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Have a seat, Picasso. |
Posted on 08/25/2004 7:21:46 AM PDT by Dubya
In the eyes of his family and supporters, James Vernon Allridge III is the portrait of rehabilitation.
To the family and friends of Brian Clendennen, Allridge is the portrait of a killer.
For 17 years, Allridge has been on Texas' Death Row, where he has become a self-taught artist whose colorful pictures of flowers and landscapes have brought him a small international following. His prison record has won him praise from several former correctional officials who say he is no longer a threat to anyone.
But Shane Clendennen and his family say that no amount of artistic flair or gentle behavior while behind bars is enough to stop Thursday's scheduled execution of Allridge, who was condemned to die for shooting 21-year-old Brian Clendennen during a 1985 crime spree in Fort Worth.
Allridge's brother Ronald was executed in 1995 for another killing during the spree.
"My brother didn't even have a chance at life," Shane Clendennen, the victim's younger brother, said in a recent interview. "They had a trial. They said 'put him to death.' That's fair. People who say the death penalty is wrong haven't gone through this."
Edward Clendennen, the victim's older brother, said: "There's actually a victim's side to this story. What condition do you leave the families in?"
The case has attracted significant attention in recent weeks, spurred on by a Death Row visit July 14 by actress Susan Sarandon, who bought some of the condemned man's art and exchanged letters with him for several years.
Sarandon, who won the Best Actress Oscar in 1996 for her portrayal of anti-death-penalty crusader Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, appears on a video prepared by Allridge's lawyers in their appeal to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Former correctional officers and at least three of Allridge's jurors also want his death sentence set aside in favor of life in prison on the grounds that he has rehabilitated his life.
The attention given to Allridge has angered relatives of Clendennen, who was tied up and shot Feb. 4, 1985, during a robbery at the Circle K convenience store where he worked in Fort Worth.
Clendennen family members are outraged that Allridge has earned profits selling artwork and notecards over the Internet. They point out that Brian Clendennen, too, had artistic talent, and they still have an oil painting on display in Everman's City Hall.
"Now all I have is a picture and a grave site," said Shane Clendennen, who with other relatives plans to witness the execution.
Allridge's supporters have collected more than 2,000 signatures, many from outside the United States, requesting that his sentence be commuted.
But Andy Kahan, a crime victims' advocate in Houston, says profiting from crime -- or "murderabilia," as he calls it -- is wrong.
"There's nothing more nauseating to victims' families than seeing items hawked by the murderer," said Kahan, who has filed complaints against Allridge's art sales.
Some of Allridge's prints sell for more than $400; a box of cards goes for $10 on the Web site www.lightexpressions.net.
Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Ralph McCloud, who lives on the same street as the Allridge family, has become an advocate for the condemned killer, whom he has visited in prison.
"It would be a terrible waste if he was executed," said McCloud, who was not a neighbor when James Allridge lived at home. "People like his artwork; they like his smile. If there is such a thing as rehabilitation, he's the beneficiary of it."
Doris Clendennen, who raised her five children alone after being widowed at 34, at first said she could not bring herself to talk about her slain son. "I wish I could talk without crying," she said.
"Two weeks before he died, he told me, 'I want to go back to college.' He was real good in art," she said. "He was a real nice boy."
As for art sales from Death Row, Doris Clendennen said: "That is the worst thing that prison has ever done. I think that is so, so wrong."
Allridge's father, James, said talking about the looming execution is too difficult. "It depresses me. It gets me upset," he said.
The senior Allridge has already been through one execution -- that of his son Ronald Allridge, who was condemned for the March 25, 1985, killing of Carla Otto, a customer at a Whataburger in south Fort Worth.
Brothers James and Ronald Allridge had engaged in a two-month crime marathon in early 1985 that targeted convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, leaving three dead. The Allridges, joined by another set of brothers, would alternate as getaway driver. Ronald Allridge was the driver when James Allridge robbed the Circle K.
Tarrant County prosecutor Mike Parrish remembers James Allridge's role in the Clendennen case. "I think just like I did in 1987," Parrish said. "He saw a person that he knew, and he made a conscious decision to kill him."
Doris Clendennen said her son Brian was not scheduled to work the night he was killed, having substituted for a co-worker. When he went to the door at closing, he saw Allridge, who had been in a training program with him at the Circle K.
Parrish said Allridge at first left the store but was egged on by his brother to return and rob it.
Shane Clendennen says he believes that Allridge killed Brian the way he did -- point-blank range as Brian knelt with his hands behind his back -- because they knew each other. Doris Clendennen was waiting outside the store to pick up her son when she saw Allridge run out.
James Allridge, who declined to be interviewed for this report, acknowledges in a five-page essay that he committed a "senseless" crime. But he says he has since made his life worth something and is contributing to the society he offended.
"The crime I was convicted for was not a grizzly one, but the serious crime of murder nonetheless," Allridge writes, never mentioning his victim's name. He maintains that the jury "misjudged" him by deciding on the death penalty after concluding that he was a continuing threat to society.
On Tuesday, the Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected Allridge's petition to have his sentence commuted to life in prison. Also Tuesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied an appeal for a stay of execution.
Meanwhile, Parrish says he is unmoved by the condemned man's claims of artistic talent and rehabilitation.
"I'm glad he's got some talent," he said, "other than killing people."
Texas executions
• Texas has executed 323 inmates since 1982, the most in the nation.
• Texas has executed 10 inmates this year.
• Jasen Busby of Cherokee County is scheduled to be executed tonight.
• No Texas Death Row inmate has won a sentence commutation based on rehabilitation.
SOURCE: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
I could care less if he could paint the Mona Lisa blind folded with his teeth. He murdered, now it's his time. Buh Bye!
GO TEXAS!
He's definitely not a threat to anyone now. I'm glad they removed all doubt.
"The crime I was convicted for was not a grizzly one, but the serious crime of murder nonetheless," Allridge writes, never mentioning his victim's name. He maintains that the jury "misjudged" him by deciding on the death penalty after concluding that he was a continuing threat to society.
The crime I was convicted for was not a grizzly one
I suppose all of the proceeds from this vermin's "art" have all gone to the victim's family.
</sarcasm>
Comedian Ron White - "Here in Texas we have the death penalty...AND...WE...USE...IT! That's right, if you come here to kill somebody, we will kill you back."
Susan Sarandon should be executed. Put all of us out of our misery. It simply sickens me that some people can't remember what these inmates did to get themselves in jail in the first place. There's a reason they are behind bars, people, and its not because they were jaywalking. Get rid of them and do it quickly.
And there should be a law that the family does get any money raised by these killers.
Who is benefiting financially from his art? Did I miss that part?
Give the money to the family of the man he murdered.
It was tried once, I think in New York, and the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional.
Looks like he is one of those who predate much of the reform that limited death row appeals so he has been able to drag it out for years.
Well, being here in good old College Station, I guess that means when I leave school today I get to see the protesters (about 5 or so) that feel every time a person is executed they should stand by the street with a sign telling me how wrong this is. If they want sympathy for this cold blooded killer I know of another college in Texas they could go to and get a great reception.
I need to buy all his paintings. Sell them to Susan Saranwrap for $$$$$ after he takes his dirt nap.
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Have a seat, Picasso. |
* Texas has executed 323 inmates since 1982, the most in the nation.
Thank you -- ThankYaVerahMuch.
-ccm
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