Lethal Injection

'Emotional rollercoaster' of an executioner

2009-07-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

By JAMES ELLIS - Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Burl Cain, 67, is warden of the tough Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. Some 90 per cent of inmates die while incarcerated, thanks to the length of their sentences. Since Cain became warden in 1995, violence among inmates is down 73 per cent.

Tell us about Angola.
If you come in the front gate, go to the left and drive all the way down to the Mississippi River, over the hills and back to the front gate, you would drive 22miles (35km). This prison is as big as Manhattan. I have 5,260 inmates and the only sentences we have are rape, murder, armed robbery and habitual ‘three strikes and you’re out’ felons. Some 3,700 of them are serving life, the average sentence for the others is 93 years. This is hardcore but since I’ve been here, violence has fallen by 73 per cent. It’s not down to me, though, it’s down to God and the Bible College we set up.

How tough was taking over?
I lived 30 miles away and I would drive past at speed as there was constant unrest, bloodshed and violence. I prayed to the good Lord to help me change it. I did not want this job: anyone who took it got fired after five years. I told them they had to pay me an enormous amount of money and they did. Then I said I would take it temporarily and they said fine. After I was here a while, I had an execution to do and I did it wrong. I did not have much concern for the man. After, I looked at him dead on the table and I said: ‘What have you done to this guy?’ It caused me a lot of grief. I talked to the preacher the next morning and I realised I could do it better, that I could still have compassion and, if it has to happen, it should be done with more dignity than I allowed that man. Then I thought about the victim of the crime he committed. If one who was released went out and committed a crime again, I would have failed and that drove me on. ‘Correction’ is to correct deviant behaviour, so if I could teach inmates to read and write and have a trade and a moral component, then someone could get out of jail and make a living.

Some 90 per cent of your inmates die in prison. Once ‘corrected’, why not let them back into society?
We probably should. Prison should be a place for predators, not dying old men. But you also still have to remember the victim, they drive the wagon. If they are afraid and believe someone is going to kill again, then that is not right. But that also means we should do a better job of inmate-victim reconciliation, which is what I’m trying to work on now.

How many executions have you presided over and does it get easier?
Six and no. Here’s the deal. It’s the law of the land and I just keep the key. If I did not do it, someone else would. You run a quagmire of confusion if you try to deal with it. You have to deal with the victims, they are here at the time of the execution and they want him dead. His family is here too and they love him and want a stay of execution. You go from one side talking to the victim’s family to talking to the inmate’s. It’s an emotional roller coaster and for your own sanity you have to remember it is the law that drives it and you follow the law.

You have been accused of sanctioning one religion over others?
I am looking for morality and you tend to find that in religion, so it doesn’t matter what religion you are so long as you are a moral person. What I want you to do is be good and not hurt someone if you do get out of jail again. I am a Christian but what someone else believes in is their business.

Your favourite prison movie – Cool Hand Luke or The Shawshank Redemption?
The warden in Cool Hand Luke reminds me of me. At one point he says: ‘We have a failure to communicate,’ and that often happens in prison. I can relate to that. We want to be good but don’t forget we are doing time as well. We spoke to Burl Cain while he was in Britain as a guest speaker of Winning Entrepreneurs. www.winentrepreneurs.com

‘Strange Fruit’ describes horrors of lynchings

2009-07-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

By Dolores Cox
Harlem, N.Y.
Published Jul 3, 2009 10:12 PM
June is Black Music Month, proclaimed so by former President Jimmy Carter. In honor of Black Music Month, there was a film series showing in New York at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture based in Harlem.

One of the films, “Strange Fruit,” is the first documentary exploring the history and legacy of the famous Black singer, Billie Holiday, who popularized the song “Strange Fruit.” The song tells a dramatic story of the U.S.’s grim past. “Strange Fruit” is a protest song highlighting the thousands of rampant racist lynchings of African Americans in the South. It was originally performed by Holiday in the first integrated New York City nightclub, Cafe Society, in 1939.

The profound lyrics are: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit. Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots. Black bodies swinging in the summer breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South. The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth. Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh; and the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck. For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck. For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop. Here is the strange and bitter crop.”

“Strange Fruit” was banned from radio airways as being too radical, and turned down by record companies because they did not want to offend white Southern customers. During the many decades of terrorism against Black people by white extremists the lynchings were brought to the public’s attention by the NAACP, Black newspaper editor and activist Ida B. Wells, the Communist Party USA, union leader A. Philip Randolph and other civil rights activists. A federal anti-lynching bill was also introduced in the U.S. Congress. However, it was successfully filibustered and permanently defeated by white Southern members of Congress.

The song was published in the 1930s in “N.Y. Teacher,” a union magazine. The music and lyrics were written by a Jewish poet named Abel Meeropol. He was inspired to write it after seeing a photo of several Black men hanging from a tree with a cheering white crowd below them. He wrote it under the name of Lewis Allan.

Meeropol was a New York high school teacher, an active union member and Communist Party member. He was among the numerous people interrogated by the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy-era witch hunts.

The 2002 documentary contains file footage of the thousands of Communist Party members, unions and other activist groups who took to the streets of New York marching against racism and for workers’ rights during the 1900s. It also shows file footage of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, which revived the song. And it contains interviews of past and present human rights activists.

The songwriter died in 1968, and “Strange Fruit” was played at his funeral.

Robert and Michael Rosenberg were the adopted children of Abel Meeropol and Ann Meeropol. Their parents were Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, Jewish-American communists found guilty of providing secret atomic bomb information to the Soviet Union. They were executed in New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1953. They were the only two U.S. citizens executed for espionage during the Cold War; the case against them was built on an anti-Semitic Red Scare campaign. Despite worldwide protests against this legal lynching, President Dwight Eisenhower refused to stay their execution.

The Black historian, writer and activist Elombe Brath, in a 1995 N.Y. Amsterdam News newspaper article, described “Strange Fruit” as “Capitalism’s bitter crop.” ν

Face-to-face with death row inmates at London show

2009-07-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

By Julie Mollins

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Death row inmates depicted in oil paintings by British artist Claire Phillips, on view in London's South Bank gallery@oxo, have one thing in common.

"All are demonstrably innocent, or very probably innocent," according to Clive Stafford Smith, director of prisoners' rights organization Reprieve, which sponsors the touring five-day "Human Face of Death Row" exhibit on show at Oxo until July 5.

"They are very powerless people who face an incredible distillation of hatred resulting in society wanting them dead."

Among the paintings of three current inmates is Briton Linda Carty, who has been on death row in Texas for eight years for murdering a neighbor. Her case is in the final stage of the appeals process.

The prosecution's case was based on testimony from three people accused of the same murder who, in exchange for statements against Carty, avoided the death penalty, according to Reprieve.

The four-hour visit Phillips had with Carty was held under armed guard.

"They will be executing her soon," Phillips said of the experience.

"It's very different in each visit -- Linda just chatted away and ate the five rice krispie bars and a cherry coke I took her."

Phillips, originally from Hammersmith in London, was not permitted to take any painting tools with her when she visited the inmates, so created the portraits from memory and other sources.

The exhibition also includes images of three former death row inmates who were freed after serving prison terms, along with an executioner; a legislator who introduced lethal injection and a foreperson on a jury that convicted and sentenced a man to death who was later found to be innocent.

"All the black people are on death row and all the white people are in positions of authority," Phillips said of her portraits.

"I didn't intend to become a campaigner," she added. "As an artist I wanted to communicate their stories.

"I've achieved putting the stories together. Make your mind up -- is this system the way to go?"

Reprieve founder and lawyer Stafford Smith is also featured in one of the paintings.

Phillips selected him as a subject because she was intrigued by him as someone "who had all the advantages of a public school education and yet had chosen to ignore the attractions of wealth and materialism in order to defend the powerless and vulnerable."

Originally from the U.S., Stafford Smith has worked on getting due process for Guantanamo inmates since 2004, as well as death penalty cases.

"As much as in the old days we would sacrifice an animal to God to solve our problems, today we take the life of a human being," Stafford Smith said, adding that politics of fear and hatred fuel the urge to invoke the death penalty.

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU on the formal abolition of the death penalty in Togo

2009-07-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

The EU welcomes the unanimous decision of the National Assembly of Togo on 23 June 2009 to abolish the death penalty for all crimes and to commute existing death sentences into life sentences. We congratulate the Togolese Parliament, the Togolese Government and the Togolese people on this important decision.

