Abolish the Death Penalty

Abolish the Death Penalty: Marie Deans - RIP

2011-04-15T22:26:00.000-04:00

Abolish the Death Penalty: Marie Deans - RIP

Marie Deans - RIP

2011-04-15T22:23:00.001-04:00

“As we were about to finish the class this young girl raised her hand and said, ‘You have changed by mind. You have got to get around everywhere, you have got to give everybody this message.’ This is our First, Big, Public...: Here we are Folks and we mean it. It is not the end of our Journey, but it is a coming home. It feels that way to me. This Journey of Hope has got to go on until we reach real justice.”

--Marie Deans on the Indiana Journey of Hope - the first Journey, which was then a project of MVFR, which Marie founded in 1976.

Dear Friends,

Henry called a little while ago to share the news that Marie Deans died earlier this evening. R.I.P.

Once details are set, I'll share those here.

I know that many of you have no idea who Marie was - she's been pretty much out of the loop for a decade or more. Here's a bit... Click on the URL's to see images. For those of us who were around in the 70's, 80's, and 90's (I started in 1988 or so), this woman needs no introduction. Love her or hate her, there's no denying she made a big difference.

from http://www.vadp.org/banquet.htm

Marie Deans has been known as the “mother” of the anti-death penalty movement in Virginia. Since coming to Virginia in 1983, Marie has fought endlessly for legal access, more humane conditions on Virginia’s death row, and assuring legal representation for each condemned man. She provided assistance in over 220 trial level cases in Virginia, and only two of those defendants went to death row. She was part of the legal team in numerous clemency petitions, including those for Joe Giarratano, Earl Washington and Roger Coleman. She founded the Virginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons in 1983 and was forced to close its office in 1993 due to lack of funds. Having experienced the loss of her mother-in-law in 1972, Ms. Deans founded Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation in 1976.

and from http://www.journeyofhope.org/pages/marie_deans.htm

In 1990 Marie Deans and Joe Ingle were honored by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty when they were presented the Abolitionist of the Year Award for their work with the Southern Coalition of Jails and Prisons.

Marie Deans realized the need for a group for murder victims family members who were opposed to the Death Penalty after her mother-in-law Penny was killed. Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation emerged as the first organization of its kind, murder victim family members against the Death Penalty.

Marie worked for many years with the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons before concentrating on the Virginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons. Marie Deans was one of first abolitionists of the post-Furman era movement.

Marie has been a friend to many men on Virginia’s Death Row and has spent countless hours with their families around the times of their execution. 34 of Marie’s habeas clients asked her to stay with them on their deathwatches and until they were killed, and she did.

The Joe Giarratano case is one of Marie’s success stories

***

I did not get around to sending a note to Marie until today. She won't get it in the mail, but maybe she'll get it anyway.... Here's the part that demonstrates just one bit of how she lives on in our movement today....

Dear Marie,

I am so glad to be able to send you this little hug. I hope you are comfortable.

And I am glad you have some time to reflect a bit on the world of a difference YOU have made in so many lives. Marie, you inspired me in so many ways. Most notably, I can still see and hear the welcome you and Henry gave to the Virginia Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing in 1996, when you talked about the evolution of the name to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. [VADP started as Virginians Against the Death Penalty, then became Virginians Against State Killing, and when the annual Quality of Life poll in Virginia started asking if people preferred executions or life imprisonment and more than 50% preferred the latter - way back in the early 1990's, then went with what Virginians wanted - the current VADP.] It was on that Journey that I was inspired to start up CUADP, and it was your experiences coupled with my own that led us to take that name – Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Of course, now that I’m at NCADP, CUADP has become defunct. BUT, I wonder if you know just how many others have followed in your footsteps with the “For Alternatives” motif. Let me tell you:

Following Virginians…For Alternatives to the Death Penalty

California Crime Victims… (and several local CA County Coalitions)
California People of Faith...
Citizens United…
Coloradans…
Floridians… (I started that one too!)
Georgians…
Louisiana Coalition…
Missourians…
New Jerseyans…
New Yorkers…
Oregonians…
Pennsylvanians…
South Dakotans…
Tennesseans…
Unitarian Universalists…
Utahns…
(I may be missing one or two)

And perhaps most notable of all, the collaborative of funders [supporting] our movement calls itself FADP – Funders for Alternatives to the Death Penalty!

SO, thank YOU for that.

***

I then went on to share with her a little about what MVFR is up to these days so that she can know the latest with her legacy, and shared some personal updates as well. I can't remember the last time I saw Marie, but I think it was at that VADP awards banquet referenced above. In any case, we should remember our elders in this movement....

Have an excellent weekend...

--abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director of Affiliate Support
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
www.ncadp.org
abe@ncadp.org
202-331-4090 - Office
561-371-5204 - Mobile

World Day Against the Death Penalty

2009-10-09T15:37:00.001-04:00

"Shouting from the Rooftops" on World Day Against the Death Penalty October 8, 2009

October 10th marks the sixth anniversary of World Day Against the Death Penalty, an event begun by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to urge countries around the world that still implement capital punishment to abolish it.

We hope you can join us in observing World Day Against the Death Penalty this year by joining our “Shouting from the Rooftops” campaign. Read the article about Cameron Todd Willingham and share it with friends; write letters to the editors of your local newspapers, using our online tool; and make a video of yourself and your friends and family shouting from rooftops about Cameron’s case and calling for an end to the death penalty.

Each year, World Day has a theme, and this year the focus is on educating youth between 14 and 18. The goal is to teach young people – who will be the politicians, defendants, judges, attorneys and citizens of the future – that the death penalty is an attack on basic human rights. So when you do something especially meaningful this World Day Against the Death Penalty by “Shouting from the Rooftops,” don’t forget to involve your family members and friends!

Shouting from the Rooftops!

2009-09-23T01:52:00.002-04:00

Cesar E. Chavez... The Path to Nonviolence

2009-03-31T08:30:00.007-04:00

On what would have been his 82nd Birthday, NCADP presents this guest commentary about Cesar E. Chavez, by Magdaleno Leno Rose-Avila, NCADP's Death Penalty Abolitionist of the Year, 1994.

Cesar E. Chavez

A Clear Voice Against Violence

As a community and farm worker organizer early in his career, Cesar E. Chavez studied Gandhi, King and others, building a solid foundation for his nonviolent political/moral position.

When I first met Cesar I was not impressed by either his speaking style or his being a vegetarian. And he was far too religious for me. I did not understand how this humble man with an eighth grade education could plan to lead a revolution believing in and practicing nonviolence.

I was in my twenties and I wanted action… a revolution like Che’s. I wanted to confront those who did violence to our community with a taste of their own violence…

In later years I learned that his position of nonviolence was a wonderful place from which to respect all life - even the lives of those who hate you and what you stand for. On the picket lines Cesar would not let us respond with swear words and name calling to those who would call us by the worst of names. Instead he would make us shout to them in the following manner.

BROTHERS, SISTERS JOIN US … JOIN THE STRIKE … WE DON’T WANT TO HARM YOU… WE MUST ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL FARMWORKERS…

So it was this calling of our enemy brother and sister that made us value their lives as much as we valued our own.

When some of our strikers were killed by agents of the growers Cesar instead lead us in prayer, forgiveness and a re-dedication to our strike, our boycott and our commitment to non-violence.

Cesar Chavez, and co-founder of the UNITED FARM WORKERS UNION Dolores Huerta, were always voices to stand up against violence including the penalty of death. Today Dolores continues to raise her voice against this act of violence.

Cesar’s example turned the minds and hearts of young militants like me and many others from a road filled with revenge to one of forgiveness and reconciliation. At first it was hard to be non-violent but as the years and tests passed, I personally found a new freedom in forgiving and by loving my enemies. It is when you truly embrace non violence that you can find a peace and liberation that can help others to heal and live full lives.

Cesar today would have called Governor Bill Richardson and would have thanked him for abolishing the death penalty in New Mexico. And then would have asked him to make calls to convince the other governors.

He, Dolores, the Filipinos and others at the core of this non-violent movement encouraged that we all become strong and dedicated voices in our communities, for non-violence…

And yes we can overcome violence and change our world for the better. We can, and we will abolish the death penalty.

SI SE PUEDE ... YES WE CAN

DREAM A BETTER WORLD.

Written by Magdaleno Leno Rose-Avila

Former United Farm Workers Union Organizer

Founding Executive Director Cesar E. Chavez Foundation

Executive Director Social Justice Fund NW

Montana Takes Another Step

2009-03-27T12:13:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday the Montana House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the death penalty repeal bill in that state. Click here for coverage from the Helena Independent Record. The committee is expected to vote next week.

The Montana Standard is running the death penalty as its Question of the Week. Go to that site, scroll down to find it on the right, and Vote for Abolition!

And visit the Montana Abolition Coalition for more details. Urge anyone you know who lives in Montana to be sure to sign up on that site and to take any actions requested of Montana residents - such as contacting MT State Reps ASAP!

Go Montana!

Abolition - It's Just Common Sense

2009-03-18T20:20:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, March 13, 2009, as I sat in the gallery of the New Mexico Senate listening to that body debate whether to pass a bill to repeal New Mexico’s death penalty statute, I felt very much like I had been there before. In fact, 15 months ago, December 13, 2007 I was in the gallery of the New Jersey Assembly listening to pretty much the same debate. As in New Jersey, New Mexico’s legislature sent the bill to the Governor’s desk, and today, Governor Richardson signed the bill. This makes New Mexico only the second state since 1965 to legislatively repeal its death penalty.

As a person who used to support the death penalty who is now working to abolish it, I feel both proud and privileged to have so far been a part of two successful repeal campaigns. It validates my own experience, clearly demonstrating that the more you know about the death penalty, the less you like it. I find validation in the years of daily grind, working on the front lines to sow and tend to the seeds of abolition, and helping other individuals and groups do so as effectively as possible. And it validates my experience that no one can do this alone – it takes a team of many, and it takes time.

To me, this victory comes not as a surprise, but with a very happy sigh of relief. Moving any bill through a legislature and all the way to an executive signature is no small feat. I’m relieved that we did it *this year*. I will not be surprised to see at least one more legislative repeal in another state this year, and I will not be surprised when we finish this job across this country sometime in the next decade or two.

We will finish this struggle. We will finish it just as long as leaders like the legislators who sponsored and pushed these bills in New Jersey and New Mexico continue to step forward. We will finish this struggle as long as people of faith and people of good conscience – regular people making themselves heard - continue to raise their voices in concert with all those who participated with the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty and its many coalition partners. We will finish this struggle as long as scholars continue to uncover the facts about the failures of the system. We will finish this struggle as long as more and more members of the law enforcement community continue to step up and show us how it is wrong and does not work as a tool to fight crime. We will finish this struggle as long as “Voices of Experience” like murder victim family members and survivors of wrongful conviction put an undeniable face on this issue.

We will finish this struggle because it is the common sense thing to do. Our challenge is to help more people understand why the death penalty is a bad public policy, and give greater backing to legislators and governors willing to stand up for what is right. Our challenge is to support the people and organizations doing this work day in and day out. Our challenge is make and keep a promise to leave this world a better place for our children by working to abolish the death penalty in the United States and worldwide. It’s just common sense.

Today is Abolition Day in New Mexico – March 18, 2009. I am keeping my promise.

Governor Richardson's Press Release

2009-03-18T20:15:00.000-04:00

For Immediate Release Contact: Gilbert Gallegos
March 18, 2009 505.476.2217

Governor Bill Richardson Signs Repeal of the Death Penalty

SANTA FE – Governor Bill Richardson today signed House Bill 285, Repeal of the Death
Penalty. The Governor’s remarks follow:

Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty.

Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a just
punishment – in very rare instances, and only for the most heinous crimes. I still believe that.
But six years ago, when I took office as Governor of the State of New Mexico, I started to
challenge my own thinking on the death penalty.

The issue became more real to me because I knew the day would come when one of two
things might happen: I would either have to take action on legislation to repeal the death
penalty, or more daunting, I might have to sign someone’s death warrant.

I’ll be honest. The prospect of either decision was extremely troubling. But I was elected by
the people of New Mexico to make just this type of decision.

So, like many of the supporters who took the time to meet with me this week, I have believed
the death penalty can serve as a deterrent to some who might consider murdering a law
enforcement officer, a corrections officer, a witness to a crime or kidnapping and murdering
a child. However, people continue to commit terrible crimes even in the face of the death
penalty and responsible people on both sides of the debate disagree – strongly – on this issue.

But what we cannot disagree on is the finality of this ultimate punishment. Once a conclusive
decision has been made and executed, it cannot be reversed. And it is in consideration of this,
that I have made my decision.

I have decided to sign legislation that repeals the death penalty in the state of New Mexico.
Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the
criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who
lives and who dies for their crime. If the State is going to undertake this awesome
responsibility, the system to impose this ultimate penalty must be perfect and can never be
wrong.

But the reality is the system is not perfect – far from it. The system is inherently defective.
DNA testing has proven that. Innocent people have been put on death row all across the
country.

Even with advances in DNA and other forensic evidence technologies, we can’t be 100-
percent sure that only the truly guilty are convicted of capital crimes. Evidence, including
DNA evidence, can be manipulated. Prosecutors can still abuse their powers. We cannot
ensure competent defense counsel for all defendants. The sad truth is the wrong person can
still be convicted in this day and age, and in cases where that conviction carries with it the
ultimate sanction, we must have ultimate confidence – I would say certitude – that the system
is without flaw or prejudice. Unfortunately, this is demonstrably not the case.

And it bothers me greatly that minorities are overrepresented in the prison population and on
death row.

I have to say that all of the law enforcement officers, and especially the parents and spouses
of murder victims, made compelling arguments to keep the death penalty. I respect their
opinions and have taken their experiences to heart -- which is why I struggled – even today –
before making my final decision.

Yes, the death penalty is a tool for law enforcement. But it’s not the only tool. For some
would-be criminals, the death penalty may be a deterrent. But it’s not, and never will be, for
many, many others.

While today’s focus will be on the repeal of the death penalty, I want to make clear that this
bill I’m signing actually makes New Mexico safer. With my signature, we now have the
option of sentencing the worst criminals to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
They will never get out of prison.

Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect,
my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society
safe.

The bill I am signing today, which was courageously carried for so many years by
Representative Gail Chasey, replaces the death penalty with true life without the possibility
of parole – a sentence that ensures violent criminals are locked away from society forever,
yet can be undone if an innocent person is wrongfully convicted. More than 130 death row
inmates have been exonerated in the past 10 years in this country, including four New
Mexicans – a fact I cannot ignore.

From an international human rights perspective, there is no reason the United States should
be behind the rest of the world on this issue. Many of the countries that continue to support
and use the death penalty are also the most repressive nations in the world. That’s not
something to be proud of.

In a society which values individual life and liberty above all else, where justice and not
vengeance is the singular guiding principle of our system of criminal law, the potential for
wrongful conviction and, God forbid, execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to
our very sensibilities as human beings. That is why I’m signing this bill into law.

#30#

Albuquerque Journal On-Line Poll Says REPEAL!

2009-03-18T09:49:00.007-04:00

The Albuquerque Journal started this poll sometime before midnight on the evening of March 16, 2009. On-line polls are notoriously unscientific - a measure of people who happen upon them and care to express their opinion. To its credit, the Journal put in a place a protection that allows only one vote per computer. There appears to be strong interest in the poll, and the percentages have been pretty steady since about 5pm on March 17. This snapshot of the poll results was grabbed at about 10:40am on March 18.

Amazingly, the above unscientific poll results mirror somewhat those of a scientific poll of likely New Mexico voters conducted by the New Mexico firm, Research & Polling, INC., completed in December, 2008. The 1st question below includes the concept of restitution combined with life in prison, and the 2nd shows simple preferences for life imprisonment without the concept of a restitution program.

And would you support or oppose replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole for people convicted of murder, plus restitution to the victim's family, meaning the prisoner would work in prison to pay compensation to the family of the murder victim?

Random Sample

64% Support*

29% Oppose

6% Don’t know/won’t say

Would you support or oppose replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole for people convicted of murder, meaning the person convicted would never be released from prison for the rest of his or her life?

Statewide Random Sample

53% Support

37% Oppose

10% Don’t know/won’t say

In New Mexico, The People Speak!

2009-03-18T09:11:00.005-04:00

For Immediate Release Contact: Caitlin Kelleher

March 17, 2009 505.476.2299

Governor Bill Richardson Continues to Hear from New Mexicans Today on HB 285

SANTA FE – Governor Bill Richardson continues to hear from New Mexicans about a bill to repeal the death penalty and today released details on the more than 9,400 calls, emails and walk-ins he’s received on the issue. The Governor has heard from a total of 9,413 constituents who voiced their opinion on House Bill 285. Of those, 7169 were FOR the repeal of the death penalty and 2244 were AGAINST.

After lawmakers passed the bill on Friday, the Governor urged New Mexicans to call and email him on their thoughts of the bill. The Governor then met with more than 100 New Mexicans at his office on Monday, many of which had concerns either pro or con, the repeal of the death penalty.

The Governor has until midnight on Wednesday, March 18^th to take action on HB 285.

Caitlin Kelleher

Media Coordinator for Governor Richardson

Office of the Governor

State Capitol, Suite 400

Santa Fe, NM

office 505.476.2299| cell 505.795.2480

New Mexico Senate Approves Abolition Bill

2009-03-13T21:40:00.005-04:00

Earlier today, Friday, March 13, 2009, The New Mexico Senate voted 24-18 to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. House Bill 285 now goes to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.

Governor Richardson's office has set up a hotline to receive the opinions of New Mexicans (and anyone else!) on the issue. That number is 505-476-2225. Those wishing to weigh in via e-mail can do so through the governor's web site at: www.governor.state.nm.us and clicking on "Contact the Governor."

