Death Penalty

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

uzbekistan's upper house of parliament today adopted amendments to the constitution that would abolish use of the death penalty, rfe/rl's uzbek service reported...

the amendments would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment...

woot woot!

uzbekistan is the only central asian country to still execute criminals, although the country never provides figures for executions and relatives often learn of executions days or weeks after the event...

president islam karimov is credited for suggesting capital punishment be abolished in uzbekistan...

now that's leadership!

write this dude and thank him by emailing him at presidents_office@press-service.uz or prokuratura@lawyer.com or faxing him at:

His Excellency Islam Karimov
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Tashkent
Fax: +011 998 71 1395325

to check out the latest facts on abolitionist and retentionist countries from amnesty international just click here... 

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

we have written extensively about the procedural and justice-centered tragedies in the case of troy davis in georgia...now it's time for you to take 4 minutes out of your busy day, click here, and take this simple action on behalf of troy davis ... the georgia state board of pardons & paroles must hear from you if are reading this...

so far, no execution date has been set for troy davis, but with the u.s. supreme court denial of cert on monday, nothing stands in the way of a date being set now...this means a date could be set for as early as this july...

if you have any contacts with religious, political, entertainment or other figures, please ask them to send in a letter...if they are of high profile, please let us know lmoye@aiusa.org so we can keep track...for example, we have the 2 catholic bishops in georgia and desmond tutu among others who've sent letters...this helps our publicity to know who has sent a letter...in fact send this link for action to everyone you know and ask them to spend 4 minutes helping us save the life of our friend martina's brother...

again that link to take action on behalf of troy davis is here...you can find out all the information you want about troy's case by clicking here then click on the urgent action for troy on the left hand side of the page...troy's personal web site is located here...also, check out amnesty international's full report on troy's case...

thank you in advance for your time...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

yeah, yeah, yeah...just an hour a go i said give texas a day off from their being the target of our outrage over their scurrilous and pitiable use of state killing as a public policy tool...but in all fairness i was distracted by the saudi royal family's love affair with slicing living people's heads off their bodies...

excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me...

but then the u.s. supreme court came back with what, to me, was an unexpected decision...they blocked the execution of scott panetti because they said that his documented mental illness "should have been considered,"...

see, here's the thing...we have been so successful over the years at gaining categorical exclusions from eligibility for the death penalty (those identified as mentally retarded, juvenile offenders) that prosecutors have had to concentrate their lestat-like endeavors on other vulnerable subsets of our fellow human beings - like the mentally ill...and as a result the mentally ill are disproportionately represented in death row populations, even more so than the general prison population where they are disproportionately represented in relationship to the general population...

to summarize - about 5.4% of the general population suffers from serious mental illness; sixteen percent (179,200) of state prison inmates, seven percent (7,900) of federal inmates, 16 percent (96,700) of people in local jails, and 16 percent (547,800) of probationers have reported a mental illness (both sources: nami dade county); it is estimated that 25% or more of death row populations in the country represent people with serious mental illness...

now panetti's lawyers wanted the court to determine that people who cannot understand the connection between their crime and punishment because of mental illness may not be executed...

this seems reasonable enough to me insofar as the eighth amendment of the constitution - we remember the constitution don't we??? -  bars "the execution of a person who is so lacking in rational understanding that he cannot comprehend that he is being put to death because of the crime he was convicted of committing,"...but why am i pulling the 24 hour truce i called an hour ago with texas???

texas said the court should reject panetti's appeal on procedural grounds...but it also argued that the court should set a tougher standard for mental illness exceptions to capital punishment...only if a death row inmate "lacks the capacity to recognize that his punishment both is the result of his being convicted of capital murder and will cause his death" should his execution be halted, the state said...according to this line of reasoning (sic) panetti is competent to be executed...

as far as this being justice kennedy's court - absolutely...whodda thunk he would have agreed with then-justice lewis powell who said 20 years ago that a person may not be put to death if he cannot perceive "the connection between his crime and his punishment,"...

we should pay close attention to what advocates for those diagnosed with mental illness have to say on this issue...you can check out the position of the national alliance on mental illness here, the national mental health association here, and the american psychological association here...

regardless this could be a landmark case on the issue of mental illness and the death penalty...

read the summary of amnesty international's groundbreaking report on the execution of offenders diagnosed with mental illness here...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

just for today let's give texas a break...

when they discover some 20 beheaded bodies on the banks of the tigris river in iraq we have one reaction...horror...but these things tend to be relatively contextual...

don't believe me???
 
well, yesterday saudi arabia said it beheaded three men convicted of various crimes, bringing the total number of executions announced by the ultra-conservative kingdom so far this year to 101...

as in the dalmations...but we're not talking about beheading dalmations - which believe me would suck four times the weight of the world - we're talking people here people...

