| On another front, Huntsville, Texas attorney David P. O'Neil
is currently preparing to file a habeas corpus petition raising multiple
issues, including actual innocence and severe prosecutorial misconduct.
Mr. O'Neil and his law partner Sean Buckley were instrumental in securing
the December 2004 release and exoneration of John Michael Harvey, who is
from Fort Worth, Texas (Tarrant County). Harvey had been falsely imprisoned
for well over a decade on a false charge of sexual assault of a child.
Mr. O'Neil was also instrumental in securing the release and exoneration
of Robert Coney, who had been falsely imprisoned in Texas for over 40 years
on false charges of robbery and murder.
I couldn't ask for a more conscientious, hard-working, dedicated attorney
than David P. O'Neil. He comes highly recommended.
Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere." Barry Scheck, the Director of the Innocence Project in New
York, NY recently said, concerning the false conviction of Kenneth Moon
of El Paso, Texas on a false rape charge, "It can happen to anybody. There
but for the grace of God go any of us." Mr. Moon was exonerated and freed
recently when DNA tests proved his innocence.
If enough people speak out about injustice when they see it, justice
can prevail. Please help make a difference. Please write a letter of support
for my pardon to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. It will help tremendously,
whether it is a lengthy or short letter. Please simply write, in your own
words, how you feel about the evidence of innocence in my case, whether
or not you feel I should be pardoned and freed, and how you feel about
truth, justice and fairness.
Please include my name, Jay B. Van Story, and "TDCJ #477649" in your
letter.
Please address it to:
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78711
and mail it to:
Jared Tyler, Deputy Director
Texas Innocence Network
University of Houston Law Center
100 Law Center
Houston, TX 77204-6060
If you prefer, you can email your letter to Jared Tyler at jptyler@central.uh.edu
Please also help by distributing the articles about my struggle for
justice and my plea for support to as many other fair-minded people and
organizations as you can, by mail, email, fax., or other means.
The list of supporters continues to grow! I would like to offer sincere
and heartfelt thanks to everyone who has offered their encouragement, support
and assistance. It has sustained me through this difficult ordeal, and
it has convinced me that most people sincerely believe in truth, justice
and fairness.
In particular, I would like to thank:
- my mother and step-father, Juana Jay and Terry Sires of Lubbock, Texas
- my father and step-mother, John D. and Janet Van story of Lubbock,
Texas
- A.C., the alleged victim in my case, who really is my strongest supporter
- my brother and sister-in-law, John David and Mary Van Story of Duncanville,
Texas
- my cousin Linda Savoie of Tucson, Arizona
- my cousin Saundra Melton of Norco, California
- my Aunt Beatrice Perez of Princeton, Louisiana
- David R. Dow, University of Houston Law Professor and the Director
of the Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center
- Jared P. Tyler, the Deputy Director of the Texas Innocence Network
- Jules Cabeen, Kevin McCalpin, Misty Barnett, and other University
of Houston law students with the Texas Innocence Network who have worked
on my case
- Karen Hamilton, the gatekeeper at the Texas Innocence Network, and
a former prison guard
- David P. O'Neil, my Huntsville, Texas attorney
- Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, Houston, Texas attorney
- Roderique S. Hobson, Lubbock, Texas attorney
- Roy E. Greenwood, Austin, Texas attorney
- David Botsford, Austin, Texas attorney
- Michael Charlton, Houston, Texas attorney
- David A. Schulman, Austin, Texas attorney
- Claudia Whitman, the Executive Director of the National Death Row
Assistance Network of Equal Justice USA in Hyattsville, Maryland
- Laird Carlson, the publisher and webmaster of Cell Door Magazine
in Mancos, Colorado
- Rod P. Kee, the Director of the Innocent Inmates Association of Ohio,
Inc. in Olmsted Falls, Ohio
- Douglas J. Tjapkes, the Director of INNOCENT! in Muskegon, Michigan
- Dr. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an advisor at INNOCENT!
- Shawn van Mastright, the webmaster of Innocence Denied in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
- Laura Rawls, a prisoner rights activist in Big Spring, Texas
- Jane Ballard of Broken Chain Ministries in Gainesville, Florida
- Paula Gouchenour of Pen Pal Prison Ministry in Charleston, South
Carolina
- Roxy Sherrock of Moratorium Now! of Equal Justice USA in Hyattsville,
Maryland
- Dr. Wilson Beebe, the Director of Amicus Curiae Foundation in Windsor,
California
- Phyllis Riect and others at Coalition for Prisoners' Rights in Santa
Fe, New Mexico
- Anne Rose-Pierce of "...after seventeen years..." in Portland, Oregon
- Chaplain Bill of Worldwide Prison Ministry in Cleveland, Ohio
- Rev. Thomas J. Parnell of International Prison Ministry in Eight
Miles, Alabama
- Ray Hill of The Prison Show on KPFT-FM in Houston, Texas
- Roxanne Greschner, the Asst. Editor of The Justice Xpress in Occidental,
California
- Elizabeth Dede of The Prison & Jail Project in Americus, Georgia
- Dianne Molvia of the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University
of Wisconsin in Madisonville, Wisconsin
- Paula Jacobs and others at Human Rights Watch in New York and Los
Angeles
- Eddie Taylor and others at Fortune Society in New York, NY
- The American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Laura, Saroj and others at Prisons Foundation in Washington, D.C.
- Jim and Judy Fullingim of Jim Fullingim Ministries in Lubbock, Texas
- Bill Hubbard, the chief investigator of the D.A. in Taos, New Mexico,
and the former identification police sergeant in Lubbock, Texas
- Gib E. Slaugenhaupt, a pen pal in Clairion, Pennsylvania
- W. Jeroen, a pen pal in Nymegen, Holland
- Christopher Ochoa, a friend in Madisonville, Wisconsin who used to
be falsely imprisoned with me on the Wynne unit
- Mrs. Anderson and others at Justice Watch in Cincinnati, Ohio
- The 8th Day Center for Justice in Chicago, Illinois
- Nancy at Hope and Help Prison Ministry in Ft. Collins, Colorado
- Rev. John Musgrave and others at Apostolic Faith Church in Portland,
Oregon
- Doug, Joy, Melanie and others at Life Lines Ministry in Cave Junction,
Oregon
- The Poetry Wall volunteers at the Cathedral Church of St. John the
Divine in New York, NY
- Chaplain Ray and others at International Prison Ministry in Dallas,
Texas
- Mildred and others at Exodus Prison Ministry in Lubbock, Texas
- The more than 30 fellow prisoners here on the Wynne Unit who have
written letters of support for my pardon to the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles
- All others who have written letters of support
I am truly blessed! I am truly fortunate! Thank you so much!
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