Timely intervention by two Illinois attorneys helped save a Texas man from execution for his alleged conspiracy in a murder committed by another person.

The highly publicized case involved the 1996 shooting of a robbery victim by Mauricio Brown, while Kenneth Foster sat behind the wheel of a getaway car.

Brown and Foster were tried together and found guilty. Brown was executed on July 19, and Foster was scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Aug. 30. Two other men who were in the car received prison sentences.

Foster's death sentence came to the attention of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who saw it as part of “repeated outrages against justice” by the “ever-growing roll call of executions” in Texas.

Tutu noted that the state had scheduled 11 executions between Aug. 15 and Oct. 3, while the U.S. Supreme Court was in recess. All the defendants were poor and nine were minorities.

A Nobel Prize recipient, Tutu visited Foster in the Texas death row three years ago and decided to inform the Supreme Court of what he perceived as a “lineup (of) persistent racism and a system-wide oppression of the poor.”

Enter retired Cook County judge Sheila M. Murphy. She met Tutu through author Thomas Cahill, with whom she had lectured in Italy on death penalty issues.

Although she had vowed not to participate again in the difficult Texas criminal defense process, Murphy agreed to assist Tutu in preparation of an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Foster. She enlisted Park Ridge attorney Andrew E. Lofthouse as co-counsel.

Their petition for writ of certiorari was to include Tutu's amicus plea that ended: “I ask only that you look with pity and mercy on these men, all loved by God, all caught in the terrifying machinery of state-sponsored death.”

Time was short. Murphy and Lofthouse worked with Foster's attorney, Keith Hampton of Austin, in compiling details of the crime and decisions of the trial court and the reviewing courts.

They focused on Foster's lack of intent to kill, and that the conspiracy to commit armed robbery had ended by the time Brown shot and killed one additional victim on impulse.

Assistance in reviewing the brief and researching case law citations was provided by Prof. Michael Seng and several students at The John Marshall Law School, where Lofthouse had graduated in 2004.

Hampton took copies of the well-crafted petition to attorneys for the Texas governor and the Board of Pardons and Parole.

His suggestion that it might be accepted by the Supreme Court was bolstered by its inclusion of the dissents by three judges of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

On the morning of the scheduled Aug. 30 execution, the pardons board recommended commutation, and at 2 p.m. – four hours before Foster was to die – the governor reduced his sentence to life in prison.

It was a moment of sweet success for Sheila Murphy, an ardent seeker of truth and justice on an international scale, and for Andy Lofthouse, who shares her passion.

Their pro bono achievement was rewarded by “a gift for you” from Foster. It was a copy of the poem, reprinted here, that he dedicated to Tutu for visiting a friend, Dominique Green, on Texas death row before his 2004 execution.

3 cheers for Tutu

the Catholic Zulu,

Our Black Pope

who smiled upon death row

and left tears as

spiritual libation

for dried souls to grow on.

go wit' yo' bad self Desmond

testing the morals of

South Africa &

the dirty south,

trekking through the paths of

Black death

breathing

Green life

for all willing

to be blessed with a

Holy Kiss

by lips that know how to speak a

Peace Beyond Understanding.

we stood hand in hand with you,

and still do,

hoping to remain the prayer in yr heart

that ask for forgiveness of our souls

in a land barren of mercy,

bearing our crosses,

buried in the steel of

Texas' Death Row!