Percy Foreman

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Percy Eugene Foreman (June 21, 1902 – August 25, 1988) was a criminal defense attorney from Houston, Texas. Various sources indicate that Foreman was born near either Bold Springs, Texas or Cold Springs, Texas.[1] Foreman moved to Livingston, Texas when he was six years old.[2] He was the son of William P. ("Rogers") Foreman, a former sheriff of Polk County, Texas.[3] Percy Foreman attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia for one year, graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1927,[4] and was admitted to the Texas Bar on January 17, 1928.[5] He went on to become one of America's best known trial lawyers.

Foreman was a respected master of tactics. He lost only 53 of 1500 death-penalty cases and only one finally resulted in execution (Steve Mitchell, electrocuted in Texas in 1951).[6][7]

Foreman's clients included Candy Mossler, James Earl Ray,[8] who was convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Charles Harrelson,[9] convicted murderer and the father of actor Woody Harrelson. James Earl Ray, on the advice of Foreman, later took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and therefore the possibility of receiving the death penalty.

Notes

  1. ↑ Compare Michael Dorman, King of the Courtroom: Percy Foreman for the Defense, p. 35 (Dell Publishing, New York 1969) (hereinafter "Dorman"), which indicates "Bold Springs," to the Texas State Historical Association, which reports "Cold Springs". The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, at . Bold Springs is in Polk County, while Cold Springs is in Cherokee County.
  2. ↑ East Texas Historical Association.
  3. ↑ Dorman, p. 40.
  4. ↑ The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, at
  5. ↑ State Bar of Texas, record for Percy Foreman, at .
  6. ↑ "There Is No Better Than Me" - TIME
  7. ↑ http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/TEXAS.htm
  8. ↑ Dorman, p. 280.
  9. ↑ Texas Ranger Dispatch Magazine at .

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