the house – Armando’s mother and
two sisters. Tony was also verbally abused
and threatened with the death penalty and stories
of what would happen to him when he went to jail
by the detectives. He was not allowed to call
his mother or a lawyer despite his repeated requests. He
was told over and over that he MUST confess. He
refused. And under threats and intimidation
he also refused to make a statement because he knew
nothing of what had occurred inside the house that
night, and feared anything he did say would only
be used by these overly aggressive detectives to
lay the blame at his door for something he did not
do.
Simply put Van Belton had a choice – he
could tell the truth and see his brother face execution,
or he could “save” his brother and blame
the only other person he could. He chose to
sacrifice Tony for his brother. Tony’s
refusal to speak with the detectives at the time
of his interview was used along with Van Belton’s
statement, to seal his fate. His silence was
assumed to be the silence of a guilty man with no
remorse. The fact that he was 18 years old,
terrified and refused any contact with anyone who
could advise or support him through this traumatic
experience, was never considered.
Armando’s two sisters were shown a photo
spread from which to identify the man who had shot
and killed Armando. That spread did not include
Victor Belton and had Tony at position number 4. The
first sister first picked out number 5 as the man
who had shot and killed her brother, but this number
is clearly shown as being crossed out and changed
to number 4 on the photo spread by the detective
carrying out the identification. No explanation
is given to explain why this was done. The
second sister identified Tony at a later time from
the exact same photo spread her sister saw. By
this time Tony’s picture had been spread all
over the TV news, and newspapers as the prime suspect
in the case, and so questions remain unanswered as
to whether her identification was based consciously
or subconsciously on her sister’s identification
or because Tony’s face was already known to
her as being the man accused of the shooting.
Tony’s subsequent trial held a catalogue
of errors. No physical evidence linked Tony
to the scene of the crime or the crime itself. By
contrast property from the victim, and bullets consistent
with those used in the crime were found at the Belton’s
house. Tony did not have any blood on his
clothing. By contrast Victor Belton’s
clothing which was seized at the time of his arrest
had multiple blood stains on it. This clothing
was never tested despite it being retained by the
police for over 14 years. Victor was never
charged with any more than simply obstructing the
police.
Tony was also denied the funds for a legal
expert in the field of eye witness identification. Such
identifications are the single most common reason
for innocent people being wrongly convicted. This
is an established and accepted fact. However
Tony was not given the opportunity to argue against
these extremely questionable identifications. At
the time of Tony being found guilty a court journalist
overheard police officers who had worked on the case
talking. They were voicing their shock that
Tony had been found guilty at all, because they had
heard talk on the street that another man was known
to be to blame. The same court reporter signed
an affidavit saying that he had witnessed the prosecutors
outside of the court room pre-trial point to Tony
and ask the two Belton sisters did Tony “look
like the man from that night”. After
a long pause the sisters could only answer “Maybe”. And
yet Tony was convicted solely on eyewitness testimony. Eyewitnesses
who faced with the most biased physical line up possible
could only answer “Maybe”. Other
witnesses have at various times come forward to say
Victor has “bragged” to them that he
has gotten away with murder. Despite all this
Tony remains on Texas Death
Row waiting to die, for something he simply did not
do.
Now after 16 years of unjust incarceration
Tony has finally been granted the right to have Victor
Belton’s clothing DNA tested. This
testing was granted just 8 days before what could
have been Tony’s execution date, in December
2005. Had he not been fortunate in having a
well respected and effective lawyer come forward
to take on his case Tony could well have been dead
now. Tony’s lawyer came to his case through
a group known as the Innocence Project, and was so
struck by the clear miscarriage of justice that he
took his case on immediately and has worked tirelessly
to persuade the appeals court to grant Tony the testing
that could save his life.
But we are left with grave concerns still. Victor
Belton’s clothing has not been stored in the
manner one might expect of such a potentially vital
piece of evidence. It has been simply thrown
in a drawer along with other items seized at the
time and forgotten. And so while we pray the
testing will shine light on the truth we still must
live with the worry that time and mishandling may
result in the testing proving inconclusive. Above
all, our concern is that this is the state of Texas. The
state that carries out more executions than any other
state in America, and one that takes great pride
in that fact.
To those who take time to seek the full truth of Tony’s
case the facts speak for themselves. To those
who take time to know the man behind the media portrayal
and behind the tabloid stereotype of a death row inmate,
and to those who truly know and love Tony, his character
is clear. He is a man not broken by the circumstances
he has been thrown into. Who he is is
not dictated by where he is. And yet
the struggle for life that he endures daily has deeply
impacted him – it has made him more introspective,
more willing to look objectively at his own human flaws,
less judgemental, more open and forgiving of the imperfect
humanity of others… and more than anything it
has made him stronger. Amazingly Tony carries
no bitterness at the suffering he has endured, at the
years he has lost and can never recover. He remains
resolute in his fight for justice and yet this constant
struggle does not taint him. He loves life and
he retains a strong faith in both God and the human
race.
Without Tony’s strength and beauty of character
I would not be able to face the struggle we face. Because
truly when a man is sentenced to death, it is not in
isolation. There can never be a way for the state
to impose death on an individual and it not affect
countless other individuals. The state sentences
whole families to death… generations of loved
ones, friends…. The ripple effect is never ending
and more destructive than I believe any government
who employs this barbaric system of justice, will acknowledge. Whether
you know someone in Tony’s position or not, when
they murder in the name of justice no one remains untainted… When
they murder someone innocent in the name of
justice they slowly kill a little of the humanity in
all of us. The state becomes that which
it condemns – a cold, calculating murderer. And
if we sit back and do nothing then we collude in the
murder of men and women over and over again. And
there but for the grace of God go we.
Rachael Ford |
