AMY GOODMAN: And before we go to our last segment on the song “Strange Fruit,” we turn to the case of Gary Graham, scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, June 22nd, convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 fatal shooting of Bobby Lambert during an attempted nighttime robbery in the parking lot of a Safeway supermarket. Graham’s conviction turned on a single eyewitness, who allegedly saw him only fleetingly and at night. For 19 years, Graham has maintained his innocence.

His case is getting more attention now than perhaps any case in Texas since Karla Faye Tucker, major editorials in all the major newspapers of this country, pieces on Good Morning America, last night a half-hour on Nightline, as article after editorial after news piece, even in the corporate media, emphasizes the fact that there were eyewitnesses who were not brought before the jurors, only the one that incriminated Gary Graham. You heard on Democracy Now! last week a juror saying if he had known what evidence existed, he would not have convicted Gary Graham, if he had known there was conflicting eyewitness testimony.

We talked last week extensively about the case, his lawyers pressing for a new trial, portraying it as a textbook example of how bad lawyering sends poor people to death row in Texas and in other states around the country. Two weekends ago, The New York Times wrote a piece on his case, which focused on Graham’s original attorney, Ronald Mock. The piece said Mr. Mock, who boasted in an interview this week he had flunked criminal law at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, called no witnesses during the guilt phase of Mr. Graham’s trial, which lasted two days. We had on the program his partner in that case, Chester Thornton, who said that Mock made it very clear that Graham was guilty.

Well, we had a lot of response to last week’s show, as we gave out George Bush’s number. At this point, Gary Graham’s only hope is with the Texas governor. After we gave out his number, we got this call from a listener.

ELLIOTT SKINNER: Hello, I’m Elliott Skinner. I’m calling from Santa Fe, New Mexico. I wanted you to know that I called the office this morning, and a person answered, and I said that I wanted to leave my opinion about Gary Graham. And then I was referred to a recording. And I got the recording. I found it very disturbing, because after some introductory remarks about how concerned they were about my opinion, they asked me to answer a question. And the question was: “Are you for or against the execution of Gary Graham? Answer yes or no.” Now, of course, that alarmed me, because this question is like, “Do you like Coke or Pepsi?” And if you answer yes or no, that’s — you can see the trick in the question. And so I didn’t answer anything. I finally got a thing that said you can leave a recorded message at 30 seconds, and I got cut off about two or three seconds into that message. My wife called, and we got the same thing. She talked with a woman named Danielle, who said that she would talk with somebody about doing something about the tape. And then I called again, and I got a man named Justin. And he told me that the question, if I had answered yes to it, it would mean that I was for the execution of Gary Graham, and if I had answered no, I was against the execution. And I think this — I find this very disturbing, because I imagine a lot of people will answer yes, meaning they want to go on on the menu and express their opinion.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, we had our producer David Love give a call to George Bush’s office to see just what this listener was talking about.

OPERATOR: Governor’s Office. How can I direct your call?

DAVID LOVE: Yes, I’d like to make a comment on the Gary Graham case.

OPERATOR: One moment.

DAVID LOVE: Thank you.

RECORDING: Thank you for calling the office of Governor Bush. Our office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Standard Time, Monday through Friday. The Governor’s Office is a Texas agency staffed by state employees who are prohibited from discussing political matters on state time. If you want to reach the Bush for President committee, you can contact that office at 512-637-2000. If you wish to give Governor Bush your opinion on the scheduled execution of Gary Graham, please press one. If you have a rotary phone, please stay on the line. Or if you need assistance with a Texas state issue, please hold for the next available operator.

The office of Governor Bush is interested in your comments about the scheduled execution of Gary Graham. Please answer the following questions and press the pound sign on your telephone keypad to go to the next question. Please say if you are for or against this scheduled execution; please answer yes or no after the tone. If you would like to leave a brief comment about this issue, please begin speaking after the tone. You will have 30 seconds to leave your comment.

AMY GOODMAN: And that is the message on George Bush’s machine. You can let your views be heard. Again, Gary Graham slated to die on June 22nd. He says he will fight this to the end. He was already pepper-sprayed a few weeks ago. He has said that he will not cooperate in his own execution. The number for George Bush’s line is 512-463-2000. That’s 512-463-2000. When we come back, we’ll look at the song “Strange Fruit.” Stay with us.