"This is an extremely difficult issue that deserved the serious and thoughtful debate it received in the Legislature," Richardson said in a prepared statement. "I have met with many people and will continue to consider all sides of the issue before making a decision."

Please take action RIGHT NOW to urge Governor Richardson to sign the Death Penalty Repeal bill whether you live in New Mexico, or anywhere else! IF you know people who live in New Mexico, please forward this and urge them to take this action immediately.

Thanks!

A few faces in the crowd....

Michelle Giger of Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation speaks with the Associated Press immediately following the historic vote.

Allen Sanchez, Executive Director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops with Viki Elkey, Executive Director of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty.

Very happy key players....

Michelle Giger and Cathy Ansheles of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, after a bite to eat and a bit of celebration, on their way to deliver hand written thank you notes to the NM State Senators who voted to repeal New Mexico's death penalty.

March 1st: Michigan Death Penalty Abolition Day

2009-02-28T13:43:00.004-05:00

March 1, Michigan Death Penalty Abolition Day, marks the anniversary of the date in 1847 in which the State of Michigan officially became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment. It is a day to remember the victims of violent crime and their survivors; it is a day to remember those killed by state sanctioned violence - guilty or not- and their survivors; and it is a day for intensified education and action for alternatives to the death penalty. More info and background is here.

MD Governor O'Malley Leads March for Abolition

2009-02-25T15:14:00.006-05:00

When is the last time a sitting governor led a march to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty? It's never happened before today. Bravo, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley!

From the Baltimore Sun:

Gov. Martin O'Malley led a march down a major street in Maryland's capital city to urge lawmakers to repeal the death penalty in what could be a close vote.

O'Malley this year created his own bill to repeal capital punishment after legislation stalled in a Senate committee for two consecutive years.

If the bill gets out of the committee, where it failed on a 5-5 vote two years ago, O'Malley will need 24 votes in the full Senate to pass the bill.

O'Malley, who is Roman Catholic, told an audience at a prayer breakfast before the march that he has only 22 votes, "but the Holy Spirit might have 24, so let's give it a shot."

O'Malley says the money spent on executions could be put to better use. He says Maryland should "not waste one instant, one day, one cent, one dime, serving death."

"It's a Beautiful thing...." Maryland organizers (l to r) Bonnita Spikes, Amy Fusting and Jane Henderson. Get involved with the Maryland campaign at www.mdcase.org

All photos by abe@ncadp.org

Sara Hickman Way

2009-02-23T12:01:00.005-05:00

The street outside the First United Methodist Church in Austin, just a block up from the TX capitol bldg and location of the TCADP annual conference, has been re-named for the weekend in honor of death penalty abolitionist and musician Sara Hickman, who is being honored today by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The mayor has also declared today Sara Hickman day in Austin. All of this in recognition of Sara's efforts in support of TCADP's work to abolish the death penalty.

Here are a few other photos from the weekend:

Rev. Carroll Pickett accepting an award of appreciation from TCADP on behalf of Steve James and Peter Gilbert, directors of the film featuring Pickett, "At the Death House Door"

Abe Bonowitz, Director of Affiliate Support for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, updating the conference on happenings around the country and sharing perspective about why what happens in Texas is important to the work of our movement.

MD Governor O'Malley Speaks to His Bill

2009-02-21T08:13:00.005-05:00

At a hearing before Maryland's Senate Judicial Practices Committee on February 18, 2009, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley testified in support of the bill he sponsored to repeal that state's death penalty. It was a standing room only crowd, overflowing into the corridors. Read O'Malley's testimony here. If you live in Maryland, get involved here. If you know someone who lives in Maryland, ask them to get involved!

Former MD Attorney General and Chairman of MD's Death Penalty
Study Commission Benjamin Civiletti

MD Senator and Abolitionist Leader the Honorable Jamie Raskin

Montana Senate Hearing Report

2009-02-15T14:59:00.005-05:00

Marietta Jeager-Lane Reports:
As you may already know, MT's Senate Judiciary Committee passed our abolition bill, SB236, on to the Senate Floor, 7-5. The bill will be debated Monday afternoon, 2/16 starting at 1pm Mountain Time. Click here to listen live! In the above photo are the main speakers at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, left to right:

Ron McAndrew, ex-FL warden, who oversaw 3 electric chair executions -- one of which men he felt was innocent and one whose execution was botched, literally cooking the poor guy to death for 1/2 hour.

Marietta Jaeger-Lane, whose daughter Suzie was a kidnap-murder victim in a well known Montana case.

Senator Dave Wanzenreid, (D), sponsor of our bill.

Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, from North Carolina; You all may have heard about her before, but I never had. In the thirty-plus years I've been speaking on this issue, she brought a very important perspective I not only had not ever even considered but had not ever heard! Twenty years ago (to the day before testifying), she was raped by an intruder she woke to find in her bed in the middle of the night. Because he held a knife against her throat, she had no choice but to submit without struggle. However, as terrified as she was, she managed to remain calm and had the presence of mind to make a concerted effort to remember all the details of his face and body that she could discern in the dark, hoping that the time and occasion would come when she could properly identify him. That time did come and she was able to positively identify her rapist not once but twice in a lineup. Although insisting on his innocence, the man was charged, sentenced and was serving his eleventh year in prison when he realized that another inmate in prison with him, had actually been the rapist. DNA evidence proved that to be the case and finally the man Jennifer had so positively identified was released. Jennifer was in anguish that, as certain as she had been that he was the "right" man, he had in fact been cheated out of 11 years of his life because of her testimony. However, she was also fearful that he would come looking for her now for "payback time". While struggling with what she should do, the man's pastor contacted her about meeting with him at the church rectory. With strong mixed emotions of repentance and fear, she did go. To her amazement, the man told her that he held nothing against her, he didn't blame her for her mistake, was not out to get even, and finally said, "I forgive you!" They have become good friends, keep in touch at least once a week and sometimes even speak together. The man's last name is Cotton and Jennifer's book about the whole experience is coming out in March. It's called "Picking Cotton" -- such a clever title! She's a very special woman, very articulate, attractive and wondrously humble to be willing to stand up before everyone and admit what her mistake cost a good man. We often hear about jail house snitches and dishonest folks who are willing to say anything for a buck, but Jennifer's honest, sincere misidentification is another facet of the possibility of putting innocent people on death row.

And lastly, to the far right, is Ray Krone, exonerated from Arizona's death row and now serving as Director of Communications for Witness to Innocence.

New Mexico Repeal Day A Huge Success!

2009-02-11T16:01:00.018-05:00

The NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty's Lobby Day was Monday (Feb. 9) at the Roundhouse (NM's Capitol Building). More than 225 people from around the state came to Santa Fe for a press conference at noon, followed by visits with their Legislators. Those who had pre-registered received packets with individualized information on their legislators, while all others received help identifying their Legislators if they didn't know them. Death row exonerees and murder victim family members also met with selected legislators.

Everyone who came received a yellow NM repeal t-shirt and button and the halls were packed all day with our nice red logo and the word REPEAL. We heard from people who have worked in the Capitol for 20+ years who said this was the single biggest presence they had ever seen on any issue in one day. There were at least 4 times as many people there this year than had ever been there for NM Repeal's lobby day in past years.

Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) released its new booklet, "Not in our Name - New Mexico" which was distributed to every legislator and which you may see for yourself at MVFR.org.

And Witness to Innocence was out in force with Executive Director Kurt Rosenberg, communications Director and exoneree Ray Krone, and also Juan Melendez and Randy Steidl.

There was some good media coverage, but most reporters are working on a larger story that will run once the bills pass out of the House and then the Senate Judiciary. Once we get to the Senate floor, its much more real.

The press conference lineup was as follows:

1. Viki – welcome and introduce Representative Gail Chasey

2. Representative Gail Chasey

3. Michelle Giger – MVFR member

4. Juan Melendez – exoneree

5. Andrea Vigil – MVFR member

6. Representative Moe Maestas

7. Randy Steidl – exoneree

9. Cathy Ansheles - MVFR

10. Ray Krone – exoneree

11. Allen Sanchez – Catholic Bishops

12. Viki wrap up

PHOTOS: After the 3 crowd shots, we have Ray Krone and Holly Beaumont of the New Mexico Council of Churches. Next is Alexandria (wearing a button!), an assistance dog belonging to Bree Songer, a member of MVFR whose brother Jeffrey Songer was murdered in 1983. Next are MVFR-NM members Michelle Giger, Andrea Vigil, and Cathy Ansheles. And finally, Kurt, Kim and Viki evaluate the

day.... Photos by Jane Davis and Abe Bonowitz.

New Mexico One Step Closer to REPEAL!

2009-02-07T03:24:00.006-05:00

I took the following images with my phone on Friday, February 6 at the New Mexico State Capitol, which incidentally is a very cool building with a fabulous display of all kinds of art - everywhere! This was a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, which ultimately passed the bill and sent it to the floor with an 8 to 5 vote. Monday is Lobby Day - visit the NM Repeal web site for details!

The posted schedule...

Following testimony of the bill sponsor Gail Chasey and murder victim family member Michelle Geiger, the chair asked for a show hands of those here in support of the bill. All but two DA's present raised their hands....

Head of the state League of Women Voters weighing in....

After extensive debate, the NM House Judiciary Committee just voted 8 to 5 to send the bill to abolish the death penalty to the house floor. Below photo is MVFR member Michelle Giger immediately following the vote.

On the new administration

2008-11-11T15:49:00.002-05:00

I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering what to expect from the next administration following what is expected from the Democratic electoral victory. Speaking strictly for me, and letting others speak to what type of judges President-elect Obama will appoint, here is what I think we’ll see.

A criminal law fact sheet of campaign promises is here.

A quick primer on Obama and the death penalty that appeared some time ago in the Washington Post. As David note here sometime ago, “in a nutshell: He’s pro-death penalty but he is also pro-let’s not execute the wrong guy”

Five years later, Obama waded into a complex capital-punishment debate after a number of exonerations persuaded then-Gov. George Ryan (R) to empty death row.

Obama wrote in his recent memoir that he thinks the death penalty “does little to deter crime.” But he supports capital punishment in cases “so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.”

In proposing changes, Obama met repeatedly with officials and advocates on all sides. He nudged and cajoled colleagues fearful of being branded soft on crime, as well as death-penalty opponents worried that any reform would weaken efforts to abolish capital punishment.

Obama’s signature effort was a push for mandatory taping of interrogations and confessions. It was opposed by prosecutors, police organizations and Ryan’s successor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, who said it would impede investigators.

Working under the belief that no innocent defendant should end up on death row an no guilty one should go free, Obama helped get the bill approved by the Senate on a 58 to 0 vote. When Blagojevich reversed his position and signed it, Illinois became the first state to require taping by statute.

“Obviously, we didn’t agree all the time, but he would always take suggestions when they were logical, and he was willing to listen to our point of view. And he offered his opinions in a lawyerly way,” said Carl Hawkinson, the retired Republican chairman o the Judiciary Committee. “When he spoke on the floor of the Senate, he spoke out of conviction. You knew that, whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him.”

As to the narrow issue of this blog, following the elections the death penalty will likely continue to wither on the vine. Sen. Obama is a death penalty reformer, not an abolitionist. One of the rarely spoken accomplishments of Sen. Obama is his voice in reforming the death penalty and criminal justice system in Illinois. Invariably both would have been reformed without him in some shape and form, however, the scars of the fight to get the broad based reforms that ultimately passed he still bares.

As the campaign noted:

As a member of the Illinois state senate, Barack Obama led efforts to reform a broken death penalty system that sent 13 innocent people to death row because it was filled with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy legal work. Obama drafted and passed a law requiring videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases to ensure that prosecutions are fair. As president, Obama will encourage the states to adopt similar reforms.

For the federal death penalty what is clear is the Bush administration’s capital prosecution practices are coming to an end. The last eight years saw a marked decline in new state death sentences but the federal system saw a huge uptick in federal death sentences. The disparity will likely draw to a rapid close. Although many cases where death is now authorized may continue to go forward new authorizations will likely be fewer and farther between. Where capital prosecutions are sought anticipate the authorization process to be much more rigorous. Similarly, the campaign had stated early on that if elected they would seek to bring many of the Illinois style reforms to the rest of the nation, however what shape those will take remains to be seen.

[adopted from a post at CDW]

More Montana Headlines

2008-10-07T09:02:00.002-04:00

Once again, top of the front page....

Montana Standard - Death Penalty Opponents Speak from Experiences

MT Journey Touching Hearts and Minds

2008-10-07T08:42:00.002-04:00

The Montana Journey continues to touch hearts and minds throughout the state. On Sunday evening I moderated an event at the University of Montana - Western featuring Murder Victim Family Members Eve Malo and Bill Pelke, and Leslie Lytle, author of the new book, "Execution's Doorstep." Here are a few photos....

Montana Journey - Top of the Fold!

2008-10-03T17:19:00.004-04:00

The Montana Abolition Coalition is hosting the Montana Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing, starting yesterday with an event at Carroll College in Helena. Today we got up and drove to Bozeman for encounters with students at Montana State University, and we were welcomed by a top of the front page (above the vp debate coverage!) article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle featuring Journey co-founder Marietta Jaeger Lane and David Kaczynski, brother of Ted Kaczynski, AKA the Unabomber, who was apprehended in Montana.

I'll post more on this blog when I can, but check the Journey of Hope blog, and while I am at it, I'll also plug the brand spankin' new web page of Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation.

Rachel King: Thank You, and rest in peace....

2008-08-27T19:07:00.006-04:00

Rachel King: 1963 - 2008

It is with sadness that we report the passing of our friend and colleague, Rachel King, on August 25, 2008 after a long and valiant struggle with cancer.

Rachel was first a daughter, friend, wife and step-mother, but her personal and professional lives merged in her advocacy and efforts to make our world a better place. She did so in volunteer and staff capacities with various organizations, including Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, the ACLU Capital Punishment Project and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, where she served on the board of directors and as its chairperson. Rachel is the author of three books, two of which explore capital punishment from the perspective of the families who suffer the most as a result of the death penalty system.

Read more about Rachel’s history of successful advocacy here and here.

Rachel passed away in Wayne, Maine, where she was raised and later she and her husband, Richard McAlee, built a home together. Her last moments were spent surrounded by family and friends. Those who wish may reach the family by email through her step-daughter Lauren at lmcalee@gmail.com, or by mail through her mother Jill Howes at 282 Narrows Pond Rd., Winthrop, ME 04364. Rachel’s family asks those wishing to send a memorial to send donations to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in lieu of flowers.

NCADP's 1st Annual Death Penalty Abolitionist Leadership Institute

2008-08-10T10:42:00.002-04:00

Maryland 9 - Texas 0: In Which Jane Gets A Talking To...

2008-08-10T10:35:00.004-04:00

Sent originally from my Wireless BlackBerry while the game continued....

Subject: In Which Jane Gets a Talking to

It's MD Coalition Against State Executions night at Camden Yards and the Orioles are still shutting out the TEXAS Rangers, now 9-0 in the bottom of the seventh. MD CASE had expected to scroll its message calling for repeal but was given nothing more than a quick flash of a welcome to the group on the score board. Upon arrival John had been given a hard time about bringing in the signs, and ushers made certain to warn us not to display them. SO, in the 7th Inning Stretch, I pick up a sign just for a photo with Jane Henderson, Director of MD CASE. The music is thumping and Jane grabs the sign and starts dancing with it. The below shows what happened next. Yes, she was threatened with ejection! Enjoy...

--abe
At Camden Yards

OTSE Members Help Out NCADP at NAACP

2008-07-14T09:10:00.006-04:00

The death penalty is on the agenda this week at the 99th Annual Conference of the NAACP in Cincinnati. NAACP delegates will consider a resolution calling for a Federal study commission, and a CLE course on strategies to prevent executions was scheduled to be taught by Bryan Stevenson. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has a presence in the "Ideas Exchange" area of the convention floor. NCADP is excited to welcome the incoming President & CEO of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, who was a staff member and later a member of the board of directors of our organization. The NCADP looks forward to working even more closely with the NAACP as we organize to create the changes necessary to abolish the death penalty.

Above from the left is Abe Bonowitz, NCADP's Director of Affiliate Support with Sue Prieshof and Sr. Alice Gerdeman (Board Chair) of Ohioans to Stop Executions and and Bo Chamberlin of both OTSE and Amnesty International.

100th Execution in Virginia

2008-06-26T02:35:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of video snippets of activities outside the prison in Virgina as that state conducted its 100th execution in the current death penalty era. Here is one news item...

100th Execution in Virginia - Tolling the bell 100 times...

2008-06-26T02:26:00.003-04:00

Pilgrimage for Life from NC to DC

2008-06-26T02:06:00.002-04:00

Making Strides toward Abolition and Reconciliation....

Here's a short clip from last Sunday, about 15 miles north of Jarratt, VA, site of Virginia's death house.... These folks are walking from North Carolina to the U.S. Supreme Court in DC, educating and activating on the issue of the death penalty.... See their BLOG here.

Rev. Pickett on the Hill

2008-06-20T00:49:00.003-04:00

"At the Death House Door" was screened for Congressional staff and interns on Thursday, June 19, 2008 in a special presentation hosted by Congressman Bobby Scott and co-sponsored by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and the United Methodist Church Genral Board of Church and Society. The screening was followed by a lively Q&A session with Rev. Pickett, his wife and film maker Steve James.

