Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu Urge Texas to Stay Execution of Kenneth Foster

Foster's attorney has filed a last minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles meets today to decide Kenneth Foster's fate.

Foster is one of three death row prisoners set to die this week in Texas. Last night the state executed DaRoyce Mosley. Tonight John Joe Amador is scheduled to be killed. All three men are African-American or Latino. What makes Foster's case unique is that he is set to be executed for a murder that the state of Texas admits he didn't commit or plan.

Eleven years ago, Foster was driving a car with three passengers. One of the passengers left the car, got into an altercation and shot a man dead. The shooter was executed for this crime last year. At the time of the shooting, Kenneth Foster was 80 feet away in his car.

But Foster was sentenced to die as well under what's known as the law of parties. The law imposes the death penalty on anybody involved in a crime where a murder occurred.

• Liliana Segura, an activist with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and a freelance writer published in The Nation and Alternet.