EXECUTED BY TX ON 8/29/2007

Interestingly enough, I met Ash's wife and sons before I had ever been introduced to him. His wife met me at the airport the very first time I went to TX to visit my friends on the row. Now that I know Ash, I find him to be an intelligent and talented person who has a pretty positive outlook on life. I met Ash and his family through my good friend Arnold (see Friends page) and have been amazed at Ash's Courage as he sits on the row in TX. Ash speaks often of his family and the love that he has for his wife and sons. Ash is more concerned about planning for his family's support and care than for his own future. Ash is currently working on a book that he has been writing. He is also a poet, and in one piece, you can see his challenge to gang members in "Who Are You" which is on our 'Poems' page.

From what I hear, Ash is quite the chess player and both Arnold and Ving have told me that neither one of them has ever beat him. Once, when chatting with Ash, I told him that Ving said that Ash was so good at chess that Ving said he could never beat him. Ash's modest reply was that he was 'not so good, it was just that Ving was so bad'!

Ash is an accomplished artist who paints in oil paints. The difference between Ash's work and that of many other painters is that Ash cannot purchase paints so he makes his own from crushed colored pencils and baby oil. Ash also fabricates his brushes from his own hair. I was amazed at the beauty and detail of the recent painting that Ash sent to me. Probably the most interesting aspect of that painting was that he included the Twin Towers of the WTC in the background, never knowing that in 1995 I worked in the #2 Tower! You can see this painting and other examples of Ash's work on the 'Drawings' pages of this site and also in our store.

I will never forget when I heard that Ash had received his execution date. I was in Philadelphia on business when my cell phone went off and since I was not able to answer it right then, I let it go to voicemail. When I checked the message it was Ash's wife Linda. Her message said that they had just gotten out of court and that Ash was scheduled to be executed on August 29th. She was on her way to the jail to see him she said. I called her back as soon as I was able to, and she explained how hard the hearing had been. Ash had held up pretty well considering the state was planning for the date of his death, but when his younger cousin became emotion, it was difficult for Ash to hold on. She and he had always been very close.

What made me sad for Ash and his family was that his wife told me the television station in San Antonio covering the hearing made some misstatements, the worst of which was that Ash was a serial killer. Also, Ash was required to take a tuberculosis shot before he went to court do to the possibility that he might be carrying the disease from the row in Polunsky. Because of this, he was required to wear a medical mask to reduce the possibility of spreading the disease. Wearing the mask not only kept his features hidden from his family, but also further dehumanized him and reduced his dignity as a human being.

To preserve Ash's dignity, I would like to offer the words of former Supreme Court Justice of the United States of America, Harry Blackmun:

“Twenty years have passed since this Court declared that the death penalty must be imposed fairly, and with reasonable consistency, or not at all (see Furman v. Georgia), and, despite the efforts of the States and courts to devise legal formulas and procedural rules to meet this daunting challenge, the death penalty remains fraught with arbitrariness, discrimination, caprice, and mistake.” Rather than continue to coddle the Court’s delusion that the desired level of fairness has been achieved and the need for regulation eviscerated, I feel morally and intellectually obligated simply to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed.”

Harry Blackmun

Callins v. Collins

Meet Ash and his family, "The Forgotten Victims"

Read the article about Ash in "The TX Catholic"

Ash's Artwork

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