The Member States of the European Union consider that the abolition of capital punishment contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. The European Union reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty. It believes that abolition by Togo is an important step towards that aim and hopes that this decision will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

Death Penalty and Mental Illness: Families of Victims Speak out at National Convention; 'Double Tragedies' Report Released

2009-07-07T19:11:00.001-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time, families of murder victims have joined with families of persons with mental illness who have been executed to speak out against the death penalty.

Double Tragedies, a report being released today at a special session on the first day of the annual convention of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), calls the death penalty "inappropriate and unwarranted" for people with severe mental disorders and "a distraction from problems within the mental health system that contributed or even directly led to tragic violence."

The report calls for treatment and prevention, not execution. It is available online at www./nami.org/doubletragedies.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in cases involving defendants with mental retardation (Atkins v. Virginia, 2002) and juvenile defendants (Roper v. Simmons 2005).

The report, a joint project of NAMI and Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights (MVFHR), is based on extensive interviews with 21 family members from 10 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

"Family opposition to the death penalty is grounded in personal tragedy," said MVFHR executive director Renny Cushing. "In the public debate about the death penalty and how to respond in the aftermath of violent crime, these are the voices that need to be heard."

"Most people with mental illness are not violent," said NAMI executive director Mike Fitzpatrick. "When violent tragedies occur they are exceptional -- because something has gone terribly wrong, usually in the mental health care system. Tragedies are compounded and all our families suffer."

The report identifies an "intersection" of family concerns and makes four basic recommendations:

Ban the death penalty for people with severe mental illnesses.
Reform the mental health care system to focus on treatment.
Recognize the needs of families of murder victims through rights to information and participation in criminal or mental health proceedings.
Families of executed persons also should be recognized as victims and given the assistance due to any victims of traumatic loss.
At least 100 people with mental illness have been put to death in the United States and hundreds more are awaiting execution.

Other resources:

www.mvfhr.org

www.nami.org

www.nami.org/grades09

Website: http://www.nami.org
Website: http://murdervictimsfamilies.org/

Brady claims confirmed in 11 circuit opinion in Derrick Smith

2009-07-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

Bill Dillon exonerated in Florida

Read the 11 circuit opinion in Derrick Smith in Florida

Lawyer Marty McClain

http://www.oranous.com/florida/DerrickSmith/Smith%2011th%20Cir%20Opinion%206-30-09.pdf

http://www.oranous.com/florida/DerrickSmith/Smith%2011th%20Cir%20Opinion%206-30-09.txt

Watch lawyer Marty McClain in oral arguments in Florida Supreme Court in John Marek

2009-07-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

Michael Conley in Broward Circuit Court

http://johnmarek.us/legal/09-1080.ram

Watch lawyer Marty McClain arguing in Florida Supreme Court in the case of John Marek

The Nation: Saving Troy Davis From Death Row

2009-07-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

by Benjamin Jealous

NPR.org, July 2, 2009 · In late May I went to Georgia, where I met with Troy Anthony Davis on Death Row. He has been there for eighteen years, and I wanted to speak with him. I came away convinced that he represents the most compelling case of innocence in decades.

This week, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether to hear the request for a writ of habeas corpus in Davis's case in September hopefully signaling a more careful review of his motion. The reality, though, is that the last time the Justices granted such a motion was 1925 and should the Supreme Court decline the request, the countdown to Davis's execution will begin. It is even more imperative that the Chatham County District Attorney, Larry Chisolm, act now to do the right thing, and move to reopen the case.

The case must be reopened for several reasons: Davis's conviction was based on the word of eyewitnesses. However, since 2001, seven of the nine witnesses recanted or contradicted their original testimony. Several said they were coerced by the police. No physical evidence was ever produced that tied Davis to the murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, a white off-duty Savannah police officer who was killed as he tried to break up a street fight. The gun used in the shooting was never found.

Second, there is abundant evidence supporting Davis's likely innocence but it has not been aired in court. Our legal system does not allow defendants the opportunity to present new evidence of their innocence after conviction. This intransigence on legal procedural matters is unconscionable when a life is on the line.

The new evidence of his innocence means Davis deserves another day in court, not execution: The prospect that an innocent man might be put to death based on faulty witness testimony, and because the court won't agree to hear evidence of his innocence, represents a tragedy of epic proportions. A wrongful execution cannot be rectified.

More than thirty years' worth of social science and criminal justice research shows that eyewitness testimonies are notoriously unreliable, according to The Innocence Project. Since 1973, a total of 133 men and women have been exonerated or had their death sentences commuted based on post-conviction findings that demonstrated their likely innocence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Adding to the sense of urgency around the Davis case, too, is the long, sour history of wrongly-accused black men receiving "rough justice" in the Deep South. Davis was convicted in Chatham County, a place where genteel traditions and picturesque antebellum mansions mask the harsher truths about the history of slavery, racism, and the Jim Crow era that is still imprinted on the region. Chatham County is home to about 250,000 of Georgia's 9.7 million residents but it has produced 40 percent of all death row exonerations in the state.

The department of corrections in Georgia has blocked television media from visiting Davis. But when I met with him on May 29, I was overwhelmed by his quiet confidence, and by the high regard with which he is held by inmates and personnel alike.

It is evident that Davis's jailers—prison guards whose faces are usually stony or a blank slate of indifference—are moved by his plight. While we talked, I saw guards who clearly had come to believe as I do—that Troy Davis has spent nearly half his life on Death Row for a crime he did not commit. Outside, as I crossed the parking-lot under a merciless sun, I chatted with a woman who said she knew of a former guard who quit his duty at that facility, rather than have to take part in marching Troy Davis to the death chamber. I share that man's sense of outrage. I've also met with Davis's sister, Marita, and her son. He is nearing adulthood, and has only known his uncle as a Death Row inmate. But Davis, a former athletic coach, has nonetheless been an effective, compassionate mentor to his only nephew.

Yet it is not only the many details of Davis's humanity that has led to a groundswell of grassroots support for a campaign to reopen the case: It is the undeniable fact that, as a nation of laws, we have an obligation to reconsider death penalty convictions when new evidence of innocence is revealed.

This is why a "strange bedfellows" group of individuals have been drawn together to fight for the reopening of his case, including former FBI Director William Sessions, Pope Benedict XVI; former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Sessions, in fact, has been quite fired up about the need for reforms in a court and criminal justice system that refuses to re-examine a death penalty case despite new evidence that may prove a defendant's innocence.

"Only a full hearing, with all witnesses subject to rigorous cross-examination and a full exploration of the circumstances of their testimony, will provide a means to determine the reliability of the conviction," Sessions wrote in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed last year. "This never happened at [Troy Davis] trial. It must happen now."

The idea that any American might be sentenced to death without being allowed a full airing of all the evidence is an outrage, and represents a blatant flouting of our nation's founding principles. The NAACP has joined with Sessions, former president Jimmy Carter; Amnesty International, and a coalition of other human and civil rights groups to raise awareness of not only just the Troy Davis case, but of the urgent need to push for reforms to the criminal justice system. At www.iamtroy.com, information is available showing why innocence matters, and how all Americans can become a part of the movement to find solutions.

I believe that Troy Davis is innocent—and that the family of the slain Savannah police officer, Mark MacPhail, deserve to see the real killer brought to justice. These two things are not mutually exclusive, and our Constitution should be strong enough to ensure that both parts of that equation are realized.

Justin Grodin case will go on for several years

2009-07-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Baby killer entitled to many appeals; competency question complicates

PAT GILLESPIE
pgillespie@news-press.com

When Justin Grodin is sentenced in August — either to life in prison or most likely to death by lethal injection if his judge follows the jury’s recommendation — it won’t create closure for the 9-year-old case.

Instead, it will signal the beginning of a new legal journey — an appeals process that will likely take more than a dozen years.

Grodin, 35, was convicted June 17 of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated child abuse in the 2000 death of his 11-month-old stepdaughter Gretchen. Last week, his jury recommended he be sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Lee Circuit Judge Edward Volz Jr. will have to make the decision, while giving the jury’s opinion “great weight.” Grodin will be in court next on Aug. 17 for a hearing where attorneys will argue to Volz, who will likely issue a written ruling explaining his decision. For Volz, this is the first time he will have to make the call.

Getting it right

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, the average stay on Death Row prior to execution is 12.3 years. In 2000, the average was nearly 14 years, according to The News-Press’ archives.

