Greetings in the Holy Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, Thank you for contacting Vision of Hope.
First of all I don't judge people. I was an unwilling guest of the State of SC for six years of a ten year sentence. That is where I met the Man, Jesus. I am not sure what it is that I can offer at
this time other than prayers. I apologize for being so late in getting back to you. I have been ill and in the Hospital as well as taking care of my handicapped wife. The Ministry doesn't run when I
am not here so I am so far behind on e-mails and snail mail that I have no idea when I will get caught up. If you are already home I pray that God is blessing you as you begin your post prison life.
If there is anything else I can do please let us know. Again, God bless you and yours.
In Christ's Service
Doc
This is a letter (below this letter,) I asked Joann Gray to write, that just kind of introduces herself and explains her situation. (see her on http://www.cowtowninfo.com/personals/f06/f06-014.htm
--- -my site is www.usaprayermission.com, name and address: Joseph Edward Bonnette, P.O. BOX 65555 St. Paul, Mn. 55165 USA. --- email: 12000words@usa.com.cell phone: 612-749-0072) ---- I am seeking
to advance in the “heavenly calling” in every possible way and request to God, and am ready for whatever the Lord has for me to do. I am really desiring to get out of the “rut” life has thrown my way
my whole life so far!! I want to get out of the selfish self serving ways of life, and really work to serve the Lord.
--------Joann just sent this letter “to whom it may concern” last week on 8/10/11. She is supposed to get out on parole next month, and get considered on Sept 1st, so I am praying that if she is
telling the truth in this short letter, (which I slightly correct in spelling and grammar,-- and which I know her claim sounds impossible for her to get 30 years for something so “relatively”
innocent, when known murders sometimes get out after hardly a year passes,) then I ask God to get as many to pray as possible for it, and if she gets out, I have a list of vows and promises to God of
what we will do together for the furtherance of his kingdom. In this request I also want prayer that my vows will be especially “obviously” binding, (though they are already according to His word,
“pay that you owe,” etc.) and that they are proof that I really need and desire God to work in my life in behalf of Joann and myself. I will keep close track of all my resolutions and promises, and
while I do them regardless of what God does for me, there are some that cannot be done unless circumstances allow it, and prove to me that God answered my prayers in my favor. -----.
------ The Holy Spirit knows if this letter (mine and hers) is true or not, and so it would be better if those who have the gift of “true word of knowledge” could read this, and all give me their
honest most God fearing opinion as to what they believe the Lord is telling them on it, (preferable speaking through them,) knowing if you do not really “know” you better not “act like” you do, or
you are “lying to the Holy Spirit!!” You know Ananias and Sapphira and I think God could do that again, even if I would speak carelessly, etc!!! And I think we all deserve to be treated like we are
important and telling the truth, until and unless we know (can prove) otherwise, so I do not like this “based on probability stuff,” as if it is enough to be treated like a “statistic” rather than a
real individual and unique person. I think faith can be an “exact science,” and science means “logic” which probably comes from the word “logos.” Jesus said to preach the gospel to the “poor” because
the poor cannot be known unless someone goes to them, and “seeks them out,” as Jesus said to “leave the 99 sheep and seek the one lost one!!!” And Jesus said though we start working in the harvest
field late in the “day,” we will get the same “payment” (anointing) as those who have done so their whole life already. -----
---------------- I read part of Edmund Roebert’s book, “ministering in the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” (a Nigerian woman gave me, whom I unfortunately gave all that money to,) and I am trying to
practice “praying in the Holy Spirit,” though it is true I have been slack on that, though not on prayer in general. I believe the word in Romans 13:3 that all judges and police and “rulers” in
general are God’s ministers, though on a “secular pharisaical level,” and as the heart of the King, God can control and turn it anyway he chooses. It does not say “only in the case of righteous and
godly Kings and rulers,” but ALL such persons are considered “ministers” of God. The Bible also says that “if a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies at peace with him.” And so I know
God is in control, and as stated in the infallible word, in John 1:3, that “without (Jesus) the word, was not anything made that is made,” and so though people may have a lot of bad intentions “made”
in their heart, for it to be “made” outwardly, it can only happen through the word who is now made flesh, and called “Jesus our Lord and Savior.” Amos 3:6 seems to say the same, that nothing good or
bad can happen, unless the Lord does it. This should be a comfort to us, that “not a sparrow can fall to the ground without our father” Jesus said.
----------------Here is Joann's letter below: (yes she knows Jesus as her savior, and that was about the first thing she told me how much she loves Jesus, and how He speaks to her, etc. And she said
also how much she loves her Bible, etc. The “Joe” she mentions is me, though one is good and that is God, as Jesus said, but “every creature of God is good if sanctified by the word of God and
prayer.”)
======== To whom this may concern! My name is Joann and yes I’m doing time. I have been for a while now. But thank God I will be able to see the light soon. I want you and whole lot of other people
to know that just because people are behind bars doesn’t mean that they did anything. There are so many people that are doing time behind something they didn’t do! Like myself, no I didn’t know a
robbery was about to happen. They took clothes not money. The girl said she was going to pick up something and I took her. So no I didn’t know. Maybe you or no one else believes me. It’s only one
person I know loves me and knows my life and His name is God. I have nothing to hide. I really do thank you for trying to get to know me. And I love Joe he is a good man. So all I’m asking you is to
please get to know me okay. Before you all put me down. Thank you very much! Love, Joann
DEATH PENALTY NEWS
Note that this page will change often. It is our prayer that a moratorium on the Death Penalty is called Nationwide and that this page will no longer have to be posted on our site. As long as the
states keep murdering our loved ones, this page will exist. God Bless.
Doc and the Vision of Hope Team.
Greetings Fellow Abolitionists,
Wow. What a month January was! Two of four scheduled executions were stayed. Joe D'Ambrosio became the 140th exoneree - the sixth from Ohio. Legislation to reform
or repeal the death penalty is moving in a number of states. Our movement is moving!
We wanted to make sure you know there's just a few days left for you to take some important
actions.
Many of you have already thanked Delaware Governor Markell for his recent action, and you may have also asked Ohio Governor Kasich to stop all executions in that
state. But if you haven't, now's the time, because our Affiliates in those states are preparing to hand deliver your letters early next week! So please...
If you have not yet participated in those actions, please do so by clicking the links above. Thank you, and please ask others to join
you in raising their voices as well.
I've been working hard inMaryland, where I've been
organizing on behalf ofMaryland Citizens Against State Executionsfor nearly a year. On Friday, we'll introduce the bill to make Maryland the next state to repeal the death penalty. I'll be sending more details on that soon. I am writing today
to ask that if you know anyone who lives in Maryland, please ask them to click now to sign up withMDCASEand to be a part of
this winning campaign!
Similarly, who do you know inCalifornia? There's just a few weeks of signature
gathering left to help get an amendment to end the death penalty in that state onto the
2012 ballot. It's all-hands on deck. Click Here to learn more and help out!Please also send the info to friends, family, colleagues, etc. and urge their participation.
Yes, there are 34 states with the death penalty, and there's still work to do in the states without it. Want to know what's happening where you
live? Check the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty'sAffiliate Locator Mapand
click through to your state.
There's so much to do. Our movement to abolish the death penalty is winning, slowly but surely. It will happen faster when more people are active locally and
nationally. I thank you for all that you do.
--abe
Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director of Affiliate Support
P.S. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's support to its Affiliate Network depends on the support of people like you. Remember, Atlantic
Philanthropies willdouble the dollarsof every first-time NCADP supporter, so pleasemake this your day. And if you are already an NCADP supporter, please ask people you know to join you!
Joe D’Ambrosio has just become the 140th death row exoneree, and the sixth
man exonerated from Ohio’s death row. Joe was wrongfully convicted of murdering 19-year old Anthony Klann in Cuyahoga County in 1989. Following a 2006 ruling that overturned his conviction, Joe was
eventually freed in March 2010 and all charges were dismissed.
Since March 2010, prosecutors and the attorney general’s office have been appealing the dismissal but appeals courts have upheld the ruling. The exoneration is made official because today (January
23, 2012) the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal by prosecutors.
Ohioans to Stop Executions and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
welcome Joe to freedom, and congratulate everyone on the legal team and everyone else who has stood by Joe and advocated for him all of these years.
Joe D’Ambrosio’s conviction was overturned because Cuyahoga County prosecutors withheld ten pieces of evidence that would have exonerated D’Ambrosio at his 1989 trial and implicated another man in
the crime. Instead Joe spent twenty-one years on Ohio’s death row for a crime prosecutors knew he did not commit.
It's crystal clear that executions must stop in Ohio. No one should be executed under a system of justice
while that very system is being closely examined to assess its fairness and accuracy.
This exoneration comes at a time when Ohio is already examining the many aspects of Ohio's capital punishment system. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor recently established a Joint
Task Force for this purpose which has just begun its work. The Joint Task Force should be allowed to operate without the undue pressure of ongoing executions. Currently, Ohio has at least six
executions scheduled over the next year.
Today, Ohioans to Stop Executions again calls on Governor John Kasich to issue an immediate moratorium on all executions until the Ohio Supreme Court’s
Joint Task Force completes its thorough review of Ohio’s death penalty system.
Please join us in sending a strong message to Governor Kasich that he should issue a moratorium on
executions. Click here to send a message to Governor Kasich, and then follow up your
action by picking up the phone and calling him at 614-466-3555 to say, “It’s time to stop executions in Ohio!”
Thank you.
Working for alternatives to the death penalty
Dear Clair Luckabaugh,
Yesterday, Governor Markell of Delaware made an historic decision to grant clemency to Robert Gattis after a recommendation of
commutation by the Delaware Board of Pardons. It is believed to be the first time that a Delaware governor has exercised the power of commutation to stop an execution.
Governor Markell stated in his decision that "moving forward with the execution of Mr. Gattis is not appropriate under the totality of the circumstances...the mitigating evidence here is
sufficiently substantial that an act of clemency on my part is warranted."
Governor Markell continued on to say, "My decision is among the most difficult I have had to make in all my years in public service. But in light of the Board’s unprecedented decision and the
reasons set forth above, I believe it is the correct one under the circumstances. My thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of Shirley Slay during this difficult time."
As we honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, I was reminded of a powerful message he passed along, "The time is always right to do what’s right." We thank Governor Markell
for doing what is right, and also express our deepest condolences to the Slay family.
In solidarity,
Ana Zamora
Program Director
Death Penalty Focus
5 Third Street Suite 725 San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel. 415.243.0143 - Fax 415.243.0994 - www.deathpenalty.org
Lundbeck‘s Pentobarbital kills its 36th patient in Oklahoma on January 5, 2012.The
first execution of 2012, sponsored by Lundbeck, took place in Oklahoma on January 5, 2012.
Gary Welch, who recently attempted suicide but was treated by the DOC to ensure he would be fit for his execution, was pronounced dead at 6:10pm at the state
penitentiary in McAlester. He died chanting. He was 49 years old.
6 new patients await Lundbeck’s treatment in January 2012:
Ralph Birdsong – Pennsylvania – January 17, 2012 (Details of lethal cocktail unknown)
Kenneth Hairston – Pennsylvania – January 18, 2012 (Details of lethal cocktail unknown)
Charles Lorraine – Ohio – January 18, 2012
Michael St Clair – Kentucky – January 19, 2012 (Details of lethal cocktail unknown)
Robert Gattis – Delaware – January 20, 2012
Rodrigo Hernandez – Texas – January 26, 2012
Share this post to raise awareness around you!
PentobarbitalX
With executions backlogged, Pennsylvania Senate calls for review of death penalty
Published: Monday, January 02, 2012, 4:59 AM Updated: Monday, January 02, 2012, 10:24 AM
Although a jury sentenced him to death by lethal injection in May, no death row inmate who has appealed their case has been put to death in decades in Pennsylvania.
Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1978, only three people have been executed, and all of them waived their rights to appeal their sentences.
The last death row inmate executed was Gary Heidnick, who died by lethal injection in 1999 for kidnapping, raping and murdering two women. As of Dec. 1, Ballard and 207 other inmates wait on death
row, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website.
View full sizeCourtesy PhotoMichael Eric Ballard admitted to killing four people in Northampton.
That backlog of prisoners is part of the reason why the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a resolution calling for a review of the fairness, equality and expenses of having a death penalty that is
rarely used.
Should Pennsylvania do away with the death penalty?
Previous studies have found that racial, ethnic and gender biases exist within the judicial system, and later DNA evidence has exonerated some convicts of their supposed crimes.
"Questions are frequently raised regarding the costs, deterrent effect andappropriateness of capital punishment," said the resolution's sponsor, Sen. Stewart
Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, in a news release. "I believe that we need to answer these questions."
David Rose, an Easton man who advocates against the death penalty, agrees. A retired corrections officer in New Jersey and Bucks County, Rose said inequalities exist within the system that prevent
people from getting fair trials. Factors such as a defendant's wealth, the county where the crime occurred and the philosophy of the district attorney prosecuting the case all play roles outside of
the crime itself.
"When you work in corrections, you realize the guiltiest people aren't the ones on death row," said Rose, who opposes capital punishment in part because of his Quaker faith.
The growing infrequency of the use of the death penalty could become a constitutional issue, said Lloyd Steffen, the director of the Center for Dialogue, Ethics and Spirituality at Lehigh
University. In 2011, there were approximately 15,000 murders across the country, but only 45 people were executed.
With less than a tenth of one percent of murders resulting in capital punishment, it could meet the unusual portion of the ban on cruel and unusual punishments, he said.
View full sizeAP File PhotoCharles Cullen admitted killing dozens of people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
He pointed to Charles Cullen, the most prolific serial killer in New Jersey history, as proof.
Cullen pleaded guilty to killing 29 patients by overdosing them with drugs while working as a nurse in medical centers throughout New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley. In return, he was sentenced to life
without parole.
"This is a mass murderer -- a serial killer. You can make the case that his crimes are worse than many of the people that end up on death row," he said.
On the other end of the debate, the Lehigh Valley's two district attorneys argue the death penalty's main problems are not with the state but with federal courts. Lehigh County District Attorney
Jim Martin and Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli both noted that death penalty laws have repeatedly been ruled constitutional and the state's Supreme Court
has consistently found death penalty convicts received a fair trial.
"The death penalty has been studied to death," Morganelli said.
What's causing the delays in nearly all of the death row cases is the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles federal appeal cases out of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Both district
attorneys said the judges currently assigned to the court oppose the death penalty and routinely overturn death sentences.
As a result, fighting the appeals in court becomes expensive and judges end up vacating sentences decades after jurors reached their decision.
"The death penalty has no finality to it, as ironic as it sounds," Martin said.
His office is pursuing a re-sentencing against Harvey M. Robinson, the first recorded
serial killer in Allentown's history.
Robinson was convicted of murdering three women as a teenager, but all three of the death sentences were overturned in federal court in 2006. Martin said his office is re-filing for the death
sentence against Robinson for the murder of Charlotte Schmoyer, a 15-year-old newspaper deliverer.
"It's a never ending process in these cases. The only fix would be to require a closer look at the cases by the U.S. Supreme Court," Martin said.
View full sizeThe
Reporter Photo | MARK C. PSORASDavid Rapoport admitted killing his pregnant girlfriend.
With little chance of death actually coming, both prosecutors have instead used it as a bargaining chip. In the last year, the two district attorneys have repeatedly agreed to remove the
possibility of the death penalty in return for a guilty plea. Recently, John McGlinchey agreed
to life in prison for shooting Kimiko Moon in her Easton home and David Rapoport
copped to killing his pregnant girlfriend Jennifer Snyder in a rural location in Lehigh County.
The study, which will be made up of four senators and a large team of advisers, has not yet been formed, a Greenleaf aide said. The study can take no more than two years to complete.
Don't do away with the death penalty, but shorten the appeal process for sure. It cost us taxpayers a lot of money keep these murders alive while they appeal.
In May, that evil murderer deserves to die. The defense had nothing. The cold, calculated and horrifyingly gruesome way those four people died demands that he be put to death. A beautiful mother,
a blind (!) veteran, a good father and a hero next door who tried to save them, all died senselessly and viciously at his hands. If there was ever a case to examine why we don't speed up this
process, this is it. Just ask the families of those he so brutally and cowardly murdered...
Give it up in the name of true justice. The number of death row inmates who have recently been exonerated by DNA evidence is truly astonishing. This coupled with numerous cases of prosecutorial
malfeasance should cause any just person to opt for life without parole which would remedy most of the problems and the costs. Texas, under Governor Perry, almost certainly executed a man convicted
of killing his family by arson recently and that is only one of the most recent cases.
One appeal within 30 days and then execute. There are many cases where its clear who was rhe murderer. Start with those and execute one a day until the slate is clean. You want to clean up
society. Then get serious.
McALESTER — First 2012 U.S. execution is set for Thursday
By RACHEL PETERSEN
Staff Writer
The first 2012 scheduled execution in the United States is set to take place this week at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Gary Roland Welch, 49, death row inmate at OSP, is set to be executed Thursday at 6 p.m. for his first degree murder conviction for the Aug. 25, 1994, slaying of 35-year-old Robert Dean Hardcastle in
Miami, Okla.
The first 2011 execution in the U.S. also took place at OSP, when Oklahoma death row inmate Billy Don Alverson, 39, was executed on Jan. 6, 2011, for the Feb. 26, 1995, murder of 30-year-old Richard
Kevin Yost, during a robbery of the Quik Trip in Tulsa, where Yost was the store’s night clerk.
Alverson was one of four men found guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of Yost. Three of the four men were sentenced to death, and the fourth received life without parole. Alverson was
the second man in the case to be executed.
The U.S Supreme Court of Appeals denied Welch’s last appeal on Oct. 3. Immediately following the denial, the State of Oklahoma Attorney General’s office requested an execution date be scheduled for
Welch.
Welch’s death sentence was scheduled for Jan. 5, and on Dec. 5, exactly one month prior to his scheduled execution, Welch participated in his clemency hearing.