Congressman Bobby Scott

NCADP Executive Director Diann Rust-Tierney

Rev. Carroll Pickett

Meeting with the Special Rapporteur

2008-06-20T00:14:00.005-04:00

This morning (June 19, 2008) Amnesty International hosted a meeting with Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. Providing perspective for him were Sue Vaughn of Amnesty International USA, Dick Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, Deborah Fleischaker of the ABA's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project, Renny Cushing of Murder Victim Families for Human Rights and Diann Rust-Tierney of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Professor Alston started by explaining his position and noted that he had met with much officials of the U.S. Justice Department yesterday, who expressed that they did not feel he has much to be concerned about. He also noted that a week from Monday (June 30) he'll hold a press conference to give his preliminary report, noting that the UN process then allows governments reported upon six weeks to comment, plus editing and translation prior to the issuing of a final report. Here is a bit more about his mission, followed by some photos from the meeting.

"The Special Rapporteur places a very high priority on receiving the views of civil society on the issues within his mandate. These are often invaluable in ensuring that his final reports and balanced and well-considered. The key aspect is that his mandate is actually not an abolitionist one. The matters that do come within the mandate are:

- Whether the due process requirements set out in international human rights law are observed in any trial (or subsequent pardons process) which may lead to the application of the death penalty;

- Whether, in retentionist states, the death penalty is only available for the "most serious crimes" (the legal position of the Special Rapporteur is that capital punishment is only permitted in international law for intentional murder. (His views are set out here)

- In the

USA

, he will also look at the allegations of racial bias in the application of the death penalty.

Although the mandate is not abolitionist, in some contexts (eg.,

Afghanistan

) we have recommended a moratorium on the death penalty because it was clear that due process was just not observed at all (and could not be, in the circumstances currently prevailing). "

Diann Rust-Tierney

Richard Dieter

Renny Cushing

Sleeping with the Judge

2008-06-17T10:53:00.003-04:00

(NOTE: An hour before the execution was to take place, the death warrant was rescinded and Hood was returned to death row)

Texas is at it again. The eight month moratorium on executions has come and gone and Texas is moving forward with executions even in the face of utter and complete injustice.

Do you remember the case of Calvin Burdine or George McFarland. Their lawyers fell asleep during their capital trial and they still got sentenced to death.

Well here’s another crazy Texas death penalty case.

Charles Dean Hood is scheduled to be executed today, June 17^th in Texas. His lawyer fortunately was not caught sleeping, but the District Attorney in his case, Tom O’Connell, was caught sleeping, that is sleeping with the judge in Hood’s trial.

Judge Verla Sue Holland and District Attorney Tom O’Connell had a long-time intimate relationship including during the time of Hood’s trial, something that was all but public knowledge in the legal community. Hood’s attorneys have been trying to fully out this relationship and all the seedy injustice around it for years. Hopefully it’s not too late for Charles Dean Hood.

March from NC to DC starts Sunday...

2008-06-12T15:24:00.003-04:00

Click here to learn more about, support, and/or participate in the Pilgrimage and Walk of Remembrance 2008.

"The Pilgrimage and Walk of Remembrance 2008 is a 300-mile walk from Raleigh NC to Washington, DC. We embark on a spiritual pilgrimage and walk of remembrance – remembering murder victims and their families, people on death row and their families, persons executed and their families and calling for abolition of the death penalty...."

15th Annual Fast and Vigil Approaching

2008-06-11T13:18:00.003-04:00

Every year, for the past fifteen years, from June 29 – July 2nd, something amazing happens in Washington, DC. Abolitionists from around the country and world come together for a four day Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty.

They set-up shop on the sidewalk of the U.S. Supreme Court and put their ideals into action. And they lose some weight.

You might wonder why hold such an event during such a hot time of the year. And if you know DC in the summer, you know that it can be brutal. Do note that the fast is optional for participants and those who fast drink plenty of liquids.

Yup, summers in DC are high tourist season and the U.S. Supreme Court is a heavily trafficked spot for tourists and DC residents. So, it’s a fantastic opportunity to engage thousands of people on the death penalty. And since many of those who participate in The Fast and Vigil year after year have such powerful stories to tell – they are death row exonorees, family members of murder victims, family members of death row inmates and other long-time abolitionists - if a passerby takes the time to stop and have a conversation with someone, that will likely be one profound conversation and experience.

But why not hold court at the court in April or May, at the beginning of DC’s tourist season and when the weather is much more moderate?

The answer is that June 29th and July 2nd are the anniversaries of two historic death penalty cases heard and decided by the very Court where this protest now takes place – the U.S. Supreme Court.

On June 29, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty is arbitrary and capricious. More than 600 condemned inmates had their death sentences reduced to life. On July 2, 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia the U.S. Supreme Court upheld new state death penalty laws allowing the resumption of executions in the United States.

For more information about the Fast and Vigil and to see a schedule for this year’s event, click here.

Mike Kennedy, RIP

2008-05-21T12:58:00.003-04:00

More is here.

People who didn’t know Mike but saw him could easily have mistaken him for a homeless drunk, but his hard to understand speech and his imbalance was due to his illness. That he was usually bedraggled was as much a matter of choice as it had to do with all the hassle involved for someone with his degenerative cerebral condition (I forget exactly what it was). But he cleaned up well, as evidenced by the picture of him here in my office taken at my wedding brunch. If you look at the Texans Against State Killing march video from 1992, you can see that Mike was using a cane then but still able at that point to set a very fast pace. Mike always had a book and he didn’t just read it, he devoured it. I offered to replace his copy of Dale Recinella’s “The Biblical Truth About the Death Penalty” because it was so dogeared, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I’ve never been to his apartment but a profile I read about him indicated he had quite the extensive library. Mike always wore his t-shirt and his buttons and I can’t recall him missing a Fast & Vigil or a Journey of Hope since I’ve known him – preferring to take the bus all the way from Dallas rather than to fly. As I know him, Mike identified first with Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement, and he put his faith into action every day. Mike was a true human rights hero and he is missed.

Mike was an abolitionist’s abolitionist, and in his honor I am today making a contribution to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. I encourage others to do the same here.

--abe

Goodbye -- but not farewell

2008-05-07T23:14:00.002-04:00

When I was in college in Austin, we used to crash the fundraisers of Democratic candidates for statewide office. Free food, free booze, this was in the early 1980s, Democrats were still strong in Texas back then. (And they will be again soon!)

Once in 1982 I crashed the fundraiser of Jim Mattox, Democratic nominee for attorney general. "I oppose the death penalty," I told him. "So do I," he said, while stuffing a bunch of shrimp in his mouth.

He then went on to inaugurate Texas' rush to executions in the 1980s. Politicians, you know.

I knew so little then. I know much more now.

I didn't know, then, that I would become a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman and I would write a whole lot about the death penalty. I wrote this and my life will never be the same because of it.

I had no idea that a day would come when Steve Hawkins, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, would hire me to become NCADP's first and only communications director.

I had no idea that I would spend six and a half years on the job.

I had no idea that I would start this blog, or that Karl Keys would come to help me, or Abe Bonowitz. I have a regret -- that Lonely Abolitionist never joined our blogging team. She seemed cool.

I'm going away from NCADP but I'm not going away completely. Like, I'll be here.

As I go, I want to thank the people who have come here to read....and I want to hope that Abe and Karl will keep it going. And I want to maybe stop by here, from time to time, perhaps as a blogger emeritus. 200,000 readers, folks. That's not bad for this little old blog about the death penalty.

Goodbye (but not farewell!)

David

Protesting #1,100 at SCOTUS

2008-05-06T23:30:00.002-04:00

Above: Mike Stark of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty

Another doggie for Abolition!

Art Laffin shares the story of the murder of his brother and his opposition to executions.

The Road to Abolition - New Book by NJ Senator Raymond Lesniak

2008-05-02T13:51:00.003-04:00

"During my 30 years in the state Legislature, I never prepared statements to be delivered in committee, on the floor or at public appearances, always relying on my glibness to either captivate an audience or stumble through a presentation of my views. The death penalty debate was different.

THE STAKES WERE TOO HIGH.

EMOTIONS WERE TOO DEEP.

Lives were at risk.

The Road to Abolition is the result."

-- Senator Raymond J. Lesniak

Learn more and buy the book here.

Pope Thanks Corzine for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Jersey....

2008-04-21T01:49:00.002-04:00

Well, it was not the public reiteration of the Catholic Church's condemnation of the death penalty that some of us would have liked to have seen, but the Pope did not leave the US without saying something about it. Click here to read the news account. And for those who think the current Pope is not all that strong on the death penalty, see this account of his recent meeting with the President of the Philippines.

--abe (with a hat tip to Celeste for the heads up)

Bearer of bad news

2008-04-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

The pending execution list to the left is back. My apologies.

Doubts about death

2008-04-17T11:27:00.002-04:00

Dallas County (Texas) District Attorney Craig Watkins shared some interesting thoughts on the death penalty with the Dallas Morning News yesterday:

"I sit here and I see the worst, the worst of what humans can do. And when you sit here and see that, the only logical conclusion that you can come to is we have to seek the ultimate punishment.

"But when you go home, sit with your family in day-to-day chores, you look at morality and religion and think about the course of life. Then you start to question, 'Am I putting myself in that same position as that person [who] for whatever reason decided to take a life?'

"Now, I represent the government and I am in the position to do the same that they do. I struggle with that. As a district attorney, I'm here to uphold the law and protect the society I have been elected to represent. So the question I have for myself is: 'If I don't pursue these crimes that are so heinous with ultimate punishment, am I living up to my ultimate responsibility?'

"But my other side of me is not only to protect society but to make society better. If I do the death penalty, am I doing that?"

Survivors' stories available online

2008-04-15T09:18:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago a team of abolitionists, death row exonerees, and murder victims' families toured Pennsylvania, holding public talks at churches, colleges, high schools, and community centers. 10 days, 13 towns, 21 events, 1690 miles, and a countless number of cups of coffee.

Talks by two of the participants, death row exoneree Juan Melendez and Rev. Walter Everett of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, are now available online at the website of the Verstehen Video Project. If you've never heard the story of a survivor- a death row survivor or a homicide survivor- these talks are well worth your time.

200,000 and counting!

2008-04-09T17:33:00.002-04:00

Early this afternoon, Abolish the Death Penalty received its 200,000th visitor:

Total 200,001
Average Per Day 276
Average Visit Length 0:35
Last Hour 17
Today 155
This Week 1,933

Our readership is down a bit these days, probably because in recent times other activities have prevented me from blogging as often as I would like. I'll try to do better for as long as I can. Meanwhile, thanks to others who have helped make this blog a success, such as my friend Karl and my friend and new coworker Abe.

Innocent people on death row? It's no myth

2008-04-08T11:20:00.004-04:00

For years, proponents of the death penalty have claimed that the list of innocent people released from death row is greatly exaggerated. The official list, maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center, is 128 people released from death row after evidence of their innocence emerged. (For details, go here.)

If anything, this list is too small. For example, it does not include people like Kenny Richey, a Scotsman recently freed from Ohio's death row. Richey is not on the list because he accepted what's known as an "Alford plea" in order to avoid the indignity and risk of another wrongful conviction. And the list, of course, does not include the many innocent people currently on death row -- a figure that could be as high as five percent of the almost 3,300 people on death rows across the United States.

One of the chief debunkers of the innocence list is Joshua Marquis, an Oregon prosecutor who represents district attorneys. But now comes John Holdridge, head of the Capitol Punishment Project of the ACLU, who writes a powerful rebuttal of Marquis' criticism:

Number of Innocents on Death Row Mandate Moratorium
Support for the death penalty in the U.S. is at its lowest point in many years. One of the primary reasons is the recent explosion in the number of death-row exonerations, which the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) now puts at 127. In response, some proponents of capital punishment have taken to arguing that many of the freed death-row prisoners are not in fact innocent. But their arguments do not hold up under the slightest of scrutiny.

For example, a March 25 New York Times story by Adam Liptak quotes Oregon prosecutor Joshua Marquis as saying that the number of "authentic" death row exonerations since 1973 is not DPIC's 127 but "more like 30." Mr. Marquis also makes this claim in his frequently-cited article, "The Myth of Innocence."

One problem with this claim is that few Americans would agree with Mr. Marquis's narrow understanding of what it means to be "innocent." In 2005 testimony before Congress, Mr. Marquis submitted a document [PDF ]which denied that my former client, Michael Ray Graham, and his co-defendant Albert Burrell were released from Louisiana's death row because they were innocent. The author of the document claimed that they were released "only because there was insufficient evidence of guilt." In fact, Graham and Burrell were released after the Louisiana Attorney General's Office informed a court that there was "a total lack of credible evidence linking Graham and/or Burrell to the crime."

If a finding of a "total lack of credible evidence" is not enough for Mr. Marquis to consider someone innocent, what is?

Another huge problem with Mr. Marquis' "more like 30" claim is that it is unsupportable. In "Myth of Innocence," he attempts to support the claim by citing both Wall Street Journal column that was critical of the abolition movement but made no attempt to calculate the number of innocent former death row inmates, as well as comments by U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff at a February 2004 seminar held by the Federal Bar Counsel of New York.

Judge Rakoff's comments at the seminar apparently were not recorded. However, in two published opinions in 2002 in the federal death penalty case of United States v. Quinones, Judge Rakoff set forth his analysis of the number of freed death-row prisoners who were innocent. Using what he termed a "conservative" approach, the judge concluded that at least 32 and as many as 40 of the 58 death-row prisoners freed from 1991 through 2002 were factually innocent. What prosecutor Marquis fails either to either recognize or acknowledge is that Judge Rakoff's estimate was based on his review of only the death-row prisoners freed from 1991 through 2002, a number DPIC puts at 58. Judge Rakoff's analysis did not consider or include the 44 death-row prisoners freed before 1991, nor the 25 death-row prisoners freed after 2002.

In short, like the Wall Street Journal article, Judge Rakoff's analysis provides absolutely no support for prosecutor Marquis' claim that the number of "authentic" death row exonerations since 1973 is "more like 30."

Instead of denying the reality that many innocent men and women have been sent to death row, proponents of capital punishment would be wiser to, at the very least, join those who call for a death penalty moratorium while they study whether our broken criminal justice system can be fixed to ensure that only the guilty are sent to their deaths. And if they reach the same conclusion that many of us have -- that fallible human beings cannot create an infallible system of capital punishment -- then they should join those of us who advocate abolition of this barbaric punishment. The moral stakes are simply too high -- both for the innocent people wasting away on death row and for the society that put them there.

(Note: This is taken entirely from Holdridge's blog entry over at the Huffington Post.)

A walk to abolish the death penalty

2008-04-07T11:29:00.003-04:00

This morning we in NCADP's office were graced with the presence of "Capital X," who is walking from New Jersey to Texas in support of death penalty abolition. (Above you can see a map of Capital X's journey. The link button to contribute doesn't work from this blog -- but to contribute or buy a t-shirt, just go here.

We're going to try to cover Capital X's journey as best as we can through the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, The Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing will also have updates on their blog. View them here.

Forty years ago today...

2008-04-04T15:25:00.002-04:00

...our nation witnessed the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In a way, it was the death of liberalism. Conservatives have had their way with us -- almost unremittingly -- ever since.

Today, of course, change is in the air. The word "conservative" has become more of a perjorative than the word liberal. Dr. King would like the direction we are headed in.

Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a
conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating
another's flesh.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't Wait, 1963.

To read more of Dr. King's quotes, go here.

Rev. Walter Everett: Still going

2008-04-03T09:35:00.004-04:00

When we started planning the Voices of Hope Agents of Change Tour ("the VHAC tour"), Rev. Walter Everett of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights told us that he wanted to do four or five events per day. The twenty- and thirty-somethings on the tour planning committee said, "Slow down."

There is no slowing Walt down. His energy is incredible. Walt is a retired Methodist minister. Well, actually, he flunked retirement and has a church part-time in Sunbury, PA. He was with us twice last week, driving from his home in Lewisburg to Harrisburg for three events and then home in the evening, a 70 mile trip one-way. Then the next morning he drove another 70 miles or so to State College, did two events, and drove home, leaving Penn State at 9pm.

This week he traveled with us from Scranton on Monday to Bethlehem on Tuesday. After we wrapped in Bethlehem, after three events there, he drove home at 9:30pm, a 2 1/2 hour trip. Yesterday he joined us again in Reading, another 2 1/2 hour trip, for an evening event at Albright College- where we were joined by exoneree Ray Krone- and drove home again.

In between, he tended to one church member who is going into a nursing home and another who is dying.

I've known Walt for three years or so, but this tour has shown me a part of him I was not aware of. His energy is through the roof. Here's a 70-something guy who is telling the story of the murder of his son. He's doing it two or three times a day and then driving home at night to be with his wife and tend to his congregation. And through it all, he's cracking jokes and never shows any sign of irritation. Although, he does keep teasing me about getting lost in Bethlehem. We've done 20 events, we got lost once, and that's the one my tour mates remember.

Rolling Stone called Walt "serene and heartful, without an ounce of bombast." That is certainly true.

Death, Taxes, and Dry Cleaning?

2008-03-31T18:04:00.002-04:00

New reports were released last week focusing on the financial and geographic aspects of the death penalty system in California. Link to them here.

In a blog about it, I note this:

The Hidden Death Tax also reveals some startling figures that you wouldn't expect to find on an expense sheet for prosecuting a death penalty case. But there it is, on Page 26 of the report, a dry-cleaning bill of $937.45, and a $387 worth of oil changes, car washes and smog checks.

Makes you wonder if some prosecutor's head might be rolling just about now? Nahhh.... I am sure there is justification for that somewhere in the details.... Read the full blog post here.

--abe

Voices of Hope tour PA, press the flesh, build the movement

2008-03-28T21:35:00.006-04:00

I'm the Central Pennsylvania Abolitionist, and I approve this message.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm a little delirious after 15 death penalty events in a six-day period, covering 1087 miles and a whole lot of coffee. Maybe I'm still trying to take it all in after a week that has included hanging with a guy who spent nearly 17 years on PA's death row only to be cleared at retrial, two fathers who lost children to homicide, a Penn State professor who is on the cutting edge of messaging research in the anti-death penalty movement, a progressive Christian community in Philadelphia, and one of the stars of M*A*S*H.

