Regarding Kenneth Foster Jr.

This blog entry, found over at the Huffington Post, certainly speaks for itself:

Kenneth Foster, Jr.: An Innocent Man Texas Will Soon Execute
By Sean-Paul Kelley
Get to know this name: Kenneth Foster, Jr. You are going to be hearing a lot of it the next 30 days because I have a personal stake in this matter.

You see, one night in August 1996 one of my best friends, Michael LaHood, was murdered by Mauriceo Brown. And Kenneth Foster, Jr. was driving for Mauriceo that night. I don't know what the circumstances of Kenneth's involvement were beyond the fact that he was still in the car when Mauriceo pulled the trigger that sent a bullet through my friend's brain, ending his life immediately.

Was he being forced to drive? Or was he along for the ride? I don't care. Kenneth deserves and is receiving punishment for his role in the tragedy that occurred that night. But whatever punishment Kenneth does deserve for his role in my friend's cruel murder, execution should not ever have been (or be) an option. He did not pull the trigger, or encourage Mr. Brown to pull it in any way, nor was he even aware that the murder was being contemplated or had been committed until after the fact. His punishment should not be execution.

But we are in Texas and in Texas, barbaric laws prevail, like something out of Beowulf or the Old Testament or Reservoir Dogs -- one of the very few movies I could not watch to the end for its unspeakable cruelty. Never mind that we are in the 21st century. Never mind that we are supposed to be modern.

I miss Michael, my dear friend, whom I nicknamed 'Chainsaw.' He was a big, musclebound, softhearted jabber-mouth, always talking and always cracking jokes. Mike was full of life. And although he was a body builder I never saw him angry and I never saw him so much as hurt anyone. His joy was infectious -- everyone wanted to hang out with Mike and the ladies loved him, although he didn't quite have the confidence to take advantage of it (yet). Why he chose a long-haired, poetry writing, guitar playing miscreant and reformed pothead/high school dropout like myself I will never know. But I loved him dearly. The only time I ever cheated in college or university was for Mike. He hated poetry and asked if he could use one of my poems for his Freshman Comp? How could I say no?

I still remember eating chicken fried steak with him and D-Day -- the third and most successful leg of our triumviral friendship -- at Maggies at 3 a.m. after clubbing, back when the three of us attended the local junior college, were obsessed with the opposite sex but too stupid to realize they were just as obsessed with us as we were with them. God, how I'd give anything to have him back. Thinking of him brings a tear to my eyes even now. What makes it worse is that I'd returned from living out of the country a few months before he was killed. A new career kept me busy. We kept postponing getting together. My last words to Mike -- two weeks before he was murdered -- were a cliché for all clichés: "We'll do it next weekend, buddy, we've got all the time in the world." I couldn't hear the clock ticking. I wish I'd listened closer.

And for that I hated Mauriceo and his gang even more, and for a long time. But the execution of a young man who didn't even kill Mike? That's not justice. It's senseless vengeance, a barbarism cloaked in the black robes of justice.

Never knowing that a friend of one of the men involved in Mike's murder might reach out to me for help I wrote this two years ago about the death penalty:

Whenever people ask me about the death penalty I always reply: when you make it to the Pearly Gates, and Saint Peter asks, "justice or mercy?" Which will you choose?

Usually they sputter or blurt something out like, "The death penalty doesn't have anything to do with that." I reply, "The death penalty has everything to do with that. You just can't see it."

Then they say, "What if it happened to someone you know." And I reply, "In1996 one of my best friends, Michael LaHood was murdered. And I don't want his killer to die. I want his killer to repent. And then spend the rest of his life in prison helping other prisoners with less onerous sentences to see the light."

That's when they say, "You're a softy, wishy-washy feel-good, self-helping liberal wimp." By that time it's too late to ask them, "What requires more courage: revenge or forgiveness?"

I prefer mercy, wimp or not.

Kenneth did not ask for my help and he's already accepted his fate. Someone he helped asked me to help him. I cannot live with myself if I don't try. Wimp or not.