In a statement to the clemency board, Welch said that his killing of Hardcastle was in self-defense. The Oklahoma State Pardon and Parole Board subsequently voted 3-2 denying Welch clemency.
On Dec. 16, Welch attempted to commit suicide in his cell at OSP by cutting his neck with a homemade device constructed out of shaving razors. He was found bleeding in his cell and had to be rushed
to the McAlester Regional Health Center, a local hospital, where he spent three days in the intensive care unit.
Welch was released from ICU and is currently being housed in OSP’s infirmary unit. Shortly after his arrival back at the prison, OSP Warden Randy Workman told the McAlester News-Capital that he was
doing good. “He’s eating and talking and showed some remorse,” Workman said.
OSP Warden’s Assistant Terry Crenshaw said Welch is being “monitored 24 hours a day and will continue to be monitored up until his execution.”
Contact Rachel Petersen at rpetersen@mcalesternews.com.
Alabama Man Wins Relief After 31 Years on Death Row
This week a federal court ruled that Alabama death row prisoner Billy Joe Magwood has been illegally sentenced to death and is now entitled to relief. The ruling from the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit comes after Mr. Magwood spent over three decades on Alabama's death row for the 1979 shooting death of an Alabama law enforcement officer. State and federal courts
denied relief to Mr. Magwood for years until the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that the case required closer review.
Mr. Magwood was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1981. Alabama law requires that in order to impose a death sentence, a court must find at least one “aggravating circumstance”
listed in the death penalty statute. However, in Mr. Magwood’s case, the sentencing judge imposed the death penalty but did not find that a lawful aggravating circumstance existed.
Mr. Magwood challenged his sentence, but the Alabama Supreme Court decided to permit the death penalty in cases like his, even though it admitted that this went against “a literal and technical
reading” of the death penalty statute. In a 2006 case involving a different death row prisoner, the Alabama Supreme Court revisited this rule and ruled that sentencing judges must find one of the
aggravating factors listed in the statute in order to impose the death penalty.
The State of Alabama for years fought Mr. Magwood’s ability to challenge his sentence in federal court. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Magwood is entitled to challenge his
sentence and ordered the Eleventh Circuit to review the merits of his claim.
Following remand from the United States Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit held that the state court decision allowing Mr. Magwood to be sentenced to death without a valid aggravating
circumstance violated his rights to due process. The court concluded that Mr. Magwood's death sentence was invalid and unlawful.
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Ford Vox - Ford Vox is a brain injury physician and journalist based in Boston. His
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Why America's Death Penalty Just Got Us Sanctioned by Europe
By Ford Vox
Dec 21 2011, 3:10 PM ET29The European Union is now blocking importation
of lethal injection technology into the United States
Reuters
With its legislation this week limiting our access to the drugs we use to kill one another, the European Union has just proven that if America is still a superpower, that designation must carry a
prominent asterisk for how easily we're humbled these days. The EU is now blocking importation of technology into the United States that we cannot be trusted to use properly. As widely reported
yesterday, the EU is cutting off our supply to the drugs we use for lethal injections, some of which we no longer have the capacity to manufacture domestically:
The European Commission has imposed tough new restrictions on the export of anaesthetics used to execute people in the US, in a move that will exacerbate the already extreme shortage of
the drugs in many of the 34 states that still practice the death penalty.
The EC has added eight barbiturates to its list of restricted products that are tightly controlled on the grounds that they may be used for "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment". The eight include pentobarbital and sodium thiopental - the two drugs on which almost all American executions currently depend. (Source: The Guardian)
America is now the target of a coercive technique that we've regularly used to punish Iran and North Korea. In our international diplomacy, such embargoes and sanctions are sometimes our last
resort before military intervention. But before the EU schedules its armed infiltration of Huntsville, Texas, I have another suggestion that will add teeth to its new hard line policy: Roll out the
kind of asset freezes and travel bans which are now punishing Syrian officials.
I encourage the European Union to identify the key players who carry out the death penalty (including governors of the 34 capital punishment states), freeze any EU-based bank accounts and
investments these individuals hold, and block their travel to and through European countries.
Responsible medical professionals have long since distanced themselves from the death penalty. Just as the American Psychological Association bans its member psychologists from participating in
military torture techniques, the American Board of Anesthesiologists will decertify an anesthesiologist who helps with lethal injection. Unfortunately there is no similarly responsible
organization to keep our statesmen and the legal profession at bay from continuing to oil the machinery of death in this country.
The death penalty is a blind spot in our democracy, our own peculiar national anosognosia. It probably will take the rest of the world
shouting us down in order to recognize our impairment.
Andrew Cohen recently discussed the sorry sight of executioners scrambling to
stockpile their toxic supplies after the last remaining American maker of sodium thiopental pulled out of the market. "What does it say about a state -- and a society -- that has to buy its lethal
drugs on the sly through a private middleman, as Nebraska evidently did recently?," Cohen asked last week.
All of us who wish America were exceptional (but know it's not) must thank the EU for cranking up the decibels on this important, shameful question.
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Ex-jailers become US anti-death penalty advocates
By Chantal Valery (AFP) – 16 hours ago
WASHINGTON — "I can see their faces in my nightmares," said Allen Ault, a former Georgia prison warden among a growing number of ex-jailers and executioners opposed to the death penalty in the
United States.
Across the country, prison workers who once supported the death penalty are beginning to lend their voices, alongside other prominent figures, to the campaign to abolish capital punishment in
favor of life imprisonment.
In his role as the director of the Georgia Department of Corrections in the 1990s, Ault supervised five executions in a death row that he had built 20 years earlier.
Ault would give the order to pull the switch on death row inmates strapped to an electric chair.
It is "the most premeditated murder that one can do, there's no other way to describe it," Ault said, calling putting inmates to death an "inhumane job for people who have a conscience and who
value life."
He was among six retired prison wardens who urged Georgia officials -- in vain -- to try to halt the execution of Troy Davis, an African American who was put to death in September for killing a
white off-duty police officer in 1989.
During his career as Florida prison system warden, Ron McAndrew escorted three prisoners to the electric chair, and five others to the death chamber in Texas to be executed by lethal
injection.
One day in 1997, the Florida electric chair, known as "Old Sparky," malfunctioned. "We had a fire, it was horrible -- we literally burnt him to death," said McAndrew.
McAndrew is still tormented by memories of telling the technician to continue with the electric charge despite the mishap.
"This work is too dirty, we have become barbarians," he told AFP.
Reginald Wilkinson, who once served as director of Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said "it's time... to evolve to a sophisticated society that would allow that life without
parole would be a punishment equal to capital punishment."
"I had the responsibility to carry out the law," said Wilkinson, who eventually became an anti-death penalty activist.
Prosecutors, governors -- such as Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon -- and even judges, such as Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and fellow retired justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra
Day O'Connor, are raising doubts about the death penalty.
"We see new voices, we've seen much change in the leadership, more people are speaking up," said Steve Hall with The StandDown Texas Project, which advocates eliminating the death penalty in the
southern state.
According to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center, the number of executions and death penalty sentences has dropped 75 percent in the past 15 years to its lowest level since 1976, when
the death penalty was reinstated in the United States.
There were 78 death sentences imposed in 2011 -- the first time in 35 years the number has fallen below 100, the center said in its annual report.
The number of executions has also fallen to 43 in 2011, down from 46 in 2010, and down by half compared to 1999, which registered the highest number since 1976.
Some 61 percent of the US public still favors of the death penalty, according to an October Gallup poll, among the lowest level support for legal executions since 1972.
Forty percent of Americans also say the death penalty is not imposed enough -- which Gallup says is the lowest percentage since May 2001.
For things to change "it's going to take a lot of people with their voices to express their opinion," Wilkinson said.
Former US president Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI were among those who weighed in on Davis's behalf in a racially charged case that spanned two decades. His execution
marked a turning point among many who follow the issue in the United States.
"Why rush to execution when you have lot of that doubt?" asked Ault.
"Capital punishment is bad all the time, but to execute someone when there are doubts, it's an ultimate insult for society," he said. "It seems so hypocritical to say we would deter some murders
by murdering somebody."
Since 1976, 139 inmates have been found innocent and been released from death row, averaging now at around five cases a year.
"In the US, we have replaced justice with vengeance," said McAndrew. "When it comes to capital punishment, it's very scary, all you need is a person to point his finger at you."
McAndrew still recalls a chance encounter at a Florida airport with a death penalty inmate who had been reprieved and was eventually released.
"He recognized me -- he put his arm around me," said McAndrew. "The last time I saw him, he was in death row in Florida and I was warden.
"I could have possibly extracted this man out of his cell, brought him to the death chamber and put him to death when in fact he was totally innocent. He served almost 20 years for a crime he had
not committed."
The Ohio Supreme Court today set execution dates for two convicted killers, including one from Preble County, bringing to 14 the number of Ohio death row inmates with firm
execution dates.
Ronald Phillips of Summit County, who raped and murdered his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in 1993, is to die by lethal injection on Nov. 14, 2013. Dennis McGuire, who
raped, choked and stabbed a pregnant woman in 1989, has a Jan. 16, 2014, execution date. McGuire, 51, is the only death row inmate from Preble County.
The Death Penalty Information Center of Washington, D.C., this week reported that Ohio was third in the nation for executions this year, with five, trailing only Texas,
with 13, and Alabama, with six. Ohio would have ranked second, as it did in 2010, if not for a six-month hiatus in the death penalty spurred by a court ruling.
Ohio is the only state with executions set for 2013 and 2014, as a steady stream of capital cases stemming from murders committed in the 1980s and 1990s run out of
appeals.
In addition to the 14 dates now set, the Supreme Court has been asked by county prosecutors to set dates for Melvin Bonnell of Cuyahoga County and Lawrence Landrum of Ross
County.
On Feb. 11, 1989, the day after his 29th birthday, McGuire met 22-year-old Joy Stewart while doing some work at her friend’s home. Later that day, he raped and killed her
in a wooded area near West Alexandria, a jury found. McGuire, in jail on an unrelated kidnapping charge, told police he knew who killed Stewart. But McGuire knew facts about the murder that weren’t
made public, police said, and DNA testing eliminated the man he accused of the murder, but didn’t eliminate him.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.
/CORRECTED REPEAT*/Will Texas Execute Man, Despite Untested Evidence? By Michael J. Carter SEATTLE, Nov 29, 2011 (IPS) - To date, 138 people have been exonerated from death row in the United States. That figure represents 11 percent of the 1,277 executions carried out since the
reinstatement of the death penalty in the country in 1976.
Could it be that innocent people have been mistakenly killed?
"There are a lot of cases with a lot of doubts," Rob Owen, an attorney specialising in capital punishment, told IPS. "It would be foolhardy to say we've never executed an innocent person given the
amount of exonerations."
In Texas, where 41 people have
been exonerated, Owen is trying to prevent the execution of his client Hank Skinner, 49, on death row since 1995 for a triple homicide in Pampa, Texas.
Critical DNA evidence that could potentially either exonerate him or confirm his guilt remains untested, and previous motions to access it for forensic testing have all been denied.
The prosecution previously maintained that since Skinner's original court-appointed attorney chose to forgo DNA testing out of fear it would incriminate his client, Skinner is not entitled to further
access.
The Gray County District Attorney's office declined to comment to IPS.
Although a new state law took effect Sep. 1 that cleared hurdles for post-conviction DNA testing, in early November, the trial court judge denied Skinner's most recent appeal without explanation. On
Nov. 7, two days before he was scheduled to die, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a stay on the execution, pending a review of the recent ruling.
The stay was Skinner's second near miss. In March 2010, he came within an hour of execution until the Supreme Court intervened to consider judicial review, which was ultimately declined.
According to Owen, the case could have been decided over a decade ago. Post-conviction forensic testing of the evidence, which includes a rape kit, fingernail clippings from one of the victims, two
knives and a windbreaker covered with hair and blood, was first requested in 2000.
Other doubts regarding Skinner's guilt emerged when a key witness for the prosecution recanted parts of her testimony.
"(The prosecution) is so committed to the idea that he's guilty that they haven't kept an open mind, and are unwilling to take another look at the evidence," said Owen.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre, feels the prosecution has grown frustrated
by the challenges and delays in Skinner's case.
"Only about 15 percent of people sentenced to death are executed," he told IPS, calling the recent ruling that denied Skinner access to forensic testing "sloppy work by the judge". Dieter expected
the judge to be required to elaborate on his decision by the court of criminal appeals. Owens expects the appellate decision by late spring or early summer.
"All the district attorney (has) got to do is turn over the evidence, test it and let the chips fall where they may," Skinner said in an interview with CNN last year. "If I'm innocent I go home. If
I'm guilty I die."
To date, 17 people have been exonerated from death row as a result of post-conviction DNA testing.
Innocent until proven guilty?
The issue remains whether the state should proceed with executions in cases with ambiguity and risk wrongful executions of the innocent.
In January 2000, George Ryan, then-governor of Illinois, issued a moratorium on all executions after the state's 13th death row exoneration, which surpassed its total number of executions since
1976.
Before leaving office in 2003, Ryan commuted all death sentences to life in prison. This year, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty.
"If the system can't be guaranteed 100 percent error-free, then we shouldn't have the system," Pat Quinn, the current governor, said. "It cannot stand."
Illinois, with 20 exonerations, is surpassed only by Florida, with 26.
Numerous factors hamper state justice systems, leading to wrongful conviction. They range from witness misidentification and improper forensic science to false confessions and unreliable informants,
according to the Innocence Project, an organisation dedicated to exonerating innocent individuals through DNA
testing.
Other, less quantifiable issues such as ineffectual court-appointed defence lawyers and prosecutorial and police misconduct and racism, also play a part in wrongful conviction.
Owen believes Skinner's case was a compounded by poor representation and what he described as "tunnel vision" with law enforcement and prosecutors.
"There's a tendency to narrow the focus to that one suspect," he said. "It's a premature selection that screens out other suspects. They become so persuaded that they can't see the possibilities that
he (Skinner) isn't guilty."
"There's a lot of pressure to get a suspect," Dieter said. "You can't present a gray case to a jury. Prosecutors become adversaries for their side instead of their proper role of upholding justice
and the law."
In Texas, the issue of innocence has been highlighted again with new findings in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his three daughters. The Texas Forensic
Science Commission recently closed its inquiry into the case that was fraught with unreliable forensic science.
The state district attorney informed the commission that it had no jurisdiction in making a ruling on the case. The Innocence Project, which worked together with fire experts, concluded that
Willingham was wrongfully charged and innocent of setting the fire for which he was executed.
In 2002, capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional on the basis it violated the right to due process by posing a substantial risk of executing innocent defendants. That ruling was later overruled
in circuit court and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.
As for the pending ruling in Skinner's case, Owen remains hopeful that access will be granted to untested DNA evidence. If it is not, he is prepared to pursue a lawsuit against the district attorney
for access, and if necessary he can appeal to Governor Rick Perry.
The death penalty has been in the spotlight with the highly controversial case of Troy Davis, who was executed in September despite the fact that seven of nine witnesses against him recanted their
testimony, and other factors caused doubts about his guilt.
(*The story moved Nov. 29 contained a factual error in the fourth paragraph. 41 people on death row have been exonerated in Texas, not 12.) (END)
Gov. John Kitzhaber
of Oregon on Tuesday said he would halt the execution of a death row inmate scheduled for next month and that he would allow no more executions in the state during his time in office.
“It is time for Oregon to consider a different approach,” Gov. Kitzhaber, a Democrat elected last fall, said in remarks delivered in Salem on Tuesday afternoon. “I refuse to be a part of this
compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor.”
Oregon, which uses lethal injection, has executed just two people since its voters approved the death penalty in 1984, and both of those inmates waived certain rights to appeal, making them
so-called volunteers. The state, which has 37 inmates on death row, last executed someone in 1997. It has been one of seven states that the Death Penalty Information Center had considered to have an
effective moratorium on the death penalty. But Oregon’s status appeared likely to change after Gary Haugen, a twice-convicted murderer, waived several appeals and asked to be executed.
Mr. Haugen, convicted of killings in 1981 and in 2003, has testified that the death penalty wastes taxpayer money and called the justice system unfair. But in a court appearance in October, he
said, “This is going to be one time where I just don’t do a lot of talking, because I’m ready, your honor. Because I’m ready.”
Outside groups fought to stop the execution but on Monday the Oregon Supreme Court ruled, 4 to 3, to allow it to go forward. By Tuesday morning, Gov. Kitzhaber’s office was planning his afternoon
announcement.
The governor, a physician who served two previous terms, from 1995 to 2003, noted that he had allowed the two previous executions to go forward under his watch.
“They were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years,” Gov. Kitzhaber said. “I do not
believe that those executions made us safer; and certainly they did not make us nobler as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something I believe to be morally wrong.”
Noting the length of time many inmates spend on death row, often more than 20 years, he said Oregon had an “unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice.”
The governor did not commute the sentence of Mr. Haugen or any of the other death row inmates. He granted Mr. Haugen a temporary reprieve. He asked the Legislature “to bring potential reforms
before the 2013 legislative session and encourage all Oregonians to engage in the long overdue debate that this important issue deserves.”
In all, 34 states allow the death penalty, but only 27 have executed someone in the past decade, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group. The annual number of
executions nationwide has declined by about half over the past decade.
Former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois halted executions in that state in 2000, then, as he was leaving office in 2003, commuted the sentences of all death row inmates. The Illinois Legislature
banned the death penalty this year.
Richard C. Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that states can be forced into the death penalty debate when inmates volunteer.
“An execution focuses everybody’s attention,” Mr. Dieter said. “It becomes real and people have to decide. And of course the governor has a personal responsibility.”
LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Ohio could execute at least seven condemned killers next year now that an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment has ended in the state and numerous inmates exhaust
decades old appeals.