Nevertheless, the movement is on the move here in PA. Nine days ago Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the ACLU of PA, the Pennsylvania Moratorium Coalition, and Witness to Innocence kicked off a two-week, 11-town, 22-event tour across the Commonwealth to tell two very important stories about capital punishment- the stories of innocent people sentenced to die and of murder victims' families who oppose capital punishment.

Harold Wilson was a resident of PA's death row for more than 16 years. Twice, Governor Tom Ridge signed his death warrant. But when it was discovered that the Philadelphia District Attorney's office had been using racial profiling in jury selection for years, including in Harold's case, he won a new trial.

At that new trial in 2005, DNA evidence indicated the presence of unknown person at the scene of the crime. In addition, testimony revealed that a bloody jacket that had been used at the original trial to implicate Harold didn't even belong to him. The jury found Harold not guilty, and he became the 122nd person nationwide and the 6th person in PA to be exonerated after spending time on death row.

Lorry Post and Rev. Walter Everett had to plan a funeral that no one should have to plan- a funeral for a child. Walt's son Scott was killed by a man who was high on drugs in 1987. Lorry's daughter Lisa was killed by her husband in 1988. As Walt says, they didn't lose their children to murder. Scott was taken from Walt. Lisa was taken from Lorry. (A great video about Walt's story is available here.)

Both men went through the extreme emotional suffering one might expect, but they came out the other end with the recognition that capital punishment does not serve victims' families.

All three men have been a part of this odyssey through the small towns, backwoods, cities, and universities of PA over the last week. Next week exonerees Juan Melendez and Ray Krone will join the fray.

The most important outcome from this adventure has been the way Harold, Walt, and Lorry have moved audiences. We've talked with groups as big as 180 and as small as 16. Whatever the size of the audience, at each stop we have had people step up and say, "I want to do more." That is how a movement is built. And that's how an unjust policy is toppled.

Although this is a concentrated effort in these two weeks, this conversation with the people of PA didn't start with this tour. Last year PADP took part in more than 60 public education events, with assistance from various groups. And it won't end with this tour. What this tour has reminded us, though, is that these stories matter. The way this dastardly policy affects and hurts people's lives matters.

These first tour stops have included Philadelphia, Harrisburg, State College, Erie, Edinboro, Meadville, and Pittsburgh. Next week we're back at it on Monday with stops in Wilkes Barre and Scranton, and then we're off to Bethlehem, Reading, and Lancaster.

Last night we wrapped up this first leg of the tour at the annual meeting of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the ACLU of PA. Harold told his story to the more than 150 civil libertarians in the room, and he was followed by keynote speaker Mike Farrell, actor and activist. Mike gave us our charge:

We have work to do, ladies and gentlemen. And we will do it. It is good work. It is necessary work. Some say it is holy work. I believe it is all of those things.

For in-depth coverage of the tour, check out Speaking Freely, the blog of the ACLU of PA.

Healing and restoration in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

2008-03-18T09:47:00.003-04:00

UNC-Chapel Hill will celebrate the life of Eve Carson at 4 p.m. today in the Dean E. Smith Center. Carson, UNC-CH's student body president, was shot to death March 5. Two suspects have been charged in her slaying.

While we celebrate the life of Eve Carson and mourn her passing, we are yet again reminded of the obligation to start getting smart on crime. Already there are reports that at least one of the suspects in her killing should have been in jail but was released due to bureaucratic ineptitude.

I was reminded of this story today when the following op-ed found its way to my inbox. The author, Steve Dear, is the head of NCADP's North Carolina affiliate, People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. Here's what Steve had to say:

Setting an example after a tragedy
Stephen Dear: Guest columnist
March 16, 2008
In response to the senseless murder of Eve Carson, our community can offer an example for the nation. We have lost one of our brightest lights and now we as a community can make a decision about who we are and what we stand for.

At this moment we can come together in our pain and say the cycle of violence ends here, in our hearts, in our homes, on our streets and in our courthouses. Out of our deep sadness and grief we as a community can show the nation that communities can unite to stop the cycle of violence, vengeance and destruction, and foster restorative justice.

Let us call on District Attorney Jim Woodall not to seek the death penalty in this case.

Two young African-American males from Durham, 17-year-old Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr., and 21-year-old Demario James Atwater, have been charged with Eve Carson's murder. Lovette, as a juvenile, will not be eligible for the death penalty, but Atwater could be. Lovette has also been charged with the January murder of Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato in Durham.

In recent years, the city councils of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Hillsborough, and the boards of commissioners of Orange, Durham and Chatham counties have all passed resolutions calling for a suspension of executions. The UNC Student Government Association, before Eve Carson was elected its president, passed a resolution calling for such a moratorium. More than 100 churches, businesses and groups in our community have passed similar resolutions. Thousands of people in our community are members of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, whose offices are located in downtown Carrboro, and thousands more locals have signed petitions to stop executions.

Our community, town and gown, have deserved reputations for leaning against the death penalty. Although DAs have tried, no one has been sentenced to death in Orange County since 1970.

Some have said Ms. Carson's killer or killers deserve death. But the death penalty will not bring healing; it will only brutalize us and keep us perpetuating the racial and class biases of Old South justice.

Ironically, this academic year UNC is holding what may be the most extensive series of events examining the death penalty at any university in modern times. UNC's leaders have done a noble service to the community and to future generations of leaders by providing an array of opportunities to learn about and grapple with the death penalty, especially the historical roots of the racial and class bias and the wrongful convictions involved with it.

The murder of Eve Carson took place just days after a lecture by "Dead Man Walking" author Sr. Helen Prejean when she told the university community how forgiveness shows great strength and that the administration of the death penalty reflects whose lives we value more in this society.

Scholars at UNC, including law school dean Jack Boger, have authored a study of race and the death penalty in North Carolina, finding that a defendant in North Carolina is 3.5 times more likely to receive a death sentence if the murder victim is white, and even more likely if the defendant is non-white, as in the Carson case.

Our community has been informed about the death penalty, its many failings, and the false promise of justice and healing it offers.

There are other ways for us to deal with our pain and hurt.

In 2006 the Amish families and community of Bart Township, Pa., set an example for the world in the aftermath of the killing of five girls at a one-room school there.

As they grieved, they began the journey of forgiveness and healing together. Several of the victims' families who had buried their own daughters just the day before attended the killer's funeral and hugged his widow and other members of his family.

As a community they dealt with their fully appropriate anger without turning to rage and collective vengeance.

Seeking the death penalty in an attempt at exacting justice or balancing the scales of justice only creates another revolution in the cycle of violence. In turn it sends the message to would-be killers of the world that killing is acceptable.

Instead, we can focus on healing and restoration for the Carson family, and our community.

This tragedy has changed lives of people in large and small ways. We can chose for it to change us for the better as individuals and as a community.

Instead of focusing on lethal retribution we can put addressing the needs of the victim's family first while attending to the hurt and needs of everyone involved, including the community and even offenders. Let us create new programs addressing crime prevention and gang violence and offer new programs at counseling and assistance for victims' survivors.

When I attend the memorial service on Tuesday I will be praying for Ms. Carson and for comfort and healing for her family. I will also be praying that we set an example for the country that stands for life and love.

That, after all, is what this remarkable human being was all about.

Stephen Dear lives in Carrboro and is executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, a national nonprofit organization located in Carrboro.

Eyebrows raised

2008-03-17T12:41:00.001-04:00

This from CNN:

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he is "kind of hoping" the prisoners facing military trials in connection with the September 11 attacks do not receive the death penalty, which would fulfill their desire to be martyrs.

During questions from students at the London, England, School of Economics, Mukasey indicated his support for the death penalty in the United States, but then waded into a discussion of his views on potential sentences for al Qaeda defendants at Guantanamo Bay.

"In a way I kind of hope from a personal standpoint -- and I can say this because the military commissions will be run by the Department of Defense, not by the Justice Department. ... I kind of hope they don't get it. Because many of them want to be martyrs and it's kind of like the conversation, you know, between the sadist and the masochist. The masochist says 'Hit me' and the sadist says 'No.' So I am kind of hoping they don't get it."

"The 11 defendants who were charged with participation in 9/11 killed 3,000 people. One of them, at least, is proud enough of it to have written to his wife that he thinks he is innocent because it was only 3,000. If those are not poster children for the death penalty, I don't know who is," Mukasey told the British students.

Military prosecutors have asked to seek the death penalty for the defendants if they are convicted of capital crimes. The Defense Department's judicial panel called its "convening authority" has not announced whether to approve the Guantanamo military trials as capital cases.

Historically, U.S. attorneys general do not express their private views on pending legal matters. It is not clear whether any of the al Qaeda defendants at Guantanamo Bay could eventually come before a U.S. civilian court.

In Washington, some Justice Department officials' eyes widened and eyebrows raised when they learned of Mukasey's statements, but they made no comments. Mukasey has exhibited caution in his many previous public appearances, so his offhand remarks appeared out of character for the low-key retired federal judge.

Oh, the irony....

2008-03-09T21:46:00.002-04:00

George W. Bush became the first president to sing since its 1885 inception during the annual Gridiron Dinner the other night, but the irony is that the lyrics he made up were sung to the the tune of the "Green Green Grass of Home," a song sung in the voice of a man awaiting his own execution. Ironic, since Bush was the most-killing Governor in the history of our nation until his successor surpassed him. And perhaps more deliciously ironic, since Bush is now quite clearly at the end of his rope in the office of POTUS.

BTW, it's quite a moving song and has been covered by many many artists. Check it out here and hear Johnny Cash do it here.

--abe

Walking abolition to Texas

2008-03-08T19:00:00.003-05:00

.Andre Latallade, a/k/a Capital-"X", will walk from Trenton, New Jersey to Austin, Texas, approximately 1,700, to bring the torch of abolition from the Garden State to the Lone Star State.

Andre Latallade, also known as Capital-"X" will walk from Trenton New Jersey, approximately 1,700 miles to the Governors mansion in Texas in an attempt to bring awareness to the death penalty. The death penalty has recently been abolished in New Jersey, and Texas is known as "the busiest killing state." He is trying to "build a bridge between the two groups of victims, the executed, and their families and the victims and families of violent crimes."

Andre says "separated we call for life or death, I say we unite and call for solutions." He asks that life without parole be called for as opposed to the death sentence. Currently all executions are "on hold" while the Supreme Court rules whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual.

The walk will begin on March 31, 2008 approximately 5PM. Latallade estimates it will take around 54 days walking 8 hours a day minimum, about 3.5 mph. He will take one break for 3 days about one-third of the way to participate in the Hip Hop Association's HHEAL Festival in the Bronx, New York. Latallade is a hip hop artist himself and is known by the name of Capital-"X" on stage. Andre has created a video about his "Walk 4 Life." Andre will walk through 10 of the 12 highest executing states.

Latallade said "I think it can bring unity. Unite everybody that is fighting injustice, and keep that unity till the end. Can we make this big enough to apply international pressure on the USA?" He says "I have Italy behind me as well as London organizations, France, Denmark and Croatia. I am reaching out to Puerto Rico." Various non profit organizations, human rights groups, and other abolitionists support Andre on his "Walk 4 Life."

Capital-"X" will try to raise funds to educate people on the death penalty, and monies raised from this event will be donated to murder victim's families and abolitionist groups. Anyone interested in supporting "X" and uniting in this cause to Stop Capital Punishment, can email Andre at this address: projectrevolution2010@gmail.com

more here.

Maryland taxpayers spend $186 million on death penalty statutes

2008-03-06T11:13:00.004-05:00

Today a study analyzing the cost of the death penalty was released in Maryland. The study is described as one of the most comprehensive ever conducted. There are, of course, a number of reasons why the death penalty represents flawed public policy. The fact that it is such an enormous drain on taxpayer resources always has been near the top of my list.

Here's a Baltimore Sun article that discusses the study:

March 6, 2008

Death penalty costs Md. more than life term

By Jennifer McMenamin
Baltimore Sun reporter
The death penalty has cost Maryland taxpayers at least $186 million more in prosecuting and defending capital murder cases over two decades than would have been spent without the threat of execution, according to a study to be released today.

In addition, because most death sentences in Maryland are overturned and eventually reduced to life without parole, state residents are often saddled with the high cost of a capital case and the bill for housing a convicted killer for life, the study found.

Paid for by the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation and prepared by the Urban Institute, a national, nonpartisan research organization in Washington, the study estimates that the cost of reaching a single death sentence costs the state an average of $3 million, which is $1.9 million more than a non-death penalty case costs, even after factoring in the long-term costs of incarcerating convicted killers not sentenced to death.

The report - the first to analyze the cost of capital punishment in Maryland - arrives as state lawmakers prepare to again debate repealing the death penalty. A hearing is scheduled for today in Annapolis on a Senate bill that would eliminate capital punishment as a sentencing option. A similar House bill is scheduled to be heard next week.

"This is a compelling argument against the death penalty - the enormous costs to the state's taxpayers," said Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, a death penalty opponent who focused on the financial costs of capital punishment when he testified last year in support of repeal. The bill was defeated by one vote in a Senate committee last year.

The top prosecutor in Baltimore County - which accounts for more capital cases than any other jurisdiction in the state - assailed the study's conclusions and its use of attorneys' salaries to calculate the cost of the death penalty in Maryland.

"That is a completely worthless number, because we don't go out and hire new lawyers to try these cases," Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said. "They get assigned to my most experienced lawyers, who will work as many hours as it takes to put the case on, and don't get any more money."

Speaking of prosecutor S. Ann Brobst, who handles many of the county's capital murder cases, Shellenberger said, "Ann's got a ton to do. It's just a matter of whether she does one ton or two tons. When she takes these cases, she doesn't complain. She doesn't get more money for it. She just does her job."

Using data collected by a University of Maryland professor who studied racial and geographic disparities in the application of the state's death penalty law, the Urban Institute researchers examined 162 capital murder cases that were prosecuted between 1978 - when Maryland reinstated capital punishment as a sentencing option - and 1999.

To calculate the cost of a capital case, researchers interviewed prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges to estimate the time spent on each segment of a case. That time estimate was then applied to such expenses as the value of court space and the salaries of those handling capital cases.

The final tally revealed that prosecuting 162 cases in which death sentences were sought cost $186 million more than what prosecuting those cases would have otherwise cost, according to the study. Of that, $70.9 million was spent on 106 capital cases that did not result in a death sentence while $107.4 million was spent on 56 cases that did. In addition, more than $7 million was spent by the state public defender's capital defense division for activities not accounted for elsewhere in the study.

The researchers found that capital murder cases cost more than non-capital murder cases at almost every phase of the case. Trials cost an estimated $616,000 more, they found. The "penalty phase" of a capital case - during which a judge or jury hears testimony to determine a sentence for a convicted killer - costs $326,000. And state and federal appeals cost $605,000 more than appeals filed in non-capital cases.

The researchers also found that inmates sentenced to death cost $316,000 more to incarcerate than convicted killers who receive lesser sentences. "This is partly because the type of confinement for death-sentenced inmates is more expensive," the study's authors wrote, "but also due to the reality that few of those sentenced to death are actually executed."

The Urban Institute's total dollar figure does not include costs associated with federal court proceedings in state capital cases.

Although groups in many death penalty states have analyzed the cost of such cases, the Urban Institute's Maryland study is the first to statistically control for factors that might otherwise make a capital case more expensive, said Andrew Davies, a researcher with the New York State Defenders Association, which in the 1980s completed the first such study.

"The argument goes that ... death penalty cases might be worse or more heinous cases, so that even if they weren't death penalty cases, they still would be more expensive," he said. "But in this study, they've isolated the pure effect of the death penalty on inflating the cost of cases."

But Shellenberger said it is ridiculous to suggest that all these costs would be avoided simply by getting rid of the death penalty.

"No matter what the ultimate punishment is going to be in the state of Maryland - whether it's death or life without parole - every good defense counsel is going to fight their hardest against the ultimate punishment," he said. "There is no magic end to all this litigation just because someone doesn't get the death penalty."
- - - - -
jennifer.mcmenamin@baltsun.com

'The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley

2008-03-05T13:59:00.002-05:00

(Hat tip, For Victims, Against the Death Penalty)

There's a must-see play showing in New York City right now. The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley examines one of the last juvenile offenders executed in the U.S. before such executions were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The play tells the story of a 17-year-old African-American defendant who was sentenced to death for a carjacking and murder in Texas. The victim was the father of a federal judge.

The Austin Chronicle writes that The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley is:

The most important play to see in Texas right now.... Voicing all the opposing viewpoints on the issues of racism, judicial nepotism, ageism, and capital punishment, [this play] presents the story dramatically with heartbreaking scenes that are not at all contrived or insincere. Fleming’s well-knit play unfolds effortlessly before us, evoking pathos for injustice.

The play is currently having its New York City Premiere at the Flamboyan Theater of the Clemente Soto Velez Center, 107 Suffolk Street, NY. For more information, go here.

Guest blogging on Monte Allen Delk

2008-02-28T10:45:00.001-05:00

Today we guest-blogged over at Executed Today, which my friend Jason runs.

Here's our entry:

Six years ago today the state of Texas executed an FBI agent, a state district judge, the president of Kenya and a war hero who commanded a nuclear-powered submarine during the Civil War. More aptly put, Texas executed a seriously mental ill inmate named Monty Allen Delk who, at varying times, believed he was all of these things.

Delk was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Gene “Bubba” Allen of Anderson County in East Texas. Although the state of Texas maintained that Delk was “malingering,” i.e., pretending to be mentally ill to stave off execution, the prison system’s former chief mental health officer stated that Delk suffered from a severe mental illness, one that had become progressive in nature since it was first noticed in 1989 –- years after Delk was tried and convicted.