Florida and federal laws give capital murder convicts several avenues of appeal and that’s the way it should be, said Neal Dupree, the state’s capital collateral regional counsel in the south region. Capital Collateral Regional Counsel is an office akin to the public defender’s office, but created to provide representation for defendants sentenced to death during the appeals process.

“I think the courts take it seriously,” Dupree said. “There are a lot of safeguards put in place, because it’s such a serious issue.”

He said appeals are more efficient these days. Decades ago, attorneys were poorly trained to handle capital cases, less training was available and judges had less guidance and structure in making decisions. All those reasons gave attorneys a litany of issues to raise on appeal, Dupree said.

In 2000, however, the Legislature set up more stringent filing date requirements and more structured rules for judges and attorneys, which has speeded up the process, he said.

“The cases are moving much quicker,” he said. “The Legislature made that a priority over the last decade. They’ve really, really streamlined it.”

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, who is running for state attorney general, agreed the Legislature has made capital case efficiency a priority. But, cuts to the court system and an increase in defendants could leave motions sitting unresolved.

“I do think that will be a continuing issue under the budget crunch,” he said.

Aronberg, who is a member of the Florida Commission on Capital Cases and whose district includes part of Lee County, said capital cases require a balance between efficiency and fairness.

“When I speak to people in the community, they are concerned with the lengthy delays in the capital appeals process,” Aronberg said. “The goal is to do justice. You have to do it right.”

Try, try again

In Florida, defendants sentenced to death have many chances to appeal.

The first step will be Grodin getting new attorneys, courtesy of the taxpayers. They will pore through transcripts of the trial and related records.

Grodin’s attorneys will file what’s called a direct appeal, which goes to the Florida Supreme Court. The appeal is automatic and typically attacks errors made during trial, Dupree said. That process can take at least a year. The direct appeal can also be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If a direct appeal is denied, the next area a defendant can attack for relief is called a post-conviction motion. During that process, appeals attorneys will attack Grodin’s trial attorneys for mistakes they made that should result in a new trial. Those issues are decided by a circuit judge and possibly Volz, but can be taken to either the state or country’s high court.

A final appeal is a writ of habeas corpus on the federal level. It attacks the constitutionality of the trial. If all appeals are denied, the defendant can request clemency from the governor.

Ryan Wiggins, deputy communications director for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, said appeals can be dragged out for any number of reasons, including the issues raised on appeal and scheduling of the courts. Trial courts are not only dealing with cases that haven’t yet gone to trial, but also cases coming back on appeal.

Competency issue

A mentally incompetent defendant cannot be executed, which likely will be an issue raised in Grodin’s appeals. He was found incompetent to stand trial in 2005 and has been deemed competent by Volz since 2007. Doctors have disagreed about Grodin’s understanding of the court system and his attorneys have said he never contributed to his defense.

“It will definitely be an issue on appeal — whether he gets life or death,” said one of Grodin’s attorneys, J.L. “Ray” LeGrande.

Dupree said a judge during Grodin’s appeals could deem him incompetent, putting the process on hold.

“Competency is always an issue,” he said. “If a person’s incompetent, it will be brought up.”

Assistant State Attorney Anthony Kunasek said prosecutors have to balance getting a conviction with making sure it is done properly.

“The conviction doesn’t mean anything if the trial was filled with errors,” said Kunasek, who prosecuted Grodin. “You can cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s and still not anticipate an error that wasn’t intended.”

Kunasek, who has prosecuted several death penalty eligible cases, said he knows handling death penalty cases means anticipating a drawn-out process.

“If you’re dealing with capital cases and if you get a death sentence, that’s going to be a case you’re going to be dealing with for years to come,” he said.

Additional Facts
APPEAL STATUS
Joshua Nelson

He was convicted of conspiring with Keith Brennan to steal teenager’s Tommy Owens’ car in Cape Coral by luring him to a remote street on March 10, 1995. Brennan used a box cutter to slice Owens’ throat, while Nelson beat him with a baseball bat until he was dead.

• Sentenced to death on Nov. 27, 1996

• Direct appeal filed on Dec. 16, 1996

• Conviction and sentence affirmed on May 27, 1999

• Petition to U.S. Supreme Court
filed Nov. 18, 1999

• Petition denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 18, 2000

• Post-conviction motion filed on Jan. 5, 2001

• Post-conviction motion is pending

Kevin Foster

Foster was the leader of the Lords of Chaos, a group of teens whose purpose was to create disorder through criminal acts. On April 30, 1996, the group shot Riverdale High School band teacher Mark Schwebes.

• Sentenced to death on June 17, 1998

• Direct appeal filed on July 6, 1998

• Conviction and sentence affirmed on Sept. 7, 2000

• Post-conviction motion filed Sept. 27, 2001

• Post-conviction motion is pending

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fight to save Troy Davis grows

2009-07-03T19:36:00.001-07:00

Author: Joe Sims
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 07/03/09 16:12

The NAACP has initiated an “I am Troy Campaign” as part of worldwide effort to prevent the execution of Troy Davis, a 40-year-old man on death row in Georgia. Davis, who is African American, was convicted 20 years ago for the death of a white off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail.

Davis, a former coach, is viewed to be innocent by a broad coalition of including former President Jimmy Carter, the Vatican, Amnesty International, former FBI head William Sessions and conservative Bob Barr. Seven of nine witnesses in the case have recanted their testimony.

The Davis case has been twice appealed to the Supreme Court, which recently delayed deciding whether it will take it up until its fall session in September.

NAACP leader Benjamin Jealous, in a July 2 Nation article, called for both the Supreme Court and local District Attorney Larry Chisholm to do all within their power to insure that justice is served. According to Jealous, the high court agreed to consider a writ of habeas corpus in September, but noted that the last time such an appeal was granted was in 1925.

However, Davis attorney, Jason Ewart, appears hopeful, according to AP. “It’s definitely good news,” he said, interpreting the court’s inaction as a sign it wants to take a closer look at the case. “It’s not just a move buying more time.”

The Chatham County district attorney however has the power to reopen the case. Over 60,000 petitions were presented to its Savannah office demanding justice.

Jealous joined a delegation of several member of Congress, including Rep. John Lewis to visit Davis in May. Lewis is considering asking for a presidential pardon.

The NAACP head cites several reasons for reopening the case, among them, the recanting of eyewitnesses, the appearance of new evidence (not allowed consideration under current legal rules) and a history of discriminatory practices in Chatham County which is home to 40 percent of all death row exonerations in Georgia.

“This case stands out,” Jealous said during a May 29 news conference after he met with Mr. Davis. “Something's wrong in Chatham County.”

Information on the Troy Davis case can be found at www.iamtroy.com.

OUR VIEW: Postconviction DNA testing should be available whether it's a constitutional right or not

2009-06-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Posted by The Editorial Board June 27, 2009 2:01 AM

The U.S. Supreme Court says people who were wrongly convicted of old crimes have no constitutional right to the DNA testing that could prove their innocence.

The justices, in a 5-4 ruling last week, said it's not their job to say who should get DNA testing in old criminal cases. Rather, it should be up to Congress and state legislatures to make the call, and the court indicated satisfaction with what it called a "prompt and considered legislative response" on the issue.

Surely, though, the court wasn't thinking about Alabama. This past session, after years of efforts, our Legislature finally passed a postconviction DNA law, and it was one of the last states in the union to do so. (Only three states still don't have such a law. One of them, Alaska, generated the case decided by the Supreme Court.)

Moreover, the Alabama law is extremely limited by design. It allows only those convicted of capital crimes to petition for DNA testing -- and under such narrow circumstances that some experts believe it will be harder to get testing now than it was before the law passed.

In just one example, the Alabama law allows DNA testing only if the guilty party's identity was an issue at trial. That sounds perfectly reasonable on the surface. But some people who have been exonerated by DNA evidence pleaded guilty, so there was no trial, and no "question" about the identity of the perpetrator. What happens to them under Alabama's law?

Certainly, there must be a process with some restrictions, but the goal should be to make this latter-day, crime-solving method available wherever it could exonerate a wrongly convicted person -- and identify the person who got away with the crime.

Don't forget that last part, although Alabama officials sure seem to.

Like a number of their counterparts in other states, many Alabama prosecutors and law officers resist DNA testing in old cases as a matter of course. They are either so convinced they are right, or so worried at the prospect of being proved wrong, they prefer to keep a tight lid on that can of worms.