this is the highest number of executions since 2000, when 113 people were put to death...if you think texas is bad - now i know a little something about texas as i suffered through high school and beyond in the emotionally vacuous confines of dallas - and don't get me wrong, texas is bad, but in saudi arabia executions are usually carried out in public, which applies a strict form of sharia, or islamic law...rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug-trafficking can all carry the death penalty...

this lil' ol' middle east texas-like oil-rich kingdom has come under intense criticism from human rights groups regarding its execution policy...amnesty international (that's us), in its 2007 report, said many defendants accused of crimes that carried the death penalty complained they were not represented by lawyers and were not informed of the progress of their trial...mufleh al-kahtani, vice-president of the saudi-based national society for human rights, told agence france-presse earlier this year the increasing execution toll could be the result of wider changes in saudi society...

"Social and economic changes are bringing with them new kinds of crimes, like armed robbery by organized gangs, more cases of manslaughter and crimes which are of such concern to the public that they could lead to execution, like rape."

kahtani's organization is the first rights watchdog in the kingdom to be sanctioned by the government, in march 2004...

but unlike in texas it is possible for the condemned to have their lives spared...local newspapers have carried stories of people on death row for murder who are pardoned by the family of the slain victim...for example a saudi woman walked free in may after spending eight years behind bars for killing a male compatriot, a case which prompted the intervention of crown prince sultan bin abdul aziz...

in the end cathy henderson is not likely to be so fortunate...

such pardons are accompanied by the payment of diyya, or blood money, to the victim's family...they can also be the result of "reconciliation" involving greater compensation than stipulated by law...

many polls in the u.s. show that if restitution for the victim's family is combined with life without the possibility of parole then a majority of americans can do without the death penalty...

think about it on texas's day off from our collective outrage...but remember texas is officially a killing machine so tomorrow get right back on the bus, stand in the front, and challenge their reckless disregard for human rights...

peace out <3

A terminally ill Oklahoma death row inmate was executed yesterday after his final appeal for a reprieve was denied by the US Supreme Court.

Jimmy Dale Bland was sentenced to death for the November 14, 1996 murder of Doyle Windle Rains

Bland's attorney had asked the US Supreme Court for the execution to be blocked because the 49-year-old was terminally ill with advanced lung cancer and doctors said he had as little as 6 months to live.

The nation's highest court rejected that request.

Bland becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, and the 85th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Also he becomes the 27th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1084th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

It makes no sense to execute a man who has advanced lung cancer that has spread to his brain and hip bone and has a life expectancy of six months. The fact that he had been administered radiation and chemotherapy and that the cancer was in its advanced stages shows that he was already on the verge of death and should have been treated with compassion.

The state needs to protect the terminally ill as they are the most vulnerable in society and their life is of no less value than the life of an able bodied person.

Thomas Jefferson once said:

"The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

You can read more at http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3319056&page=1

Abolish Intern DC

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

have no fear - after a week of solitary confinement the dude is back...and wants to tell you about the 14th annual fast & vigil to abolish the death penalty at the u.s. supreme court...

june 29 is the anniversary of the 1972 furman v. georgia decision in which the u.s. supreme court (scotus) found the death penalty to be applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner...at that time, more then 600 condemned inmates had their death sentences reduced to terms of life imprisonment, and all states were forced to rewrite their death penalty laws...july 2 is the anniversary of the 1976 gregg v. georgia decision, which allowed executions to resume in the united states...the four days between these two historic anniversaries provide a natural opportunity for a demonstration of conscience on the issue of judicially-sanctioned state-sponsored killing...

the abolitionist action committee (aac) is an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action...the annual fast & vigil was started by the aac in 1994 and was attended by a handful of abolitionists from across the united states...this annual event has grown steadily, and by 1998 more than 150 people attended part or all of the event, including at least 30 individuals who fasted at the court or in solidarity with those at the court...

in 2001, more than 300 people attended the steve earle concert despite incredibly inhospitable weather and close to 40 people broke fast at the court at the end of the vigil. In 2002, fast & vigil events were curtailed by extensive and ongoing renovations to the u.s. capitol building across the street, and during the fasting in 2003, construction workers started major renovations on the supreme court building itself...

the fast & vigil takes place on the sidewalk in front of scotus, considered by many to be the heart of the legalized killing machines in this country...in addition to the strong public witness, this is an excellent opportunity to meet other abolitionists and to "recharge your batteries" while engaging in public outreach and maintaining a physical presence at the court...fasting is optional...

prisoners, activists from other countries, and abolitionists who are unable to come to washington, d.c. have fasted or held events in solidarity with the action at the court...this tradition continues to grow as well - those who participate in solidarity are asked to communicate this to the fast & vigil organizers by e-mailing aac@abolition.org or by calling 800-973-6548...