A close examination of the Delk case reveals yet another significant flaw in the capital punishment system:

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executing severely mentally ill inmates violates the U.S. Constitution.

The court also has held that a death row inmate must be mentally competent in order to drop his appeals.

But the court has not directly addressed the issue of whether a death row inmate must be mentally competent in order to pursue his state and federal habeas appeals. In fact, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over death penalty cases in Texas, have ruled that prisoner competence during state and federal habeas proceedings is not constitutionally required.

The question is fundamental to due process. Habeas is the first, last and often only avenue of appeal for death row inmates whose sentences have been upheld on direct appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But because Delk was unable to assist his attorney through his habeas appeals, he could not answer simple questions that were key to his case -– questions such as, did he commit the crime? Did he think his trial was fair? Did he think his trial lawyers adequately represented him? Were there circumstances about the crime or about his personal history that mitigated against a death sentence?

The fact that Delk’s execution was allowed to proceed represented a three-pronged failure on the part of Texas’ death penalty system. The first failure must be attributed to the courts, which failed to order a psychiatric evaluation of Delk, despite repeated requests by Delk’s very able attorney, John Wright of Huntsville.

The second failure lies with Texas’ executive clemency system. Because of his mental illness, Delk’s sentence should have been commuted to life in prison. Yet the Board of Pardons and Paroles as well as Texas Gov. Rick Perry did nothing. (It is important to note that four days before Delk’s execution, the Georgia Parole Board, acting in a similar case, commuted death row inmate Alexander Williams sentence to life in prison after pleas from human rights activists. Williams is a chronic paranoid schizophrenic who thinks Sigourney Weaver is God and that little green frogs are in his prison cell, staring at him.)

The third failure rested with the Texas media. While Williams’ case attracted comprehensive media coverage in Georgia and beyond, newspapers in Texas largely failed to investigate Delk’s case. Government -– including the criminal justice system –- works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur. In this case, no one outside Texas’ fervent anti-death penalty community took much notice of Delk’s execution.

The good news is Texas’ newspapers are beginning to sit up and take notice. If I am not mistaken, every major Texas newspaper has called either for abolition of the death penalty or for a moratorium on executions. The issue of capital punishment has advanced from the margins to the mainstream. In today’s climate, one wonders whether Texas officials could get away with executing a person as severely mentally ill as Delk.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court will have to directly confront the issue of whether a death-sentenced prisoner need be mentally competent during his habeas appeals. Until that happens, we simply will have to ask ourselves a key question:

Is executing someone who is so severely mentally ill he does not know who he is not the very definition of an insane act?

'This is Tammany Hall, only 100 years later'

2008-02-27T15:22:00.002-05:00

Newsweek magazine has taken a look at the strange goings-on inside the Harris County, Texas district attorney's office. This article is sooooo worth posting in its entirety:

Newsweek Web Exclusive Race, Justice, and Texas

Resignation doesn't end trouble for Houston's top prosecutor
By Gretel C. Kovach
In his 30-plus-year legal career in Harris County, Texas, Chuck Rosenthal has been no stranger to controversy. As a prosecutor he lit firecrackers in the stairwell of the district attorney's offices soon after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings. (It was a prank, he said.) After he was elected DA in 2000 he called the death penalty a "biblical proposition" and lobbied unsuccessfully to maintain Texas's sodomy law. He defied a gag order to appear on "60 Minutes" in 2001 to defend his decision to seek the death penalty for Andrea Yates, the Houston housewife who drowned her five children.

Rosenthal is back in the headlines again. Last December, as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit into how justice is meted out in the county, he turned over the (partial) contents of his government e-mail account. And what a batch of e-mails it was. Black ministers called for the Republican to resign because of racist material, including a cartoon depicting an African-American suffering from a "fatal overdose" of watermelon and fried chicken. There were adult video clips and love notes from Rosenthal to his secretary, his mistress during a previous marriage. "I love you so much," Rosenthal says in one. "I want to kiss you behind your right ear," he says in another. "Go spend time with your family," she admonishes him back.

Now it appears that Rosenthal's on-the-job antics have done him in. In the wake of the e-mail revelations, local GOP leaders forced him to abort his re-election bid. Then, on Feb. 15, after Lloyd Kelley, the attorney in the civil rights case, brought a lawsuit accusing him of drinking on the job and "incompetence, or official misconduct," Rosenthal resigned. But his problems may not be over. As eye-opening as his e-mails were, it's the ones that disappeared that might cause him more trouble yet. Rosenthal deleted thousands of e-mails (even going so far as to delete them from the trash folder) that investigators in the civil rights case wanted; his actions could lead to obstruction of justice charges (the messages were destroyed after he had received a subpoena for them, he admitted in court). And during a contempt of court hearing earlier this month, Rosenthal appeared to contradict his sworn statements about the e-mails, leaving him open to perjury charges. The hearing was abruptly adjourned at the request of his lawyer and is scheduled to resume March 14. If found in contempt, the former top prosecutor could wind up in jail.

Neither Rosenthal nor his lawyers returned NEWSWEEK's calls for comment. In an earlier statement to the press about the content of the e-mails, Rosenthal said, "I deeply regret having said those things . This event has served as a wake-up call to me to get my house in order both literally and figuratively."
On Feb. 15, in response to the new lawsuit, he blamed a combination of prescription drugs for causing "some impairment" of his judgment.

Rosenthal's most recent troubles started in 2002, when brothers Sean and Erik Ibarra sued Harris County, saying they were falsely arrested and abused after they photographed sheriff's deputies searching a neighbor's home. Kelley, a former Houston comptroller who had campaigned for the DA job but lost to Rosenthal, took the case. He subpoenaed the e-mail traffic of his former political opponent, looking for evidence that Rosenthal had colluded with the county sheriff to "put the kibosh" on the civil rights case, he says. It took years of legal wrangling to get Rosenthal to turn over any e-mails.

Kelley says he bears no grudge against his former political nemesis. "Nobody should be allowed to destroy evidence," Kelley says. What was unearthed was bad enough, he says, "but this is less than a half, maybe a third of the total." In the lawsuits against the sheriff, Tommy Thomas, and Rosenthal, Kelley paints a picture of a county justice system off the rails. "You've got a good ol' boy system, so the last resort is a civil lawsuit," he says. "You've got a crooked system where they all feed on each other. There's no independent oversight. This is Tammany Hall, only a 100 years later."

There have long been complaints that the Harris County DA's office discriminates. Former prosecutors have said that other lawyers in the office referred to Hurricane Katrina evacuees as "NFLs," or "N------ From Louisiana."

In 2003 prosecutor Mike Trent sent an officewide message congratulating his colleagues on winning a case despite the presence of several "Canadians" on the jury. (He later said he was unaware that "Canadian" is sometimes used as a racial slur for a black person.) Jolanda Jones, a defense attorney and Houston city council member, has complained for years that minorities are unfairly stricken from juries and that punishment is administered more harshly for blacks. "There is absolutely an undercurrent of racism," she says. "The story is bigger than the district attorney's office. It's systemic. They're racist and classist. If you're poor or a minority, there is no justice."

But Joe Owmby, chief of the DA's integrity division and the highest-ranking black prosecutor in Harris County, says he's never felt as if he works in a racist atmosphere-and he defends Rosenthal for encouraging minority hiring.
Other black former prosecutors say they never heard racist comments either.

The jury of public opinion is divided on whether Rosenthal's e-mails amount to a handful of embarrassing private messages or evidence of racism and sexism tainting the justice system in the nation's fourth-largest city. Hundreds rallied before Rosenthal's contempt of court hearing earlier this month to call for his resignation. Deric Muhammad of the Millions More Movement told the crowd on the courthouse steps, "We have a systemic problem. It is not just Rosenthal that has to go-the whole toilet must be flushed."

Will the next Harris County DA bring about wholesale change? Rosenthal's doctor, Sam Siegler, sent Rosenthal racy messages, including a video clip of women having their clothes ripped off in public. Siegler's wife Kelly was one of Rosenthal's star prosecutors. Despite her husband's role in the controversy, Kelly Siegler wasted no time distancing herself from her boss's activities, and now she's campaigning like a "bulldog in a Chihuahua's body" for Rosenthal's job. But Siegler herself is hardly immune to controversy. She made an anti-Semitic comment to a jury 20 years ago (she later apologized) and, in court a few years ago, she straddled a fellow prosecutor strapped to a bed with neckties. She was trying to show that a wife couldn't have acted in self defense when she stabbed her husband, played by the prosecutor, to death.

Show trials at Guantanamo Bay?

2008-02-20T16:33:00.001-05:00

This popped up over at Daily Kos. We reprint in its entirety:

This was very much how it was done in the bad old days of the Soviet Union:

Secret evidence. Denial of habeas corpus. Evidence obtained by waterboarding. Indefinite detention. The litany of complaints about the legal treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is long, disturbing and by now familiar. Nonetheless, a new wave of shock and criticism greeted the Pentagon's announcement on February 11 that it was charging six Guantánamo detainees, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, with war crimes--and seeking the death penalty for all of them.

Now, as the murky, quasi-legal staging of the Bush Administration's military commissions unfolds, a key official has told The Nation that the trials are rigged from the start. According to Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor for Guantánamo's military commissions, the process has been manipulated by Administration appointees in an attempt to foreclose the possibility of acquittal....

When asked if he thought the men at Guantánamo could receive a fair trial, Davis provided the following account of an August 2005 meeting he had with Pentagon general counsel William Haynes--the man who now oversees the tribunal process for the Defense Department. "[Haynes] said these trials will be the Nuremberg of our time," recalled Davis, referring to the Nazi tribunals in 1945, considered the model of procedural rights in the prosecution of war crimes. In response, Davis said he noted that at Nuremberg there had been some acquittals, something that had lent great credibility to the proceedings.

"I said to him that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process," Davis continued. "At which point, [Haynes's] eyes got wide and he said, 'Wait a minute, we can't have acquittals. If we've been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can't have acquittals, we've got to have convictions.'"

Haynes was a legal adviser to Rumsfeld and Gates. Bush nominated him to a federal bench position, but his nomination was actually blocked by Republican Lindsey Graham because of Haynes involvement in developing the Pentagon's torture policies. He was bad enough for Lindsay Graham to block him, and he's in charge of the Gitmo trials.

The Gitmo detainees have no hope of a fair trial, and even if they should be acquitted (against the apparent rules the administration has imposed) the government has already said they can be held indefinitely because they've already been deemed "enemy combatants." Those who survive the show trials will never breathe free air if the Bush administration has anything to say about it.

To read the piece as it was originally blogged (and to see the many comments that have been left) go here.

Guest-blogging

2008-02-18T15:47:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we guest-blogged over at www.executedtoday.com

Check out our entry here.

Will another death row exoneration be happening in Mississippi

2008-02-17T23:57:00.002-05:00

From Radley Balko over at Hit & Run, Reason magazine's blog, a post boldly entitled Eddie Lee Howard: Mississippi's Next Exoneration?

Now that Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks have been freed, the Innocence Project is calling for a criminal investigation into Dr. Michael West. Peter Neufeld is asking that every case in which West has ever testified be reviewed. The linked article notes that there are 20 or more Mississippians in prison right now due at least in part to West's testimony.
West still stands by his testimony. He's now saying that even if Brooks and Brewer did not commit the two murders a third man has since confessed to committing, his testimony wasn't incorrect: Brewer and Brooks still bit those little girls. To believe West, you'd have to believe that in two cases that occurred at about the same time, two men living just miles apart coincidentally each repeatedly bit a little girl in their care just hours before a third man unknown to either of them abducted, raped, and killed said little girls.
Alternately, you could believe that Dr. West is a quack who makes shit up. I know which theory my money's on.
The next case involving the unholy triumvirate of West, Hayne, and District Attorney Forrest Allgood that may embarrass Mississippi is that of Eddie Lee Howard, currently on death row in Parchman for the gruesome murder of an elderly woman. The assailant stabbed the woman to death, then set her house on fire and left her to burn. Dr. Hayne testified at trial that the woman was also raped, though no semen or second-party blood or pubic hair showed up in the rape kit. Hayne did not find any bite marks. The victim was buried.

In a now-familiar pattern, Hayne then brought his buddy Dr. West onto the case. Three days later, the police detained Howard without a warrant, then immediately took him to Dr. West's dental practice, where West took an impression of Howard's teeth. Police then exhumed the victim, at which point West once again claimed to find bite marks no one else could see. He then noted there were similarities between Mr. Howard's dental impression and the bite marks he said he'd found on the burned body.
There was no biological evidence linking Howard to the crime scene. The sole evidence against him was West's testimony and the testimony of a police investigator who says Howard basically confessed to him, though the investigator never asked Howard to sign a statement of confession, nor is there any recording of it.
Eddie Lee Howard clearly has some psychological problems.
[Read the rest of Radley's piece here]

Go Radley Go!!!

A death row exoneration

2008-02-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

from the Innocence Project

Two Mississippi men are cleared after 15 years

At hearings this morning in a packed Mississippi courthouse, two Innocence Project clients convicted of separate child murders in the same small town were cleared based on new evidence proving their innocence. This day comes after nearly 15 years behind bars for Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, who were joined in court this morning by more than 100 of their relatives.

(Above, left to right: Innocence Project Staff Attorney Vanessa Potkin, Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld. Macon Beacon Photo)

Brewer, who served much of his time on death row, was fully exonerated today after all pending charges against him were dropped. He is the first person exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing in Mississippi and the 213th nationwide.

Brooks was released this morning after his conviction was vacated, and will be fully exonerated when charges against him are dismissed, which we expect in the next few weeks.

Breaking news, Part II

2008-02-15T17:41:00.001-05:00

So it looks like our friend Steve Hall is having a busy day down in Texas. Now we get news that Chuck Rosenthal -- who has been the leading district attorney in the U.S. in terms of seeking and getting the death penalty -- has resigned from office.

Tut-tut.

We'll let this Houston Chronicle story speak for itself.

Rosenthal resigns as district attorney amid e-mail scandal

By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Chuck Rosenthal resigned as district attorney today amid an e-mail scandal that recently forced him to abandon his re-election campaign and a lawsuit filed today that sought his removal from office.

Bill Delmore, chief of the D.A.'s legal services bureau, which oversees the general counsel's office, confirmed that Rosenthal issued a press release in which he says he contacted the Governor's office to tender his resignation.

"Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological treatment, I have come to learn that the particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment," Rosenthal wrote in his resignation letter.

Rosenthal declined to comment.

His decision to resigns caps several weeks of intense scrutiny of the district's attorney's office and follows the filing of a lawsuit today against him and Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas.

That lawsuit, filed by attorney Lloyd Kelley, sought Rosenthal and Thomas'
removal from office. State law allows for an elected official on any of three grounds - official misconduct, incompetency or intoxication on or off duty - and Kelley says Rosenthal is guilty of all three.

The lawsuit accuses Thomas of incompetency and misconduct.

Sheriff's spokesman Capt. John Martin said Sheriff Tommy Thomas is not in the office today. "No one has seen the petition," he said, "and without knowing the allegations, it's hard to comment."

Rosenthal's decision to step down came just a short time after the filing of Kelley's lawsuit.

"My decision to retire from office was precipitated by a number of things, ''Rosenthal wrote. "The federal court's release of my private emails around Christmas of last year brought a lot to bear on my wife and children.''

"I am hopeful that, in my retirement, the media will accord my family the privacy we need to heal.''

Meanwhile, Sheriff's spokesman Capt. John Martin said Sheriff Tommy Thomas was not in the office today and could not comment on Kelley's lawsuit. "No one has seen the petition," he said, "and without knowing the allegations, it's hard to comment."

Attorney Lloyd Kelley's lawsuit requests jury trials to determine whether Rosenthal and Thomas should be forced out. State law allows for removing an elected official on any of three grounds - official misconduct, incompetency or intoxication on or off duty - and Kelley says Rosenthal is guilty of all three.

The lawsuit accuses Thomas of incompetency and misconduct. Kelley is also asking a judge to temporarily remove Rosenthal and Thomas pending the outcome of the trial. If a judge agrees, the judge would then appoint temporary replacements.

Kelley filed today's lawsuit on behalf of Erik Ibarra, one of two brothers Kelley represents in a federal lawsuit against Harris County, the sheriff and four deputies that led to the disclosure of Rosenthal's e-mails in late December. The scandal surrounding the e-mails - which contained racist comments, sexually explicit videos, love notes to his administrative assistant and re-election campaign materials - caused Rosenthal to end his political campaign.

The lawsuit states Rosenthal showed a "lack of judgment" through his e-mails and by giving his assistant, Kerry Stevens, an $11,000 raise last month. The lawsuit also alleges Rosenthal consumed alcohol at the office while performing his duties from 2001 to 2007 but doesn't cite specific instances.

The lawsuit alleges Thomas accepted benefits for his ranch from county vendors. Kelley says the sheriff took free or below-market price services from architects doing business with the county.

The lawsuit also says Thomas failed to investigate the crimes and civil rights violations reported by Erik and Sean Ibarra, who have accused his deputies of illegally arresting them and destroying their camera equipment after a 2002 drug raid at their neighbor's home.

The lawsuit states Thomas "gained special advantage" last year for his son Brent Thomas, who was arrested for possession of cocaine. Brent Thomas was given deferred adjudication and ordered to pay a $500 fine, the lawsuit states.

Kelley also is seeking to have Rosenthal held in contempt of court for deleting e-mails that had been subpoenaed in the federal lawsuit.

Last month, County Attorney Mike Stafford asked the Texas Attorney General to investigate Rosenthal's use of county computer equipment to conduct campaign business. That investigation is ongoing.
- - - - -
Chronicle reporter Allan Turner contributed to this story.
peggy.ohare@chron.com

Breaking news, part one

2008-02-15T16:46:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of Steve Hall from Stand Down Texas, we learn that John Penry, a mentally retarded person on Texas' death row, will not spend his life in prison instead of facing execution.