The U.S. Supreme Court could have pried open the lid for those hoping DNA will clear them of old crimes, and their refusal was a disappointment.

But all is not lost. As the justices said, the court doesn't have to make DNA testing a constitutional right for states to make it available to those who may have been convicted of crimes before the science was adapted for law enforcement.

Alabama can and should make it easier for anyone convicted of a crime involving biological evidence to have DNA tests performed. What is there to lose? If the tests confirm guilt, fine. If they prove innocence, shouldn't we want to find out?

This isn't about defendants' rights; it's about the state's responsibility to ensure that injustice doesn't stand and that justice is done.

Supreme Court Expected to Take Up Davis Case

2009-06-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

Seven of nine witnesses have recanted testimony
By AFRO Staff

(June 28, 2009) - The fate of Troy Davis now rests in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is expected this week to consider hearing the case of Davis, a Georgia man convicted 20 years ago of killing a Savannah police officer. Davis’ execution has been stayed three times as lawyers ran through options to keep him alive, but his final appeal now rests with the Supreme Court.

Davis, 40, was convicted in 1991 of killing off-duty police officer Mark Allen MacPhail, though no physical evidence at the time linked him to the murder. Since the trial, seven of the nine witnesses against Davis have recanted their testimony.

The Supreme Court will retire for its summer recess Tuesday until September. If it does not make a decision whether to take up Davis’s case, prosecutors could attempt to get a fourth execution warrant for Davis before the court re-convenes.

However, that delay may also work in the favor of Davis’ defense team, Laura Moye of Amnesty International USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“It buys more time for all of the advocates to get more publicity on the case,” Moye said.

Davis’ case has drawn international support, including from former President Jimmy Carter and the Vatican. The NAACP has launched an “I Am Troy” campaign.

In 1991, Chatham County, Georgia jurors took just two hours to decide Davis was guilty, and seven more to sentence him to death, both unanimous decisions. But an Associated Press investigation this week found that at least four have had second thoughts about their choice.

“Maybe I might have voted him guilty, but never, ever the death penalty,” Brenda Forrest, a 53-year-old research and development manager who served on the jury, told the AP. “That part is clear to me. If need be, take this thing back to trial.”

Georgia congressmen John Lewis and Hank Johnson along with NAACP President Ben Jealous met with Davis last month, and all three left the two-hour-long meeting convinced of Davis’ innocence.

Lewis said he planned to talk to leaders of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees about the case, and said he has considered seeking a presidential pardon but has not spoken to President Obama about intervening in the case.

Jealous said the case is now a national priority for the organization.

“This case stands out,” Mr. Jealous said during a May 29 news conference after he met with Mr. Davis. “Something’s wrong in Chatham County.”

Vermont to California, new laws take effect July 1

2009-06-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Vermont to California, new laws take effect July 1
By The Associated Press – 1 day ago

New laws taking effect in several states Wednesday:

Alabama:

_Makes more women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer eligible for treatment through Medicaid.

California:

_Bars schools from serving food containing transfats.

Florida:

_Relaxes schools' zero-tolerance policies by preventing children from being arrested or expelled for insignificant misbehavior such as bringing plastic butter knives to school, drawing pictures of guns or vandalizing property.

Kansas:

_Allows women seeking abortions to see ultrasound images or hear their fetus' heartbeat at least 30 minutes before the procedure.

Mississippi:

_Requires the state to pay $50,000 a year, up to $500,000, to people wrongfully convicted of crimes. The compensation must be sought within three years after the person is pardoned or the conviction is overturned.

Nevada:

_Reduces the liability of restaurants, hotel-casinos and other businesses that donate perishable foods such as bread, hot or cold dishes and leftover buffet items.

New Mexico:

_Abolishes the death penalty and replaces it with life in prison without parole.

Ohio:

_Allows the state to consider tolls to pay for major new highway construction projects.

Vermont:

_Permits prosecutors to send teenage cell phone "sexting" cases to juvenile courts to eliminate the stigma of child pornography convictions.

Wyoming:

_Specifies that the right to mine or drill for resources has legal precedence over the right to store carbon gas underground. Second law specifies that whoever injects carbon gas underground remains legally responsible for it forever.

Jurors who sentenced man to die for '91 Ga. cop killing now split over appeal

2009-06-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

GREG BLUESTEIN, RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writers

10:49 AM PDT, June 28, 2009

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Inside the jury room, seven men and five women huddled around a table to discuss a parade of witnesses in the case of an off-duty police officer shot and killed outside a fast-food restaurant.

In just two hours they found Troy Anthony Davis guilty. In another seven, they said he deserved to die. Both times they were unanimous.

Since then, Davis' attorneys have delayed his execution three times — less than 24 hours before he was to be executed, in one instance — by raising doubts about those witnesses.

Davis has drawn support from the Vatican to the European parliament, from former President Jimmy Carter to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The NAACP has launched an "I am Troy" campaign.

While the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether to hear Davis' latest appeal, one thing is clear: Those who convicted Davis in 1991 no longer agree on whether they did the right thing.

The Associated Press set out to find the 12 jurors, some of whom are speaking publicly for the first time since the verdict. In interviews or affidavits, at least four said they were having second thoughts, based on claims by Davis' attorneys that key witnesses have backed away from their court testimony. At least two others, including Raleigh W. Powers, stand by the verdict and say Davis should be executed in the killing of police officer Mark MacPhail.

"That's something that I have closed the door on. It's painful enough to make that decision," said Powers, a 78-year-old retired engineer who served as the jury foreman. "As well as I remember, he stood over this young man and shot him in the face. I wouldn't do that to an animal."

For Brenda Forrest, the decision to sentence Davis to death was agonizing — so painful that she didn't tell her husband she had served on the jury until nearly a decade after they married.

Forrest agreed to meet with Davis' lawyers when they tracked her down two years ago in Chicago, where she moved in 1999. After reading two affidavits signed by trial witnesses saying they were coerced by police, Forrest gave a signed statement of her own saying she felt Davis had been sentenced based on "incomplete and unreliable evidence."

In a lengthy interview, she said she has doubts about the testimony she heard nearly two decades ago.

"Maybe I might have voted him guilty, but never, ever the death penalty," said Forrest, a 53-year-old research and development manager. "That part is clear to me. If need be, take this thing back to trial."

Davis' attorneys say seven witnesses who testified against their client have signed affidavits disputing all or parts of their trial testimony. Others who did not testify at the trial have since said another man admitted shooting MacPhail.

Prosecutors stand by their case, saying Davis killed MacPhail, who was working as a security guard on Aug. 9, 1989. That night, the 27-year-old officer was shot twice while trying to help a homeless man who had been pistol-whipped in a nearby parking lot.

They say evidence presented at Davis' trial was solid and allegations that someone else later confessed to the slaying were inconsistent and not admissible in court. Several courts have agreed, including the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said in a 2-1 ruling in April that it was "unpersuaded" by the affidavits.

The AP sought interviews with the jurors for a clearer picture of what they remember from the 1991 trial — and where they stand on the appeal. Three of them have died. Of the seven reached by the AP, three — Curtis Wilson, John C. Smith and Theodosia Johnston — declined comment.

Two jurors, Michelle Strickland and Cynthia Quarterman, could not be reached. A current phone number and address for Strickland could not be found. Repeated phone calls to Quarterman's house rang unanswered, and there was no sign of anyone at her home when an AP reporter recently visited.

Powers, the jury foreman, cited the testimony of Harriet Murray, who told the jury she saw Davis pistol-whip her friend. And juror William Hilliard said her testimony and others helped sway jurors to sentence Davis to death.

Murray identified Davis as MacPhail's killer in a police photo lineup, and later pointed to him as the shooter in court, saying he had "a little smirky-like smile" when he pulled the trigger.

But Murray, who has since died, signed an unsworn affidavit in 2002 that gives a more vague account of the shooting and doesn't name Davis as the killer. Defense attorneys say it adds to the doubt over Davis' guilt, but prosecutors say it doesn't exclude Davis as the shooter.

Hilliard, a 64-year-old retiree who now lives in California, said he's "100 percent OK with my decision."

"The prosecution 100 percent established the fact that it was Troy Davis," Hilliard said. The jury, he added, "was really satisfied with what we had done. There were no second thoughts."