this year's kick-off will feature a press conference at noon on the 29th (this friday) featuring former florida state prison warden ron mcandrew who participated in executions, former louisiana death row prisoner moreese bickham who was removed from louisiana's death row by the 1972 furman decision, attorney marshall hartman who worked on historic furman case, death row survivors, murder victim family members, and other leaders of various anti-death penalty organizations...

 the press conference is at noon this friday on the sidewalk in front of scotus in washington, dc...you can keep up with the fast and vigil here, get the complete schedule by clicking here, monitor the event through the acc web site, and through the blog of the national coalition to abolish the death penalty...

peace out <3

Amnesty International is deeply disappointed with today's Supreme Court ruling that permits the execution of Troy Anthony Davis in Georgia. The organization maintains that evidence in his favor, which has never been heard in a courtroom, is enough to demonstrate that Davis should be granted a new hearing."

The Supreme Court decision is proof-positive that justice truly is blind -- blind to coerced and recanted testimony, blind to the lack of a murder weapon or physical evidence and blind to the extremely dubious circumstances that led to this man's conviction," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "At times there are cases that are emblematic of the dysfunctional application of justice in this country. By refusing to review serious claims of innocence, the Supreme Court has revealed catastrophic flaws in the U.S. death penalty machine."\

Troy Anthony Davis, who is African American, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark McPhail, a white police officer. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found.

The prosecution based its case on the testimony of purported "witnesses," many of whom allege police coercion. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits. One witness signed a police statement declaring that Davis was the assailant, then later said, "I did not read it because I cannot read." In another case a witness stated that the police "were telling me that I was an accessory to murder and that I would ... go to jail for a long time and I would be lucky if I ever got out, especially because a police officer got killed ... I was only 16 and was so scared of going to jail."

There are also several witnesses who have implicated another man in the murder. According to one woman, "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him ... Sylvester told me that he did shoot the officer."

Despite this, Davis' habeas corpus petition was denied by the state court on a technicality -- evidence of police coercion was "procedurally defaulted," that is, not raised earlier, so the court refused to hear it. The Georgia Supreme Court and 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals deferred to the state court and rejected Davis' claims. Today the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case and Davis is now left without any legal recourse; he could be executed within weeks. It is shocking that in more than 12 years of appeals, no court has agreed to hear evidence of police coercion or consider the recanted testimony."

It is appalling that so many judges were able to look away from such a grave breach of justice. Evidence of innocence simply hasn't mattered," said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of AIUSA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. "This should be viewed as a day of great shame for our nation, one in which the green light was given to execute a citizen who may well be innocent."

This appeared in the Columbia (SC) City Paper.

On Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. in Columbia, the people of South Carolina will kill a man. By the time you pick up this paper they may have already have done it. The minute this publication starts rolling off the press, Shawn Paul Humphries will have only one more night to live. By the time you read this, he may only have one hour, one minute, one more breath. There is, however, one person with the ability to stop this state-sanctioned killing.

Gov. Mark Sanford.

Shawn Humphries was 21-years-old when he attempted to rob a convenience store. During the attempted robbery, store clerk Mendal Alton "Dickie" Smith reached for a gun in his waistband, at which point Humphries shot him once and ran. Smith died. It was a murder. It was a terrible and morally reprehensible act. And Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m., there could or has been another, the murder of Shawn Paul Humphries as sentenced by the people of South Carolina.

Yeah, you and me. But what do you and I really know about the death penalty? Do we even talk about it? It's not the favorite Thanksgiving or holiday topic of conversation while hanging Christmas lights or during a game of charades with the family. No way.

But Thanksgiving dinner might have been a little different for Mr. Sanford this year. It would be hard for anyone who knew that within a week he would be in the position to make sure the life of another human being was either going to be ended or saved.

Especially if it's going to be the 1000th one in history since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to recommence in 1977. But it wasn't supposed to come down like this for the wayward governor of South Carolina whose been recently doggy-paddling in the opinion polls and is still reeling from the headshot by Time magazine just this month.

Governor Mark R. Warner of Virginia was supposed to be the golden ticket-holder of this thousand-mark record. But Tuesday, 24 hours before the execution was scheduled, Warner called it off.

But really who could blame him? No one would really want to be judged in public spotlight like that. Would anybody really want to be the one to drop the hammer on the thousandth person to play Rock/Paper/Scissor-Zap/injection/gas? Apparently not.

Citing inconclusive DNA evidence at the time, and illegal handling of evidence, Warner picked up the telephone and said Not here, not now.

So now, the 1000th person to be put to death by capital punishment will go to Gov. Michael Easley of North Carolina. The death is scheduled for 2 a.m., Friday Dec 2, only 16 hours before Sanford will clear away the tickertape to execute the 1001st.