For those who have followed Penry's case up and down the courts -- including two successful Supreme Court rulings -- this is big and welcome news indeed. It means Texas is no longer actively trying to execute a person who believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, colors with crayons and looks at comic books he can't read. Of course, executing people with severe mental retardation runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court edict that such executions violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Suddenly it is becoming quite clear....

2008-02-13T14:04:00.003-05:00

On Jan. 20, 2006 we created a bit of a firestorm when we blogged about some newly issued guidelines from the U.S. Army. It seems that the U.S. Army had updated its execution protocol. Most of the changes were minor with one exception that seemed to stand out. The new protocol “allows other locations to be used for executions.”

(Previously, military executions took place in Leavenworth, Kansas, which is where military death row is located.)

You can see the original blog entry here. Reuters did a story on the development, and it was picked up by NPR and the Washington Post, among other outlets.

Anyways. So today I was scanning the national AP wire and this caught my eye.

Executions May Be Carried Out at Gitmo

By MICHAEL MELIA and ANDREW O. SELSKY
Associated Press Writers

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- If six suspected terrorists are sentenced to death at Guantanamo Bay for the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. Army regulations that were quietly amended two years ago open the possibility of execution by lethal injection at the military base in Cuba, experts said Tuesday.

Any executions would probably add to international outrage over Guantanamo, since capital punishment is banned in 130 countries, including the 27-nation European Union.

Conducting the executions on U.S. soil could open the way for the detainees' lawyers to go to U.S. courts to fight the death sentences. But the updated regulations make it possible for the executions to be carried out at Guantanamo.

David Sheldon, an attorney and former member of the Navy's legal corps, said an execution chamber at Guantanamo would be largely beyond the reach of U.S. courts.

"I think that's the administration's idea, to try to use Guantanamo as a base to not be under the umbrella of the federal district courts," he said. "If one is detained in North Carolina or South Carolina in a Navy brig, one could conceivably file a petition of habeas corpus and because of where they're located, invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court."

The condemned men could even be buried at Guantanamo. A Muslim section of the cemetery at Guantanamo has been dedicated by an Islamic cultural adviser, said Bruce Lloyd, spokesman for the Guantanamo Naval Station. Among those buried elsewhere at the cemetery are U.S. servicemen.

"A small area of the cemetery has been fenced off and remains ready for the burial of any Muslim who may die here and not be repatriated to another country, for whatever reason," Lloyd told The Associated Press.

When two Saudis and a Yemeni committed suicide at Guantanamo in 2006, military officers said the men could be buried at the cemetery, but the remains were instead sent back to their homelands.

Up until recently, experts on military law said, it was understood that military regulations required executions to be carried out by lethal injection at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

But in January 2006, the Army changed its procedures for military executions, allowing "other locations" to be used. The new regulations say that only the president can approve an execution and that the secretary of the Army will authorize the location.

So, it appears folks are getting ready. Of course, issues such as guilt, innocence, habeas corpus, rules governing military tribunals, admissibility of evidence, etc., have yet to be resolved. One can only hope that the next administration and not this one will resolve them.

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to see the U.S. Army's new guidelines, go here.

I know the Geneva Convention is around here somewhere....

2008-02-11T17:15:00.000-05:00

Those of you who saw today's New York Times or found yourself surfing through the blogosphere today may have heard the news:

Military prosecutors today issued the first charges relating to the September 11 attacks, saying they would seek the death penalty against six detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including the alleged mastermind of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The Department of Defence, which is leading the prosecution through a controversial and much-criticised process of military commissions, issued 169 charges against the men that include conspiracy, murder in violation of the law or war, attacking civilians, destruction of property and terrorism.

Even putting aside, for a moment, my consistent opposition to the death penalty, there are several things that I find quite odd about this development.

First, no military tribunals have been held in full so far. (One guy, from Australia, did plead out.) No one in Guantanamo Bay has even been convicted of jaywalking. So we're going to start with six capital murder prosecutions?

Second, two of the six people up for prosecution were, according to our government's own admission, subjected to waterboarding. The U.S. Department of Justice can say whatever it wants: Any American of sound value and good common sense knows that torture in any form violates our basic principles and tends to be counterproductive, since the person being tortured will say anything his captors want to hear. So, are these two detainees going to be convicted on the basis of information that was extracted from them while under torture?

Third, the very right of the U.S. military to hold these people for years and years has not been fully adjudicated. Do they have access to habeas corpus or don't they?

Fourth, the timing is quite interesting. Undoubtedly, the partisan Republicans in the White House want to make this an election issue. They are desperate to figure out how to inject national security into the ongoing McCain/Clinton/Obama debate. Good luck with that -- probably the best thing our side can do is not take the bait.

For more on this, go here.

In a nutshell....

2008-02-11T14:28:00.001-05:00

Last Friday we brought you breaking news: Nebraska's Supreme Court ruled use of the electric chair unconstitutional. This leaves the state currently without an effective death penalty statute.

Here's the key quote from the judge who wrote the court's 6-1 majority opinion:

"We recognize the temptation to make the prisoner suffer, just as the prisoner made an innocent victim suffer. But it is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it. Condemend prisoners must not be tortured to death, regardless of their crimes. And the evidence clearly proves that unconsciousness and death are not instantaneous for many condemned prisoners. These prisoners will, when electrocuted, consciously suffer the torture that high voltage electric current inflicts on the human body. The evidence shows that electrocution inflicts intense pain and agonizing suffering. Therefore, electrocution as a method of execution is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Nebraska Constitution."

Breaking news out of Nebraska

2008-02-08T11:31:00.000-05:00

The Nebraska Supreme Court, in a sharply worded ruling, has struck down that state's use of the electric chair. Because Nebraska has no back-up method of execution, it is now left with no effective death penalty statute.

15 states down, 35 to go!

And now, from the lighter side....

2008-02-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

From time to time Abolish the Death Penalty has turned our readers attention to awards garnered by local activists associated with our state affiliates -- like when Jane Bohman, head of our Illinois affiliate, was honored by Chicago Business Magazine, or when Celeste Fitzgerald, head of our New Jersey affiliate, received similar recognition as a mover and shaker.

Today we bring you news in a similar vein, although perhaps not quite as deep.

It turns out that Isaac Kimes, newly hired organizer for the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, has been written up by the Nashville Scene, Nashville's alternative weekly. It seems that the Nashville Scene each year publishes a feature called the Lust List and Isaac made the cut.

Writes TCASK's blog:

TCASK's very own Isaac Kimes has made the Scene's annual Lust List. While we always knew he was a phenomenal field organizer and a passionate supporter of the movement, we had yet to fully recognize his "lusty" side. Thank goodness the Nashville Scene took notice and pointed out all of Isaac's shining characteristics. We are certainly lucky to have him here at TCASK--and in Nashville--not only because of his outgoing personality, enthusiasm, passion and talent but also, as we now know, because of his award winning good looks. Described as "attractive, altruistic and unattached" by the Scene, this "good-looking do-gooder" is an integral part of both the Nashville community and the TCASK family--let's take a moment and celebrate Isaac, Nashville's latest "cute and clever catch."

You can read the magazine's article here. We're pleased to see that the feature isn't all about looks -- you obviously have to have some talent and brains, too, to get on this list.

So, congrats, Isaac. Now get back to work!

There's a new blog in town

2008-02-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

It belongs to InCASE, which stands for the Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions. You can find it here.

The execution of Ricky Ray Rector

2008-01-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Today is the 16th anniversary of the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a severely mentally handicapped man executed by the state of Arkansas.

There's a bit of history attendant to this execution, for several reasons. At the request of our colleague Jason, we've guest-blogged on this execution over at www.executedtoday.com

Check it out!

An interesting turn of events in Malaysia

2008-01-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

Imagine a Texan traveling abroad.

Now imagine a Texan was arrested, unfairly charged with a capital crime, convicted and sentenced to death.

Would it make Texas -- the leading execution state in the U.S. -- rethink its position on the issue of the death penalty? I don't know. But the following story, which we are posting in its entirety, hopefully will give us pause and at least allow us to view this issue in a different light:

Beijing Sentence Shakes Malaysia's Own Policy

Malaysia's unshakable stand on the death penalty appears to be wavering as
a country unites in sympathy and outrage over the plight of a young Malay
woman sentenced to death in China for allegedly acting as a drug courier.

Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, 24, a university science graduate from a poor
Malay family of rice farmers, admitted to having 2.9 kilograms in her
luggage when she was arrested at Shantou airport last January.

She told a court in southeast China during her trial in May 2007, that she
was travelling for a highly-paid job she secured over the internet. But
she was unaware what was in the bag she was carrying for a Nigerian
friend. The judge rejected her explanation and sentenced her to death, the
usual sentence for such an offence.

"She thought she was carrying important corporate documents," her mother,
Umi Ibrahim, told IPS. "We cry everyday ... what can we do? We want her to
live not die."

Most Malaysians appear to share the mother's anguish.

The case is fast-developing into an emotive national issue. Politicians
have set aside their differences to halt Lazim's execution. The ruling
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and its rival the Islamic
fundamentalist Pan Malaysian Islamic Party are even vying in their
efforts.

Both are collecting money for the family, working to arrange family visits
and promising they will save Lazim from execution.

The government is at a distinct disadvantage in the race to save Lazim.
Malaysia's punishment for drug-related crimes is as harsh, if not harsher,
than most other countries. The government supports the death penalty.

"Malaysia has suddenly woken up to the fact that ordinary Malaysians are
now caught in the same death-penalty trap that we put others in,"
Nagarajan Surendran, a human rights lawyer and executive co-director of
Malaysians Against the Death Penalty, a NGO campaigning against capital
punishment, told IPS. Trafficking in more than 200 grams of dangerous
drugs carries a death sentence.

"Today there are about 300 people on death row here, mostly for drug
offences," Surendran said. Many of the 359 people executed from 1980 to
2001 had been sentenced for drug offences.

Much national outrage is today focused on how the Chinese might eventually
end Lazim's life, although her sentence has been suspended for 2 years on
humanitarian grounds. "People are shot in their heads with rifles. It is a
horrific way for a young girl to die," said Surendran, expressing a
widely-expressed view.

The case has also suddenly brought to public attention a number of others.
There are some 30 young Malaysian women either sentenced or awaiting trial
for drug-related offences in more than a dozen countries besides China,
including Japan, Brazil and Peru. Several could be sentenced to death.

Many are university graduates lured by offers of high salaries and
opportunities to travel. Behind the tempting offers are shady front
companies run by international drug cartels.

"The syndicates are willing to throw money at the unsuspecting girls
before they make their moves," federal narcotics department director Bakri
Zinin told local newspapers in November.

The problem of young Malaysians caught ferrying drugs is already posing a
major problem for the foreign ministry. Diplomats are kept busy finding
defence lawyers, monitoring trails and making regular health and welfare
checks on the young women.

"Their fate is a major embarrassment to the government," said Ramu
Annamalai Kandasamy, a human rights lawyer representing many such clients
and death-row inmates, told IPS. "The government has to come up with a
firm policy on how to help the victims on death-row in far off countries."

Surendran's proposal is for Malaysia to introduce an immediate moratorium
on executions. This would lift the threat of execution of foreigners on
Malaysian soil. Other countries would be likely to respond in kind.

"Malaysia would get a more sympathetic hearing if it imposed a moratorium.
One good turn deserves another," he argues.

"People would understand," he adds, suggesting that the public would agree
that a change in policy over the death penalty was the most diplomatically
effective way of saving the lives of condemned Malaysians on foreign
death-rows.

A moratorium could also help secure the reduction in other harsh sentences
imposed on Malaysians by foreign courts, diplomatic sources say. Peru was
ready to reduce sentences of up to 20 years imposed on Malaysians in
return for the sparing 5 of its nationals on death-row in Malaysia, they
add.

Many opposition politicians would support a moratorium, or even total
abolition, if it could save the lives of Malaysians like Lazim.

"These girls made a mistake in their youth. They deserve to live, not to
be killed so cruelly. Imagine the pain their loved ones are going
through," said opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok.

"If Malaysia abolishes the death sentence it can stand on a higher moral
ground and ask foreign countries to spare the hangman's noose.

"It is time Malaysia complied with international standards," she added,
citing the U.N. General Assembly resolution last December calling for a
moratorium on executions. The resolution urged all states that still
maintain the death penalty "to establish a moratorium on executions with a
view to abolishing the death penalty".

(source: IPS)

NCADP 2008: Special Recognition Award

2008-01-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

Due to circumstances mostly beyond our control, we are a little tardy in posting the final award given at this year's NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream conference. We meant to post on Sunday and couldn't, and then we were travelling back to Washington, D.C. from San Jose on Monday.

But here, at last, is the final awardee. Today we honor Bill Pelke, who is the outgoing chair of the NCADP Board of Directors:

Bill Pelke
Special Recognition: Outgoing Board Chairman, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
One of the best known and most beloved leaders within abolition circles is Bill Pelke, outgoing chairman of the NCADP Board of Directors. Pelke has served on the NCADP Board of Directors since 1996 and has been board chairman since October 2004, in addition to the countless hours he has served as executive director of The Journey of Hope….From Violence to Healing.

In 2003, Pelke authored a book that mirrors his organization’s name -- Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing. The book details the May 14, 1985 murder of his grandmother Ruth Pelke, a Bible teacher, by four teenage girls. Paula Cooper who was deemed to be the ringleader was sentenced to die in the electric chair by the state of Indiana. She was fifteen-years-old at the time of the murder.

Pelke originally support the sentence of death for Cooper, but went through a spiritual transformation in 1986 after praying for love and compassion for Paula Cooper and her family. He became involved in an international crusade on Paula's behalf and in 1989 after over 2 million people from Italy signed petitions and Pope John Paul II’s request for mercy, Paula was taken off of death row and her sentence commuted to sixty years.

“The answer is love and compassion for all humanity,” Pelke says. “The death penalty has absolutely nothing to do with healing. It just continues the cycle of violence and creates more murder victims’ family members. We become what we hate. We become killers.”

Looking back on his tenure with NCADP, Pelke sees both an organization and a movement that has matured and grown more sophisticated. “The NCADP had a lot of goals and dreams when I joined the board,” he recalls. “We have seen the NCADP grow to the point where many of those dreams have become realities. The funding is much better, the work with affiliates has greatly improved, the staff has grown and continues to grow and the NCADP has taken the leadership role in the abolition movement. The movement itself has changed with the new voices of victims’ families, death row families, exonerated death row inmates and prosecutors, wardens, police chiefs and other activists being heard.”

Pelke, a retired steelworker, has dedicated his life to working for abolition of the death penalty. He shares his story of forgiveness and healing, and how he came to realize that he did not need to see someone else die in order to heal from his grandmother’s death. He also helps organize Journey tours nationally and abroad. Pelke has traveled to over forty states and ten countries with the Journey of Hope and has told his story over 5000 times.

Although Pelke relinquishes the NCADP board chairmanship this month, he by no means is walking away from abolition work. In addition to directing The Journey of Hope…From Violence to Healing, he also sits on the board of the Justice and Reconciliation Project and he hopes to be more involved with the restorative justice process in the future. “I plan to continue to walk through any open door in keeping with my commitment to God on Nov. 2, 1986 – the night my heart was touched with forgiveness for Paula Cooper,” Pelke says.

NCADP 2008: Lighting the Torch Award

2008-01-19T18:11:00.000-05:00

We continue our series of NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. The highlight of the conference is tonight, with a reception and book-signing by Mike Farrell, star of M*A*S*H and so many other programs. Following that is our awards banquet.

Today we bring you the NCADP 2008 Lighting the Torch Award, presented to the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for their resolute opposition to the death penalty.

Please check back in tomorrow as we will bring you our final 2008 awardee.

The People of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Lighting the Torch Award

Puerto Rico is not a likely candidate to be on the front lines of the struggle against the death penalty. After all, the Commonwealth first abolished the death penalty in 1929, and then followed that up by drafting a Constitution in 1952 that specifically banned the use of capital punishment – a document that was approved by the U.S. Congress.

But the Bush Administration had other plans.

Just as it has pursued death sentences in the jurisdictions that do not have the death penalty -- 13 states and Washington D.C. – the U.S. Justice Department is relying on federal statutes to aggressively pursue death sentences in Puerto Rico. Five times it has sought death sentences in the Commonwealth; five times, jurors have refused to comply. Death sentences currently are being sought in an additional three cases, and as many as 11 people awaiting trial are at risk of having their cases certified as capital punishment cases.

Still, Puerto Ricans have remained strong and have begun to aggressively organize. The Puerto Rico Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which plans to send almost a dozen delegates to NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream in San Jose, now consists of 42different groups and more than 400 individuals. The group’s coalition approach to building strength has brought in the ACLU, the Puerto Rico Bar Association, the island’s Civil Rights Commission, students from across the Commonwealth and religious leaders across the spectrum.

Because of the Commonwealth’s determination to resists the federal government’s efforts to impose the death penalty against its will, NCADP has selected the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as the joint recipient of this year’s Lighting the Torch award.

“We’re very excited about the Lighting the Torch Award and it is important for us to be in San Jose,” explains Osvaldo Burgos, an attorney and co-chair of the Puerto Rico Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Burgos notes that Puerto Rico is hardly alone in its struggle against federal efforts to impose the death penalty against the Commonwealth’s wishes. After all, states from Vermont to Michigan to Iowa to North Dakota all face similar challenges – each of these states has now seen federal death sentences handed down even though no state death penalty statutes exist. And the federal government has tried twice, unsuccessfully, to pursue death sentences in Washington, D.C., a jurisdiction also without a death penalty statute of its own.