A federal judge's examination of the state's execution procedures and an unrelated decision by Gov. John Kasich to spare two prisoners halted executions for six months beginning in May.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost ruled the state had addressed his concerns about problems with Ohio's execution policies, and in so doing he refused to delay the execution of
Reginald Brooks, who shot his three sons as they slept in 1982, shortly after his wife filed for divorce.
Brooks, of East Cleveland, was executed Tuesday at 2:04 p.m. with each of his hands clenched in an obscene gesture.
The next execution is Jan. 18, when Charles Lorraine is scheduled to die for stabbing an elderly couple to death in their Trumbull County home in 1986.
Brooks declined to make a final statement and remained silent. Witnesses, which included his former wife and her sisters, had a view of his left hand, its middle finger raised. Prison officials
said he was making the same gesture with his right hand.
State and federal courts rejected attorneys' arguments that Brooks was not mentally competent and that the government hid relevant evidence that could have affected his case. The execution was
delayed by more than three hours as attorneys exhausted Brooks' appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to halt the execution.
He is the fourth inmate in Ohio to be put to death using the surgical sedative pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug.
Beverly Brooks, who found her 11-, 15- and 17-year-old sons dead when she returned from work, and her two sisters sat silently, wearing white T-shirts printed with a photo of the boys during the
execution.
Beverly Brooks did not comment, but one of her sisters, Monica Stephens, spoke on behalf of the family.
"Our nephews are gone, and they'll never be replaced," she said. "The memories we'll always have. The what-ifs we'll always have."
Reginald Brooks' two defense attorneys and two spiritual advisers were his witnesses.
At 66, Brooks is the oldest person put to death since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.
The defense argued Brooks was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from mental illness long before he shot his sons in the head as they slept at their East Cleveland home on a Saturday morning.
Defense attorneys said Brooks believed his co-workers and wife were poisoning him and that he maintained his innocence, offering conspiracy theories about the killings that involved police, his
relatives and a look-alike.
Beverly Brooks has said she believes the killings were an act of revenge for her divorce filing, not the result of mental illness.
Defense attorneys did not comment after the execution and did not immediately respond to email and phone messages.
Prosecutors acknowledged Brooks was mentally ill but disputed the notions that it caused the murders or made him incompetent. They said he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks
in advance, confirmed he'd be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn't resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him
start a new life.
Brooks was found competent for trial, and a three-judge panel convicted him.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors withheld information that would have supported a mental health defense and led the court to rule differently. Former Judge Harry Hanna, one of the three
on the panel, told the Ohio Parole Board he would not have voted for the death penalty if he'd had information from police reports that were provided to the defense more recently.
If a three-judge panel hears a death penalty case, it must vote unanimously for a death sentence under Ohio law.
The parole board recommended that Gov. John Kasich deny Brooks clemency, and he did.
___
Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins and JoAnne Viviano in Columbus contributed to this report.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost ruled the state had addressed his concerns about problems with Ohio's execution policies, and in so doing he refused to delay the execution of
Reginald Brooks, who shot his three sons as they slept in 1982, shortly after his wife filed for divorce.
Brooks, of East Cleveland, was executed Tuesday at 2:04 p.m. with each of his hands clenched in an obscene gesture.
The next execution is Jan. 18, when Charles Lorraine is scheduled to die for stabbing an elderly couple to death in their Trumbull County home in 1986.
Brooks declined to make a final statement and remained silent. Witnesses, which included his former wife and her sisters, had a view of his left hand, its middle finger raised. Prison officials
said he was making the same gesture with his right hand.
State and federal courts rejected attorneys' arguments that Brooks was not mentally competent and that the government hid relevant evidence that could have affected his case. The execution was
delayed by more than three hours as attorneys exhausted Brooks' appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to halt the execution.
He is the fourth inmate in Ohio to be put to death using the surgical sedative pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug.
Beverly Brooks, who found her 11-, 15- and 17-year-old sons dead when she returned from work, and her two sisters sat silently, wearing white T-shirts printed with a photo of the boys during the
execution.
Beverly Brooks did not comment, but one of her sisters, Monica Stephens, spoke on behalf of the family.
"Our nephews are gone, and they'll never be replaced," she said. "The memories we'll always have. The what-ifs we'll always have."
Reginald Brooks' two defense attorneys and two spiritual advisers were his witnesses.
At 66, Brooks is the oldest person put to death since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.
The defense argued Brooks was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from mental illness long before he shot his sons in the head as they slept at their East Cleveland home on a Saturday morning.
Defense attorneys said Brooks believed his co-workers and wife were poisoning him and that he maintained his innocence, offering conspiracy theories about the killings that involved police, his
relatives and a look-alike.
Beverly Brooks has said she believes the killings were an act of revenge for her divorce filing, not the result of mental illness.
Defense attorneys did not comment after the execution and did not immediately respond to email and phone messages.
Prosecutors acknowledged Brooks was mentally ill but disputed the notions that it caused the murders or made him incompetent. They said he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks
in advance, confirmed he'd be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn't resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him
start a new life.
Brooks was found competent for trial, and a three-judge panel convicted him.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors withheld information that would have supported a mental health defense and led the court to rule differently. Former Judge Harry Hanna, one of the three
on the panel, told the Ohio Parole Board he would not have voted for the death penalty if he'd had information from police reports that were provided to the defense more recently.
If a three-judge panel hears a death penalty case, it must vote unanimously for a death sentence under Ohio law.
The parole board recommended that Gov. John Kasich deny Brooks clemency, and he did.
___
Charles Lorraine A194013
Ohio State Penitentiary
878 Coitsville- Hubbard Rd
Youngstown OH 44505-4635
Court overturns woman's death sentence in Mansfield case
FORT WORTH -- The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday overturned the death sentence for Chelsea Lee Richardson, condemned by a Tarrant County jury in 2005 for the deaths of her boyfriend's
parents in Mansfield.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the punishment phase of Richardson's trial was affected by misconduct by then-prosecutor Mike Parrish, who withheld evidence from the defense.
Richardson's attorney, Robert Ford, said a deal has been reached with the Tarrant County district attorney's office for Richardson, now 27, to receive a life sentence.
Because she is subject to the penal code that was in place in 2005 when she was convicted, she would be eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
"I hope it sends the message that this kind of cheating won't be tolerated," Ford said. "It probably cost Tarrant County and the state courts in the millions [of dollars] when you consider the
cost of all the trials, appeals, everything."
Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon, who took office after Parrish retired in 2008, said the court's ruling affirms an agreement reached by both sides in June.
"As I have often stated, this office will not be a party to the infliction of death as a punishment when there is even an appearance of impropriety on the part of a prosecutor who formerly worked
in this office," Shannon said in a written statement.
"If the death penalty is to be used, it must be obtained legally, fairly and honestly and without the hint of possible injustice."
During the appeals process, Parrish testified that he had received a private reprimand from the State Bar of Texas in another case, Ford said.
Richardson and her boyfriend, Andrew Wamsley, were convicted of capital murder in separate trials in the deaths of Rick and Suzanna Wamsley of Mansfield in December 2003. Authorities said Andrew
Wamsley, Richardson and a friend, Susana Toledano, killed the couple so that Andrew Wamsley could inherit his parents' $1.56 million estate.
Rick Wamsley, 46, was shot in the head and back and stabbed 21 times. Suzanna Wamsley, 45, died from a gunshot wound to the head and was stabbed 18 times after she died.
Richardson was the first woman in Tarrant County to receive the death sentence. Andrew Wamsley got a life sentence.
Toledano -- who testified that she did most of the shooting and stabbing with coaching from Richardson -- struck a deal with prosecutors and testified against the others in exchange for a life
sentence.
Wamsley and Richardson turned down prosecutors' plea offers for life sentences and took their chances with juries.
Ford has contended that Parrish's misconduct was failing to tell Richardson's attorneys, Warren St. John and Terry Barlow, about 11 pages of notes taken by a psychologist who interviewed Toledano
at Parrish's request. Ford argued that some of Toledano's statements to the psychologist could have been used to lessen Richardson's culpability.
After a number of hearings over the years, the district attorney's office agreed with Ford that the notes could have been used to attack the state's theory that Richardson was the mastermind of
the killings and should have been turned over.
Ford said Richardson's family has mixed feelings about the result.
"They wanted her to walk away completely free, and that just wasn't a possibility," he said. "I know that they're relieved she's going to move off Death Row."
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Henry "Hank" Skinner was granted a stay of execution today by Texas' highest criminal court.
The order by the Court of Criminal Appeals said: ...
"This is a direct appeal of the trial court’s ruling on a motion for DNA testing filed
in the 31st Judicial District Court of Gray County, Cause No. 5216, styled The State of
Texas v. Henry Watkins Skinner. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 64.05. Appellant’s
execution is stayed pending the resolution of this appeal.
"Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 64, which provides for DNA testing,
has undergone several changes since its creation, but those changes have never been
reviewed in the particular context of this case. Because the DNA statute has changed,
and because some of those changes were because of this case, we find that it would be prudent for this Court to take time to fully review the changes in the statute as they
pertain to this case.
"Furthermore, in denying the motion for DNA testing, the convicting court has
failed to enter determinations under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 64.03. The convicting court shall enter an order containing the relevant Article 64.03 determinations within 15 days of
the date of this order. That order shall then be included within a supplemental clerk’s record, which record shall be forwarded to this Court within 30 days of the date of this order.
"IT IS SO ORDERED THIS THE 7 DAY th OF NOVEMBER, 2011."
-- Elizabeth Stein
“Opposition to the death penalty has been built from the ground
up.”
The headline in Saturday’s editorial in The New York Times
read:
The New York Times pointed to a recent Gallup poll which placed opposition to the death penalty at an all-time high, juxtaposed with
research demonstrating that the death penalty has been relegated to a relatively
few isolated counties, as evidence that the practice has largely fallen into disuse. And while it is good that the death penalty is waning, the fact it is used in a few scattered localities and
mostly in the South makes it all the more arbitrary and therefore troubling.
The editorial cited growing public ambivalence and heightened concerns about errors and cost and the availability of more just
alternatives.
It credited this change in national attitude and practice to the fact that opposition to the death penalty “has been built from the ground up.” And it has, county by county and state by state through a network of dedicated organizations and leaders across the nation, with
support from people like you.
This has been the vision of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Thirty-five years ago a small cadre of civil rights, civil liberties and religious leaders understood that if we took our case to the American people and held up the injustices
inherent in capital punishment, they would not be able to square this barbaric practice with the fundamental values of fairness and equality which are the bedrock of our society.
We know this struggle must be waged locally as well as nationally—that is why the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
invests in helping NCADP state affiliated organizations build their capacity to educate and organize against
capital punishment, county by county and legislative district by legislative district. I urge you to back NCADP’s investments in its Affiliates with your donation today.
While it is good news that we have de facto abolition in many areas, we are still focused on the killing taking place in the dwindling
few.
NCADP is proud to support the affiliated network of tireless leaders as they wage this battle to save lives, through organizing,
public education, public policyadvocacy and litigation. In addition to providing critical technical assistance and support to states on the verge of
repealing the death penalty, we are working side by side with the leaders of affiliated organizations in states where the death penalty is still a grim and all too frequent reality, such as Texas and
Virginia. With your help we can expand our efforts to help leaders in states like
Georgia, where Troy Davis was executed despite doubt of his guilt, and Florida, Missouri, Alabama and Ohio that persist with executions despite evolving standards of decency.
As you know, NCADP is marking its 35th year with a campaign to enhance its support to our Affiliates across the country.
Launched on July 8th, we invite donations at suggested symbolic levels that are multiples of 35, and people are responding at whatever levels are comfortable for them. Whether you have
supported NCADP recently or not, Saturday’s editorial is one more indicator that there has never been a more appropriate time to keep building our movement “from the ground up.”
Together, we can do this; we can end this abomination—once and for all. Withyour help today, we
can celebrate the next headline which will simply read: “Death Penalty Abolished.”
Yours for Abolition,
Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director
P.S. I want to especially thank everyone helping NCADP, and I also
encourage you to be in touch with and supportive of the NCADP Affiliate where you live.
Earlier today, the trial court denied Hank Skinner's motion seeking DNA testing, and he remains scheduled for execution in Texas on November 9 despite the fact
that key pieces of evidence in his case have never been subjected to DNA testing. It is now more important than ever to be talking about this case, and asking everyone you to know to sign the petition urging that the DNA evidence be tested.
Yesterday, NCADP's Executive Director, Diann Rust-Tierney, blogged about the case on the Huffington Post. Please visit that blog, "like" it, tweet it, facebook it, etc. Keep the conversation growing.
This afternoon, Hank Skinner's attorney, Rob Owen, was quoted in the Texas Tribune about the development:
“Unfortunately, the trial court's order offers no explanation for its conclusion that DNA testing is not called for in this case," said Rob Owen, attorney for Hank
Skinner and clinical law professor at the University of Texas School of Law. "It will now be up to the Court of Criminal Appeals to give Mr. Skinner's case the deliberate consideration that is
necessary to ensure a correct result."
NCADP is asking you tojoin the many voicessaying "Test the DNA so that we can be certain" by signing on to a new petition that NCADP started up last week, AND by passing it along.
Please Help Spread The Word!
Please forward this message to others who believe we should not execute anyone unless we are certain of their guilt, even if they are not necessarily against the
death penalty. Also, here is language you can use to send the message to your facebook friends and twitter followers:
Join prosecutors, judges, elected officials in calling on TX to #TestTheDNA #hankskinner: http://bit.ly/sHQKHi
and/or
Prosecutors, judges, elected officials tell Texas: #TestTheDNA in #hankskinner case. Join the call: http://bit.ly/sHQKHi
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the
ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace."
-- Troy Davis
Dear Friends and Fellow Abolitionists,
Yesterday, a new Gallup poll was released yesterday showing support for executions at its lowest in 39 years! This is a big story in the wake of recent events,
and NCADP's Executive Director, Diann Rust-Tierney, was featured in the front page coverage inUSA Today.
The recent higher profile of the movement to abolish the death penalty, following the execution of Troy Davis, continues to energize us and bring new voices to
our movement. NCADP Affiliates around the country are mobilizing, and we urge you to click here to be involved with the Affiliate in your state.
Today NCADP wants to highlight the following activities and action opportunities of our partners and Affiliates:
In Texas, Hank Skinner has another execution date despite the fact that DNA evidence in the case remains untested.Take TCADP's action here!
In Maryland, we're gearing up for the repeal campaign with a call-in action next week during the MD legislature's special session. Pleaseclick hereto learn more, and please make sure anyone you know in MD has the chance to be a part of this
special MDCASE action.
In Connecticut, it's "Go Time!" too. The staff of CNADP is running in a marathon to help spread the word and raise funds for the campaign.Click here to help, and also, please make sure people you know in Connecticut get signed up with
CNADP.
Also, congratulations to our allies at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for their success in representing Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read about the latest development in that
casehere.
Keep the conversation going. Keep on fighting. We'll update you on the activities of more NCADP Affiliates soon!
Thank you.
Yours in the Struggle,
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A woman granted parole after spending decades on Tennessee's death row has been released from prison.
Gaile Owens walked out of the the Tennessee Prison for Women at 9:30 a.m. Friday after serving 25 years for hiring a stranger to kill her husband.
She was greeted by a small group of supporters outside the Nashville prison. One of her sons, Stephen Owens, was there as she left prison and she immediately hugged him. He was 11 when she went to
prison.
"It will be a struggle for us all, and every day a new day. I would say that would be the biggest thing, looking forward to the days and her growing and us growing as a family," said Stephen.
Owens did not say anything as she was released, but released a statement thanking her supporters, family and Governor Phil Bredesen.
"I plan to volunteer. I feel a responsibility to give back to those who have given to me. But more than anything I look forward to being a mother and grandmother. I can't wait to see my
grandchildren and fulfill my dream of walking in the park with my family," she said in the statement.
She ended the statement saying: "I know I have been a high-profile figure. But I hope today is the last day I will ever face the media or be in the public eye. Thank you for telling my story, but
please let today be the final chapter."
Late last month, the Tennessee Board of Probation approved the release of 58-year old Owens after former Governor Phil Bredesen commuted her death sentence to life in prison last year.
She was convicted in 1986 of hiring a hitman to kill her husband, Ron Owens.
Owens supporters said her attorneys at the time botched the case, and it didn't help that Owens refused to testify. Owens allegedly had a plea deal but was put on trial anyway when her
co-defendant refused to accept the arrangement.
She said she never wanted her kids to know the sexual and mental abuse she suffered at the hands of her own husband.
Her supporters argued had the jury known this information, it could have changed the death sentence in the first place.
(The Associated Press Contributed To This Report.)
Tonight the State of Georgia has killed an innocent man.
In recent weeks, we fought hard for the commutation of Troy Davis' sentence. More than one million of your petitions were delivered. Protests, rallies and vigils were organized around the globe.
Tonight, we fasted and prayed together as a community.
I have spent the past week with Troy's family. He wanted the world to know that he understood that this struggle goes beyond just one man. Troy was prepared to die tonight. As he said again and
again, the state of Georgia only held the power to take his physical body. They could not take his spirit, because he gave his life to God.
Let's remember and heed Troy's words: We must not let them kill our spirit, either.
Troy's execution, the exceptional unfairness of it, will only hasten the end of the death penalty in the United States. The world will remember the name of Troy Anthony Davis. In death he
will live on as a symbol of a broken justice system that kills an innocent man while a murderer walks free.
The world will remember Troy's name, as the death penalty supporters who expressed doubt in this case begin to doubt an entire system that can execute a man amidst so many unanswered
questions.
The world will remember Troy's name, as death penalty opponents who remained silent in the past realize that their silence is no longer an option.
The world will remember Troy's name because we will commemorate September 21st each year as both a solemn anniversary and a call to action. The night they put Troy Davis to death will become an
annual reminder that justice will not be achieved until we end this brutal practice of capital punishment.