But what if Easley balks and passes the ball down court? Our own governor has already killed six people in his three years in office, so this may not seem like such a big deal this time around. "Pass the sentence," for Sanford might just be as easy as "Pass the salt.

Prognostications aside, if Gov. Easley takes one for the team and kills off number 1000 no balloons will be dropping from the sky or bottle rockets exploding over the Raleigh skyline, but it will let Gov. Sanford breath a little easier. In effect, by not pardoning Kenneth Lee Boyd from his execution, Easley will be pardoning Sanford of the fast approaching blade of a media guillotine.

"Don't wait to abolish the death penalty," SueZann Bosler said during a November 28 presentation at USC's Russell House. Bosler, a self-described preacher's kid, or "PK," said her father was murdered in front of her when she was a girl. Stabbed 24 times, her father was left for dead and Bosler herself was stabbed half a dozen times and nearly killed as well. Crawling through her own blood she was able to call 911 and the attacker was caught. "I forgive him," Bosler said of the man who killed her father and punctured her brain with a knife. If alive, Bosler said, her father would echo those same sentiments. And had. Only months before his murder, Bosler said her father had uttered the chilling words during a conversation about the death penalty, which would prove to be prophetic; if he were ever killed he would not want his murderer to be put to death.

Bosler said she tried her hardest to express her avid aversion to the death penalty as unfair, barbaric and morally unethical, but the prosecution and the judge did all they could to keep her views unheard by the jurors in the courtroom.

She said she understands that people oppose her views and believe the death penalty is necessary in America - she only wants people to listen to the other side, and at least be educated on what goes on in the gory bloody political mess that is the criminal justice system and the issue of the fate and sanctity of human life. Only 17 people actually attended the event at the Russell House coordinated by Abe Bonowitz, director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP), the night Bosler spoke. Sadly, the amount of undisclosed and under-the-rug action involving South Carolina and the death penalty goes grossly underreported, somehow flying below the radar of a fickle media culture that goes into rabid bloodlust every time a white blonde teenager ends up missing from a ritzy suburban neighborhood or Michael Jackson gets indicted for playing roll the bat with a member of the Child Actor's Guild.

But this Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m., the execution in Columbia could top the 1000th in the United States and the seventh state-sanctioned killing by Sanford alone. That's one person for each mortal sin if Governor Mark Sanford, whose name and title is an anagram for "a mark of god's error," is counting.

However if Easley picks up the phone and screams for a Time Out, Sanford may be faced with the choice he didn't expect. But either way it is just a number, one or 1001, the principles still remain the same. On Friday night we get to think about the thousand people we've taken the lives of - and if it has all been worth it. But forget those people, those names; because it's not about them, it's about the principle. Some will say, "of course they were worth it." They'll say "An eye for an eye. It's justice, it's fairness. It's a deterrent to crime. It's necessary. And you'd say so too if it happened to someone you love. A tooth for a tooth." But it's not all about that either.

Capital punishment has been proven to do nothing to deter crime at all, we know this, but the most poignant and unavoidable fact of the issue remains the same: if capital punishment teaches us anything, it teaches us that killing is okay, and the only condition is who is doing the killing. It teaches us that in order to teach someone that killing is wrong, we will kill those who we think have done something wrong. And who gets to decide if the one to be killed has been in the wrong? You do. And I do.

And the 12 people deliberating in a jury do. And that's a hell of a responsibility that believe it or not you may have to face someday, especially with 70 inmates currently on death row in this state alone. "There is a moral burden of taking responsibility for ending someone's life. But that is a part of the burden of public office - putting the greater good of society above one's personal qualms and preferences," wrote William Tucker, a proponent for capital Punishment in an article called "Why The Death Penalty Works." And now it's come to that time for our elected governor of the state of South Carolina to decide what he thinks is the greatest good for all of us by giving Shawn P. Humphries his choice: Electric chair or lethal injection.

Friday, Dec. 2, while Humphries chooses between the possibility of a missed vein river of blood or a flesh searing, eye bursting, electric slow-fry, Sanford must decide whether he will go on with his day as usual or pick up the phone and make the one call he has to make to grant clemency, a reprieve.

That's the same call the governor of Virginia made 24 hours before showdown because he was not 100 percent sure that death was the answer. In the case of Shawn Humphries, a panel of the Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that the prosecutor's closing argument was improper according to a news release by CUADP.

But who knows what gods speak to Sanford in his sleep? Perhaps the same ones that sang into George W. Bush's ear while he executed a 130 people under his own state governance in Texas. Or if Sanford will chalk this next killing up as only a fraction of the amount needed to compete with his demagogue and reach the necessary number to fill just one more monument on the State House grounds.