But some jurors have second-guessed their decision since then. Four of them — Forrest, Wilson, Quarterman and Isaiah Middleton — signed affidavits presented at Davis' clemency hearing before the Georgia Pardons and Paroles board in 2007.

They said questions raised by Davis' lawyers made them doubt the justness of their death sentence, and Wilson urged the sentence be commuted to life in prison.

Middleton, 74, said in his sworn statement he had "genuine concerns" about the fairness of Davis' death sentence and that "another jury should hear all of the new evidence."

In a brief phone interview, Middleton said he suffered a stroke in 2000 and couldn't recall what led him to find Davis guilty. He also said he thought the jury had been charged only with deciding whether Davis was guilty and not whether he deserved the death penalty.

"I thought they were going to give him life, I didn't think they were going to put him to death," Middleton said. "Like I said, I just couldn't make up my mind that he really did it, you know what I mean?"

Powers, Forrest and Hilliard, however, said they understood the death penalty was their decision.

During the trial, Forrest was swayed by the testimony of Dorothy Ferrell, who said she witnessed the slaying from a hotel across the street. On the witness stand, Ferrell said she was "real sure, positive sure" that Davis was the shooter.

Years later, Ferrell signed a sworn statement for Davis' lawyers that she felt pressured by police to name Davis as the shooter because she was on parole for a shoplifting conviction at the time of the trial. Forrest said reviewing Ferrell's statement weighed heavily in her decision to question their verdict.

"If I had known the young lady had issues in her past that made her susceptible to being pushed into something, I would not have put so much emphasis on what she said," Forrest said.

Davis' lead attorney, Jason Ewart, commended those who have stepped forward to change their testimony.

"The vast majority of recantations came from innocent bystanders who don't know Troy Davis from a sack of salt," Ewart said. "This is exactly why Troy Davis needs a court hearing — to set the facts straight."

Hilliard, though, said he is not persuaded by arguments Davis deserves a new trial and is proud of his fellow jurors. He said they took exhaustive notes and decided to sleep on their decision before agreeing to the death penalty. The "legitimate" witnesses, Hilliard said, have not changed their testimony.

"If a person is innocent, naturally you want to save their lives," Hilliard said. "But that's not the case here. Unfortunately, it's not. And the fact that I can say this 20 years later and I don't have any guilt about it says it all."

___

Bluestein reported this story from Atlanta.

Routier still waiting on DNA testing

2009-06-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

Tim Sampson
The Daily Times

Published June 24, 2009

Convicted child killer Darlie Lynn Routier sits on death row waiting for a new round of court-ordered DNA testing a year after the highest criminal appeals court in the state ordered that evidence be re-examined.

Her attorney says the results could substantiate Routier’s claims that an unidentified intruder murdered her two sons.

Arrested for killing her sons in their family home in Dallas in 1996, Routier was tried, convicted and sentence to death in Kerrville. More than a decade later, Routier, 38, continues to advocate her innocence from death row.

In June 2008, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled unanimously that Routier was entitled to re-testing of several pieces of forensic evidence, using more advanced methods not available during the trial.

“DNA testing has improved since those items were originally tested. So the court felt it was appropriate to order re-testing on those pieces of evidence that failed to yield a result the first time,” said Lisa Smith, an assistant district attorney in Dallas.

Following the state court’s decision, a federal judge ordered additional DNA testing of a much broader range of evidence in November 2008. But in April, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Routier funding for the federally ordered testing until after the more limited state testing was completed.

“We were trying to coordinate both sets of tests, and that is what slowed us up there for about six months,” said Stephen Cooper, a Dallas attorney representing Routier.

Cooper said state-ordered tests most likely will be conducted this summer. If those tests fail to exonerate Routier, he said they once again will seek funding for the federal testing.

In June of 1996, Routier’s sons, Damon, 5, and Devon, 6, were stabbed to death in the middle of the night. First responders arrived on scene to find Routier with several less severe knife wounds, including one across her throat, which she claimed to have received while fighting off an intruder.

Days ofer their murder, Routier was charged with the death of both children, but she was only tried and convicted in the death of Damon. Prosecutors pointed toward circumstantial evidence of the family’s sliding financial state as motivation for the killings.

Routier remains on death row at the women’s prison in Gatesville.

Since 1994, 38 individuals have been exonerated in Texas by DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project of Texas.

Dennis Skillicorn's widow reacts to the halting of Missouri executions

2009-06-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

By Nadia Pflaum in Follow That Story
Thursday, Jun. 25 2009 @ 6:30AM

Just a little over a month after the state ended the life of Dennis Skillicorn by lethal injection, executions are again on hold in Missouri. Incoming Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. told the The Associated Press yesterday that he didn't expect the Court to schedule any executions while the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals weighs an appeal on behalf of death row inmate Reginald Clemons that questions the constitutionality of Missouri's lethal injection protocol.

The stall is temporary relief for Clemons, who was next up to be executed. But the news is bittersweet for Paula Skillicorn, Dennis' widow. "While this is good news for death row families who will be spared -- at least for a while -- the deep pain and horror that our whole family is suffering, the way the Supreme Court handled this shows once again how capricious and inconsistent the system is when it comes to the death penalty," Paula wrote to The Pitch via e-mail.

The Eighth Circuit, without explanation, granted a stay of execution for Clemons on June 5. Attorneys for Clemons, who was sentenced to death as an accomplice in the 1991 murders of two sisters in St. Louis, argue that Missouri's procedures for lethal injection are insufficient.

Missouri's recent history of lethal injections is messy. In 2006, Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. halted executions in the state after Dr. Alan Doerhoff testified that his dyslexia may have caused him to mix up the dosages of the lethal chemicals he administered to dozens of condemned inmates, potentially causing excruciating pain.

To correct future errors, the Missouri Department of Corrections came up with a new lethal injection protocol, but many objectors, including Doerhoff, considered it insufficient. Clemons' attorneys filed an appeal claiming as much, then filed for a stay of execution for Clemons because the 8th Circuit had yet to rule on the pending appeal.

The sad irony for Jennifer Merrigan, Skillicorn's attorney, is that she'd asked the Missouri Supreme Court to halt her client's execution based on the exact same issue: That because Clemons' appeal was still pending in the 8th Circuit, and its outcome would affect all prisoners awaiting execution on death row, no executions should be scheduled until Clemons' appeal is decided.

"The State itself had maintained (in regard to Clemons' appeal) that prisoners who were not plaintiffs to the suit need not intervene in the suit in order to benefit from a positive ruling, because legally a good result for any of the prisoners would benefit all death row prisoners," Merrigan wrote in an e-mail to The Pitch. "In Dennis' case, however, the State turned around and argued the opposite, that Dennis had no right to benefit from the Clemons litigation."

Judge orders more DNA testing in death penalty case

2009-06-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Judge orders more DNA testing in death penalty case

Florida Supreme Court stayed David Johnston's execution in May.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-david-johnston-dna-testing062309,0,3404529.story?track=rss

Sarah Lundy Sentinel Staff Writer
5:38 PM EDT, June 23, 2009

An Orange Circuit Court judge is allowing a lab selected by the defense and another picked by the state to test evidence for DNA in the death penalty case against David Eugene Johnston, whose execution was stayed last month by the Florida Supreme Court.

Johnston was convicted of the murder of 84-year-old Mary Hammond, who was strangled and stabbed in her Orlando home in 1983. He was scheduled to die on May 27.

The Florida Supreme Court stayed the execution so DNA testing could be done. Earlier this month, a state forensic lab recommended more testing with newer technology evaluate the evidence, which included the victim's fingernail clippings. The lab also tested Johnston's shoes, socks and shorts.

Now, a lab in Ohio selected by the defense will test for DNA and a lab in Virginia will test and report back to the court their findings, according to an order signed by Orange Circuit Court Judge Bob Wattles.

Obama names Martin to federal appeals court

2009-06-22T17:41:00.001-07:00

Posted on Fri, Jun. 19, 2009

ATLANTA

President Obama on Friday nominated U.S. District Judge Beverly B. Martin of Atlanta to fill a vacant seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Martin, a former U.S. attorney in Macon, has been on the district court bench since 2000, when she was appointed by President Clinton.

If confirmed by the Senate, the 53-year-old Martin would fill a spot on the 12-member appeals court left by Judge R. Lanier Anderson III, who assumed senior status Feb. 1.