He is scheduled to be executed on the 30th of August.

The Trials of Darryl Hunt

The Trials of Darryl Hunt, a documentary about an innocent black man convicted and incarcerated in North Carolina, is debuting in various locales around the country. Here's a review from the Seattle Times:

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's remarkable documentary, The Trials ofDarryl Hunt, tells a story so harrowing, you watch without blinking, forgetting to breathe. It's a true saga of misplaced justice, spun out over nearly 2 decades. In 1984, a 19-year-old black man was accused of the brutal rape and murder of Deborah Sykes, a young white woman inWinston-Salem, N.C. Though no physical evidence linked Hunt to the crime, and the young man (who had no violent crime record) steadfastly maintained his innocence, an all-white jury convicted him and sentenced him to life in prison.

Ten years later, DNA test results were posted, categorically eliminating Hunt as a suspect in the crime. And yet, despite the best efforts of a legal team and numerous supporters, he was not set free. Appeals were filed, arguments made, and Hunt sat in his prison cell as more years went by.

An image from the film, taken after a conversation with attorney MarkRabil, shows Hunt framed through a small window behind a locked door; his usual smile is absent, and he looks both terrified and resigned.

Stern and Sundberg spent 10 years shooting this film, not knowing how the story might end. They spin their tale tautly and confidently, smoothly untangling a complicated web of legalities and facts. A late courtroom confrontation between Hunt and the victim's mother is as gripping as any thriller, and sure to break your heart. She, in mourning for her beloved daughter, maintains that Hunt must be guilty. "You are in my prayers," a tearful Hunt tells her quietly.

Throughout the film, Hunt emerges as a likable man with a deep religious faith and an astonishing ability to reject anger and bitterness. In the film's climactic courtroom scene, he gazes silently heavenward after hearing the words for which he's waited nearly 20 years.

(Earlier this year, after the film's completion, Hunt received a restitution payment and an official apology from the city. True to the generous nature we see in the film, he told the Winston-Salem Journal that while he appreciated the apology, "I still think the apology needs to go to Mrs. Sykes and her family, because I'm still living.")

The Trials of Darryl Hunt, which won the documentary prize at the Seattle International Film Festival last year, tells a story that needs to be heard. "I pray that I may turn this injustice into something meaningful," says Hunt at one point. Thanks to Stern, Sundberg and the many people who contributed to the making of this film, he already has.

Walk to stop executions

Earlier this week we told you about Lisa Thomas, the Alabama woman who walked from Selma to Montgomery in protest of the death penalty in general and in support of Darrell Grayson in particular.

Now we bring exciting news of a new walk that is being planned -- this one 800 miles and this one in California. In the sponsors' words:

Walk to Stop Executions
Death penalty opponents from Death Penalty Focus, California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty, and Amnesty International USA will embark on a 800 mile Walk to Stop Executions on September 15, 2007. The purpose of the walk is to draw attention to the issue of the death penalty, unite local activists, and to encourage the district attorney in every county along the walk route not to seek the death penalty in any case.

There's a new blog to support this effort. http://walktostopexecutions.blogspot.com/

Stop by and say howdy. And while you're at it, give a shout-out to our friend Stefanie!

The Lonely Abolitionist

From time to time, people have mistakenly credited Abolish the Death Penalty as being the first anti-death penalty blog out in the blogosphere. In point of fact, we were the second -- or the third, depending on how one defines a blog.

Before there was Abolish the Death Penalty, before there was the Amnesty International blog, or the Ohio death penalty blog or the Kansas death penalty blog or the Virginia death penalty blog or the Alabama death penalty blog or the Tennessee death penalty blog or one of four Texas death penalty blogs or even the Asian death penalty blog, there was Lonely Abolitionist -- the first death penalty blogger in the Blogosphere. (Technically speaking, this may or may not be true. We think Capital Defense Weekly predated her. However, debate rages as to whether Capital Defense Weekly is a blog, in the true bloggy sense of the word. Anyway, knowing Karl as I know him, he wouldn't mind who gets the credit, just so long as the work gets done!)