“We want to convince people there are others facing this issue and others in the same situation we are in,” Burgos says. “We have a lot to learn from them and a lot to teach them.”

NCADP 2008: Legal Service Awardees

2008-01-18T11:58:00.000-05:00

We were unable to get online yesterday due to the crush of conference business. But today we're back with our NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. Today we recognize three recipients of the annual Legal Service Award. They are David Kendall, Elisabeth Semel and the Death Penalty Clinic of UC Berkeley and the law firm Morrison & Foerster. Descriptions are below:

Please chech back Saturday and Sunday, as we will conclude our series of NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees.

David E. Kendall, William & Connolly
Legal Service Award

David Kendall never met a civil rights challenge he didn’t like.

Whether it was defending an incumbent president against what many saw as an overly zealous prosecution by congressional Republicans set on impeachment or whether it was getting arrested in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964 while registering African Americans to vote, Kendall has earned his stripes as one of the country’s top civil rights lawyers.

Along the way, Kendall, now a partner with Williams & Connolly, has left his indelible mark on the death penalty debate. In the landmark 1977 case Coker v. Georgia, Kendall convinced the U.S. Supreme Court that capitol punishment for rape is unconstitutional. He also was involved in fighting the first two post-Gregg executions – Gary Gilmore and John Spenkelink.

Kendall opposes the death penalty but not just because of its inherent immorality. After Timothy McVeigh was executed for his role in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Kendall suggested that executing McVeigh was an insult to the surviving family members.

“I think Timothy McVeigh should have been locked up, and the key thrown away,” Kendall said. “I think that, unfortunately, to execute him – my own, personal view – will not bring any of his victims back and that somehow executing him almost trivializes the atrocities he’s committed because it suggests that there’s somehow an equivalence between what society has done to him and what he’s done.”

Indeed, Kendall’s longstanding opposition to the death penalty is based on his belief that it not only does not serve as a deterrent to crime, but it also demeans society. “I think the death penalty is kind of a barbaric atavism,” he says. “In part, it’s been preserved politically, and I regret that the Democrats, I think, are on the wrong side of the issue. It eventually will wither away. I think the death penalty is an inefficient way, a counterproductive way to try to deal with violent crime.”

The death penalty, Kendall adds, “doesn’t really have very much to do with the people being executed; it has to do with what we as society think is the right way to treat these people.”

While Kendall is among the nation’s top anti-death penalty lawyers, the trail he has blazed through the nation’s courtrooms is but a part of his legacy to the civil rights community.

He has appeared in trial courts in 22 states and has argued appeals in 6 federal courts of appeal, 7 state supreme courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been married to Anne L. Kendall, a psychologist with the Wake Kendall Group, since 1968, and they have three children. He presently works on diverse matters such as intellectual property, criminal investigations, and the Clinton Library foundation. His notable clients have included AOL, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Washington Post, the National Enquirer, and the Baltimore Orioles, among many others.

Death Penalty Clinic, University of California, Berkeley,
School of Law and Elizabeth Semel
Legal Service Award

After graduating from UC Davis School of Law, Elisabeth Semel became a deputy public defender. In 1980, she entered private practice and, in 1983, formed the firm of Semel & Feldman. Semel has defended criminal cases in the state and federal courts with an emphasis on representation at the trial level, including homicides and capital cases. In 1997, Semel left private practice to serve as the director of the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project, in Washington, D.C.

Semel joined the Boalt faculty in 2001, as the first director of the Death Penalty Clinic. In that capacity, Semel represents clients under sentence of death in states such as Alabama and California and engages in on related litigation such as amicus curiae briefs, petitions for writs of certiorari, clemency petitions, and pretrial motions in capital cases. Semel and her students have prepared amicus curiae briefs that were filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in several death penalty cases, including Miller-El v. Cockrell, Miller-El v. Dretke, and Snyder v. Louisiana (all dealing with race discrimination in jury selection).

Semel has written numerous articles about criminal defense practice, including: "The Lone Star State is Not Alone in Denying Due Process to Those Who Face Execution" (July 1999); "Racial Injustice: Work to be Done Outside the Courtroom" (June 1998); "Talk to the Media About Your Client? Think Again" in The Champion (with C. Sevilla, November 1997); "Breathing Life into Batson" (2003); "The Good, the Bad and the Evil: News from the Hill" (1997); and "Victims' Rights: New Amendment to the Federal Constitution?" in the California Criminal Defense Practice Reporter (1996). Beginning in 2003, her annual annotated summaries of cases dealing with Batson v. Kentucky (race or gender discrimination in jury selection) have been posted electronically and included in various criminal defense publications. Semel frequently provides commentary in the mainstream media on issues relating to the rights of individuals accused of crime, particularly those facing the death penalty.

Semel has received many awards, including the Distinguished Alumni Award (UC Davis School of Law, 2000), John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service (Bard College, 1997), the Marshall Stern Award for Legislative Advocacy (NACDL, 1996), the Civil Rights Award (San Diego League of Women Voters, 1995) and the E. Stanley Conant Award for Protecting the Rights of the Indigent Accused (Defender Programs of San Diego, 1982).

Morrison & Foerster
Legal Service Award

With more than 1,000 attorneys and 18 offices around the world, the San Francisco-based law firm Morrison & Foerster has a longstanding commitment to pro bono work and has helped tens of thousands of people who otherwise would have been denied access to the justice system. The firm’s efforts have focused on civil rights and civil liberty cases, children in poverty and school education issues, international human rights and political asylum, environmental issues and housing issues.

On the death penalty, Morrison & Foerster was honored by Death Penalty Focus after it was successful in having the death sentence of James Lee Spencer of Georgia overturned. Spencer was moved off of death row after he was found to be mentally ill.

Morrison & Foerster attorney Charles Patterson has worked on two notable California death penalty cases, including Manuel Babbitt and Clarence Ray Allen, And James J. Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster is the author of: the “California Death Penalty Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility Study Commission Act,” which includes a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions and the appointment of a study commission to determine the following information:

Last but not least, the firm is currently helping to incorporate “California People of Faith working against the death penalty,” making it into a non-profit.

NCADP 2008: (Co) Abolitionist of the year, part two

2008-01-16T10:18:00.000-05:00

Today, a couple of hours before we board the flight to San Jose, we bring you the latest installment in the series of NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. Today we are recognizing Natasha Minsker, death penalty policy director for the ACLU of Northern California.

Please continue to check back in as we will honor different individuals every day leading up to Saturday.

Natasha Minsker, Abolitionist of the Year

Like many in the anti-death penalty community, Natasha Minsker is an attorney whose career has traversed a bridge between public defender work and abolition work. The job title she holds today – Death Penalty Policy Director for the ACLU of Northern California – is a natural progression from the years she spent in the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office, doing everything from basic research to representing clients in all sorts of cases – misdemeanor, felony and juvenile.

While a student at Stanford Law School, Minsker first landed a job in the public defender’s office. “The very first day, they took us to watch the penalty phase of a death penalty trial,” Minsker recalls. “The woman who raised the defendant was on the stand and the defense lawyer was asking her how she would feel if the State of California executed the defendant, someone she considered her son.

“I was shocked,” Minsker continues. “I could not believe that, in our legal system, twelve random people would be asked to judge whether another human being deserves to continue living. How would they ever be able to make such a decision? I felt very immediately and profoundly that the death penalty was a blight on our legal system and that it had to do.”

The ACLU of Northern California, with more than 55,000 members, is the nation’s largest ACLU affiliate. And given the enormity of California and the size of its death row, Minsker knows she has her work cut out for her. She responds to California’s unique situation by adopting a multi-disciplinary approach – working toward abolition of the death penalty while at the same time working on reforms and other measures that would lower the rate of capital sentencing.

“There’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ to be learned from the California experience,” Minsker explains. “The ‘bad’ lesson is that slowing down the process and making the death penalty incredibly costly does not necessarily translate into public opposition to the death penalty. We have the most dysfunctional death penalty in the country, but that is not enough to convince people it is time to get rid of it. We have much more work to do to translate frustration into opposition. Hopefully, the ‘good’ lesson is that there are effective strategies for reducing use of the death penalty and moving us closer toward abolition that can be implemented locally, in any state, regardless of the political climate in the legislature.”

Minsker is also challenged by the sheer size and cultural divide that permeates California – a divide that increasingly is not defined by “northern” and “southern” California but rather by inland areas and coastal areas. “One of our greatest challenges is the incredible size of the state,” Minsker says. “We do not have the resources to work effectively in the entire state and we have much work still to do even among groups that should be open to our point of view. Thus, we are focused on building greater support in regions that are most likely to be receptive. The size of the state and the reality of referendum politics in California force us to be creative. We cannot do things the way other states do – we have to find our own ‘California’ version of abolition.”

Minsker lives in Oakland and enjoys doing yoga to stay sane and hiking with her partner David.

NCADP 2008: (Co) Abolitionist of the Year

2008-01-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

Today we continue our series honoring the NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream Awardees. Yesterday we recognized Mike Farrell; today, we are recognizing Stefanie Faucher, program manager at California-based Death Penalty Focus, an NCADP affiliate and co-host of this year's conference.

Please check back through the week as we list additional awardees each day leading up to Saturday!

Stefanie Faucher, Abolitionist of the Year

Stefanie Faucher is the program director for San Francisco-based Death Penalty Focus. Her career in anti-death penalty work has spanned nearly a decade -- since she was a student at the University of California at Berkeley, where she created and taught a class on capital punishment through the Democratic Education at Cal Program.

She is frequently interviewed and quoted by state and national media outlets, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and National Public Radio.

Faucher says she is attracted to anti-death penalty work because she believes in the principle that “with great power comes great responsibility.” “Individuals in power should do more than just enforce laws,” she says. “They should act as role models and exemplify the very best of human behavior. Their response to wrongdoing should be fair, thoughtful and tempered. The calculated, state-sponsored killing of another human being lowers society to the level of the killer by repeating the very act that we claim to abhor. It is a fundamental contradiction and I think we can do better.”

Faucher, true to her sense of humor, often references a scene from the movie Batman Begins. In the scene, Bruce Wayne is asked to execute a man who has committed murder. He refuses, responding, “I’m no executioner.” He is challenged by another character who says, “Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.” But Wayne replies, “That’s why it is so important. It separates us from them.”

“While some see compassion as a weakness, I see it as our greatest strength,” Faucher says. “I believe that all human beings are fallible and that a person is more than the very worst thing he or she has ever done. We try to label people and fit them into little boxes because it’s easier if we can think of people as either “good” or “bad,” but it’s never that simple. If we fail to provide a child with a good education, healthcare and a safe home to grow up in, we should not be surprised if that child goes on to make bad choices. As a society we reap what we sow.”

Faucher has been involved in a number of issues beyond the death penalty. Over the past fifteen years, she has mentored high-school students, cared for homeless children, and provided information about HIV, STDs and birth control to teenagers.

In her free time, Stefanie enjoys traveling around the world. She has visited more than thirty countries so far.

John Edwards and the death penalty

2008-01-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

This popped up in my email box this morning. It's from Bill Pelke, who is the outgoing chair of the NCADP Board of Directors (you'll be reading more about Bill in a few days).

I think this letter speaks for itself:

An Open letter to Senator John Edwards: January 14, 2007

Dear Senator Edwards,

I listened to you today on NPR radio. Angela, of Wichita, Kansas asked you for your thoughts on the death penalty in America and what kind of affect it would have socially on our ideals.

You stated that you have historically supported the death penalty, but that you have HUGE problems with it right now.

You mentioned race. You stated that if you are a man or woman of color in American today you are more likely to be charged with a capital offence, you are more likely to be convicted and you are more likely to get the death penalty. You said it was the reality of the criminal justice system in America today.

You also said that we have to ensure that it is impossible for us to execute somebody who is innocent.

You also said that in many cases, if we have high quality representation, it makes a huge difference in the likelihood of conviction and the likelihood of the death penalty.

You also stated you were opposed to “death qualified juries” and how it stacked the jury in favor for the prosecution, both for conviction and for the vote on the death penalty itself.

Senator Edwards, these are some of the same reasons that I have been working for a moratorium of the death penalty. If you really believe in your response to Angela then I would ask you to add “Death Penalty Moratorium” to your platform.

This would be in step with the United Nations call for worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.

I would be happy to discuss these and other reasons with you for supporting a moratorium.

Bill Pelke
Anchorage, Alaska

For NPR interview in its entirety
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18085237

NCADP 2008: Lifetime Achievement Award

2008-01-14T15:43:00.000-05:00

As noted earlier, this week we are featuring this year's crop of NCADP awardees. Today we kick off the series by recognizing Mike Farrell, recipient of this year's NCADP Lifetime Achievement Award. Special thanks to NCADP Board Member Paul O'Shea for writing this up:

When Mike Farrell steps to the podium this week to receive the NCADP Lifetime Achievement Award, he will join a distinguished group of individuals renowned for their work to abolish the death penalty.

Mike’s honor recognizes more than 30 years of passionate advocacy (including a term on NCADP’s board). Over the years his commitment to eradicating the death penalty ranges from organizing and supporting campaigns to save specific individuals, educating the public through television and radio interviews and debates, addressing forums, writing essays and newspaper op-eds, meeting with state governors and other officials, coordinating and organizing meetings, and maintaining contact with other activists and organizations. He is as hands-on an activist as there is in the movement-- all while maintaining a successful acting career and involving himself in a host of other political issues and charitable causes.

For Mike Farrell it began in the 1970s with a visit to the Tennessee State Prison on behalf of the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons. There he met death row prisoners for the first time and saw the squalid conditions that prevailed. For the next three decades he intervened in death penalty cases in states including Virginia, California, Iowa, Illinois, Utah, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Kentucky. Mike was also involved in a campaign to institute a moratorium on federal executions.

Today, Mike Farrell is president of the board of directors of Death Penalty Focus (co-sponsor of NCADP’s 2008 national conference) where he notes on the organization’s website, “Our goal is to educate our fellow citizens about the reality of the death penalty and to help propel our country to a more humane, more fair, more honorable systems of justice. As the self-proclaimed human rights leader of the world, America can do better.” A more detailed picture of his work is available on the website www.MikeFarrell.org

Many of Mike’s exploits are recorded in his entertaining and well-written autobiography, Just Call Me Mike, published last year. The book recounts the life of an activist in the cause of social justice and human rights, from his early years at Hollywood High School through serving with the Marines into the beginnings of his television and film career.

To many, Mike will always be remembered as Captain B. J. Hunnicutt of the legendary television series, M*A*S*H. He also had prominent roles in the television series’ Providence and Desperate Housewives and has written, directed and produced television and stage productions.

Please check back daily this week to see NCADP's other award winners!

The war at home

2008-01-14T15:08:00.000-05:00

We (and countless others) have warned about this.

And now, courtesy of those who brought us the preemptive invasion of Iraq, it's happening: the violence is following us home.

No, no, no -- not in the form of terrorists (or non-terrorists) attacking the U.S. on our own soil. Rather, it's murders being committed by our troops who failed to receive adequate treatment for symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

People were warned. Our government was warned. Our political leaders were warned.

Their warnings were not heeded. And this is the result:

Traumatised Veterans 'Have Killed 120 in US'

by Stephen Foley

Published on Monday, January 14, 2008 by The Independent/UK

While public anger is directed at the Pentagon for sending American soldiers
ill-prepared to fight in Iraq, an equally troubling problem is rearing its head
at home. Military veterans are returning from the war zone just as ill-prepared
for civilian life and dozens suffering from post-traumatic stress are committing
murder and manslaughter.

A new study has identified more than 120 killings committed by veterans of the
Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as psychologically troubled soldiers slip through the
net of an overextended military mental health system.

The study, which was conducted from examining local news reports, and which may
well dramatically understate the scale of the problem, suggested that killings
by military veterans have almost doubled since the start of the wars.

The stories are harrowing. About a third involve the killing of a spouse,
girlfriend or other relative, among them two-year-old Krisiauna Calaira Lewis,
whose 20-year-old father slammed her against a wall when he was recuperating
from a bombing near Fallujah that blew off his foot and damaged his brain.

Many others implicate drink and drugs, an increasing refuge for veterans
traumatised by deaths they have witnessed or caused during the
counter-insurgency led by American troops. The US government is being sued by
relatives of 25-year-old Marine Lucas Borges, who became addicted to inhaling
ether after a tour of Iraq at the beginning of the war, and who was convicted of
second degree murder for crashing his car into an vehicle while driving the
wrong way down a motorway, killing the other driver and injuring four others.

Collectively, the stories attest to the inadequacies of the US military mental
health system, which a Pentagon task force last year described as "woefully
understaffed", poorly funded and undermined by the stigma still attached to
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The disorder has been a major concern
since veterans' associations found that 15 per cent of Vietnam vets still
suffered from PTSD a decade after the conflict ended in 1975.

The study of killings by military veterans was conducted by The New York Times.
It showed an 89 percent increase - from 184 cases to 349 - in the six years
following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in the number of homicides involving
active-duty military personnel and new veterans. About three-quarters of these
cases involved Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The New York Times said its study was conservative. "This reporting most likely
uncovered only the minimum number of such cases, given that not all killings,
especially in big cities and on military bases, are reported publicly or in
detail," it added.

© 2008 The Independent

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/14/6364/

[If you follow the link to CommonDreams.org, you'll find a discussion following
this article.]

Fired up! Ready to go! NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream

2008-01-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

We're headed for San Jose this week as NCADP hosts our annual conference, NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream. The conference is co-hosted by California-based Death Penalty Focus.

This week, we'll be presenting "mini-profiles" of the people we'll be honoring at our awards banquet, which happens Saturday evening and is the conference's crowning jewel.

Each day (beginning later today) we will feature a different awardee, so stay tuned!

