Man dies in prison after serving longest time on death row at 35 years

Carol Forsloff -Revealing
what many believe to the be the injustices and ineptness in the Texas
death penalty system, Ronald Curtis Chambers died in jail after 35 years
as a condemned man and after his conviction was overturned numerous
times.

Mr.

Chambers was scheduled to die in 2007 but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a reprieve just days before.  Then the case was returned to the 5th circuit court to be reviewed because jury instructions given in his 1992 trial did not enumerate mitigating factors that included violence and drugs exposure early in Chambers life, lack of role models, and lack of economic opportunity.



Sentenced
to death for capital murder in 1975, Chambers conviction was overturned
many times.  He was again sentenced to death in 1985 and 1992.


James Volberding, Chambers' defense attorney who worked on his client's
appeals during the period 1996 to 2008 said Chambers case "is an
illustration of the flaws of the Texas' death penalty system," according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

 Volberding
reports, "Court and prosecution errors were the cause of the long
delay" and he argued that these delays amounted to cruel and unusual
punishment.  He also said that Chambers was a changed man from the
person who committed murder at age 20 and was very remorseful. 

The
Dallas County district attorney's office spokeswoman Jamille Bradfield
stated on Monday that they were "actively preparing to retry Mr.
Chambers on punishment at the time of his death."

Chambers
died of natural causes while waiting in the Dallas County Jail for a
new sentencing hearing.   He spent 23 hours daily in his cell for most

of his incarceration.