For awhile, Lonely Abolitionist wasn't updating, and we were afraid she had gone the way many bloggers go -- or relationships, for that matter. Maybe burnout had set in, maybe other priorities, maybe something or someone new had come along to occupy the space that blogging had once occupied.

But now we're delighted to see that Lonely Abolitionist is back. And lately she's been talking about how she got her name:

I am not a "lonely" person, and I am not "lonely" in my abolition opinions
or actions. I am no longer "lonely" in the blogosphere. Yet, I keep the name.
The name reminds me of the time when I was "lone." It reminds me to stand up and
"stand apart." It reminds me that one single person can play a part in resolving
a big problem. This blog does not have many readers. It doesn't need many (or
even any)! The Lonely Abolitionist makes a difference to me every time I post,
and it makes a difference every once in awhile to a reader who finds something
new that he or she would not have found had I not wandered by and mused on
it.

At some point, I may blog on more than the death penalty. Unfortunately,
there are many other laws and practices in our world that I favor abolishing. I
imagine, however, that if I took the time to blog about every newsworthy item
related to every notable abolition topic within my interest, that I would never
finish any of my for-pay work!

In the meantime, this little blog will try to keep chugging along. I will
try to keep doing my part. I hope that you will keep doing your part and make
sure that I am never again truly "lonely." Thanks for stopping by.

Carrie

To read the entire post go here. And if you want to zap off an email to Lonely Abolitionist and tell her that indeed she is not alone, you can reach her at carriej@lonelyabolitionist.com

A milestone -- and an opportunity

The following appeal comes from Abe Bonowitz, who wears several hats -- he is an NCADP board member, he currently works for our New Jersey affiliate and he is the founder and head of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

This appeal comes hours before the 100th person out of Harris County is scheduled to be executed.

Greetings All,
I had a crazy idea this afternoon while driving home from a meeting. I was thinking about a nasty milestone that is coming up - probably this week, when Lonnie Johnson is set to become the 100th prisoner to be put to death out of Harris County, Texas on July 24, 2007. Read all about Harris County in this report issued on Friday by Amnesty International.

In thinking about this milestone, I decided to do something symbolic and at the same time meaningful. I decided to mobilize MY base - that is, YOU - people who receive and read CUADPUpdate. With less activity, list membership has dwindled from around 5,000 to its current level of 3,303. There is still enough of us to pull this off, and then some, and since CUADP is technically on a sabbatical, why not mobilize you to help some other groups' specific efforts?

HERE'S THE CHALLENGE: Please join CUADP in going to http://www.tcadp.org/donate.php to use your credit card to send $100 to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. If you prefer to give by check, send it to TCADP at 2709 South Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78704.

I'd like to see 100 gifts of $100 to TCADP (or another Texas abolitionist group) by July 31st, if not sooner, just from people (and organizations) on this list. Can't swing $100? How about 100 quarters ($25)? Or 100 dimes ($10)? I should note that it's
Saturday night as I send this. I have not spoken to anyone in Texas or anywhere else about this idea. I'm just doing it. I can't imagine they will complain.... Obviously, because I don't see TCADP's information and in fact because I have no formal relationship with TCADP other than being a supporter/donor, the only way I can track how this campaign is going is if you send me an e-mail confirming your participation. I'm not listing names, but I will follow up this message several times between now and July 31 to update our progress. Just send me a note saying you made a gift to TCADP (or another Texas Abolitionist group) and tell me the amount you have sent. (Blogger's note: Abe can be reached at abe@cuadp.org)
I
gave CUADP's $100 to TCADP and noted it should be considered "general
funds." A few alternative groups to give to - let me know if I am missing
any:
Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement - checks only, to s.h.a.p.e.
center, 3903 almeda road, houston, tx 77004
Texas Moratorium Network - http://www.texasmoratorium.org/ -
and click on DONATE
Texas Defender Service - http://www.texasdefender.org/contribute.asp
Gulf Region Advocacy Center - http://www.gracelaw.org/support.html
Texas Students Against the Death Penalty - http://www.texasabolition.org/ - and
click on DONATE
The upcoming Texas Journey of Hope ...From Violence to
Healing - http://www.journeyofhope.org/pages/support.htm
- be sure to indicate that your gift is for the Texas Journey!
*****************
100 gifts of $100 on the occasion of the 100th
Harris County execution. It's both symbolic and meaningful. We can do
this. Please join me. Thank you.
--abe