"The governor's office has received the request for clemency. The governor's legal staff is reviewing the request, but since this case has already gone through an exhaustive legal process, the governor's office is not inclined to grant clemency," Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the governor said in a telephone interview shortly before midnight, Monday, November 28.

So we'll kill this guy. Human sacrifice is nothing new. The Aztecs threw piles of their people on the alter for slaughter in the name of their gods. And Friday we get to do the same, though a blood rotten wooden chair or sterilized cold-steel gurney doesn't seem as romantic or significant. But our country is only 200 years old - give us some time.

Right now, the Unites States is one of only 74 of the 316 countries in the world to not already abolish the death penalty because of its hypocritical and barbaric visceral core. But then again we can't truly be blamed. We're a young country that only recently ended segregation and allows torture to exist as long as it follows between the lines of the Patriot Act and the Geneva Convention. Forget about the denial of due process of law, the violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the laws, failure to deter crime, wasting of the public's resources and the epiphany that a decent and humane society does not deliberately kill human beings.

Forget about all of it.

So when will the 1000th person in the United States be put to death? "I expect probably by Thursday afternoon, midday Friday, I will know the answer," said Teresa Norris, director for the Center of Capital Punishment. "From that point on it's just, it's unimaginable to me, because at that point, once all of those answers come in and there's no hope left, basically Shawn Humphries gets to sit and watch the clock."

So as the clock counts down for this guy on death row to be killed in Columbia, or maybe if it's already happened, think about where you stand on the issue. Read a book. Listen to the stories of the many exonerated death row survivors who were proven innocent of their crime at the last minute. Think if personal emotions are enough to go on in order to decide the death of a human being when those exact emotions were used in the decision by the one who committed the crime in the first place. Think about someone being put to death for the crime of premeditated murder being killed by exactly the same crime - premeditated murder, with the only difference being who uses the knife or flips the switch.

As the call for who gets to ring the winner's bell of the 1000th state-sanctioned public killing counts down to the very last minute it seems to be creeping slowly south in that slightly familiar backward mocking tick of a reverse metronome.

Already deflected in Virginia, the burden is now on Gov. Michael Easley of North Carolina. Will he let his boy Kenneth Lee Boyd be killed Friday, December 2, at 2 a.m., or will he kick the pass over to Sanford in order bump his name back a thousand pages in the history books?

As of 6:02 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30, spokesperson for the governor of North Carolina, Sherri Johnson, said the governor was still unsure of his decision on whether he would commute the sentence of the 1000th person to be killed.

On Friday we'll know.

Call your governor and make sure he' doing his job, the job of representing you.

Friends,  

The State of Georgia has set the execution date for John Hightower for Tues June 26, 2007.  Below is a model letter to use to send to the Board of Pardons and Paroles requesting clemency.  Georgia sets some of the quickest execution dates in the country.

Please print the attached letter or copy it from the text of the email and create a letter.   Please sign, include your address, and fax to the Board using the number in the letter.  Feel free to forward this to others that may also want to send letters.  

The Board will meet on Monday June 25.  Please watch the news on June 25 and 26 to get the status of Mr. Hightower's case.   Georgians should be prepared to hold their usual vigils on June 26 if the Board of Pardons and Paroles rejects his appeal and all other appeals fail. 

The Reverend Fairy Caroland, interim director of New Hope House, will be at Jackson prison between 6 & 6:30pm. For anyone who will join her there, just let the guards at the gate know that you are against the execution, and they will direct you where to gather on the prison property. They will also search your car. Fairy will have candles and a few signs for the vigil.

Several members of John's family will be staying at New Hope House for a few days. Please keep all of them in your prayers. John has six children. His mother is in ill health & cannot be there.

Thanks for your work against the death penalty.    

June 20, 2007  

Mr. Garland Hunt
Chair State Board of Pardons and Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE
Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909  
Fax: (404) 651-5282    

Dear Chairman Hunt:  

I write to express my hope that the Board of Pardons and Paroles commute the death sentence of John Hightower, who is currently scheduled to be executed on June 26, 2007.  I believe that Mr. Hightower's case for clemency is compelling for several reasons.  

I understand that Mr. Hightower is truly remorseful for the murder of his wife and her daughters.  While in prison, he has struggled with and survived lung cancer, with the support of his family.  He is deeply aware that his actions have irreparably damaged not only the Reaves family, but his own family also.  They have suffered greatly, and I hope the Board will have mercy and compassion for Mr. Hightower and his family, and allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.   

Life without parole was not an option for the jury which sentenced Mr. Hightower to death in 1988.  Mr. Hightower suffers from organic brain damage, and his jury was never presented with this information.  His brain damage, exacerbated by alcoholism, undoubtedly contributed to his crime.  Since that time, Mr. Hightower has maintained an exemplary prison record in his nearly 20 years on death row.  He is 63, and has demonstrated that he will not be a threat to anyone if allowed to spend the rest of his life in prison.  