Spirko commuted, the band-aid approach to Ohio’s broken system continues

2008-01-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

John Spirko was commuted by Governor Strickland in Ohio. DNA fails to link him to the crime for which he was scheduled to die in a few weeks. I should note I am sure David or Abe (an Ohio native) will have more.

I also find that the lack of physical evidence linking Mr. Spirko to the above-mentioned murder, combined with the slim residual doubt about his responsibility for the murder arising from a careful scrutiny of the case record and revelations about the case over the last 20 years, makes the imposition of the death penalty in this case inappropriate.

From Mr. Spirko’s counsel:

John Spirko is an innocent man who has spent 25 very long and hard years in prison — 23 on death row — for a crime he did not commit. There can be no joy in the commutation of an innocent man’s sentence to life without parole. The positive thing about Governor Strickland’s commutation is that the State will now not execute an innocent man and that we can, and will, continue to fight for Mr. Spirko’s complete exoneration and release.

We had told Governor Strickland that Mr. Spirko was prepared to waive all his constitutional rights to allow the Van Wert County Prosecutor to again try him and seek the death penalty in a fair and honest trial — not the trial he got in 1984, filled as it was with false evidence and a false theory of the case. All Mr. Spirko has ever asked for was to be judged fairly and honestly. We all now know that there is absolutely not one shred of evidence — physical, forensic or otherwise — linking Mr. Spirko to this crime. The recent DNA and fingerprint results for which we waited more than two years confirm that Mr. Spirko was not present at the crime scenes. Objectively corroborated evidence confirms that Mr. Spirko was meeting in Toledo with his parole officer at the very time this crime was being committed in Elgin, 100 miles away.

We will continue to urge Governor Strickland and Attorney General Dann to review Mr. Spirko’s claims of actual innocence so that justice will be served by Mr. Spirko’s release from prison and by finally prosecuting those actually responsible for Mrs. Mottinger’s murder.

Congrats go out to the Pilsbury team. I should note this is the second time this week that Ohio has conceded in cases with execution dates or which have had serious execution dates that the the Buckeye system is broken by either accepting a nolo contendre plea to time served or now, a commutation.

Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation

2008-01-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

This message popped up in my email box today. Of course we are happy to pass the news along:

Host George Reiter of Thresholds will be interviewing Bill Lucero and Amy White of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation on KPFT, the Pacifica station in Houston, this Thursday, Jan 9, from from 11am to 12 noon central time. The interview, taking place in Harris County, the death penalty capital of the world, can be listened to live on http://www.kpft.org, and will be archived on that website afterward.

A distraction, not a solution

2008-01-04T16:22:00.000-05:00

We recently were pleased to see a letter to the editor published in the Kansas City Star. The letter was signed by Renny Cushing, head of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an NCADP affiliate. You can visit their blog, For Victims, Against the Death Penalty, here.

A Distraction, Not a Solution

New Jersey legislators recently voted to abolish the death penalty and New Jersey’s governor signed the legislation. As someone who has suffered the pain of losing a loved one to murder, I salute the state for its actions — and I wish Missouri would follow suit.

When my father was murdered, my family and I did not feel that an execution would give us peace. We did not believe that another killing would honor our father’s memory or the values he instilled in us. Since that time, I have met and worked closely with hundreds of other murder victims’ family members who agree that responding to one killing with another killing doesn’t help anyone.

The death penalty offers a false promise of closure to victims’ families, who are led to believe that an execution will bring relief. While families wait through the lengthy, roller-coaster appeals process, reliving our original pain again and again, the focus remains on the murderer rather than on the victims or on our own anguish as surviving family members. The death penalty is a distraction from victims’ real needs, not a solution.

Renny Cushing,
Executive director, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights
Cambridge, Mass.

A nice thought for 2008

2008-01-02T10:48:00.000-05:00

Stumbled across this short essay in the LA Times:

Falling out of love with death
Though a majority of Americans back capital punishment, surveys find growing
unease over it
By Vince Beiser
January 1, 2008

The media are abuzz over the 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that saw so
much change in this country. But one of the most extraordinary of those
changes has been almost completely forgotten: 1968 was the first year in the
history of the United States that not a single prisoner was executed. Today,
we're getting closer than we have in decades to matching that milestone...

According to Amnesty International, 133 countries have abolished the death
penalty. Last month, the United Nations voted for a worldwide moratorium on
capital punishment.

As far back as the 1960s, almost every industrialized nation had abandoned
the death penalty as a barbaric and pointless anachronism. The U.S. in 1968
was on track to do the same -- not because the Supreme Court forced it on
us, but because we as a nation had decided it was a bad idea. Support for
the death penalty hasn't always been a fact of American life. That's
something worth remembering in this new year.

Vince Beiser is a California-based writer who often writes on criminal
justice issues.

Will Alabama execute an innocent man?

2007-12-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

This excellent op-ed showed up in my email box this morning (hat tip: Esther Brown)

We have the author's permission to post it in its entirety. The author is Mary Shaw, well-known in abolitionist circles, particularly in Pennsylvania. Mary is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. You can visit her own web site here.

Will Alabama Execute an Innocent Man?

By Mary Shaw

I have written before about how we've seen more than 200 wrongfully convicted people released from U.S. prisons in recent years after proving their innocence via DNA or other evidence.

It is good that we can do this post-conviction testing, to ensure that we're punishing the right person. And, in the case of death row inmates, we certainly don't want to execute the wrong guy. Right?

Well, while most people of conscience would probably agree, Alabama Governor Bob Riley seems to have a problem with the concept.

Here is the story:

For more than 20 years, Tommy Arthur has been sitting on Alabama's death row for a crime he says he did not commit. Of course, many people in prison claim that they're innocent, and we can't just take their word for it. But those 200+ aforementioned exonerees prove that sometimes they really are telling the truth.

In Arthur's case, DNA is available that could either prove his innocence or confirm his guilt. Since last August, the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people, has repeatedly requested that Gov. Riley order the crucial DNA testing in this case. But, so far, the governor has refused.

Now why would a governor not want to order DNA testing that would either confirm that you have the right guy in custody, or else prove that you've been holding an innocent man and that the real killer might still be at large?

I couldn't imagine an answer. And so I decided to call Gov. Riley's office and get a firsthand perspective on the case.

I called several times from December 19 through December 21, and all I got was the runaround, and no returned phone calls.

On two occasions, I was transferred to a "Lisa", who is apparently the person in charge of the Tommy Arthur Case. On the third call, I was transferred instead to the Media Department.

Each time, I left a very polite voicemail message. I did want to come across as confrontational. In my messages, I said that I was a writer in Philadelphia, and that I was interested in the Tommy Arthur case, and was wondering what the next steps will be, and when, to do the DNA testing that will either prove Arthur's innocence or confirm his guilt. I left my cell phone number. And I never heard back.

Recognizing that I was calling during the holiday season, when many people take extra time off from work, I decided to call again to see if Lisa or the Media folks might be on vacation. The receptionist checked and said no, they were all at lunch. This was two days after my initial call. I left another message for each.

It has now been more than a week since my initial phone call. Either they take very long lunches in Alabama, or they don't want to talk about the Arthur case.

So:

Why in the world would Gov. Riley not want to grant the DNA testing?

And why in the world does his staff refuse to talk about it?

For those of you who want to keep up the good fight, please call Gov. Riley's office at 334-242-7100, ask for the comment line, and urge the governor to order the DNA testing for Tommy Arthur. While they might not want to hear from you, and they probably won't respond, I know from my 30 years of activism that this kind of pressure eventually wears down the bad guys in a whole lot of cases.

You've got nothing to lose, and a human life hangs in the balance.

If you think executions are expensive....

2007-12-26T23:48:00.000-05:00

In my email this afternoon I received this great reminder from NCADP affiliate KCADP:

Executions are Expensive, so is STOPPING them!!!
2007 is almost over. It is not too late to make that tax-deductible donation to KCADP.

Visit www.kcadp.org and use PayPal for a safe way to contribute or to sign up as a paying member.

To schedule a speaker for your church, synagogue, mosque, civic group, school, or other organization, write us at kcadp [at] earthlink.net and tell us what you have in mind.

It's that time of year, if you liked the results in New Jersey you'll love when they come closer to reality in YOUR state. Please considering giving to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (button in the left hand column), Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (who inspired this post), EJUSA, PADP (Penns), PFADP (NC), Maryland CASE, Catholics Against Capital Punishment, or a whole bunch of other worthy organizations listed in the left hand column.

'An absolutely ecstatic moment for civility'

2007-12-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

Looks like the video Abe kindly posted below disappeared, as YouTube videos tend to do, rather randomly sometimes.

No matter. You can see the wonderful video by going here. It's posted over at Blue Jersey. Although the piece is nine minutes long, I'd encourage everyone to watch it. I, for one, have never seen the Coliseum lit up before.

Report from Rome

2007-12-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

Jay Lassiter fron BlueJersey.com has returned from his trip to Rome, where he went to give witness to the lighting of the Colosseum in honor of ABOLITION in New Jersey, and then for a second night in a row, to honor the vote for a global death penalty moratorium at the United Nations. He gets a little emotional, but hang onto your seatbelt for this report - LIVE FROM ROME!

And in case I don't get a chance to say it before it happens, Warm Solstice Greetings and Merry Christmas to you and yours!

--abe

The editorials just keep coming

2007-12-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

Across the country, newspapers have been weighing in on New Jersey's decision to repeal the death penalty. And, although I may have missed it, I have yet to see a newspaper that has come out against New Jersey's action.

Here is an editorial that appeared today in the Anniston (Alabama) Star. I am posting it because I thought it was particularly well written:

Wise move in New Jersey
In our opinion
12-20-2007
Lawmakers in New Jersey know a broken system when they see one.
After a special commission reported that the state's death penalty cost more than sending someone to prison for life — determining that it hasn't deterred murder and that an unacceptable risk of killing an innocent person still existed — the state Legislature did the reasonable thing. It abolished the practice.

Monday morning, Gov. Jon Corzine signed it into law.

It was the first time a state had outlawed the death penalty since Iowa and West Virginia did so in 1965.

There are only eight men on death row in New Jersey and there hasn't been an execution in the state since 1983. Clearly, New Jersey bears little resemblance to other states, where putting people to death has become a matter of routine. Since 1976, Texas has executed 405 people; Alabama has executed 38.

You can bet, though, that there are a lot of other similarities — starting with broken systems. If it's broken in New Jersey, you can bet the farm is broken just about everywhere else.

We'll let the Texas editorial pages get to the heart of the problem there. As for punishment in Alabama, it is not dished out fairly, especially when it comes to the death penalty.

The quicker we come to that realization — and admit that this is as much a political issue as it is an issue of justice — the better off all of us will be.

To understand that, you need look no further than Alabama Attorney General Troy King, an overzealous prosecutor who capitalizes on the issue, demagogues it, speaks nonsense in the face of common sense, argues with the high court and charges forward with death-penalty cases even when a de facto moratorium is in place.
We also have a governor who, Lord knows why, fears to appear weak on crime.

Following closely behind these two are scores of elected judges and state legislators who feel pressure from their electorate to dispense with accused murders even as a litany of questions about the quality of the system, the possibility of DNA evidence, sound legal representation and racial and class disparities linger in the background.

Corzine and other lawmakers in New Jersey are not soft on crime, nor are they bed-wetting liberals wishing to free monsters into the streets of Trenton or Newark. They simply wish to see their state become a more just place.

Alabama and other states that still allow the death penalty would be wise to follow New Jersey's lead.

A Brighter New Jersey

2007-12-18T09:06:00.001-05:00

This morning I woke up to a brighter New Jersey, as evidenced by the headline found by my puppies as we started out for our morning stroll. That's Governor on the left and Lance on the right. Governor was so named because, 7 years ago, we needed a Governor who would listen to us. This dog still does not listen all of the time, but we have a friend in New Jersey! --abe

Governor Corzine Signs The Bill

2007-12-18T00:29:00.000-05:00

NJ Governor Signs Abolition Bill

2007-12-18T00:09:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

This morning (12/17/07) at about 10:30am, NJ Governor made it official. Here's a few snaps. Yep, I managed to get that close. Here is a photo from the Gov's web page in which you can see me taking these pictures, and here to see others from that site.

Go here to listen to the full bill signing ceremony.

"Truth Springs Up"

2007-12-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

From todays NJ Abolition Bill Signing Ceremony....

Blogger only allows so many seconds worth of video, so I'm posting Sr. Helen's comments in three sections. Here is the first one.

The Colosseum

2007-12-17T23:42:00.000-05:00

Sr. Helen announces that the Colosseum will be lit up to honor New Jersey's historic step to abolition. Click here to see an image and a brief round up of the impact of New Jersey's action thus far.

This image of the Colosseum is courtesy of Jay Lassiter of BlueJersey.com, who blew 100,000 frequent flier miles to rush to Rome and get the picture himself. Go Jay! Read an item about this in The Star Ledger.

The Dignity of the Victims Families....

2007-12-17T23:38:00.000-05:00

In this third section of Helen's brief remarks, she pays tribute to the victims families.... (with apologies for the jumpy video - it is hand held and I was being jostled by journalists....)

Happy Faces

2007-12-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

Celeste with elated public defenders....

Study Commissioners Rabbi Robert Scheinberg and Eddie Hicks, and Eddies wife Karen, the mother of their murdered daughter Jamila.

Celeste with Republican Prime Co-Sponsor Assemblyman (Senator-Elect) Kip Bateman, her husband Kelly and their daughter, Christine.

Sister Helen with Shari Silberstien.

Abe & Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ

The impact

2007-12-17T17:41:00.000-05:00

On the impact of New Jersey's death penalty repeal (audio of the repeal signing here):

Alabama. Birmingham News editorial:
If New Jersey can abolish its death penalty outright, surely Alabama can give its busy death chamber a break.
Connecticut. Courant editorial:
New Jersey is poised to become the first state in more than 30 years to repeal the death penalty. We urge Connecticut's lawmakers to join this brave if small club.
Delaware. A letter to the editor:
Kudos to the state of New Jersey for ending the barbaric practice of state-sanctioned murder. [...]
Hopefully, the now more enlightened state of Delaware Legislature will address this is issue in kind.
West Virginia Charleston Gazette:
New Jersey is joining West Virginia in abolishing the death penalty. Hurrah. We hope more states likewise end the barbaric practice of killing prisoners, as most advanced nations have done. Today, executions are performed mostly in harsh places like Texas, where former Gov. George Bush set records at putting people to death, and privately mocked a woman who was executed.
Idaho. 2News:
[exonerated Idaho death row inmate] Don [Paradis] says Idaho should follow the example of New Jersey and abolish the death penalty.
Paradis said,"Kicking the death penalty out, you're going to have some people saying we're giving into the criminals, you're not giving into criminals you're giving into being a civilized society."
Australia. Herald Sun:
So it is time now to launch a consistent and principled policy, openly and loudly advocating an end to the death penalty internationally -- even towards key trade partners such as the US and China, who also happen to be among the world's most enthusiastic executers.
At a time when New Jersey has just made itself the first American state in 40 years to abolish the death penalty, and when even Beijing is considering abolition, our new Government should seize the opportunity to make bipartisan national policy clear.

h/t Blue Jersey who has been exceptional and will later tonight be bringing video of the lighting of the Colosseum in Rome.

Just a quick update, for the record

2007-12-17T16:14:00.001-05:00

As is the case from time to time, work interferes with blogging! But it is important for the record to reflect that between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. this morning, Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation repealing New Jersey's death penalty.

Co-blogger Abe Bonowitz was on the scene and witnessed the signing ceremony. I understand that Sister Helen Prejean was there as well. Furthermore, I'm told that Europe has taken notice: Tonight in support of New Jersey's action, Rome will put light up the almost 2,000-year-old Colosseum. Once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, the Colosseum is now a symbol of the fight against the death penalty. And since 1999, the Colosseum has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted or a country abolishes capital punishment.

[Karl's note: Abe has some exceptional footage coming. I was in the back with NJADP's staff & supporters, Abe, and only he knows how, was literally 2 feet from from Gov. Corzine videotaping.]

the bigger picture

2007-12-15T18:44:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to write a short piece on why now, why New Jersey, and how NJ fits in to the larger struggle against the death penalty. Shari Silberstein of EJUSA does a better job then I ever could. In a private email, that she has been kind enough to let me excerpt below, she provides the best insight yet on why New Jersey, why now, and why this is more than just a victory for the people of New Jersey:

Every piece of evidence that the death penalty is ending -- from moratorium and abolition bills getting close in Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, Colorado, and Maryland -- to death sentences dropping in Texas -- to newspapers changing their editorial positions in Birmingham and Dallas and Chicago -- to juvenile campaigns in Missouri and Wyoming and South Dakota and Arkansas that impacted the Supreme Court -- to study commissions in Tennessee and California -- to a million other things -- every one of those developments paint a picture of a death penalty that is failing and dying everywhere. And the people in New Jersey knew it, and it mattered. A lot. This victory so very much belongs to every last one of us in this movement, unequivocally.

The best editorial cartoon, by far is here (we don't yet have rights to reproduce it).

NJ Assembly Vote Tally Board 12/13/07

2007-12-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

It all came down to this moment. As in the Senate on Monday (see Monday's post), there was that slight hesitation before the final votes were cast to push us over the line. 41 votes were needed. As you watch this 47 second video, you'll see the votes accrue, and then I pan over and zoom in to find NJADP Director Celeste Fitzgerald get a victory hug from EJUSA's Shari Silberstien and congratulations from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Diann Rust-Tierney, Murder Victim's Families for Human Rights' Vicki Schieber, and Maryland Citizens Against State Executions' Jane Henderson. Then I pan over a bit more to find NJADP Founder and newly appointed Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation Executive Director Lorry Post as he releases a relieved and joyful smile.

ALSO, you can see a clip from the post-vote press conference here.