"This movement," Troy said, "started before I was born." After tonight, our movement will grow stronger until we succeed in destroying the death penalty in the United States once and for all.
I know you will join me. Together we will secure his legacy, and the world will remember the name Troy Anthony Davis.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A former Army recruiter who for the third time this year was hours away from his scheduled execution for the rape-slaying of a woman in Fort Worth nearly 10 years ago was
granted yet another reprieve by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Cleve Foster, 47, was set to die Tuesday evening in Huntsville.
The high court twice earlier this year stopped Foster's scheduled lethal injection. The latest court ruling came about 2 1/2 hours before Foster could have been taken to the Texas death
chamber.
Foster was meeting with one of his lawyers in a small holding cell a few feet from the death chamber when a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman delivered the news.
"He thanked God and pointed to his attorney, saying this woman helped save his life," prison spokesman Jason Clark said.
He also said Foster repeated his insistence that he was innocent.
"I did not do this crime," Foster told him. "I know there are those out there who have hard feelings against me, but I did not do this."
Unlike his previous trips to the death house in Huntsville, the reprieve came before he was served his requested final meal, which included two fried chickens and a five-gallon bucket of
peaches.
Instead, he immediately was returned to death row, at a prison about 45 miles to the east.
Foster was one of two men convicted and sent to death row for fatally shooting a 30-year-old woman whose body was found in a ditch by pipeline workers in Fort Worth in February 2002. His partner
died last year of cancer.
The court's brief order said the reprieve would remain in effect pending the outcome of Foster's request for a review, known as a petition for a writ of certiorari. If the writ is denied, the
reprieve is lifted, clearing the way for a new execution date to be set.
"You're always hoping for the best and fearing the worse," Maurie Levin, the attorney who was with Foster when word of his reprieve was delivered to him. "I'm thrilled. It's extremely unusual to
get three stays from the Supreme Court in nine or 10 months."
In January, just before the start of a six-hour window when Foster could be strapped to the death chamber gurney for injection, he won a reprieve so the justices could further review an appeal in
his case. The court later denied a hearing, the reprieve was lifted and a new date was set. Then in April, the high court again halted his execution when lawyers sought a rehearing on arguments he
was innocent and had poor legal help at his trial and in early stages of his appeal.
His lawyers returned to the court with similar arguments he was innocent and had previous deficient legal help, specifically asking the court to decide whether prisoners like Foster had a
constitutional guarantee for a competent lawyer when he first raised claims in a state appeals court. State lawyers said the issues had been resolved by the courts, that the Supreme Court has ruled
there's no constitutional right to a competent state-provided lawyer for appeals, and the last-day appeal was just another attempt to delay Foster's punishment.
Looming before the Supreme Court is consideration of a non-death penalty case out of Arizona that deals with appellate legal representation and Levin speculated that could be related to the
court's actions in Foster's case.
"After that, it's tea leaves," she said.
The Texas attorney general's office, which contested Foster's appeals, had no additional comment Tuesday beyond its arguments to the courts.
Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also is a Republican presidential candidate, said the reprieve was "a matter for the courts," and declined further comment.
Foster's reprieve was the second in less than a week in Texas. The Supreme Court on Thursday halted the execution of Duane Buck, a black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago.
Buck's lawyers contended his sentence was unfair because a psychologist testified during his trial that black people were more likely to commit violence.
Foster would have been the 11th Texas prisoner executed this year. On Wednesday, Lawrence Russell Brewer, 44, was set to die for participating in the notorious dragging death case in Jasper in
East Texas. Brewer was one of two white men condemned for the death of a black man, James Byrd Jr., more than 13 years ago, in a hate crime that shocked the nation for its brutality.
Foster was one of two men convicted and sent to death row for fatally shooting Nyaneur Pal. Her body was found on Valentine's Day 2002.
"I didn't do this," he said recently from outside his cell on death row. "I'll fight it to the end."
Foster and a companion, Sheldon Ward, were convicted of fatally shooting Pal, who came to the U.S. from Sudan and was known as Mary. Pal, who worked at a country club, was seen talking with Foster
and Ward at a Fort Worth bar. Evidence showed she had been shot once in the head and raped.
A gun identified as the murder weapon was found in a motel room where Foster and Ward were living. Authorities determined the same gun was used two months earlier to kill another woman,
22-year-old Rachel Urnosky, at her Fort Worth apartment. She also had been raped.
Foster and Ward were implicated but never tried in her slaying.
An aunt and uncle of Pal and the parents of Urnosky were to witness the execution. They had not yet arrived at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where executions are
carried out, when the court ordered the punishment stopped.
A phone message seeking comment was left Tuesday evening by The Associated Press with Terry Urnosky, the victim's uncle.
Foster blamed Pal's death on Ward, who was one of his Army recruits. Prosecutors said evidence showed Foster actively participated in the woman's killing, offered no credible explanations, lied
and gave contradictory stories about his sexual activities with Pal.
Her blood and tissue were found on the weapon and DNA evidence showed both men had sex with her. Ward said the sex was consensual. Foster said he was passed out from sleeping pills at the time Pal
would have been murdered.
Ward died of cancer last year while on death row.
Foster also denied any involvement in Urnosky's slaying in December 2001. He told detectives he and Ward were at her apartment but they left when she refused to have sex with them. The Texas Tech
honors graduate was found dead in her bed after she failed to show up for work.
In appeals, attorneys referred to Ward's several statements claiming sole responsibility for Pal's murder.
"The most striking feature of Ward's `confessions' is that they are incompatible with each other," state lawyers said in their responses to the appeals courts.
Foster grew up in Henderson, Ky., and spent nearly two decades in the Army, reaching the rank of sergeant first class. He was deployed to the Middle East during Desert Storm and was assigned to
Fort Worth as a recruiter. Records showed court martial proceedings were started against him after allegations he gave alcohol to underage students as a recruiter and had sex with an underage
potential recruit. He was denied re-enlistment in the Army and had been out of the service only a short time when the slayings occurred.
Georgia Senator Joins SCHR to Urge Execution Staff to Strike & Refuse to Kill Troy Davis
Date of Publication:
09/20/2011
Atlanta – Today, the day before Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, Georgia Senate Democratic Whip Vincent Fort and Southern Center for Human Rights Executive
Director Sara Totonchi have issued a joint statement calling upon the individuals charged with carrying out the execution to refuse to participate in the killing of a possibly innocent man.
Davis is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00pm at Georgia Diagnostics & Classifications Prison in Jackson, Georgia. The statement, included below and sent to all parties
mentioned, appeals to the basic humanity of individuals who each play roles in carrying out an execution including the private medical company that contracts with the state to be involved in
executions and the Corrections staff at the prison.
Statement from Senator Vincent Fort and Sara Totonchi to Those Who Will Carry Out the Execution of Troy Davis
“The execution of Troy Davis is immoral and wrong. Almost all of the witnesses against him have recanted. The courts and the parole board have failed to use their power to prevent this
imminent miscarriage of justice. However, Troy Davis' execution cannot take place unless human beings at the Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison make it happen. They can refuse to
kill Troy Davis.
We call on Dr. Carlo Musso, CEO of Rainbow Medical Associates, the organization contracted by the Georgia Department of Corrections to oversee executions, to decline to participate and not allow any
physician or other medical personnel associated with his companies to participate in the immoral execution of a possibly innocent man, Troy Davis. We also call on all employees of Dr. Musso’s
businesses, Rainbow Medical Associates and CorrectHealth, Inc., who have any involvement with implementing the Georgia Department of Corrections execution protocol, to refuse to participate in the
execution of Troy Davis. Remember your humanity and that your oath is to facilitate healing, not killing!
We are calling for a general strike or sick-out by all but a skeleton staff of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison on September 21st, 2011. We say to the prison staff: If you work on that day, you
will enable the prison to carry out the execution of a possibly innocent man. Please remember your humanity!
We specifically call on Georgia Diagnostic Prison Warden Carl Humphrey to refuse to carry out the execution of Troy Davis, because he may be innocent. Warden Humphrey, remember your
humanity. You have the power to stop this immoral execution. Use it!
We call on the Deputy Warden of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison to refuse to prepare the lethal injection drugs for injection into Troy Davis' veins. You have the power to disrupt this immoral
execution. Remember your humanity and refuse to participate!!
We call on the prison nurses, who prepare the IV lines through which lethal chemicals will flow through Troy Davis' veins: Refuse to participate in the execution of Troy Davis, because he may
be innocent. You are human beings who have the power to stop this immoral execution. Your oath is to facilitate healing, not killing!
We call on the corrections officers who are assigned to strap Troy Davis to the lethal injection table: Refuse to carry out your tasks tomorrow! You have the power to stop this immoral
execution. Call in sick!
We call on the members of the Injection Team: Strike! Do not follow your orders! Do not start the flow of the lethal injection chemicals. If you refuse to participate, you
make it that much harder for this immoral execution to be carried out.
Each and every one of you are human beings with the power to refuse and resist participation in an immoral execution of a man who may be innocent. We implore you to use this power. Please remember
your humanity!”
Execution in Face of Serious Doubts Unconscionable and Unconstitutional
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
ATLANTA – The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles today denied clemency to Troy Davis, despite serious concerns that he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.
“The refusal today by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Troy Davis clemency underscores the vast systemic injustices that plague our death penalty system,” said Denny LeBoeuf,
director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. “No innocent person should ever be put to death, and it is unconscionable and unconstitutional to carry out an execution where, as in Troy’s case,
significant doubts exist. The death penalty system in the United States is arbitrary, discriminatory and comes at an enormous cost to taxpayers, and it must be ended.”
It's with shock that I report that the George Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied clemency for Troy Anthony Davis. The 42-year-old Davis is now due to be executed tomorrow,
Wednesday September 21st, at 7pm. For those unfamiliar with the case, let's be clear: Davis's execution is little more than a legal lynching. This is a demonstrably innocent man that the state
is about to execute in the premeditated manner of a murder.
The facts speak for themselves. Back in 1989, nine people testified that they saw Troy Davis kill Officer Mark MacPhail. Since that time, seven have recanted their testimony. Please allow me to
repeat: of the nine people who testified that Troy killed Officer Mark MacPhail, seven have recanted their testimony. Beyond the eyewitnesses, there was no physical evidence linking Troy to
Officer MacPhail's murder. None. Three jurors have signed affidavits saying that if they had all the information about Troy, they would not have voted to convict. One juror even arrived in person to
the Board of Pardons and Paroles to say to their faces that she would not have voted to convict if she’d had the facts. Another woman has even come forward to say that a different man on the
scene that night, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, bragged afterward about doing the shooting. Of the two witnesses who still maintain that Troy was the triggerman, one is Sylvester "Redd" Coles.
From day one, Troy has maintained his innocence. But he was the wrong color, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong bank account and the wrong legal team so he was thrown into the
death house with little fanfair. Yet the tireless work of Troy's family, particularly his sister Martina, brought international attention to the case. From former President Jimmy Carter, to
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher, to Pope Benedict XVI, to Reagan's former FBI Director, William Sessions, to the more than one million people who
signed petitions, the call has gone out to spare Troy's life. But the Board of Pardons and Paroles didn't care. Previously the Board issued a statement that they would only allow the execution to go
through, if there was "no doubt" as to his guilt. They lied.
As Brian Kammer, one of Davis' attorneys, said Tuesday after the decision was announced, "I am utterly shocked and disappointed at the failure of our justice system at all levels to correct a
miscarriage of justice." He's correct. Demonstrations have been planned for today in cities around the country. I know that Washington DC will see people come out at 6pm at 14th and Park Rd.
NW. I know the Supreme Court could still intervene or the Board could withdraw their death warrant. These are slim options, but I also know that this isn’t over until they send the poison
into Troy’s veins. Troy himself has refused a “last meal,” choosing to fight until his last breath. We owe him nothing less.
Please take a moment and call District Attorney Larry Chisolm at 912-652-7308 and ask that he withdraw the death warrant.
Ex Army recruiter to die for slaying in Fort Worth
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Army recruiter condemned for the rape-slaying of a woman in Fort Worth nearly a decade ago is looking to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution for a
third time this year.
Forty-seven-year-old Cleve Foster faces
lethal injection Tuesday evening in Huntsville.
Foster was spared by the Supreme Court in January and again in April. His lawyers are arguing he's innocent and had deficient legal help during his trial and early in his appeals. State lawyers
say his issues have been resolved by the courts and the last-day appeal is just another attempt to delay the punishment.
Foster would be the 11th Texas prisoner executed this year.
On Wednesday, Lawrence Russell Brewer is set to die for his part in the notorious Jasper dragging death case.
Dear Fellow Abolitionists,
Today, one man's life is on the line. This in and of itself is a regular occurrence in the United States. The unusual thing is that so many people from all
stations in life have come together for the singular purpose of saving the life of Troy Anthony Davis. Over the weekend, hundreds of demonstrations took place all over the world. Earlier this
morning, several hundred thousand more petitions were delivered to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, bringing the total number of petitions to nearly one million - and those are just those
delivered by the coalition organizing around this case.
The Georgia State Board of pardons and Paroles began its hearing at 9am this morning. They alone are the final arbiters in this case.Amnesty International's Program to Abolish the Death PenaltyDirector Laura Moye is on-site, and she just sent us this brief text message: "Large gathering at the Floyd Building. Family is grateful for all the support.
200,000 more petitions delivered this AM. Board is meeting all day. We wait..."
People who pray are doing exactly that. All of us are waiting. We expect a decision by this evening, or tomorrow morning. Whatever happens, there is much work
still to be done in this case.Here is an outline of what we have planned for this week. Please lend your support as you are able and share with your
contacts:
MONDAY
ATLANTA:
7:30am vigil outside "Sloppy" Floyd Building (2 MLK Dr (GSU Marta station, cross street is Piedmont))
(9am hearing begins, closed to public and press)
The decision may come down from the board as soon as late afternoon, though it is also possible they would issue it later in the evening or on Tuesday. The vigil will end
when the decision is issued on Monday or TBD if it gets late Monday and a decision doesn't appear to be in sight.
We will do our best to update people with the decision. You will surely find it in the news media as soon as it is made. We will also let folks
know as best we can by email. Follow @lauramoye for tweets, or follow her tweet feed onjusticefortroy.org
TUESDAY
If Clemency is granted or the execution is temporarily stayed:
-Atlanta: gathering of gratitude at 7pm at Central Presbyterian Church (across the street from the Capitol at (201 Washington St. SW; Atlanta, GA
30303)
-Everywhere: gatherings of gratitude and a call to commit to building the abolition movement are encouraged. Check with yourstate coalition
to see what plans they have.
If clemency is denied:
-We will urge the Board to reconsider, asking everyone to send more emails and faxes to the Board
-Tuesday will be a "Day of Protest"
-People are asked to wear a black armband, with "not in my name!" written on it
-ATLANTA: protest rally at the state capitol 7pm (Washington Street side);
-Everywhere: protests are encouraged.Check with yourstate coalition
to see what plans they have.
WEDNESDAY
If clemency is denied
-Wednesday will be a "Day of Vigil"
-wear black armband, with "not in my name!" written on it
GEORGIA focal events:
a) vigil in Jackson across from the prison at Towaliga County Line Baptist Church;
b) vigil in Atlanta on the capitol steps
Everywhere else: vigils are encouraged. Check with yourstate coalitionto see what plans they have.
Please know that NCADP is invested in this case because its the right thing to do, and also because so many of the aspects of this case speak to the same issues
that are present in so many other cases which are not nearly as high-profile. Troy Davis is already a household name, and because our our collective action, over the coming weeks many more people
will learn of the systemic failures of the death penalty, andjoin our movement.
There is so much to do, and we want to do more. Thank you for taking action, and if you are able, please also take a moment tosupport NCADPso that we
can continue this important work, now, and in the future. Please remember that through the end of September, all new donors to NCADP will have their tax-deductible contribution doubled by
a special matching grant from Atlantic Philanthropies.Click here to donate today. Thank
you.
Finally, it must be said that Troy Davis is not the only person scheduled to be executed in the coming weeks and months. Of particular note is tonight's
execution in Texas of Cleve Foster. NCADP lists every upcoming execution on the top right side of itsweb page, and you can
click on each name to learn more and take action via our State Affiliate where the execution is scheduled.
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed next week
in Georgia for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit. There are serious doubts about the evidence used to convict Davis, and today we’re calling on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to
stop the execution so the evidence of Davis’ innocence can be thoroughly reviewed.
Davis has served two decades on Georgia’s death
row for the murder of a Savannah police officer in 1989. He was convicted almost exclusively on the basis of unreliable eyewitness identification testimony. Seven of the nine eyewitnesses who
testified at his trial have since recanted and new evidence points to another person as the real perpetrator.
The Innocence Project has consulted in the past
with Davis’ legal team on eyewitness identification issues in the case, and the Innocence Network filed a friend-of-the-court brief in 2010 calling for a new trial. There are too many questions in
Davis’ case for the State of Georgia to go forward with his execution.
DNA exonerations nationwide have proven again and
again that eyewitness identification can be wrong — 75% of the 273 wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing involved at least one misidentification. Eight men have been cleared through DNA
in Georgia, and all eight cases involved faulty eyewitness evidence.
The evidence pointing to Troy Davis’ innocence is
strong, and he needs you to call on Georgia officials to spare his life so he can continue to fight for justice.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty turned 35 on July 8, 2011! In conjunction with our 35th year, NCADP announces a special matching grant
that will double the tax-deductible contribution of every first-time donor to NCADP made through September.Click here to double your
support!
Also,Click
hereto see the document that started it all,herefor the press release, andjoinour
e-mail alert listto get the latest information about the death penalty and what you can do to help end it!
Death Penalty Information Center Releases New
Report
The Death Penalty Information Center has released a new report, "Struck by Lightning: The Continuing Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty Thirty-Five Years
After Its Reinstatement in 1976." The report shows that despite the changes to sentencing schemes approved by the U.S. Supreme Court on July 2, 1976, race, geography, money and other
factors continue to make the implementation of the death penalty arbitrary and unfair. Click Here to read the report.
