Asian Texans for Justice Urge Spotlight on Wednesday Execution of Kosoul Chanthakoummane
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2022
AUSTIN, TEXAS — On Wednesday, August 17, Kosoul Chanthakoummane is scheduled to be executed for the 2006 murder of Sarah Walker in McKinney, Texas, despite serious issues with the evidence used to obtain his conviction and sentence. Asian Texans for Justice urge greater attention to Mr. Chanthakoummane’s case and for any possible action to delay his execution so those issues can be fully investigated.
Mr. Chanthakoummane is a Laotian American whose family came as refugees of the Secret War in Laos. He is one of five Asian Americans on Texas’s death row. One of the many concerning issues in his case is that two eyewitnesses identified a man of “Asian descent” as a suspect but only pointed to Mr. Chanthakoummane as the perpetrator following forensic hypnosis, a fact that was never revealed before the jury. Forensic hypnosis is discredited within the realm of forensic sciences for its unrealiability, and many states have banned its use.
Mr. Chanthakoummane has been granted funding by a federal judge to hire an expert to re-analyze and re-interpret the DNA evidence that was the linchpin in the State’s case against him, but his execution is still scheduled for this week. He also has a clemency letter pending before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and a request for emergency stay of exeution before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
“Texas Asian Americans are part of and impacted by the criminal justice system, and in every single case deserve full and fair consideration under the law. In Mr. Chanthakoummane’s case, that consideration will be too late if his execution goes forward in just two days.”
- Lily Trieu, Interim Executive Director of Asian Texans for Justice