From Selma to Montgomery

Although much attention as of late has focued on Troy Anthony Davis, the Georgia death row inmate who many believe to be innocent, it is important to point out that there are several other executions pending involving people with equally substantial innocence claims. One of these is Darrell B. Grayson, due to be executed this Thursday, July 26. Currently on Alabama’s Death Row, Grayson d has been denied DNA testing of evidence that could clear him and save his life.
Supporters are asking Governor Bob Riley for a stay of execution for Grayson, and for the DNA tests. But Lisa Thomas of Brewton is doing even more.

According to Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, our Alabama affiliate, Lisa will walk 54 miles -- from Selma to Montgomery -- retracing the steps of the 1965 Voting Rights March. Lisa gained national attention two years ago when she walked from Brewton to Montgomery and met with Gov. Riley advocating a moratorium on the death penalty, state tax reform for the impoverished, and state funding to combat hunger. After the meeting she walked 900 miles to Washington DC. Thomas declared, “The Decatur Daily has it right. They said “Most states now have laws that provide post-conviction access to DNA evidence, but Alabama is one of eight that do not. Why would a state want to execute anybody when even a shred of uncertainly exists about his guilt?” (Decatur Daily (Alabama) July 7, 2007.

Thomas’ walk will take her through Lowndes County, where a rally will be held to encourage Governor Riley to issue a stay of execution and order a DNA test for Darrell Grayson. The rally will be held at Annie Mae’s Art Place at 278 Harriet Tubman Road on Monday, July 23 at 6 p.m.

The 54-mile walk will conclude in Montgomery with a noon rally on the Alabama State Capitol steps on Wednesday, July 25. The public is urged to attend. “We are asking Governor Riley to stay the execution and insist that DNA testing be done” said Judy Collins Cumbee, lst Vice President of the Alabama New South Coalition. “We cannot execute an innocent man”, she concluded. Senator Hank Sanders is due to speak at the July 25th rally along with Alabama’s NAACP President Ed Vaughn and Kimble Forrister, Executive Director of Alabama Arise.

The Pope weighs in

No kiddin':

By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/20/07
Pope Benedict XVI has joined a growing list of high-profile death penalty opponents trying to keep condemned cop killer Troy Anthony Davis alive.

Davis, whose death sentence for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer was put on hold this week 24 hours before it was scheduled, has received support from singer/activist Harry Bela-fonte, Sister Helen Prejean of "Dead Man Walking" fame and Mike Farrell of "MASH."

The Apostolic Nunciature, the Washington office of the Vatican, sent a letter to Gov. Sonny Perdue on behalf of Benedict, asking that Davis be granted clemency. The letter arrived Monday.

"In the name of Pope Benedict XVI, I am respectfully asking you to commute Troy's sentence to life in prison without parole," wrote Monsignor Martin Krebs, chargé d'affaires for the Apostolic Nunciature. The letter goes on to say Davis' pending execution is "disturbing" given that many witnesses have come forward to say that their testimony implicating him was false.

State Board of Pardons and Paroles spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb declined to comment on the letter.

In her honor

Vicki Scheiber is a friend and supporter of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. She also is a board member of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. She recently was profiled in Bethesda Magazine. Here is the beginning of her story:

In Her Honor
When Vicki Schieber of Chevy Chase lost her daughter to a brutal rape and murder in 1998, she was encouraged to seek the death penalty for her daughter’s killer. She chose forgiveness instead, and launched a crusade to end capital punishment

By Kathleen Wheaton

On a Saturday morning in February, Vicki Schieber, a motherly woman of 62 with soft brown eyes, wavy brown hair and a gentle Midwestern voice, drives from her home in Chevy Chase to Baltimore to visit a death-row inmate.