YOU can help stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis
NEW! Today (9/6/2011), a new execution warrant was signed for
Troy Davis, setting the stage for what could be the final chance to prevent his execution. Read the newshere, take the actions below, and check back regularly for updates.
This compelling new video takes you to the scene of the crime and examines some of the eyewitness
evidence used to convict Troy. Features CNN footage, one of Troy's jurors who now would find him "not guilty," and one of the original witnesses against Troy. Click here now - it's seven minutes well worth watching!
Read about and watch the video about artist Chaz Guest, who painted an official
portrait of President Obama, as well as the portrait of Thurgood Marshall that hangs in the Oval Office, on why he had to paint and speak out about Troy Davis.
See more information about the casehere. See a new video production about the case by
clicking here. Click here to read a letter to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles from death row exonerees
representing Witness to Innocence.To read an interview about the case
with Amnesty International's Laura Moye, clickhere. To read an interview with Troy Davis' sister Martina Correia about the case on radio talk show host Tom Joyner's website, Black
America Web, click here. For more information about the religious leaders' sign-on letter for Davis, clickhere.
The national momentum to end capital punishment is building, as more states repeal, or
consider repealing, the death penalty. To find out how the weakening legal underpinnings of capital punishment and other factors contributed to this development, read NCADP Executive Director Diann
Rust-Tierney's article in Champion, the magazine of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Northwestern University Law's Center for International Human Rights Launches International Death Penalty Information Website
Recently Northwestern University Law's Center for International Human Rights established its new website, Death Penalty Worldwide, a database comprised of research and statistics regarding laws and practices relating to the application of the death penalty
around the world. The website is available as a principal source of information for attorneys, journalists, policymakers, activists and others seeking reliable information on the laws and
practices of retentionist countries, and those which are abolitionist by default because they have not conducted any executions for years, although they retain capital punishment
statutes.
New research compiled on the website indicates that many nations previously committed to state-sponsored executions are encouraging legislatures and other bodies to consider abolition, or
narrowing the scope of the death penalty. However, the website also has information indicating that in nearly every nation that retains the death penalty and actively uses it, indigent capital
defendants are denied access to quality legal representation.
The project has the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the European Union.
Lawyers, Victim Seek Clemency for Death Row Inmate
Enlargephoto by: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Death row inmate Duane Buck, Texas Department of Criminal Justice photo
Phyllis Taylor survived the 1995 shooting spree that ended with two others dead and Duane Buck on death row. Buck is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 15. Today, Taylor urged the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles, Gov. Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and
Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos to halt the execution.
“This execution would only add to my pain, and it wouldn’t give me closure," said Taylor, who survived a shot in the chest. "I would ask that Duane Buck’s life be spared. I feel that he deserves a
fair trial.”
Buck was convicted in Harris County for the July 1995 shooting deaths of Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. During his 1997 trial, psychologist Walter Quijano testified that because Buck was black,
he was more likely to be a violent threat in the future. Quijano gave similar testimony in six other death row cases.
In 2000, then-Attorney General John Cornyn admitted that all of the cases, including Buck’s, were tainted by constitutional error because the government relied on race as a consideration for the
death sentence.
Cornyn said it was “inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system,” and promised to “continue to do everything [he could] to assure Texans of [the Office
of the Attorney General’s] commitment to an equitable criminal system,” according to court documents.
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In each of the other cases in which Quijano testified, the petitioner was granted a new trial. All but one, who has been executed, remain on death row. Buck’s is the only case that has not been
retried.
“Texas’s highest legal officer expressly promised that he would treat all the cases he had identified similarly. So far, Texas has broken that promise,” said Kate Black, Buck’s attorney.
Anthony Graves, a former Texas death row inmate who was exonerated in October after spending 17 years behind bars for murders he did not commit, spoke in support of Buck.
“I would have thought we would put the brakes on this issue after the injustices we found in my case," he said. "I’m asking every prosecutor, every judge, and anyone that has influence to jump up
and scream that this is enough.”
Buck’s lawyers asked Perry, Abbott, Lykos and the board to commute his sentence or grant a 120-day reprieve to allow time for the parties to work together.
Abbott’s office did not immediately provide comment. The Harris County district attorney’s office has said it would not intervene.
Judges orders death penalty for Robert Gleason
DAVID CRIGGER/BRISTOL HERALD COURIER - Convicted murderer Bobby Gleason, who vowed to kill again after not being placed on death row following a conviction in the death of his cell mate, is
escorted into a Wise County courtroom under heavy guard Tuesday.
Gleason, who has represented himself throughout the four-day long
sentencing hearing, asked for the death penalty. He threatened to kill again unless put on death row.
After hearing the judge’s sentence, Gleason grinned and cracked a
joke: “How does this work? Are you going to execute me twice?”
On May 8, 2009, Gleason tied Watson up, gagged him with a sock, beat him, strangled him and left him covered under a blanket in the bottom bunk for 15 hours until guards noticed.
On July 28, 2010, Gleason was at Red Onion maximum security
prison in Pound when he strangled Alexander Aaron
Cooper, 26, with a length of braided bedsheet.
Hours later, Gleason told officers during a videotaped confession
that he killed Cooper as a favor to someone.
Appeal to save Kate Omoregbe:
This is an appeal to the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, for ask him to prevent the repatriation of the Nigerian woman Kate Omoregbe, the young woman has fled
from Nigeria for not be forced to marry a man very old and to suffer a forced conversion from Catholicism to Islam.
In Nigeria she risks stoning or at least scarring with acid by relatives.
The girl is in Italy for some years, but now, she is held in prison, in a few days she will end her period of detention and she must be repatriated.
The girl asked the Italian political asylum, but a positive answer from governament, will arrive maybe too late. A brief account of of the story of Kate Omoregbe:
The young Nigerian has worked for nearly 10 years as a caregiver for the elderly, in Rome and Tuscany, and she had a regular permission to residence Italy.
In Rome, she shared a small apartment with four other Nigerian girls.
One morning, in February 2008, while she was alone, her house ... more
Video: The Washington Post's Anqoinette Crosby sits down with Bob Barnes to discuss the number of executions in Texas while Rick Perry
has held the position of Governor, and how that may impact his presidential bid.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry brings to the presidential race a law-and-order credential that none of his competitors can match — even if they wanted to.
In his nearly 11 years as the state’s chief executive, Perry, now running for the Republican presidential
nomination, has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history: 234 and counting. That’s more than the combined total in the next two states — Oklahoma and Virginia — since the
death penalty was restored 35 years ago.
The number is partly explained by sheer longevity at the helm of a huge state that has mastered the complicated legal maze of carrying out capital punishment.
But Perry has hardly shrunk from the task.
As the 2012 presidential race unfolds, Perry’s record will inevitably become part of the debate in a country where the number of death sentences handed down continues to fall and some states are
renouncing executions. Polls show that capital punishment remains both popular and controversial. And although all of Perry’s main competitors, including President Obama, support the death penalty,
Perry’s role stands out.
He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded, and sharply criticized a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles were not eligible for the death penalty. He has found during his tenure
only one inmate on Texas’s crowded death row he thought should receive the lesser sentence of life in prison.
And Perry’s role in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham — who supporters said should have been at least temporarily spared when experts warned that faulty forensic science led to his
conviction — is still the subject of investigation in Texas.
It is a bipartisan tradition. The annual rate of executions was actually higher when George W. Bush was the state’s governor, and Democratic Gov. Ann Richards oversaw 50 executions during her
four-year term without ever granting clemency.
“In the big picture, it is hard to see how Perry is much different from Bush or Richards,” said Jordan Steiker, co-director of the
University of Texas Law School’s Capital Punishment Center.
That’s partly because Texans and their representatives give governors little room to slow down the process.
Decisions to seek the death penalty are made by local prosecutors. Unlike in some states, the governor does not sign death warrants or set execution dates. The state constitution prohibits the
governor from calling a moratorium on executions and allows clemency only when the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it, which is rarely.
Texas’s relatively streamlined process for death penalty appeals is overseen by an elected court not known for reversals. Federal lawsuits go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in
New Orleans, which has the same reputation.
“In many states, executions are blocked because the state courts, the federal courts or both are intensely hostile to capital punishment and look for any excuse to overturn convictions,” said Kent
Scheidegger, legal director of the pro-death-penalty Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in California. “So the short answer to why Texas has the most executions is
(1) size, and (2) not being obstructed by hostile courts.”
You probably read with some curiosity the recent Santa Maria Times article regarding budget cuts being foisted upon local courts because of the state’s budget crisis.
How will these cuts affect you? During this next fiscal year, the Santa Barbara Superior Court will lose an estimated $1.66 million, resulting in earlier closure of offices, reduction in public
services and higher fees.
Following the recent Casey Anthony verdict in Florida, many here expressed anger and frustration with the process — the judge, jury, attorneys and, of course, the result.
In the tumultuous sea of emotion, we lose sight of solid ground. We have a system ruled by law, not the media, anger or grief. As founding father Benjamin Franklin opined, it is “better 100 guilty
persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer.”
What does this have to do with the budget woes of the judicial branch in California? As we make critical decisions about the role and cost of government in our lives, it may be time to look
critically and dispassionately at an issue that has been traditionally fraught with emotion — the death penalty.
Liberals will point to statistics patterning either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both, while conservatives declare an eye for an eye.
Objectively, because we have laws allowing for the imposition of capital punishment, appropriate checks and balances are also in place to ensure not one innocent person should suffer.
That system includes the automatic right to appeal a judgment imposing the death penalty to the state Supreme Court. The majority of those who receive a sentence of death are indigent, and qualify
for legal services through the state-funded the Habeas Corpus Resource Center.
As of April, there were 680 inmates on death row in California. Since 1976, California has carried out only 13 executions. California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year,
post-conviction, processing the judgments toward execution of the people currently on death row.
Taxpayers pay about $90,000 more per year for housing a death-row inmate than prisoners in regular confinement. These costs do not include the pre-conviction costs more difficult to quantify from
the trial court, including increased security, increased district attorney and public defender time because of the high stakes, competency hearings and expert evaluations, etc.
Rough statistics indicate death-penalty trials average about $1.1 million more than non-death penalty trials. In short, Californians spend multiple millions of dollars more each year pursuing
enforcement of the death penalty than we would if the sentence imposed was life without possibility of parole.
Some have estimated California’s savings at $1 billion over five years, if the death penalty were replaced with permanent imprisonment.
In the administration of justice, $1 billion over the next five years could save a lot of court services, put more officers on the streets, and save effective diversion programs like those in our
local drug courts, being modeled by so many other jurisdictions.
Of course, if the savings were not kept in the court system budget, all would be for naught. Certainly, that is no guarantee, given the proclivity for special-interest legislation in our state
government.
If a ballot measure or law would ensure the savings go to specific programs, as mentioned, for the benefit of our local courts, what would you say about eliminating capital punishment in
California? Capital punishment is the law, but it may be a law we can no longer afford.
Trent Benedetti is a board member of the Committee to Improve North County and a long-time local business owner.
Subject: Breaking News: Death Row Prisoner Damien Echols freed with co-defendents
Working for alternatives to the death penalty
Dear Clair Luckabaugh,
BREAKING NEWS!
We are thrilled to report that after 18 years, Damien Echols has been released from death row and Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have been freed from prison. The three men, known as the
West Memphis Three, have always maintained their innocence. Read theNew York Timesbreaking story.
We'd like to thank the nearly ten thousand supporters who took action last year on behalf of Damien Echols and the other two men.
Your action made a difference. You helped save three lives--one from execution and two from a lifetime behind bars.
Thank you for standing up for justice and speaking out for the innocent. These victories remind us that we are winning. With your continued activism and
financial support, we are confident that
the wins will continue.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
Thanks to your actions andyour support, we know that we will keep bending that arc and we will end the death penalty in our lifetime.
Virginia to carry out experimental execution with new drug today, Florida set to follow suit
Today Virginia is set to execute for the first time using an untested new lethal injection drug, in a move which could soon be followed by Florida unless the state’s Supreme Court
overturns the ruling of a lower court.
Jerry Jackson is expected to be executed in Greensville, VA this evening using pentobarbital, which recently replaced the more widely used anaesthetic sodium thiopental. The new drug is untested for
the purposes of anaesthesia in humans, and until recently was best known for its use in putting down animals.
Meanwhile, a decision is expected imminently from the Florida Supreme Court on the state’s plan to use the same drug to execute Manuel Valle – a Cuban with close ties to Spain – despite serious
concerns that doing so could result in extreme pain and suffering for the prisoner. Oral arguments on the lethal injection issue had been scheduled to be heard next week, but were yesterday cancelled
by the Supreme Court.
The state of Georgia’s first execution using pentobarbital was ‘clearly botched’ according to Harvard anaesthesiologist Dr David Waisel, who highlighted reports that the eyes of the prisoner, Roy
Willard Blankenship, remained open throughout the process. The execution went so badly that a Georgia judge took the unprecedented step of ordering a subsequent lethal injection to be videotaped to
provide evidence on whether it constituted ‘cruel and unusual punishment’.
Despite this, a number of other states are planning to push ahead with their own ‘experimental’ execution programmes, using the same drug. The Florida circuit court, in a move that is being appealed
by Mr Valle’s lawyers, even rejected eyewitness evidence of the Georgia execution submitted by those who had been present, hearing only the version of events provided by State’s witnesses and Georgia
corrections officials. The circuit court also excused Florida Department of Corrections officials from having to attend, although they had been called by Mr Valle’s lawyers.
Earlier this week, Montana became the latest state to announce that it was making the switch to pentobarbital.
Reprieve investigator Katherine Bekesi said:
“We are starting to see an epidemic of states carrying out experimental executions using untested drugs. Florida in particular already has a grim history of botched executions – it is
crucial that they think again before subjecting Manuel Valle to what could be an excruciatingly painful death.”
2. Manuel Valle is a Cuban national with Spanish links, who has now been on death row for 33 years. He has been denied proper clemency proceedings, and
(similarly to the recent case of Humberto Leal in Texas) did not receive the consular assistance to which he was entitled. His execution has been stayed until September 1st to allow a full hearing on
the matter to take place.
4. An eyewitness from the Associated Press has described the “thrashing, jerking death of Roy Willard Blankenship” using pentobarbital, during which “his eyes never closed”. The
full text of Dr David Waisel’s affidavit on Roy Blankenship’s inadequate anaesthesia can be found on Reprieve's website. Despite these accounts of a“clearly
botched” execution, “John Harper, an employee of the Georgia Department of Corrections, described the June 23 execution in that state of Roy Blankenship […] as relatively non-eventful.” –
see
‘Lethal injection drug hearing to continue next week’,Miami Herald, 28 July 2011
5. Montana State Prison announced on
Monday that it would be changing its execution protocol to allow the use of pentobarbital
6. Legal action charity Reprieve’s EC Project identifies and assists prisoners with European connections who are facing the death penalty in the USA.
For the fourth time, the state of Texas is scheduled to execute death row inmate Hank Skinner for the 1993 murders of his live-in
girlfriend and her two sons, potentially quashing his ability to request DNA testing under a new state law.
Gray County District Attorney Lynn Switzer asked a state district judge last month to grant an order setting an
execution for Nov. 9, even as Skinner awaits a federal court ruling on whether prosecutors must turn over DNA evidence for testing that he says will prove his innocence. Skinner’s lawyers call
the move a pressure tactic that makes it tougher for the court to adequately weigh the matter.
The execution date also means that Skinner’s lawyers must hurry to try to take advantage of a new state law that
allows increased access to post-conviction DNA testing. In 2001, legislators passed a law allowing those who had already been convicted to ask for DNA testing. The original legislation allowed
testing only in cases in which DNA tests were not conducted during the original trial because the technology was unavailable or for some other reason that was not the fault of the defendant. This
year, lawmakers repealed those restrictions. Beginning Sept. 1, post-conviction testing will be available for DNA evidence not previously analyzed, and for DNA evidence that was tested but that can
be re-examined with updated technology.
Switzer’s office directed calls to the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Lauri Saathoff, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, declined to respond to
Skinner’s lawyers’ comments and said the execution warrant was sought “because Skinner has exhausted his appeals and habeas corpus petitions, and there are no outstanding stays of execution from any
court.”
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The 2001 post-conviction DNA testing law is at the heart of Skinner’s quest for DNA testing. He has always maintained that he did not kill Twila Busby and her sons, Randy Busby and Elwin Caler.
Although he was at the house at the time of the murders, Skinner contends — and toxicology tests indicated — that he was so inebriated from a concoction of vodka and codeine that he was passed out on
the couch in their small Pampa home, unable to physically overtake the three victims.
DNA evidence presented at his trial showed Skinner’s blood was at the scene, and an ex-girlfriend — who later recanted her testimony — told jurors that he confessed to her. The jury convicted him
in 1995.
But not all the available DNA evidence was tested. A rape kit, biological material from Twila Busby's fingernails, sweat from a man’s jacket resembling one that another potential suspect often
wore, a bloody towel and knives have never been tested. Skinner's original trial lawyers worried the results might be incriminating. But Skinner has asked the state to release the evidence now for
testing.
Texas courts have repeatedly said no. Citing the 2001 law, they ruled that Skinner had his chance in 1995. They have also agreed with prosecutors who contend that more tests wouldn’t prove that
Skinner was innocent.
But less than an hour before Skinner was scheduled for execution in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay. After a hearing, the high court sent the case back to the federal district court to
decide whether Skinner is entitled to additional DNA testing. That court is set to decide in the coming months whether Texas courts have arbitrarily and unconstitutionally applied the state's 2001
post-conviction DNA testing law.
“It would be logical and sensible for the state to hold off setting another execution date until Skinner’s legal claims can all be heard in a reasonable fashion,” said Doug Robinson, one of
Skinner’s lawyers. “It makes everything just so much more difficult, certainly for Skinner’s lawyers, and I would imagine for the federal courts."