She is Obama's first appointee to the court, which hears federal appeals from Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Among the other 11 active judges, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan appointed one each, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton four a piece, and George W. Bush one, Judge William H. Pryor Jr., who was the last to be named.

Martin was one of two appeals court nominations by Obama on Friday. He also nominated Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. of New Jersey for a seat in the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia.

"Judge Greenaway and Judge Martin have distinguished themselves as first-rate jurists with unflagging integrity and evenhandedness," Obama said. "I am grateful for their service to the states of New Jersey and Georgia and look forward to adding their considerable wisdom and experience to the Third and 11th Circuit Courts."

Martin grew up in Macon, graduated from Stetson University and the University of Georgia School of Law.

After private practice in Macon, she worked for 10 years as an assistant state attorney general, then served as assistant U.S. attorney and then as the chief prosecutor in the Middle District of Georgia.

As a federal prosecutor, Martin served as the government's lead counsel in a variety of criminal matters, including drug conspiracy, firearms possession, and counterfeiting cases.

Her time on the U.S. District Court bench has been largely uncontroversial. Her rulings include one upholding Georgia's method of lethal injection for executions, in April 2008.

In February 2006, she also rejected an appeal by Wayne Williams, who was blamed in a string of child murders and disappearances in Atlanta 25 years ago, and in 2002 rejected a claim by environmental groups that state and federal agencies violated the Clean Air Act by approving metro Atlanta's $36 billion transportation plan.
© 2009 Ledger-Enquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.ledgerenquirer.com

Death penalty decisions loom for Barack Obama

2009-06-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

Death penalty decisions loom
By: Josh Gerstein
June 21, 2009 07:03 AM EST

For the first time in his career, President Barack Obama may soon confront one of the most weighty and unsavory decisions that a chief executive must make, whether to put a murder convict to death.

The decision could land on Obama’s desk within a matter of months, due to cases winding their way through the federal courts. And while Obama is on record supporting the death penalty for particularly heinous crimes, that’s a far cry from deciding whether a specific man’s life should be taken or spared.

“The death penalty in the abstract is one thing. The reality of the death penalty and all of its nasty details is a very different thing,” said Dianne Rust-Tierney of the National Coalition Against the Death Penalty. “This is something that this president is not the only one to face…..Having seen this thing in practice, you see it as a very different animal.”

Already, with little press attention or protest from the anti-death penalty camp, Attorney General Eric Holder has authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for at least four defendants since Obama took office. In all, 55 men and two women are on federal death row, death-penalty opponents say.

But the timing of Obama’s first death-penalty decision is likely to be dictated by a case pending in Washington, involving six federal death-row inmates at most imminent risk of execution. Their sentences were stayed by a federal judge, who is deciding whether to let their executions proceed, despite their challenge to federal execution protocols.

The cases involve three members of a Richmond, Va., gang sentenced to death in 1993 for drug-related murders; two men sentenced to death for abduction, sexual assault and murder of a 16-year-girl; and another man convicted of killing a prison guard. All six defendants are black.

If the stay is lifted and execution dates are set, any of the men could ask the president to step in. And clearly, death-penalty opponents hope they have a sympathetic ear in Obama, despite his support for the limited use of executions. They hope he will try to impose more safeguards in federal capital cases, and even spare some prisoners. And they note that Holder once authored a ground-breaking federal study that found racial disparities in death penalty cases.

As a state senator in Illinois, Obama pressed for death penalty reforms, including a requirement that interrogations in capital cases be audio- or videotaped. He also opposed adding gang-related crimes to those which could prompt the death penalty.

And in his book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama said he saw little evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent.

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Still, he is on record supporting the ultimate penalty for “heinous” crimes — even in some cases where it has been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. During last year’s campaign, he said he disagreed with a 5-4 decision the justices issued holding the death penalty unconstitutional in a child rape case where the child was not murdered.

“I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances, for the most egregious of crimes,” Obama said following the court’s ruling last June. “I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime, and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances, the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution.”

As president, Obama has been silent on the topic. A White House spokesman said the counsel’s office is aware of pending death penalty cases but had not started a formal policy review of how Obama might deal with them.

During the Clinton years, Holder helped oversee what he called a “very disturbing” study on racial disparities in the federal death penalty. Death penalty opponents would like to see Holder order a new study, return more autonomy for death penalty decisions to local federal prosecutors, and agree not to seek the federal death penalty in states which do not have it.

“The Attorney General is reviewing department policies across the board, including those dealing with capital cases, and has made no final determinations with respect to any new policies. As he said at his confirmation hearing, he is open to the idea of a new study,” Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. A new study would likely have the practical impact of deferring Obama’s first fateful decision on the death penalty.

But death penalty proponents say they doubt Obama will take a major stand against the death penalty as president.

“I don’t believe that Obama is going to rock the apple cart too much,” said Rusty Hubbarth of Justice for All. “The vast majority of Americans are fully in favor of capital punishment if the safeguards are there.”

One longtime opponent of the death penalty noted that all crime issues have a far lower profile now than in the 1990s – making support or opposition to the death penalty far less of a hot-button for a Democrat like Obama. “Fear of crime was one of the top issues. Now, it’s off the radar. The economy is Number 1, 2 and 3,” said Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center.

For much of President George W. Bush’s time in office, the federal death penalty was effectively halted while the Supreme Court considered cases challenging the so-called cocktail of lethal injection drugs used by most states and the federal government. In April 2008, the high court cleared away the main obstacle to further federal executions when the justices ruled, 7-2, that the lethal drugs didn’t present an unconstitutional risk of cruel and unusual punishment.

Clearing the way for a death sentence was nothing new for Bush when he took office in 2001. He presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas and three as president.

Likewise, President Bill Clinton was no stranger to what Justice Harry Blackmun once called “the machinery of death.” Clinton oversaw a total of four executions as governor of Arkansas. He famously underscored his tough-on-crime credentials by leaving the presidential campaign trail in 1992 to attend to the execution of a brain-damaged cop-killer, Ricky Ray Rector.

However, no federal inmate was executed on Clinton’s watch, after he twice postponed executions scheduled during his final months in office. .

The execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh under Bush in 2001 was the first execution in the federal system in nearly four decades.

Obama will likely be the first presidential novice to face the decision about whether to send a man to death since 1963, when President John F. Kennedy rejected a clemency request from a Michigan man sentenced to death in the federal courts for murder and kidnapping, Victor Feguer. He was hanged.

Even if the Washington cases moved forward, and the six men were cleared for execution, it could take months before it comes to Obama.

Execution dates are typically set by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at least 120 days in advance. Under federal regulations, a condemned inmate has 30 days from the notice to ask the president to commute the sentence, giving the president 90 days to mull the decision. Of course, the president can order a reprieve or commutation at any time, within or outside the official regulations.

Other cases are still in the courts.

In March, prosecutors in San Francisco said Holder “reauthorized” the request for the death penalty for a drug gang leader, Dennis Cyrus, charged with three drug-related murders. Jurors, who convicted Cyrus last month for the murders, are now considering whether to impose death. Holder also authorized seeking the death penalty for a U.S. soldier accused of war crimes in Iraq and for two inmates accused of killing a guard in a California federal prison.

In other cases, Holder has authorized plea bargains and declined the death penalty, including at least one case where Bush Administration officials were pressing for death.

More cases loom. On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York asked the Justice Department to move quickly to decide whether the government will seek the death penalty for a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner just flown into the U.S., Ahmed Ghailani, who is accused of involvement in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

And Obama will have to decide whether to pursue the death penalty in new military commissions he has proposed for war-on-terror prisoners still housed at Guantanamo.

Of course, deciding whether to grant clemency to a condemned inmate would not be the first life-or-death decision Obama has faced as commander-in-chief at a time of two wars. And in April, he authorized the use of lethal force against pirates holding a U.S. ship captain off the coast of Somalia. Three pirates were killed.

NAACP top exec says cop-killer conviction was built on 'lies'

2009-06-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Jan Skutch | Morris News Service

Friday, June 19, 2009 8:42 a.m.

SAVANNAH -- If the conviction of Troy Anthony Davis and his subsequent death sentencing resulted from "lies," then a "cop killer" has remained at large for 18 years, the top executive of the national NAACP says.

That is what occurred, asserted Benjamin Jealous, president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and it demands that Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm reopen the case.

"The interest of the state is in the truth," he told the Savannah Morning News in an interview.