Additionally, Mr. Hightower was prosecuted by then-District Attorney Joseph Briley, who was later forced to resign his office in disgrace for sexually harassing female employees.  Over his tenure as district attorney, Briley was repeatedly reprimanded by the federal courts for unlawfully striking black jurors from capital juries, and for directing county commissioners to underrepresent African-Americans on juror lists in his circuit.  Briley used these illegal tactics in Mr. Hightower's case, striking six of seven black jurors.  Because of Briley=s actions, Mr. Hightower was not tried and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers, and fairness dictates his death sentence should be commuted to life without parole for this reason.  

In light of the above, I respectfully request that the Board commute John Hightower=s sentence from death to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.  

Sincerely,  

[your name and address]

The Denver Post highlighted an interesting side-act of the three-ring circus that is the Colorado death penalty last week. Colorado is a state with a continued existence of capital punishment that seems to be mainly for show. The state has only executed one person since it reinstated capital punishment, and has only one lone death row inmate. As much as we can admire Colorado's restraint, it would seem to beg the question: why keep the defunct punishment around in the first place?

This is precisely what the families of unsolved murder victims are crying out, along with increasing numbers of anti-death penalty advocates in the Centennial State, and for some reason their well-justified arguments are falling on deaf ears.

With 1,200 unsolved homicides in Colorado, with boxes of new cases being added each year, the people who have lost loved-ones to faceless villains are screaming for their shot at justice - something the hundreds of thousands of dollars being drained away from crime solving and prevention by maintaining a decrepit and rarely used punishment could really come in handy for. Find those murderers, lock them away, and ease the suffering of thousands of people, all at the cost of executing one less person every 40 years. Seems like a decent trade-off, as far as the quest for justice is concerned.

These family members are showing, quite reasonably in my opinion, that all that death penalty money is going right out the window (to the tune of over $700,000 per year), and things like a database for unsolved crimes and a unit of cold-case investigators would cost a fraction of what Colorado is paying to be part of the American death penalty club.

The Denver DA counters the $ argument with the point that the death penalty isn't about money, it's about having an extreme punishment on hand for the most severe crimes. To some residents, it seems like the state is paying unseemly amounts of money for a car they never drive.

In the end, these Coloradoans seem to be urging their government to get rid of the clown hogging all the attention in the center ring and focus on other things. But apparently some politicians have gotten a tad attached.

To read the article go to http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6126073

- PADP Intern in DC

State District Judge Tim Garcia ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in Albuquerque this week, the first judge in the state to make such a ruling.

His decision came out of a murder case against Jesus Aviles-Dominguez and Daniel Good, who are both charged with fatally beating fellow inmate Dickie Ortega to death in the Santa Fe County jail.

Judge Garcia based his opinion on the National Science Foundation's Capital Jury Project study, which collected copious amounts of jury data from 14 states. The study emphasized the impossibility of removing certain juror biases, such as racism, and Judge Garcia honed in on the study's discussion of the troubling tendency for jurors to make up their minds about the penalty before they even hear the case. That sort of bias clearly creates an arbitrary process, a situation Judge Garcia correctly recognizes as being unacceptable in a capital case, or any case really.

The judge took the bold stance even after two other district judges, Judge Quinn of Portales and Judge Don Maddox of Lovington, have recently rejected similar arguments. In New Mexico the jury decides guilt in a capital case, and then hears more testimony before deciding on the exact punishment. This "failsafe" of further testimony before the sentencing phase may be a pointless act, Judge Garcia insinuates, especially if juries have already made up their minds before they even took their seats. Why these other two judges seem to be dismissive of the possibility of human error leaking into death penalty cases is something of a mystery. I have faith in humanity as much as a person can, but even I'm not naive enough to suggest we are capable of putting on some sort of "unbiased hat" any time we're called on to deal with murderers...

The remedy Judge Garcia chose to support is that of separate juries for the trial portion and for the penalty decision, in the hopes that the biases will be mitigated with fresh ears. So he's not saying get rid of the death penalty, but he is saying what some of his colleagues have been too meek to admit: the death penalty is not fair, and is problematic in every legal step along the way.

These sorts of developments are promising, especially in a state like New Mexico, who has only executed one person, Terry Clark, in the last 45 years, and clearly values being cautious with human life, as is evidenced by their practice of holding death row inmates for decades. The only two current inmates have been waiting for a combined 17 years.

Gary Mitchell, a death penalty lawyer in New Mexico, claims that the death penalty wouldn't exist in the state at all if it weren't for the influence of their trigger-happy neighbor, Texas, who leads the country in executions. (more on New Mexico's process)

Judge Garcia stood up to other judges in pointing out one of the many flaws in the death penalty's existence, and hopefully other judges nationwide will be emboldened by his critical and realistic commentary.