Meanwhile, Robinson said, it also means that Skinner’s lawyers must quickly decide whether to file another request in state court for DNA testing based on the new post-conviction DNA testing law
that takes effect next month. If lawyers file the request on Sept. 1, the day the law takes effect, it will give the courts only two months to issue a ruling before the execution date, practically
lightning speed in death row litigation terms. “The two previous motions we filed took two to three years for the state courts to rule on,” Robinson said.
Which makes it very likely, Robinson said, that Skinner and his lawyers will be asking the courts to grant another stay of execution.
JACKSON, Ga. -- Georgia abruptly postponed the lethal injection of a death row inmate who would have been the subject of the nation's first videotaped execution in nearly two decades.
Andrew DeYoung was scheduled to die Wednesday night, but state corrections officials delayed carrying out the sentence until Thursday as they tried to figure out the logistics of recording an
event that is usually only witnessed by prison officials, journalists and family members.
The video recording was requested by attorneys for another Georgia death row inmate who wanted evidence to show that Georgia's reconfigured three-drug lethal injection procedure does not
adequately sedate the inmate.
State prosecutors opposed it because they said the inmates have failed to prove that the drug pentobarbital causes undue suffering, and because they worried it could open the door to more
executions being recorded.
DeYoung was convicted of stabbing his parents and sister to death in 1993 in a plot to get the family's money to start a business.
The state's decision to put off DeYoung's death came less than an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court's denied a stay of execution. The Georgia Supreme Court earlier voted unanimously to allow the
procedure to be recorded, and a video team was on hand to tape the execution.
Attorney General Sam Olens and other officials who were on hand to monitor the execution did not say why it had been pushed back a day. When asked if the delay had to do with the video tape
recording, Olens said "it's broader than that" and said the state had never before dealt with recording an execution.
Experts say it would have been the first recording of an execution since 1992. In that California case, the state's method of execution using lethal gas was being challenged. The tape was later
destroyed.
The request for the videotaping was filed by Brian Kammer, an attorney for death row inmate Gregory Walker. Kammer said he wanted to preserve "the best evidence possible" for his client's
challenge to the state's method of lethal injection.
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State attorneys urged the Georgia Supreme Court to reverse a judge's ruling allowing the execution to be taped, worrying that it could set a troubling precedent. But justices said they unanimously
dismissed the challenge because the state failed to follow proper appeal procedure.
Lawyers believe the only other time an execution was videotaped was in California in 1992, when attorneys were challenging the use of gas as a method of execution, said Kammer. That is also the
understanding of Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.
Dieter said the tape of the California execution was later destroyed and he was aware of no other court-ordered videotaped execution. Dieter said Timothy McVeigh's 2001 execution at a federal
prison in Indiana was broadcast on closed-circuit TV to a gathering of survivors and victims' family members in Oklahoma City, but there was no indication it was taped.
In seeking a stay, DeYoung's attorneys argued using pentobarbital would cause DeYoung to suffer based partly on accounts of Roy Blankenship's June 23 execution. An Associated Press reporter
witnessed Blankenship jerking his head several times during the procedure, looking at the injection sites in his arms and muttering after the pentobarbital was injected into his veins.
It was the first time the drug was used in Georgia. States have been turning to pentobarbital to carry out executions since the manufacturer of another sedative announced it would not resume
production in the U.S. Pentobarbital has been used this year to put at least 18 inmates to death in eight states.
Death penalty critics have said Blankenship's unusual movements were proof that Georgia shouldn't have used pentobarbital to sedate him before injecting pancuronium bromide to paralyze him and
then potassium chloride to stop his heart. State prosecutors have raised questions about the timeline cited in the AP's account and argued Blankenship's movements occurred before the sedative took
hold.
The state attorney general's office has said adequate safeguards are in place to prevent needless suffering, including a consciousness check before the second and third drugs are administered. The
consciousness check was used for the first time in Blankenship's execution.
In addition, prosecutors argued the courts have held that a certain amount of pain is acceptable during an execution.
DeYoung was convicted of killing his mother, father and 14-year-old sister, Sarah. Prosecutors said DeYoung, then a student at Kennesaw State University, killed his family as part of a plot to
gain control of his parents' money so he could start a business.
Authorities said DeYoung cut the telephone wires of his family's home in the middle of the night. He then stabbed his mother repeatedly while she was sleeping upstairs, then also stabbed his
father and sister, prosecutors said. A brother sleeping downstairs escaped after hearing the commotion and ran to a neighbor's house for help.
Federal judge in Virginia tosses death sentence
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press – 16 hours ago
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a drug dealer's murder-for-hire conviction and death sentence in the 2001 slaying of his marijuana supplier in a case that exposed a
distribution ring in the wealthy northern Virginia suburbs.
U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson of Norfolk ruled that Justin Michael Wolfe, 29, was wrongfully convicted in the death of 21-year-old Daniel Petrole Jr. in Prince William County. Wolfe
claimed that the shooter, Owen Barber IV, acted alone.
Barber was the key prosecution witness in Wolfe's 2002 trial. Barber agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and testify against Wolfe in exchange for a life sentence.
Barber recanted his testimony in 2005. Five months later, he again changed his story and said he had testified truthfully at Wolfe's trial. Barber's former roommate and his former cellmate also
filed sworn statements saying Barber told them he acted alone in killing Petrole.
Jackson said in his ruling that the state's use of Barber's false testimony was grounds for vacating Wolfe's conviction and sentence. He rejected prosecutors' claims that they did not know
Barber's testimony was false at the time.
"They had prior knowledge of falsities in Barber's testimony, yet never pursued or investigated the information," Jackson wrote. "In light of the Commonwealth's conduct, the Commonwealth cannot be
entitled to benefit from their deliberate ignorance and/or reckless disregard for the falsities in Barber's testimony."
He also ruled that Wolfe's due process rights were violated when prosecutors withheld information from his attorneys. Jackson listed several pieces of evidence that were suppressed, including
recorded witness interviews and a "gentlemen's agreement" not to prosecute one witness in exchange for his cooperation with authorities.
The judge wrote that the actions of Prince William prosecutors were "not only unconstitutional in regards to due process, but abhorrent to the judicial process."
The Virginia attorney general's office could appeal the ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The office did not respond to an inquiry about its plans.
"We're gratified by the district court's thorough and thoughtful opinion," said Brian Meiners, an attorney for Wolfe in Washington, D.C. "We're hopeful the state will accept this determination and
move on."
Meiners said attorneys informed Wolfe about the ruling.
"He was very happy and is naturally curious as to what is going to happen next with this case," Meiners said.
Wolfe's mother, Terri Steinberg, said in a telephone interview that she found it frightening that an appeal by the state could drag the case out for several more years.
"We can't really enjoy this until we know for sure that it's over," she said. "Today, we're just trying to enjoy the victory and be glad that somebody finally listened."
According to trial testimony, Wolfe was making $10,000 to $15,000 a month selling high-end marijuana he bought from Petrole. Wolfe had been friends since high school with Barber, who sold
lower-grade marijuana.
At the time of Petrole's death, Wolfe owed Petrole about $60,000.
On March 15, 2001, after Petrole delivered the pot to Wolfe, Barber followed Petrole to his home and shot him 10 times as he sat in his car. Barber testified that in exchange for the slaying,
Wolfe forgave a $3,000 debt, gave him more than five pounds of marijuana and promised an additional $10,000.
In his affidavit recanting the testimony, Barber said he had intended to confront Petrole but thought he saw him reach for a gun, so he fired. He said he implicated Wolfe to avoid the death
penalty.
Associated Press writer Dena Potter contributed to this report.
Killer Robert W. Jackson III's execution delayed in dispute over lethal drugs
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WILMINGTON – A federal judge has ordered a delay in execution of convicted killer Robert W. Jackson III, which had been set for July 29.
District Judge Sue L. Robinson – who put a similar stay in place in May 2006 on the eve of Jackson’s previous date with the execution chamber – is set to hear arguments from both sides on July 27
about the state changing one of three drugs that it uses in lethal injection executions.
Attorneys representing Jackson have argued that the drug – pentobarbital – is largely untested in lethal injection executions and the change violates Robinson’s Feb. 2010 ruling that dismissed
Jackson’s previous lawsuit.
Delaware prosecutors had argued that the change in drugs was minor and that the drug has been used in seven states to conduct 15 different executions. The state also argued that no court which has
looked at the change from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital has found any constitutional issues.
As Texas Gov. Rick Perry considers a presidential run, another death penalty case with tough questions about scientific evidence may become an issue. In this case, Perry would decide whether to
proceed with the execution.
Larry Ray Swearingen is on death row for the December 1998 kidnapping and murder of Melissa Trotter. At issue is scientific evidence that estimates when Trotter was murdered. That is crucial
because she disappeared Dec. 8, 1998, and her body was found more than three weeks later, on Jan 2, 1999, in the Sam Houston National Forest.
Swearingen was taken into custody and jailed Dec. 11, 1998, on other charges, then charged with the murder. His lawyer insists he could not have committed the crime because he was in jail when it
happened.
At trial, a former chief medical examiner from Houston testified that Trotter had been dead about 25 days. That time frame made it possible for Swearingen to have committed the crime before he was
taken into custody.
As Swearingen appealed his conviction, though, his lawyers found forensic experts, including some of the state's leading medical examiners, to study the case. Those experts determined Trotter had
been dead only several days when her body was found. What's more, the prosecution's lead witness re-examined the case and said she had been wrong in her trial testimony. She said Trotter had been
killed as long as 10 days after Swearingen had been arrested.
The prosecutors have countered with two chief arguments. The first is procedural: They say Swearingen should not be given another opportunity to challenge his conviction because the evidence about
the time of death was available at trial.
The prosecutors also say that the lack of consensus among Swearingen's experts — they differ on how many days Trotter had been dead — shows the estimates of when she died are not credible.
Moreover, they say they do not outweigh evidence of his guilt.
To Swearingen's attorney, James Rytting, of Houston, the evidence about when Trotter died means his client could not have committed the crime. If Swearingen's remaining appeals fail, he will turn
to the state's pardon board and Perry for clemency.
A new execution date is expected to be set soon, Rytting said.
"In Willingham, it was bad science that convicted him. In this case, it's all the scientists on board saying it's impossible (that he did it)," Rytting said.
By Karen Brooks
AUSTIN, Texas | Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:56pm EDT
(Reuters) - A man convicted of fatally shooting two people and paralyzing a third near Houston in 1998 is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Tuesday despite evidence that he is mentally
disabled.
Milton Mathis, 32, has mental disabilities that should exempt him from the death penalty, according to officials who say he should be spared the death penalty. He was sentenced in 1999, before a
Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute inmates with mental disabilities.
Mathis would be the 23rd person executed in the United States this year and the sixth executed in Texas.
He had appeals before the Supreme Court that were still pending on Tuesday morning, Texas prison officials said. Mathis has tried unsuccessfully to convince state and federal courts to halt his
execution based on his mental disabilities.
Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, who is considering a run for president, vetoed state legislation in 2001 that would have outlawed executing inmates with mental disabilities, saying that
Texas juries should decide who to execute.
A year later, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Atkins vs. Virginia, but left it to the states to determine how to decide whether a person had mental disabilities.
Mathis, who had an eighth-grade education when he was convicted, has scored in the low 60s on several IQ tests - including a 62 on a test administered by the state's prison system, according to an
essay on the Stand Down Texas website by Mark White, a former Texas governor who opposes Mathis' execution. Stand Down Texas supports a death penalty moratorium in Texas.
Psychology experts have routinely put the standard for mental disabilities around a 70 IQ and lower.
"Mathis has suffered from obvious mental disabilities since childhood," White wrote. "He failed the first, fifth and eighth grades and dropped out of high school in ninth grade. He has had
problems with functions that come easily to most of us, like dressing himself."
Mathis was convicted in September 1999 of opening fire on a home in Fort Bend County, west of Houston, and killing Travis Brown and Daniel Hibbard. A third victim, Melanie Almaguer, then 15, was
also shot in the head and is paralyzed from the neck down.
Mathis also turned the gun on Almaguer's mother, who was in the home, but ran out of bullets, according to the state attorney general's office. He looted the home before setting it on fire, fled
in Brown's car, and later told a fellow inmate that he wished he had "killed them all," according to the attorney general's office.
The execution is scheduled for after 6 p.m. Tuesday in Huntsville, Texas.
First, please Click Here to vote "No, for Abolition" right now in this Connecticut poll!
Our hats are off to NCADP's Connecticut Affiliate, the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP), and all of its partners and members.
Yesterday we learned that a commited abolitionist Senator decided to withhold her yes vote for the death penalty repeal bill for this year, out of respect for the Pettit family and their concern that
passing the repeal bill could somehow impact the trial of one of the killers in their case. This effectively ends the campaign for THIS year, but only for this year. The Senator who changed her vote
is still commited and wants the bill to come up again next year, after the trial is expected to be over.
So, congratulations to all at CNADP on your many successes. NCADP and its allies stand with now and as the struggle continues.
Meanwhile, as long as it is up, please vote "No, for Abolition" (one of two "no" options - be sure to pick the one FOR abolition) in the poll
you will find here. Also, especially now, please assist the campaign in Connecticut by reminding anyone you know
who lives in that state to visit http://www.cnadp.org/ to join the CNADP e-mail alert list. Those who can support CNADP in other ways should be sure to do
so! Thank you.
A Warm Welcome in California!
Tonight in Los Angeles, NCADP's California Affiliate, Death Penalty Focus, hosts its annual awards dinner, honoring among others, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. Today's events also
include a "farewell and thank you" to retiring executive director Lance Lindsey, and a welcome to DPF's new executive director, Jeanne Woodford. Jeanne Woodford is
not the first former warden who has executed people to come out against the death penalty, but she is the first to run a major anti-death penalty organization. This is a significant development for
DPF and our entire movement. NCADP congratulates DPF and welcomes wholeheartedy our newest Affiliate Director. Read about Jeanne Woodford in today's Los Angeles Times.
REMINDER: Take Action for Troy Davis!
Unfortunately, the state of Georgia appears to be moving forward with changes to its lethal injection protocol, which will allow it to resume setting execution dates. An execution date
for Troy Davis seems inevitable, but his execution is NOT. A number of approaches to stopping the execution are in the works, and YOU CAN HELP!
Earlier this week, a major supporter announced himself via his artwork. Learn about artist Chaz Guest, see his painting of Troy, and link to the new video on our site at http://www.ncadp.org/.
If you live anywhere near Savannah, visit the web site of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty to learn about the canvassing effort to gather
signatures of residents of the county that sent Troy to death row.
The "One Million Tweets for Troy!" effort is raising greater awareness about the fact that Georgia seems ready to execute a man despite serious questions of his guilt. If you are active on
Twitter, click here now.
Ask your clergy to sign the letter from religious leaders, ask legal professionals to sign the letter from the legal community, and more. Get it all at www.justicefortroy.org.
Also, Click here to "Like" NCADP's Troy Davis Facebook page.
Latest from Tony – April 28, 2011 (via Ilona Leverenz)
We have told you about the harassment of the men on Polunsky Death Row. This is a pattern that has become worse in the last few years. Most recently things have become so bad that I
have personally heard men I’ve known for years start to ask themselves why they keep going. Simply put, the administration over death row has started a campaign to harass and punish us, not for
breaking long standing rules, but just for being on death row! The new rules are so petty, yet do so much unnecessary harm in increasing our isolation, that they cannot be taken any other way!! The
other abuses are way out of order. The most recent proof of this is an action taken last week. As prisoners, we have to LIVE in this place. The so-called rank and the officers go home everyday, but
we LIVE here. There are MANY guys here who can not afford to have books sent to them, or magazines or newspapers. SO, we share. Death Row is a unique community within the prisons system, because we
often share with others we do not even know. Something you do not find in Population! BUT, now if we are caught passing a book to a man who needs something to read, both people could go to Solitary
for 3 months! 90 Days because someone needed a book to read to take his mind off being on death row! They do not treat the population inmates like this, this is AGAIN targeted directly towards death
row. As with the other problems, we, the guys on death row, are asking for your help. We're asking you to call the people in charge, we're asking you to sit down and write the ombudsman of TDCJ and
other responsible officials, and voice your protest at how we are being treated. Please contact the persons listed below.
- IN HEART AND STRUGGLE
Full addresses and contact details are:
Michael Upshaw
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Region I Director’s Office
1225 Avenue G
Huntsville, Texas 77340
Phone: (936) 437-1770
Fax: (936) 437-1988
TDCJ-Correctional Institutions Division
Ombudsman Office
P.O. Box 99, Huntsville, TX 77342-0099
Phone: 936-437-6791
Fax: 936-437-6668
ci.div@tdcj.state.tx.us
Rick Thaler
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Correctional Institutions Division
P.O. Box 99
Huntsville, Texas 77342
Phone: 936-437-2101 (Livingston) or 936-437-2169 (Austin)
Fax: 936-437-2123 (Livingston) or 936-437-6325 (Austin)
Texas Board of Criminal Justice
P. O. Box 13084
Austin, Texas 78711
tbcj@tdcj.state.tx.us
Phone: 512-475-3250
Fax: 512-305-9398
An example letter is below, but feel free to amend this in any way:
Dear Mr Thaler
I am aware of increasing reports of harassment and ill-treatment on the Death Row wings of Polunsky prison, Livingston. I should like to remind all parties responsible for the
administration and policy of that unit that inmates are held there on the instruction of the Court, pending final determination of the fairness and right of sentence, and prior to execution in some
cases. It is not and never has been the direction of the Court that punishment, beyond secure and safe detention, should be permissible by penal authorities, other than reasonable and humane
enforcement of equally reasonable and humane prison regulation.
