NEWS & EVENTS
Reception with the Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) on September 14: save the date!Submitted by Virginia Raymond on Sat, 07/31/2010 - 00:12.
Sep 14 2010 - 5:00pm - Sep 14 2010 - 7:00pm
Garage sale on October 2! Help us buy a digital camcorder!Submitted by Virginia Raymond on Sat, 07/17/2010 - 23:13.
UT Libraries' Human Rights Documentation Intiative (HRDI) partners with Texas After Violence ProjectSubmitted by Virginia Raymond on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 18:12.
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Christopher M. Gunter - caution: graphic description of crime
Submitted by lavagirl on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 18:58.
Mr. Christopher M. Gunter is a criminal defense lawyer in Austin, where he grew up and also earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas. He has been licensed to practice law in the State of Texas since November 24, 1980, and is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Criminal Law. Mr. Gunter began his legal career with the Travis County Attorney's Office and then the Travis County District Attorney's Office. As an Assistant DA, he prosecuted Leroy Barrow for the capital murder of Lynn Sternberg. Although that trial resulted in a death sentence for Mr. Barrow, the case was reversed and retried by different prosecutors and Mr. Barrow received a life sentence the second time. Shortly after trying the case against Mr. Barrow, Mr. Gunter became a defense attorney. He has also represented two defendants in capital murder trials: James Carl Lee Davis and Kenneth McDuff. In this interview, Mr. Gunter describes the Barrow, Davis, and McDuff trials, and the evolution of his own views about the death penalty. His beliefs are not the focus of our interview; however, they are integral to Mr. Gunter's story and to excise them would not do justice to his experience. In the video segment of the interview posted here, Mr. Gunter talks about his representation of James Carl Lee Davis. In March, 1984, Mr. Davis beat to death two little boys, Tyron and Tom Johnson, and sexually assaulted and beat to death their teenage sister, Evet. A Travis County jury convicted Mr. Davis and sentenced him to death; the State of Texas executed Mr. Davis on September 9, 1997. Mr. Davis' execution was the first to result from a Travis County jury's death sentence since 1960. The Texas After Violence Project does not want to post gratuitously graphic descriptions of crime. The core of this interview, however, is the tension Mr. Gunter sees between the horrific nature of Mr. Davis' crime, on the one hand, and Mr. Davis' severe mental illness, on the other. To edit out the brief but gruesome facts would take away the sharp central conflict of this interview, so we have not done that. But please think carefully, know yourself or your audience, and use your judgment before you decide to view this video or show it to other people. Information about the interview: Narrator: Christopher M. Gunter Copyright Christopher M. Gunter and the Texas After Violence Project 2009. Permission for educational, non-commercial use granted provided the user fully attributes the source of the material and this website. ASA format: MLA format: |