New Mexico may be the next "little state that could," and with others like Judge Garcia who are not afraid to whistle blow, could get out of Texas's shadow. Go New Mexico, Go!

You can read more at  http://www.lcsun-news.com/latest/ci_6186698

- PADP Intern in DC

A man already on death row for the 1996 kidnap and murder of Michael Lyons was sentenced to death today by the Alameda County Superior Court for the 1984 rape and murder of 18-year-old Julie Connell.

Robert Rhoades, 54 whom prosecutor Angela Backers labeled "a poster boy for the death penalty", showed no visible reaction when Judge Joseph Hurley pronounced the sentence in an Oakland courtroom in the rape-slaying of Julie Connell.

Connell disappeared on April 20, 1984, after she went to a Hayward park to read a book. Her bruised body was found in an animal corral in Palomares Canyon near Castro Valley five days later.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Judge Joseph Hurley denied a motion by the defense to sentence Rhoades to life in prison without parole, saying he had destroyed lives in committing a "cold, vicious murder" that bore many similarities including the nature of the wounds inflicted to Michael's murder.

If Rhoades is to file an appeal in this case, it is likely that he may never get to know the outcome of his appeal as the procedure through which death row inmates file their appeal is normally long and he may have already been executed for the first crime.

Check out www.sfgate.com/news/crime for more information

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

talk about your ambivalence...a convicted murderer who convinces at least one juror that he is mentally retarded cannot be sentenced to death, the new jersey state supreme court ruled monday morning...

in the atkins (pictured right after his court victory) 2002 u.s. supreme court ruling the execution of mentally retarded defendants was outlawed, but left it to the states to work out their own rules for determining who is exempt...last october the new jersey state supreme court's ruled that a defendant who is found guilty of capital murder must then prove that it is more likely than not that he is retarded to have the death penalty barred as a punishment...however, the justices hadn't said what happens if some jurors are convinced while others aren't...

until this monday...enter the case of porfirio jimenez who was accused of luring 10-year-old walter valenzuela from a morristown playground to a secluded spot and trying to have sex with him on may 20, 2001...mental health experts on both sides found his iq to be slightly below 70, the threshold for when someone is considered retarded...for a finding of mental retardation, the person's mental deficit also must affect their everyday life and have existed before adulthood...

in its 4-2 ruling the court sided with jiminez's attorneys who argued that execution shouldn't be a punishment option unless all jurors reject the defendant's claim that he is mentally retarded...contrarily the prosecution contended that a defendant should have to convince all jurors that he is mentally retarded for the death penalty to be taken off the table, and that if jurors aren't unanimous, a new jury should be brought in...

the latter argument was clearly rejected...in this reading of atkins about which richard dieter, executive director of the death penalty information center said, "That's a fair way to try to protect the defendant's rights in these types of cases," the incentive for prosecutors to continue to waste taxpayers $$$ in pursuit of an archaic and ineffective response to murder is further reduced...and besides is it not a monsterish behavior to seek to kill someone whose iq hovers in that area where we currently identify a person as having mental retardation???

this ruling it seems to me, though unrelated to the current efforts to abolish the use of capital punishment as a public policy tool in new jersey, saps the last of the pitiable little winds in the sails of that state's proponents of executions...if you have a chance and some resources visit the web site of new jerseyans for alternatives to the death penalty and make a donation to help support their work...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

in misquoting shakespeare (why not misquote arguably the best - and please don't deconstruct me) there is much ado about nothing when it comes to the issue of deterrence and the death penalty...first the dude starting talking about deterrence earlier this month (check out the june archive)...then all of the sudden here comes the article with an apparent shelf-life longer than plutonium 239 from associated press writer robert tanner picked up by a slew of papers...

so editorial boards on retrograde, right-wing, reactionary members whose support of the death penalty is reminiscent of many of my fellow southerner's misplaced love for nathan bedford forrest have jumped on the titanic of pro-death penalty arguments like rats fleeing that sinking ship (who knew we could do ironic metaphor here)...

only one problem - the studies cited in the story are flawed, their methodology critiqued since the 70's (along with much of that decade's really scary clothing fashions) and the punchline - there is no legitimate statistical evidence of deterrence - none, zippo, zilch, null, nix, aught, nill, an absence of...well you get my point...

but this is about a shout out to the best blog on the subject yet found by the dude - written by cassy stubbs and published on the huffington post yesterday...not only does stubbs succinctly address the issue in layperson's language but she points out that the data suggests, if anything, that executions actually INCREASE murder rates...