Harassment and excesses of punishment imposed on prisoners have a direct effect on their mental and physical health. That is not permissible under US law and is in contravention of
International law. An example of current practice is that inmates on death row are no longer permitted to give or exchange books with each other. Death Row is a unique community within the prisons
system, because inmates often share with others they do not even know. Something you do not find in Population! BUT, now if they are caught passing a book to a man who needs something to read, both
people could go to Solitary for 3 months! 90 Days because someone needed a book to read to take his mind off being on death row! General population inmates are not treated like this, this new policy
is clearly targeted directly towards death row. For what gain or purpose?
It is the requirement of every penal establishment to adhere to standards of practice and policy that reflect an appreciation and concern for humane and lawful detention under State,
Federal and International Law. I respectfully request that you exercise the powers of your office to effectively investigate, oversee and review current practice at Polunsky, to make public your
findings, and to effect a change of policy which will improve conditions on death row.
As you know, a few weeks ago the Connecticut legislature's judiciary committee approved the bill to repeal that state's death penalty by a vote of 26 to 17. The next step is a floor vote in the
Senate sometime in the coming weeks. If and when it passes there, then it will go to a floor vote in the House. Governor Malloy was elected last year having stated repeatedly during his campaign that
he would sign the bill should it reach his desk.
NCADP's Connecticut Affiliate, the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, continues to seek Connecticut residents who
will contact their legislators urging them to pass the death penalty repeal bill. Please assist the campaign in Connecticut by reminding anyone you know who lives in that state to visit http://www.cnadp.org/ to contact their legislators and to join the CNADP e-mail alert list. Those who can support CNADP in other ways should be sure to do
so! Thank you.
A new opportunity for action has been announced for people who live anywhere, not just limited to Connecticut residents. Please click here to sign this petition today!
Second, an update on Nevada
On Monday night, Nevada's Assembly voted in favor of a bill to implement a study of the financial implications of that state's death penalty. AB501 passed by an encourgaing margin with a vote of
28 to 14. The bill will move on to the Senate and must make it out of committee by May 20th. We'll keep you updated, and please be sure to encourage people you know who live in Nevada to sign up with
NCADP's Nevada Affiliate, the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
If you live elsewhere, be sure you are on the list of the NCADP Affiliate in your state. Find your Affiliate here.
.
REMINDER: Take Action for Troy Davis!
Unfortunately, the state of Georgia appears to be moving forward with changes to its lethal injection protocol, which will allow it to resume setting execution dates. An execution date for
Troy Davis seems inevitable, but his execution is NOT. A number of approaches to stopping the execution are in the works, and YOU CAN HELP!
If you live anywhere near Savannah, visit the web site of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty to learn about the canvassing effort to gather
signatures of residents of the county that sent Troy to death row.
No matter where you live, you can organize a local event. For example, NCADP just received this information from a friend: "There will be a march/rally in support of Troy Davis and abolition of
the dp, to be held in Knoxville, TN, Saturday, May 7th. The march will begin at 2p.m.@ the Beck Cultural Center, 1927 Dandridge Avenue and end @ Market Square where there will be a rally/speakers. It
is sponsored by the Amnesty group at U of T, and people like myself, who have been influenced by correspondence with Troy's faithful and inspirational letters for four years." Want to get something
going where you live? Visit www.justicefortroy.org.
The "One Million Tweets for Troy!" effort is raising greater awareness about the fact that Georgia seems ready to execute a man despite serious questions of his guilt. If you are active on
Twitter, click here now.
Ask your clergy to sign the letter from religious leaders, ask legal professionals to sign the letter from the legal community, and more. Get it all at www.justicefortroy.org.
Also, Click here to "Like" NCADP's Troy Davis Facebook page.
Please visit www.NCADP.org for a tribute to Marie Deans, a former NCADP Abolitionist of the Year who died
recently, action alerts, the news, our blog, and more...
Thank you! Together we will make the difference.
P.S. - Pleaseclick hereto help NCADP continue its life saving work...
Virgina Davis, Mother of Death Row Inmate Troy Davis, Dies
By JoAnn Merrigan
Published: April 14, 2011
(Savannah, GA) Virginia Davis, mother of convicted death row inmate Troy Davis, died Tuesday. She was 65. According to her daughter, Martina Correria, Mrs.
Davis had not been ill prior to her death. She told us Mrs. Davis a took nap on Tuesday and never woke up. "It's been difficult but we have been surrounded by friends
and family," Correria told us.
Correria did tell us that her mother had "been very upset in recent weeks because of the Supreme Court ruling. I think she just had a broken heart."
Several weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from attorneys for Troy Davis, a rejection that most experts say finally leads the way for the execution of Davis, who
was convicted for the 1989 killing of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.
While the MacPhail family has always maintained that justice was served with a guilty conviction and that countless delays were unfair to them, the Davis family steadfastly maintained
its belief in Troy's innocence. Correria says that especially goes for her mother who believed in Troy "until the end."
"She (Virgina Davis) was a very prayful person," Correria told us. "She was upset in recent days and was probably holding a lot in, but she said we would all go on and that's
what she was doing."
"She still took care of of us and all of our problems and took me to the doctor the day before she died," Correria said.
An obituary in the Savannah Morning News says Virginia Davis was a Savannah native and a 1963 graduate of Beach High School.
Reuters) - An Indian company that supplied an anesthetic used to execute murderers on death row said on Thursday it has stopped selling the drug for use in capital punishment as it goes against
the "ethos of Hinduism."
The move by Mumbai-based Kayem Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd comes as several U.S. states have scrambled to find supplies of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used in lethal injection, which has been
in short supply since a U.S. manufacturer stopped making it earlier this year.
Kayem sold sodium thiopental to Nebraska last year, according to the anti-death penalty group Reprieve. The group had planned a press event on Thursday in Mumbai to protest Kayem's sale of the
drug.
But before that could happen, Kayem revealed that it has changed it policy, setting out its reasons in a statement on its website.
"We ... voluntarily refrain" from selling "this drug where the purpose is purely for lethal injection and its misuse," the firm said. It said use of the drug for executions went against the "ethos of
Hinduism."
Hinduism is the predominant religion in India. Followers believe in the circle of life, death and rebirth.
A U.S. representative for Kayem and a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services could not be reached for comment.
There has been a shortage of sodium thiopental throughout the United States, since the former U.S. supplier, Illinois-based Hospira Inc., announced in January that it would stop making the
drug.
The company had faced European Union pressure over a facility in Italy where it had planned to manufacture the drug.
Ohio and Oklahoma have switched to use of pentobarbital in executions, and Texas was set to follow suit in an execution scheduled for Tuesday, which was halted by a temporary stay.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents last month seized Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental, citing questions about how the state had obtained the drug.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tim Gaynor)
Prison says Arkansas priest caught taking tobacco to death row inmate; visiting rights stopped
VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' prison system says guards found loose tobacco on a priest attempting to visit a death row inmate and that it has suspended the clergyman's visitation
rights.
The Rev. Charles Thessing of Morrilton's Sacred Heart Catholic Church was detained briefly at the Varner Unit prison last Wednesday with a gallon-sized plastic bag half-filled with tobacco. Prison
spokeswoman Dina Tyler told The Lincoln American of Star City on Monday that the 49-year-old might permanently lose his right to visit inmates. She did not say whom Thessing was attempting to
visit.
No charge was filed, but state police said an investigation continues. Sacred Heart said Thessing was not available, and Bishop Anthony Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock was out of town until
Thursday and could not be reached for comment.
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A U.S. shortage of a key lethal injection drug deepened Wednesday as federal regulators investigated whether Georgia circumvented the law in obtaining its supply and Texas announced it was
switching to an alternative.
The Drug Enforcement Administration seized Georgia's entire supply of sodium thiopental, which defense attorneys claim came from a fly-by-night British supplier operating from the back of a
driving school in a gritty London neighborhood.
DEA agents have not said exactly why they seized the drug, except that there were questions about how it was imported into the U.S.
The supply issues have delayed executions in several states and forced at least five to turn to England for the drug, a sedative in the three-drug execution cocktail used by most of the nation's
35 death penalty states. Texas on Wednesday announced it is switching to another, stronger sedative that is often used to euthanize animals.
The seizure in Georgia effectively delays any executions until the federal probe is complete, which could take months. That's little comfort to friends of Emmanuel Hammond, a 45-year-old who was
executed in January even after his attorneys argued that the state could have illegally obtained the drug.
"There's something terribly wrong when officials charged with enforcing criminal laws break them," said Brian Mendelsohn, an attorney for Hammond, who was put to death for the 1988 slaying of an
Atlanta preschool teacher.
Georgia corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath said the state is cooperating with the DEA probe to ensure it is in "regulatory compliance with the DEA over how we handle controlled substances.
Georgia's stockpile of sodium thiopental — believed to be around 20 grams, enough for at least four executions — has been under scrutiny since corrections officials released documents in court
that showed the state bought the drug from Dream Pharma, a company in London that has the same address as the Elgone Driving Academy.
The firm hasn't responded to several e-mail and phone calls seeking comment, and a reporter who visited the store Wednesday was told the owner was gone for the day.
The documents also show the drugs were manufactured by Link Pharmaceuticals, a firm purchased five years ago by Archimedes Pharma Limited. Both are British firms. Death penalty opponents say the
name of Link Pharmaceuticals hasn't been on labels since May 2007, and since sodium thiopental typically has a shelf life of four years, the state's supply would expire in May of this year.
State corrections officials say the drug won't expire until 2014 and they don't have concerns about its quality.
Sodium thiopental has been in short supply since Hospira Inc., its sole U.S. manufacturer, decided in January to stop making it. An Associated Press review this year found that most of the
nation's 35 death penalty states had run out of it or would soon; 17 states had no supply at all.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Wednesday it was planning to substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental in its three-drug cocktail. Agency spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said the
state picked the drug partly because it survived court challenges in Oklahoma, where it has been used in recent executions. Ohio has also switched to pentobarbital as the sole drug used for its
executions.
In some other states, switching to another drug could prove a difficult, drawn-out process, fraught with legal challenges from death row that could put executions on hold.
The shortage has delayed executions in several states and the Associated Press review found that at least five states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia and Tennessee — had to turn to
England for their supply of the drug. Nebraska, meanwhile, secured a stockpile from an Indian firm.
New execution drug chosen
By Mike Ward | Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 09:52 AM
Texas will change the three-drug cocktail it uses to execute condemned criminals — switching from the difficult-to-get sodium thiopental to the pentobarbital, officials confirmed this
morning.
Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the new drug will be used for the first time in the scheduled April 5 execution of convicted murderer
Clive Foster.
The change marks the first time since December 1982 that Texas has changed its three-drug formula used in executions.
In the last year, the only U.S. supplier of sodium thiopental discontinued production and Texas and other states had been unable to find another supplier to continue executions. Texas’
on-hand supply expires at the end of this month.
In recent months, Oklahoma and Ohio earlier switched to phenobarbital because of the supply problem.
Lyons said the state has purchased enough pentobarbitol to carry out the next five executions.
A legal challenge to the change is expected.
In a statement, Maurie Levin, Foster’s attorney, criticized the last-minute switch, when they have known for months that their supply of sodium thiopental was about to
expire.
“The timing of the decision and disclosure raises serious concerns about the haste with which they are seeking to implement this new process, and a lack of transparency by state
officials,” she said. “To permit less than three weeks for these matters to be vetted undermines any faith we can have in TDCJ’s concern for deliberate process, accountability, or the
constitutionality of the new procedures.
“Moreover, Texas is rushing to carry out an execution using an entirely new protocol, but they refuse to fully disclose basic information, such as whether any medical authorities
were consulted regarding the incorporation of a new drug; the source of the pentobarbitol; and the training of personnel who will implement the new procedure for the first time.
It’s another busy week for abolitionists across the country as the pace of abolition efforts picks up. If not you, please think about who you know in each of the states listed, forward this
information to them, and ask them to get involved. Congratulations to all of NCADP’s State Affiliates as we move the ball forward!
First - Congratulations again to
the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and everyone who had a hand in that victory! Click here to read news items and editorials in NCADP's news blog. Of course, our work there is
not finished - it is most important that we thank Governor Quinn for signing the bill. Please call him at his Springfield office at 217-782-6830 and also at his Chicago office at
312-814-2121. After you call, please take action at www.ncadp.org/IllinoisAction to send Governor Quinn a note, and also to thank the champions of
abolition in Illinois, Rep. Karen Yarbrough and Sen. Kwame Raoul. Finally, click here to see NCADP Executive Director Diann Rust-Tierney's message regarding repeal in Illinois
and our efforts to keep the momentum going elsewhere!
Tomorrow (3/15/2011) in Annapolis, HB 1075 to repeal the
death penalty in Maryland will be heard in the Judiciary Committee of the House of Delegates. The hearing is scheduled for 1pm EDT, however, it is uncertain exactly what time they will start with our
bill. If you or someone you know can be in Annapolis, the details are on the web page of NCADP's Affiliate, Maryland Citizens Against State Executions (MDCASE). Please come! Details are also there about
Wednesday's MDCASE call-in day for Maryland residents. Listen in on an impressive lineup of witnesses as they testify at the hearing, live here, and follow Abe Bonowitz, NCADP's Director of Affiliate Support, who will be live-tweeting
throughout the day on the NCADP twitter feed. Also, MD death row survivor Kirk Bloodsworth has a series of events around the
state this week. See last night's TV coverage here, and click
here for more information and to sign up with MDCASE.
Also tomorrow in Montana, the Montana House Judiciary
Committee will take up S185, the MT repeal bill which passed in the Senate last month. Click Here to listen live starting at at 8am MDT (10am EDT), and follow the Montana
Abolition Coalition's Twitter feed here. Note: These hearings don’t always start right on time – there will not be an “active”
link there until the hearing actually begins. You may have to refresh on your browser to have it pop up. Click
here to learn more about what’s happening in Montana.
There is certainly more happening, with bills running in Kansas, Connecticut and elsewhere. NCADP wants to make sure as many people as possible are involved. Pleaseclick hereto make a contribution today to help NCADP continue to support
the ongoing work of its state Affiliates nationwide.
Just minutes ago, Illinois became the 16th state in the nation without the death penalty. That game-changing—and prescient—act took place moments ago
when Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that had passed both the Illinois House and the Senate with bipartisan support. He also commuted all 15 death sentences to life without
parole.
Once again we see that when our elected officials take a careful look at the facts and are attentive to the true concerns of the public, they can and will do the right
thing. The momentum to abolish the death penalty in the United States is strong and unstoppable.
NCADP—and you—played an important role in the Illinois
effort.
The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty planned and carried out an amazing effort that ultimately generated support in the legislature, from regional and
local editorial boards, and from grassroots activists across the state, and indeed, all across the country. Thanks to all of you who called, emailed, faxed, and did so much more to support
these efforts! Click here to thank the Governor for signing the legislation.
NCADP played a key role by providing strong support.
In the last two years we partnered with ICADP throughout the long effort. At key moments, NCADP coordinated a national effort to bring volunteers to the state to knock
on doors, staff phone banks and help constituents meet with their representatives. We also mobilized our national partners around the country to ensure that their contacts in Illinois had the
opportunity to have their voices heard.
The Illinois success story is but one notable achievement. NCADP has played key roles in states that have repealed the death penalty or significantly restricted
its reach including South Dakota, Wyoming (which repealed the death penalty for juveniles), New Jersey and New Mexico.
We can do it again. But doing this work means we have to spend time in key states helping our Affiliates become even stronger. And for that, we need your help.
We have a model for succeeding, and we’ve proven that it works.NCADP’s Affiliate network is eager to take advantage
of this momentum by partnering with us to enhance their capacity to implement campaigns. They want our support and we must be there for them. At the same time we must continue to provide
the national leadership and vision for the work that comes from the perspective of an organization with a history of opposing this barbaric practice and a network of advocate leadership in every
state.
At NCADP we understand more than ever, that when we end the death penalty once and for all, we will have laid the groundwork for powerful and lasting change in the way
that communities respond to crime and violence. Please give generously now, so that we can harness this amazing momentum.
Thanks again for all that you do,
Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director
P.S. Our immediate objective is to push the number of states free of capital punishment from 16 to over 20. That’s our goal in the next two years. So NCADP is
supporting ongoing efforts in key states where the possibility of repeal is strong— Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We have a wonderful opportunity
to add additional states to the death-penalty free column. With your donation, we can get closer to abolition right
now.
Just minutes ago, Illinois became the 16th state in the nation without the death penalty. That game-changing—and prescient—act took place moments ago
when Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that had passed both the Illinois House and the Senate with bipartisan support. He also commuted all 15 death sentences to life without
parole.
Once again we see that when our elected officials take a careful look at the facts and are attentive to the true concerns of the public, they can and will do the right
thing. The momentum to abolish the death penalty in the United States is strong and unstoppable.
NCADP—and you—played an important role in the Illinois
effort.
The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty planned and carried out an amazing effort that ultimately generated support in the legislature, from regional and
local editorial boards, and from grassroots activists across the state, and indeed, all across the country. Thanks to all of you who called, emailed, faxed, and did so much more to support
these efforts! Click here to thank the Governor for signing the legislation.
NCADP played a key role by providing strong support.
In the last two years we partnered with ICADP throughout the long effort. At key moments, NCADP coordinated a national effort to bring volunteers to the state to knock
on doors, staff phone banks and help constituents meet with their representatives. We also mobilized our national partners around the country to ensure that their contacts in Illinois had the
opportunity to have their voices heard.
The Illinois success story is but one notable achievement. NCADP has played key roles in states that have repealed the death penalty or significantly restricted
its reach including South Dakota, Wyoming (which repealed the death penalty for juveniles), New Jersey and New Mexico.
We can do it again. But doing this work means we have to spend time in key states helping our Affiliates become even stronger. And for that, we need your help.