Jealous was in Savannah Friday as part of "I AM TROY," a grassroots campaign and petition drive to spare Davis from execution at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison near Jackson.

The campaign is part of a nationwide initiative.

Davis, 38, was convicted and sentenced to die in 1991 for the murder of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

A litany of appeals has failed to sway various courts, although Davis has evaded execution three times.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to consider the latest challenge by attorneys for Davis.

Jealous, along with state and Savannah Branch NAACP groups, wants Chisolm to reopen the case and find the assailant who is truly guilty.

They say seven of the nine state witnesses at the original trial have recanted their testimony. Execution of Davis will mean a possibly innocent man will die, they further argue.

Central to the position taken by Jealous is the testimony of seven of the nine witnesses.

Their trial testimonies were "lies," he said.

"If Troy Davis was convicted on lies, then the truth is: A killer's on the loose," he said.

The witnesses did not just question their prior statements.

"They contradicted it," he said.

By "voluntarily" coming forward and changing their testimony, each has opened him or herself to prosecution on charges of perjury, Jealous said.

He called it reasonable to believe that if the Davis jury had heard what the witnesses say now, "Troy Davis would not have been convicted."

But Jealous said Georgia courts have not listened to calls to air the new evidence that he called compelling.

He said the questionable testimony resulted from "multiple levels of coercion" - fear of "bad actors in the community," other witnesses or fear of police, he said.

Jealous, whose family was in law enforcement, said he understands the "fraternity" among police officers and the desire for resolution when one of their own is slain.

"I don't ascribe any bad motives," he said.

From the Friday, June 19, 2009 online edition of The Augusta Chronicle

Legal stalling is packing Death Row

2009-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tom Harman

Monday, June 15, 2009

Legal executions have been the law of the land in California since the late 1800s. They were briefly abolished by the state Supreme Court in 1972 and reinstated by the voters in 1978. Yet only 13 executions have taken place in the 37 years since the death penalty was reinstated.

Executions are routinely stalled by legal maneuverings that would try the patience of Job. As a result, Death Row is bursting at the seams - 680 inmates remain there, waiting decades for their appeals to run their course.

Clearly California can't afford the dysfunctional death penalty system in place. One could argue that the endless delays and legal maneuvering by death penalty opponents contribute most to the state's death penalty costs. Nationwide, the average time from conviction to execution is 12 years. In California, it is almost 25 years. If death sentences were carried out at the pace of the rest of the nation, costs to the state would be greatly diminished. Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Klaas was kidnapped from her home during a slumber party with her friends and brutally murdered. In the time it has taken California to process Davis' appeal, Polly would have finished high school, college and been on the road to achieving her dreams. Her future was viciously cut short by Davis, yet there seems to be no end to Davis' future in our prison system. This is not right and it is not what the voters intended. It is certainly not what the families of victims should have to endure, as they wait patiently for justice to be done.

In 2008, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice issued a report stating that the death penalty system in California was failing. In California, as of 2008, 30 inmates had been on Death Row for more than 25 years, 119 for more than 20 years and 240 for more than 15 years. Is California doing something wrong? Absolutely.

Delays in obtaining legal counsel, the appeals process, court-ordered moratoriums and other stalling tactics are routine. These delays ultimately place more value on the life of a convicted criminal than on that of the victim. I believe this is unacceptable to the victims, their families and the voters.

The sad truth in California is that killers on Death Row are far more likely to die of natural causes than at the hands of the state. As the commission noted, the interminable delays that have become the hallmark of the system have weakened the death penalty's effect on deterring crime.

One thing is certain: Californians have not shied away from their support of capital punishment. Since it was reinstated, the voters have made no effort to repeal the death penalty and, in fact, have supported ballot measures such as the "three strikes" law that impose harsher punishments for violent or repeat offenders. The simple fact is that execution for those who commit the most horrible of crimes is the law.

Advocates on both sides of this debate can agree on one point - the death penalty system in California is broken and unworkable. As long as the citizens of California continue to support the death penalty, it is the job of the Legislature to fix this dysfunctional system. If lawmakers don't, then the citizens of California will do it themselves through the initiative process. As it stands now, justice isn't being served for anyone.

Tom Harman, R-Huntingdon Beach, has served in the Legislature since 2000.

Former San Quentin warden honored for speaking out against death penalty

2009-05-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Richard Halstead
Posted: 05/22/2009 06:37:40 PM PDT

During her stint as warden of San Quentin State Prison, Jeanne Woodford oversaw the execution of four death row inmates without ever discussing her personal feelings about the death penalty.

On Thursday night, however, Woodford received an award from Death Penalty Focus for her courage in speaking out against capital punishment. Woodford, who went on to serve as both director and undersecretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, began sharing her thoughts about the death penalty about a year after retiring in 2006. Others honored by the San Francisco-based nonprofit included New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former California Attorney General John Van De Kamp.

Singling out Woodford and Van De Kamp, Death Penalty Focus director Lance Lindsey said, "They're courageous because they're coming out of communities that are often associated with a knee-jerk tough-on-crime position. What they represent is a smart-on-crime position."
Woodford, 56, said she has always opposed the death penalty.

"Initially for me it was just a matter of, does this really make sense to be killing people to avenge the death of someone else?" Woodford said in an interview this week.

She said it is a debate that will never be settled.

"Some people believe in an eye for an eye, and some people don't," she said.

Woodford, who started her career as a prison guard at San Quentin, said there are more practical reasons for opposing capital punishment.

She said the death penalty is an ineffective deterrent because of the time it takes to execute condemned prisoners. She said that due to improvements in prison security, capital punishment is no longer needed to protect the public from the possibility that killers might escape. She noted that prisoners can now be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And, she said, it costs far more to execute a condemned prisoner than to keep one in prison for life.
"I just really worry about the state of California," Woodford said. "I worry about the fact that we continue to spend so much money on issues that aren't giving us any benefit. The death penalty is one of those."

Woodford said the state also can no longer afford to incarcerate nonviolent offenders or to skimp on mental health and drug treatment programs, which keep people out of prison. She said money is being wasted by sending parole violators back to state prison for minor violations.

"We're not making intelligent choices about who should be in state prison and who shouldn't," Woodford said.

During her stint as warden at San Quentin from 1999 to 2004, Woodford initiated a number of experimental programs aimed at reducing recidivism.

"We currently look back on that time with some nostalgia," said Jacques Verduin, executive director of the Insight Prison Project, a San Rafael-based nonprofit that works with San Quentin to provide rehabilitative programs.

"Jeannie was one of the first to understand that the community could play a larger role in this prison, or prisons period," Verduin said.

But Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, disputes Woodford's economic critique of capital punishment. The foundation is a public interest law organization that files friend of the court briefs to speed the implementation of executions.

"The argument assumes that the present costs are necessary and will continue and that is not a valid assumption," Scheidegger said. "The costs can be greatly reduced. The appeals don't need to last 20 years. Virginia does it in five."

In a guest editorial that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in October, Woodford recalled presiding over the execution of Robert Lee Massie. Woodford said she chose to write about Massie "because he would be the poster child for why people say we need a death penalty." Massie was originally sentenced to death in 1965, but his sentence was later commuted to life. He was paroled in 1978, murdered a liquor store owner during a robbery eight months later, pleaded guilty, and was once again sentenced to die.

Massie was one of several death row inmates who effectively volunteered to be executed by dropping their appeals, Woodford said.

"So it's really like assisting with their suicide," Woodford said. "What that ought to say to people is that permanent imprisonment isn't an easy punishment for anyone."

Contact Richard Halstead via e-mail at rhalstead@marinij.com

In the Absence of Proof

2009-05-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

By BOB HERBERT

The options are running out for Troy Davis, a man who has been condemned to death for killing a police officer in Georgia, but whose guilt is seriously in question.

It’s bad enough that we still execute people in the United States. It’s absolutely chilling that we’re willing to do it when we’re not even sure we’ve got the right person in our clutches.

Mr. Davis came within an hour of execution last fall. His relatives and his attorney, Jason Ewart, had come to the state prison to say goodbye. Mr. Davis had eaten his last meal, and Mr. Ewart was ready to witness his execution.

The mind-numbing tension was broken with a last-minute stay from the Supreme Court. The case then made its way to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, which ruled 2-to-1 last month against Mr. Davis’s petition for a hearing to examine new evidence pointing to his innocence.

The countdown to the ghoulish ritual of execution resumed.