John Donohue, Yale Law School professor and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Justin Wolfers, Wharton School of Business professor and Research Affiliate at the NBER, analyzed the same data used in the Emory and Denver studies, as well as other studies by the same researchers and many other nationwide reports. They found that if anything, executions increase homicides, concluding: "The view that the death penalty deters is still the product of belief, not evidence ... On balance, the evidence suggests that the death penalty may increase the murder rate."

you owe it to yourself to check out stubbs' blog post and help us stop beating up on this poor dead horse and join me in giving a big ol' southern S-A-L-U-T-E to cassy stubbs...she rocks!

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

we all know the terrible and swift "justice of the sword" that characterizes the state of texas and its seemingly personal attachment to and love of capital punishment as a public policy tool...at 394 and rising with a bullet texas has excited 4 times as many people since 1976 as its closest challenger, virginia, which has executed 98 people in the same time period...thank god virginia never adopted the old avis rental car slogan - we're #2 - we try harder...nobody tries as hard as texas...

but a weekend piece by the san antonio express-news argues that the recent run of death penalty cases where the state's highest court ruled in favor of the condemned may reflect a shift to more studied review of its death penalty cases...twice last month and again twice last week the court, on a very narrow 5-4 margin, ruled in favor of the appellants including cathy henderson whose case you've kept abreast of here, here, and elsewhere on this blog...

the article speculates that the court's willingness to reconsider so many death sentences in such a short span is a direct response to the exacting scrutiny and repeated criticisms that the u.s. supreme court has aimed at texas' handling of capital cases...

most striking to the dude was the ruling in the case of kenisha berry, a mother who smothered her 4-day-old infant, disposed of his body in a trash bin and then, five years later, abandoned another newborn in a ditch...the court concluding that berry posed a danger only to her own children, the majority found that prosecutors failed to prove that execution - rather than life imprisonment - was necessary to neutralize her threat...

if i didn't know better that almost sounds like, uh, wisdom...well i'll be danged y'all...

to read the case for this seeming shift by the texas supreme court stemming from a slew of criticisms for the u.s. supreme court check ou the full article here...

any good news out of texas that slows down the express train to death is pretty good news...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

lest you thought it was only the us of a that we blog about at the program to abolish the death penalty remember we've blogged recently about some scurrilous dude in the bahamas wanting to return to the day of hangings, thailand taking a step that creates space for abolition activity, and rwanda, site of the 1994 genocide that shocked the world (just not bill clinton), and now we're talking tunisia...

that's right - tunisia...

at a press conference thursday morning (june 14th), a gathering of tunisian associations announced the creation of the tunisian national coalition for abolition of the death penalty, with numerous western diplomats in attendance...habib marsit, president of the tunisian branch of amnesty international, said,

"The creation of this national coalition comes within the framework of an international alliance launched after the convening of the Paris Conference at the beginning of last February, which recommended focusing, in particular, on China and the Middle East region, which witness the highest percentage of executions."

the alliance encompasses seven ngos, including amnesty international's tunisia branch, the tunisian league for the defence of human rights, the democratic women's association, the tunisian journalists' association, the arab institute for human rights, the tunisian women's research and development association, and the federation of cinema clubs, in addition to more than a hundred tunisian national figures known for their defence of human rights, including lawyers, filmmakers, media figures and former ministers...

the federation of cinema clubs??? rock on cinema club owners!

for a full accounting of this story check out the magharebia...oddly the magharebia web site is sponsored by the us european command, the joint military command responsible for us operations in europe, africa and the mediterranean basin...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

seriously, who knew???

i mean setting aside the emotional context surrounding the death penalty how many heads of state do we have in these united states who actually believe that before the state exercises the most solemn power granted to it by its citizens that every constitutional avenue of appeal should be played out in its entirety???

i'm guessing 2...maybe 3 out 50 (okay, so 12 or so are let off the hook by virtue of their leading abolition states)...

and i'm hinting that tim kaine in virginia may be one of them...now this is no small feat because virginia loves to kill em' up some people for dinner (executions over yonder take place just in time to serve a late supper don't you know)...and they're efficient at it too!...they have killed 98 people since reinstatement and they only got 20 people sittin' over there in waverly waiting for the maker as it were...

so when governor kaine stopped the execution of christopher emmett just a couple of hours before he was scheduled to get injected it was a bit of a surprise...at approximately 7 pm eastern governor kaine said,

"Basic fairness demands that condemned inmates be allowed the opportunity to complete legal appeals prior to execution,"...

jeez louise that sounds so gosh darned reasonable...i'm just not used to such acknowledgements from elected officials that fairness is an actual american virtue...you see, emmett filed a writ of certiorari with the united states supreme court seeking review of his conviction and sentence, as well as a motion to stay his execution...the court denied the stay but it has yet to consider whether to grant the writ of certiorari...four justices had voted in favor of the stay and under the court's rul