We have a model for succeeding, and we’ve proven that it works.NCADP’s Affiliate network is eager to take advantage
of this momentum by partnering with us to enhance their capacity to implement campaigns. They want our support and we must be there for them. At the same time we must continue to provide
the national leadership and vision for the work that comes from the perspective of an organization with a history of opposing this barbaric practice and a network of advocate leadership in every
state.
At NCADP we understand more than ever, that when we end the death penalty once and for all, we will have laid the groundwork for powerful and lasting change in the way
that communities respond to crime and violence. Please give generously now, so that we can harness this amazing momentum.
Thanks again for all that you do,
Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director
P.S. Our immediate objective is to push the number of states free of capital punishment from 16 to over 20. That’s our goal in the next two years. So NCADP is
supporting ongoing efforts in key states where the possibility of repeal is strong— Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. We have a wonderful opportunity
to add additional states to the death-penalty free column. With your donation, we can get closer to abolition right
now.
*^*^*Stick Around For the Miracle*^*^*Be kind, everyone is fighting a battle*^*^*^*
Owner of OLI4U:
Ann Atkinson�� Anntnwv@aol.com
File Technican:
Ann Atkinson: Anntnwv@aol.com
Chaplain for OLI4U:
Clair Luckabaugh: celdoc2001@yahoo.com
Moderators:
Clair Luckabaugh: celdoc2001@yahoo.com
Ann Atkinson: anntnwv@aol.com
Penpal site created and managed by Arlette: arpas99@bluewin.ch
Ex-inmate cleared after
his death
Found guilty in 1979 slaying, Larry Ruffin exonerated by DNA
Written by Jerry Mitchell
Feb 21, 2011
The late Larry Ruffin has become the second person in the U.S. to be formally exonerated posthumously, thanks to DNA testing.
"It's wonderful," said Ruffin's daughter, Nikki Ruffin Smith, who was less than a year old when her father was arrested in the case. "It can't bring him back, but justice is served. So is the
truth."
On Friday, Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich filed an order throwing out Ruffin's capital murder conviction for the 1979 the rape and murder of Eva Gail Patterson of Eatonville.
"Larry Ruffin is officially exonerated and declared innocent of the crime of capital murder for which he was convicted in 1980 in Forrest County," Helfrich wrote. "That conviction is null and
void."
In 2002, Ruffin, while serving a life sentence, was accidentally electrocuted and died of a heart attack in prison. The Innocence Project in New Orleans had pushed for the DNA tests and the
exonerations of Ruffin and others.
In September, Helfrich exonerated Bobby Ray Dixon and Phillip Bivens, who had each pleaded guilty in the case. Dressed in a red prison jumpsuit, Bivens said then all he could think was "Thank God.
Thank God."
Bivens, 59, is now living in New Orleans in a transitional home provided by the non-profit organization Resurrection After Exoneration. Last month, he attended his first NFL game, watching the New
Orleans Saints lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"He's doing well," said Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project in New Orleans. "He's trying to get a job gardening."
Dixon, who was suffering from terminal lung cancer and a brain tumor, died months after being exonerated.
In 2009, Tim Cole, who died in 1999, became the first person exonerated posthumously. A judge threw out Cole's conviction after DNA cleared him of the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University
student.
Cole and Ruffin likely won't be the last people exonerated posthumously, Maw said. "There are lessons for everyone in this. Red flags were ignored in this case. You want to make sure you're not
developing tunnel vision. It's so innate in all of us. Our human nature can lead us to do things that have such significant consequences."
During the original investigation into Patterson's murder, her 4-year-old son - the lone eyewitness in the case - told authorities there was one assailant, not three.
DNA tests have implicated Andrew Harris, 50, already serving a life sentence for a 1981 rape in the Hattiesburg area. A Forrest County grand jury has since indicted Harris with capital murder in
Patterson's slaying.
Before the indictment, Harris had been eligible for parole.
"In this case, the person had escaped punishment for the crime," Maw said. "We're about catching the real person who did the crime."
In Cole's case, Jerry Wayne Johnson confessed to the rape in 1995 - after the statute of limitations. But DNA tests weren't run until after Cole's death.
Johnson is serving a life sentence for abducting a 15-year-old girl from her high school and raping her. He is also serving a 99-year sentence for raping a 20-year-old woman.
Ruffin's sister, Teresa Strickland, said the family cherishes the fact her brother has been cleared, and that it came during Black History Month.
"My mama said she wants everybody to know that she believed her son was innocent, that we believed in our brother," she said.
Bivens and Dixon "both got to hear they were innocent, both got to see their names cleared," she said. "My brother never got to have that chance. Their testimony sent him to prison. That's the
hurting part of it."
At the 1980 trial, Dixon initially testified Ruffin raped Patterson and Bivens slit her throat, but then backed off that testimony, telling jurors he had never seen Patterson before, according to the
trial transcript.
"Bobby Ray Dixon, did you stand before this court in Hattiesburg and plead guilty to the murder?" asked then-District Attorney Bud Holmes.
"Yes, I pleaded guilty," Dixon said.
"And was it free and voluntary?" Holmes asked.
"It wasn't free and voluntary," Dixon replied.
In an interview before his death, Dixon told The Clarion-Ledger he had nothing to do with the crime and was coerced to testify.
Maw said she hopes Ruffin's family "can begin to heal from the tragedy - a tragedy that began with Larry's wrongful arrest at age 19 and was compounded by his untimely death in prison, convicted of a
crime he knew he was innocent of."
To comment on this story, call Jerry Mitchell at (601) 961-7064.
The momentum to end the death penalty continues to grow! Death penalty repeal legislation is pending in Connecticut, Kansas and Montana – with a significant step forward in Montana’s Senate today.
Citizens the world over are calling Governor Quinn to sign the abolition bill in Illinois. Kentucky’s House of Representatives is considering a bill that would exempt severely mentally ill
individuals from the death penalty. Activists are working to stop an attempt to reinstitute capital punishment in West Virginia. And Alabama and Texas have major conferences scheduled for this month.
Read on for details.
Montana Senate passes Abolition
Bill – On to the House!
Late this afternoon, Montana’s Republican-majority State
Senate passed SB 185, which will abolish Montana's death penalty and replace it with life without possibility of parole. The vote was 26 Senators voting yes and 24 voting no. The
main debate was held yesterday, prior to a preliminary vote with the same result, and in a few weeks, the bill is expected to be taken up in the Montana House of Representatives.
Congratulations on this interim victory to NCADP’s Montana Affiliate and all of its partners! The work is not yet done, so please make sure people you know who live in Montana sign up with the
Montana Abolition Coalition for further action opportunities. Also, please be sure to follow NCADP on
Twitter and/or Facebook for up-to-date information and to vote in online polls when posted.
Kansas House Introduces Death Penalty Repeal Measure
Kansas has become the latest state to introduce a repeal measure in its House of Representatives. Donna Schneweis, Chair of the Board of Directors of NCADP’s
Kansas Affiliate, says the bill would replace capital punishment with the existing sentence of life without parole. As with any state, please be sure people you know who live in Kansas are signed up
with the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty so they can be involved in the effort.
Connecticut Repeal Efforts Focus on Death Penalty’s Impact
on Family Members of Murder Victims
At a news conference held last week by NCADP’s Connecticut Affiliate, representatives of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty and
murder victims’ family members highlighted a letter sent to state legislators urging them to abolish Connecticut’s death penalty. Seventy-six
family members of murder victims signed the letter, which said that capital punishment wastes money that could have funded more services for victims’ families.
A previous effort to
pass repeal legislation in 2009 was successful in the state House and Senate, but the then-Governor vetoed the bill. Connecticut State Representative Gary Holder-Winfield, a leading legislator in the
Connecticut repeal effort, expresses confidence that the measure will be passed this year.
Keep Calling Governor
Quinn in Illinois
In a conference call last night
with members of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, ICADP executive director Jeremy Schroeder updated members of NCADP’s Illinois Affiliate. “It’s a waiting game now,” said Schroeder. “Governor Quinn should
officially receive the bill late this week, and from what he’s told people he recently met with, we can expect his decision in another week or two. So we need to keep those calls coming.”
In a recent television news interview, Witness to Innocence members Randy Steidl and Delbert Tibbs appeared on WAND
TV in Decatur to talk about ending the death penalty in Illinois. Steidl, a death row exoneree from Illinois, and Florida death row exoneree Tibbs, recently spoke to reporters covering the state
capitol in Springfield, Illinois. They urged Governor Pat Quinn to sign the recently passed death penalty repeal measure, to prevent other individuals from being
victims of wrongful death penalty convictions as they had been.
Kentucky Bill Would Exempt Severely Mentally Ill
Individuals from the Death Penalty
HB274 has been introduced in the Kentucky House of
Representatives, which, if passed, would prevent executions of severely mentally ill persons. Under the measure, when a claim of severe mental illness is made in a capital case, the presiding judge
would conduct a pretrial hearing to allow the Commonwealth Attorney and the defendant’s lawyers to present evidence. If the evidence convinces the judge the defendant is severely mentally ill, the
death penalty would not be a possible punishment, but life without parole would still be available. For more information, visit the website of NCADP’s Kentucky Affiliate, the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Virginia’s Death Sentences Decline
Following a national trend, the state of Virginia has had fewer death sentences in the last year. Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the
Death Penalty Information Center, says it's indicative of the groundswell of support for abolishing capital punishment, as well as growing public concern with the punishment's tendency for wrongful
convictions and executions. Sign up to support NCADP's Virginia Affiliate, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, at their website.
Opposing Death Penalty Reinstatement in West Virginia
Former NCADP board member Jim Lewis is among those who testified today at a hearing in West Virginia’s House of Delegates in opposition to a bill proposing to reinstate the death penalty. The
state repealed its death penalty statute in 1965. The Charleston, West Virginia Gazette editorializes that if West Virginia reinstates the death penalty, it will put the state on equal footing with nations known for human rights abuses. “We're
proud that West Virginia joined the world's advanced democracies in ending the medieval practice of putting prisoners to death,” the editorial reads in part. “Our state, and similar ones, raised
human values to a more honorable level.”
Texas Death Row Exoneree Denied Compensation
Anthony Graves, the nation’s 138th death row exoneree, was denied compensation by the Texas
Comptroller’s Office for the years he spent in prison although he was innocent. The Texas Comptroller’s Office claims that Graves was denied because the words “actual innocence” were not on his
release document.
But the special prosecutor who recommended that the charges against Graves be dropped says the words “actual innocence” are not commonly used in a courtroom. Graves says he will continue to
press for compensation. He could have received as much as $1.4 million. Graves will be among those honored at this weekend’s annual conference of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty(details below).
DePaul University Recipient of Sister Helen Prejean's Archives
Sister
Helen Prejean, author of the book "Dead Man Walking" about her experiences working with death row prisoners in Louisiana, and recent recipient of NCADP's Lifetime Achievement Award, has donated
her archives to DePaul University's Special Archives and Collections. Sister Helen said her papers, journals and various writings have an appropriate home at the university, given her years of
working with prisoners and people who are economically disadvantaged.
“St. Vincent de Paul found a way to get the nuns out of the convent and into the streets to serve the poor,” said Prejean. “He did that in 1610 and paved the way for other religious orders.”
Upcoming Events
Texas
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is holding its Annual Conference entitled “Seizing the
Momentum . . . Advancing Statewide Vision through Local Action, February 19, 2011, Schmidt-Jones Family Life Center, First United Methodist Church, 1300 Lavaca, Austin, Texas. NCADP’s
Texas State Organizer, Anita Grabowski, and Deputy Director Sachin Chheda are both leading sessions at the conference. An awards ceremony honors Texas death row exoneree Anthony Graves and his family
(Courage Award); writer Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly (Media Award), and Reverend Carroll Pickett (Founder’s Award), the former prison chaplain featured in the documentary, “At the Death House Door.”
For more information and to register online, visit www.tcadp.org.
Alabama
Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, in conjunction with Justice and Mercy for All and several partner organizations, is sponsoring a conference entitled “Matters of Life and Death:
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.” February 18 – 19, 2011, at Canterbury United Methodist Church, 350 Overbrook Road, Mountain Brook, Alabama. Speakers include Bonnita Spikes, a murder victim’s
family member who opposes the death penalty, and Billy Neal Moore, a death row exoneree from Georgia.
To register, contact Ashley Collar at 205-871-4695, e-mail her at Ashley.Collar@canterburyumc.org,
or write to her at Canterbury United Methodist Church, 350 Overbrook Road, Mountain Brook, Alabama 35213-4398. For additional information about the conference, please call Shelley Douglass at
205-780-2020 or Jim Douglass at 205-323-6479.
Connecticut
Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, Connecticut will host Shujaa Graham, a death row exonoree and anti-death penalty activist, at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in the college’s
multi-purpose room (F117). Graham will talk about his experiences, and insights gained, from being on death row. Graham is a member of numerous human rights and death penalty affiliated boards and
has travelled the world on speaking engagements. This event is free and open to TRCC staff, faculty, students, and community members. For additional information, please contact Chantal Krcmar at
860-892-5788 or ckrcmar@trcc.commnet.edu.
Get involved!
To keep up to date with the latest death-penalty related news between issues of "Abolition Times" postings, visit our web
page and our "In The News" blog.
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Abolitionists.
HELP TO SAVE THE LIFE OF TIMOTHY ADAMS! Please, email and fax to the Governor!
by Silvia Toptani on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 9:11am
Timothy Adams, a 42-year-old African American man, is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 22 February. He was sentenced to death for the murder of his young son in 2002. Three of the 12
jurors who voted for death at his trial in 2003 are among those now appealing for clemency.
Timothy (Tim) Adams shot his 19-month-old son Timothy ("TJ") during a stand-off with police in Houston, Texas, on 20 February 2002. After surrendering, he gave police a statement admitting
to the murder. He pleaded guilty at his trial. The jury convicted him, and after a sentencing phase voted that, even though he had no prior criminal record, he would likely commit future acts of
violence that would "constitute a continuing threat to society" a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas and that there was insufficient mitigating evidence to warrant a
life sentence.
Although the defense lawyers presented a number of character witnesses at the sentencing, they presented only one family member, the defendant's mother. Other relatives of Tim
Adams who are also members of the murder victim's family are now appealing for clemency. For example, Tim Adams's father the grandfather of the victim
has said: "Losing TJ was especially hard for me... However, I cannot imagine losing my son to this tragedy as well... I do not know what I will do if we lose Tim". The brother of Tim Adams has said
"It's hard to explain why Tim did what he did... It was totally out of character... I still have a strong relationship with him. I often break down when I leave the prison after our visits. I cannot
imagine losing my brother".
His sister states: "It's going to affect my family in a bad way if he is executed. I would never wish this on anyone, even my worst enemy... This would just be another huge loss to our
family". Tim Adams has a 23-year-old son from a previous relationship who has said: "I can't put my finger on why my father would do something like that. Yet, my father was very loving and taught me
right from wrong when I was growing up. He was a good father. He is not a bad person. I wish I had had the opportunity to say something in support of my father at his trial".
Three of the jurors from the original trial are also supporting clemency. One of them has said that she initially voted for a life sentence, but "felt pressured by the other jurors to
change my vote". She said that she has "carried the guilt around for years knowing that I sentenced Adams, a man who had done wrong but who was otherwise a good, religious, and hard-working person,
to death". Another former juror recalled that "Adams was so remorseful during the trial, and I could tell that he was hurting a lot". However, she said that he too had felt "pressured" by other
jurors "into believing that Adams was a cold-hearted man" and had voted for death. Both jurors said that they had learned more about Tim Adams since the trial that confirmed their original leaning to
vote for a life sentence.
Tim Adams is reported not to have committed a single disciplinary infraction during his eight years on death row.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A few days before the 20 February 2002 shooting in Houston, Tim Adams's wife had moved out of their flat, taking the baby with her. On 20 February, she returned to the apartment to collect
her belongings. Confronted by her husband, she telephoned the police. Tim Adams fired a shot at her, and she fled the home, leaving the child behind. In the ensuing stand-off, Tim Adams told police
that he was suicidal and would kill himself if anyone tried to enter the apartment. He was eventually talked into surrendering. His young son had already been shot.
Contact us at 
View full sizeIt's been more than a decade since someone was put to death in Pennsylvania.
View full sizeMichael Eric Ballard admitted to killing four people in Northampton.
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The national momentum to end capital punishment is building, as more states repeal, or
consider repealing, the death penalty. To find out how the weakening legal underpinnings of capital punishment and other factors contributed to this development, read NCADP Executive Director Diann
Rust-Tierney's article in 
First - Congratulations again to
the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and everyone who had a hand in that victory! 
Tomorrow (3/15/2011) in Annapolis, HB 1075 to repeal the
death penalty in Maryland will be heard in the Judiciary Committee of the House of Delegates. The hearing is scheduled for 1pm EDT, however, it is uncertain exactly what time they will start with our
bill. If you or someone you know can be in Annapolis, the details are on the web page of NCADP's Affiliate, 
Also tomorrow in Montana, the Montana House Judiciary
Committee will take up S185, the MT repeal bill which passed in the Senate last month. 
Kansas
A previous effort to
pass repeal legislation in 2009 was successful in the state House and Senate, but the then-Governor vetoed the bill. Connecticut State Representative Gary Holder-Winfield, a leading legislator in the
Connecticut repeal effort, expresses confidence that the measure will be passed this year.
In a conference call last night
with members of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, ICADP executive director Jeremy Schroeder updated members of 
In a recent television news interview, 
HB274 has been introduced in the Kentucky House of
Representatives, which, if passed, would prevent executions of severely mentally ill persons. Under the measure, when a claim of severe mental illness is made in a capital case, the presiding judge
would conduct a pretrial hearing to allow the Commonwealth Attorney and the defendant’s lawyers to present evidence. If the evidence convinces the judge the defendant is severely mentally ill, the
death penalty would not be a possible punishment, but life without parole would still be available. For more information, visit the website of NCADP’s 
Following a national trend, the state of 
Shorten the appeals process. Problem solved.