ANTHONY GRAVES ENDOWS SCHOLARSHIP
It was October 27th,2010 when District Court Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett dismissed all charges of capital murder against Anthony Graves for the murder of six family members in Somerville in 1992. He had spent 18 years in custody, 14 of them on death row.
One of Graves’ most active legal advocates was journalism professor and non-practicing attorney Nicole Casarez. She and her students at the University of St. Thomas investigate the Graves’ conviction. They reviewed the case, looking at shortcomings and defects in the prosecution, leading them to believe there was no evidence to convict him.
Graves says he owed Casarez his freedom in large part and noted that she would not any money for her efforts. She would not let him buy her a car, or rebuild her house. Instead, earlier this month, Graves’ surprised her with one thing she could not refuse: an endowed scholarship in her name at the University of Texas Law School.
To fund it, Graves’ used some of the $1.45 million he was awarded by the state of Texas for his wrongful incarceration. Casarez sas the award ‘means the world’ to her. She got a letter recently from the UT Law School Dean, who told her she brought ‘glory’ to her alma mater.