05:47 PM CDT on Monday, August 22, 2005

By Reggie Aqui / 11 News

HOUSTON -- Demonstrators gathered in downtown Houston Monday in the hopes of saving Frances Newton from her scheduled September execution.

She would be the first African American woman put to death in Texas since the Civil War.

KHOU-TV

Like most members of the group, Rabia Tahiri has never met Newton.

"This is like a Pandora's box," Marcia Hale told the Houston Chronicle.

Hale is a street minister associated with the Committee to Free Frances Newton. "If this woman is executed, she's going to be like a poster child to open the door for other females of all races to be murdered," Hale said.

The protestors were hoping to have enough people to gather all alongside the Harris County courthouse, but not enough showed up to do so.

"We want to stand up for justice, not only for today, but for the rest of our lives," a protestor said to the crowd.

Like most members of the Committee to Free Frances Newton, Rabia Tahiri has never met Newton. But she's familiar with her story, which dates back to April 1987.

Newton claims she walked into her apartment and found her husband and two young children dead. But investigators pointed the finger at Newton after discovering a gun and an insurance policy recently taken out on the family.

They believe a $100,000 insurance policy was the motive.

The demonstrators in downtown Houston and on the Internet said the real truth still hasn't come to light. Supporters said Newton did not receive an adequate defense and is not guilty of the crime.

"I care because every life is precious, and especially when a woman is innocent. She deserves that each one of us fight for her, especially that they're doing this in our name, the State of Texas, Harris County," said Rabia Tahiri.

Monday's demonstration is just the beginning of the save Frances campaign. The group plans to organize again in Houston later in the week and in Austin on Saturday to try and get the governor's attention.

Governor Perry issued a rare 120-day reprieve last December to stop Newton's scheduled exection. That allowed for additional ballistics testing on a .25-caliber Raven Arms pistol that Newton had hidden in an abandoned house the night of the shootings. Bullets test-fired from that gun matched those removed from the victims.

Newton has been on death row for 19 years now.