Mr. Davis was convicted of shooting a police officer to death in the parking lot of a Burger King in Savannah, Ga., in 1989. The officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, was murdered as he went to the aid of a homeless man who was being pistol-whipped.

I’m opposed to the death penalty, but I would have a very hard time finding even the faintest glimmer of sympathy for the person who murdered that officer. The problem with taking Mr. Davis’s life in response to the murder of Officer MacPhail is the steadily growing mass of evidence that Mr. Davis was not the man who committed the murder.

Nine witnesses testified against Mr. Davis at his trial in 1991, but seven of the nine have since changed their stories. One of those seven, Dorothy Ferrell, said she was on parole when she testified and was afraid that she’d be sent back to prison if she didn’t agree to cooperate with the authorities by fingering Mr. Davis.

“I told the detective that Troy Davis was the shooter,” she said in an affidavit, “even though the truth was that I didn’t know who shot the officer.”

Another witness, Darrell Collins, who was a teenager at the time of the murder, said the police had “scared” him into falsely testifying by threatening to charge him as an accessory to the crime. He said he was told that he would go to prison and might never get out if he refused to help make the case against Mr. Davis.

This week Mr. Davis’s lawyers, led by Mr. Ewart of the Arnold & Porter law firm in Washington, filed a last-ditch, long-shot petition with the Supreme Court, asking it to intervene and allow Mr. Davis’s claims of innocence to be fully examined.

An extraordinary group of 27 former judges and prosecutors joined in an amicus brief in support of the petition. Among those who signed on were William Sessions, the former director of the F.B.I.; Larry Thompson, a U.S. attorney general from 2001-2003; the former Congressman Bob Barr, who was the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1986-1990; and Rudolph Gerber, who was an Arizona trial and court of appeals judge from 1979-2001.

The counsel of record for the amicus brief is the Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. The brief asserts that the Supreme Court should intervene “because Mr. Davis can make an extraordinary showing through new, never reviewed evidence that strongly points to his innocence, and thus his execution would violate the Constitution.”

The very idea of executing someone who may in fact be innocent should also violate the nation’s conscience. Mr. Davis is incarcerated. He’s no threat to anyone. Where’s the harm in seeking out the truth and trying to see that justice is really done?

And if the truth can’t be properly sorted out, we should be unwilling to let a human life be taken on mere surmise.

There was no physical evidence against Mr. Davis, and no murder weapon was ever found. At least three witnesses who testified against him at his trial (and a number of others who were not part of the trial) have since said that a man named Sylvester “Redd” Coles admitted to killing the police officer.

Mr. Coles, who was at the scene, and who, according to witnesses, later ditched a gun of the same caliber as the murder weapon, is one of the two witnesses who have not recanted. The other is a man who initially told investigators that he could not identify the killer. Nearly two years later, at the trial, he testified that the killer was Mr. Davis.

Officer MacPhail’s murder was a horrendous crime that cries out for justice. Killing Mr. Davis, rather than remedying that tragedy, would only compound it.

World Wide Protest for Death Row Inmate Troy Davis

2009-05-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

Thousands of people in 43 U.S. states and five continents participated in Amnesty International's "Global Day of Action," where people from all over the world protested the death sentence of Georgia man Troy Davis. The activists rallied in efforts to bring awareness and also pressure the state to overturn its decision.

Davis and his attorneys made a last ditch effort to appeal his case in the U.S. Supreme Court on May 19. He was convicted of killing a Savannah police officer 20 years ago, however new evidence has surfaced which could potentially prove Davis' innocence, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“Davis’ new evidence eviscerates the state’s case against him,” the filing said. “Despite substantial new evidence of his innocence, no court has ever held a hearing to assess the scores of new witnesses that show Mr. Davis is innocent.”

The appeal states that fulfilling the execution would be less than constitutional without a “full and fair hearing in which he could make a truly persuasive demonstration that he is actually innocent.”

A 40-year-old Davis has been situated in death row for the killing of off-duty Officer Mark Allen MacPhail. The former Army ranger was gunned down in a Burger King parking lot while was rushing to the aid of a man being pistol whipped.

Davis' case has attracted the support of Amnesty International's Jared Feuer, former president and Georgia native Jimmy Carter, Republican Congressman Bob Barr and the Pope, reports BET.com.

"This case brings front and center all the problems with our criminal justice system," Feuer said. "We’ve been astonished by how focused the courts are on finality and not on getting it right."

Feuer said he was especially drawn to this case six years ago primarily because of the
overwhelming lack of physical evidence. He added that the murder weapon was never recovered
and the case was judged on inconsistent eyewitness testimonies alone.

Since Davis’ 1991 trial, seven of nine witnesses have withdrawn their testimony and some have even gone as far to name another man - Sylvester “Redd” Coles - as the shooter. Coles was at the scene at the scene of the crime and the first person to accuse Davis in the killing.

“With Troy’s case you have three execution dates that have come and gone,” Feuer said. “That’s unusual. There have been three stays. The public attention and pressure on this case is making a difference. There have been more than half a million petitions and letters from all around the world.”

One of Davis' lawyers, Jason Ewart, said the high court is his client's last resort to prove his innocence. “This is the last court that we can go to,” Ewart said. “It’s something that’s not often granted, but we think this is an exceptional case.”

Please Ask Connecticut Governor Rell To Sign The Death Penalty Abolition Bill

2009-05-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Early this morning the Connecticut Senate voted to abolish Connecticut's death penalty. The vote was 19-17. The bill now goes to Governor Jodi Rell (R). She sounds like she will veto the bill. So, if you care about the value of human life and making Connecticut and America more just and ending the barbarism that is the death penalty, this is an important time to spend a few moments to call or email Governor Rell to ask her to sign the bill. The phone is 860.566.4840. The email: Governor.Rell@ct.gov.

Connecticut is not in the "death belt." Never has been. Connecticut has had one execution in the past 48 years. Michael Ross was executed in 2005 only after he withdrew his appeals and "volunteered" for execution, and that decision was fought as far as it could go in the Courts. Regardless, there seems to be strong support for retaining the death penalty in the Connecticut Senate among its Republican members, some Democrats in the Senate crossed over to vote against the abolition measure, and and Governor Rell has repeatedly said that she supports retention of the death penalty.

The Day reports:
The Connecticut Senate voted to abolish the death penalty early Friday morning after a marathon debate, narrowly approving a bill that would make life imprisonment without possibility of release the state’s highest criminal punishment.

The Senate approved the death penalty bill, 19-17, shortly after 4 a.m., after nearly 11 hours of debate. The same measure had previously passed in the House of Representatives, and proceeds to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who has appeared likely to veto the bill.

If signed into law, the bill would make Connecticut the 16th American state without an active death penalty statute.

The bill almost died in the Senate. "Partisan acrimony virtually derailed the workings of the chamber, as the death penalty bill ran head-on into a deliberate slow-down effort by the Senate’s 12-member Republican minority, prompted by the minority party’s anger at the management of business in the Senate." Put another way, Republicans, even Connecticut Republicans, and some Democrats, even Connecticut Democrats, cling to the barbarism and caprice that is the death penalty. "Republicans filed 26 amendments on the bill, eventually calling five, and finally withdrew their remaining amendments from consideration after securing an agreement from Williams not to force a debate on reform of the state probate courts even later into Friday morning." The final vote was 17 against abolition. That means that 5 Democrats voted against abolition. You might ask what probate reform has to do with state killing.

You'll recall that just recently New Mexico abolished its death penalty when the bill was signed by Governor Richardson. Richardson took the matter seriously, requested input, and ultimately made the correct decision. What about Governor Rell?

Well, yesterday, Governor Rell had this to say:
Meanwhile, Rell reiterated her support for the death penalty Thursday, increasing the likelihood of a veto, which supporters do not have the votes to override.

“You know how I feel about the death penalty,” the governor said. “I’ve always believed there are some crimes that are so heinous it deserves the death penalty.”

And before that she repeatedly supported of state killing. In other words, this doesn't sound good.

Please lend a hand. Please take a moment to email Governor Rell at Governor.Rell@ct.gov or call her office at 860.566.4840 and ask her please to sign the death penalty abolition bill. Do it because it's the right thing to do. Do it because we need to join virtually all of the rest of the world and stop state killing.
Etiquetas: abolition, Connecticut, death penalty, human rights

POSTED BY DAVID SETH MICHAELS AT 1:07 PM