00:00I have a recording of his last interview before he was murdered by the state.
00:06He said, you know, Mama, I got off track for just three months, and it ruined my whole life.
00:14It did.
00:23I always enjoy and feel joyful when speaking about him.
00:29He was kind of quiet, very athletic, excelled in whatever he did.
00:36And he played the violin. He liked the violin.
00:40So when I was called with the news that he had been arrested, I was shocked.
00:47Lee Greenwood is the mother of Joseph Nichols, a man convicted of murder and executed in Texas as a result
00:53of the Law of Parties.
00:55The Law of Parties states that a person can be criminally responsible for the actions of another in certain circumstances.
01:02This law seeks to punish criminal associations and impose harsh penalties for even being linked to a felony through a
01:08conspiracy or planned crime.
01:11This means that while Joseph's accomplice pled guilty and was executed for the killing,
01:15Joseph was eventually retried and suffered the same consequences as the man who was initially convicted of firing the fatal
01:22shot.
01:24Do you recall a time that you or Joseph were ever hopeful?
01:28We were always hopeful.
01:29I came here with the idea we will soon be out of this.
01:33I was told by various attorneys that I spoke to in California, in San Diego,
01:39he may have done six months at California Youth Authority.
01:43Maybe.
01:44Because he had no record, he may have even gotten probation.
01:49But I soon learned that the thing about justice was a false.
01:59Especially in Harris County, Houston, Texas.
02:03They tried Joseph.
02:05The jury was a hung jury.
02:07They said that they were hung on the punishment phase.
02:10They found him guilty under the law of parties.
02:13But they said that they could not sentence him to life imprisonment nor the death penalty because he had not
02:19been the shooter.
02:20He had not fired the fatal shot.
02:21They tried him.
02:23No new evidence.
02:25Nothing different.
02:26They tried him and they got a conviction.
02:29And they sent him to death row.
02:32Joseph was executed in Harris County, Texas, on March 7, 2007, 25 years after his arrest.
02:41Joseph said in the last days,
02:44Lady, stand on your faith and be at peace.
02:48I got this.
02:50If he could say that, who am I to dishonor him by falling on the floor, rolling and flailing and
02:57crying and all of that?
03:00The day that we went to visit Joseph for the last time, which was a Wednesday, we were turned toward
03:07a big window.
03:09And when they opened the curtains, they had already strapped him down on the gurney.
03:13And there was a microphone over the gurney.
03:15They allowed us to hear his heartbeat until it was no more.
03:22After he was murdered, I got it.
03:24And I still have.
03:25It's a box, a little cylinder full of Tootsie Rolls.
03:29I hate chocolate.
03:30Full of Tootsie Rolls.
03:32And it had a balloon on top.
03:34And it was from several inmates.
03:36They had gotten someone to buy that for them and sent it to me saying he had either helped them
03:41learn how to read because they couldn't read very well.
03:44He helped them read and understand their case.
03:48He helped them with their diction and how to write certain things about their case.
03:55This is the type of person he was.
03:58What is your hope for the future in sharing Joseph's story and also for criminal justice reform?
04:05I think that I will not be alive to see a lot of reform.
04:08I think that Texas will be the last one to go down if they ever abolish the death penalty.
04:15He'll go down screaming.
04:17And I think a lot of people will not admit that there really is a problem because they just might
04:24have to get up off their behinds and be a part of the solution.
04:35If it makes one person not maybe change their idea or the way they look at the death penalty, if
04:44it just makes them start thinking.
04:47It won't bring Joseph back.
04:50But Joseph doesn't have to be brought back in the body.
04:53He's here and in his family and his friends' mind and hearts every day.
05:02He's here and he's here.
05:03He's here and he's here.
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