At the prison, a guard leads her down narrow cement corridors, steel-barred doors automatically slide open and then clatter shut behind her.

The visiting room is scarcely wider than a phone booth, bisected by thick panes of Plexiglas. Unlike some of the other six men awaiting execution in Maryland, the man on the other side of the window hasn’t claimed to be innocent of the contract killing for which he was sentenced to die 11 years ago. He’s 36, small and slender, with an open, boyish face that lights up when he sees Vicki—they’ve exchanged several letters, though they’ve only met once before.

In the car on the way up, Vicki tells me she’s befriended a murderer whose guilt is not in question because she “wanted to try and understand how someone could do something like that.”

Her desire to understand is born of personal tragedy. In May 1998, her beautiful and accomplished 23-year-old daughter, Shannon, a first-year doctoral candidate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, was raped and strangled by an intruder who climbed in through the balcony of her Philadelphia brownstone apartment. Four years later, Shannon’s killer was caught, and confessed to the rape and murder of Shannon and the rapes of 13 other women.

In Pennsylvania, as in many other states, the wishes of a victim’s family can determine a murderer’s fate. Vicki and her husband, Sylvester (Syl), had always been opposed to capital punishment based on their personal and religious beliefs. But confronting the man who murdered their daughter put that abstract principle to an excruciating test. In the end, principle triumphed over anger, and—despite intense pressure from the district attorney and the Philadelphia news media—the Schiebers asked that their daughter’s killer not be executed. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In the nine years since the murder, the principles that guided the Schieber’s decision have become a much larger cause. Vicki, in particular, has devoted her life to trying to abolish capital punishment in Maryland and the rest of the country. As a founding member of MVFHR, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Vicki regularly gives speeches in churches and law school classes, testifies before legislative committees and appears before editorial boards.

You can read the rest of the article here.

90-Day Stay of Execution Granted for Troy Davis

AP notes:

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has granted a 90-day stay of execution for Troy Davis, who was to be executed tomorrow in the killing of a Savannah police officer in 1989.

Lawyers for Davis spent more than five hours today pleading with the board to grant a reprieve, arguing that Davis is Davis innocent of the murder of Officer Mark MacPhail.

Prosecutors were given a chance during the closed-door hearing to rebut the request for clemency for Davis, who was to be executed tomorrow at at 7pm.

The board’s options included granting a stay of his execution while it considers the issues.

Also today, Davis’ lawyers filed an appeal before the state Supreme Court of an earlier decision by a Chatham County judge to deny a stay of Davis’ execution.

Among the people who argued for clemency for Davis during the parole board hearing were friends, family and US Representative John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat and civil rights icon. Five witnesses who testified at trial spoke to the board on Davis’ behalf, Ewart said.

Waiting for word.

We're still waiting for the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to announce their decision in the matter of Troy Anthony Davis. Meanwhile, here is a statement U.S. Rep. John Lewis gave to the board shortly after it convened this morning:

"Good morning, Chairperson Hunt and members of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"It is a privilege to address you today, and I want to thank you for hearing me.I will not speak long, because what I have to say is very simple. I do not know Troy Anthony Davis. I do not know if he is guilty of the charges of which he has been convicted. But I do know that nobody should be put to death based on the evidence we now have in this case.

"Evidence that is dramatically different from what the jury heard. Evidence that I understand no court has ever considered, for technical reasons that have nothing to do with the truth.

"We sometimes hear that a guilty person has gone free because of some legal technicality, and we understandably feel frustrated when that happens. Now we have the opposite situation. A man who may well be innocent may die tomorrow — all because of those technicalities. This is much more than frustrating; it is tragic. It is unjust. And at a time when we are trying to convince the whole world that our way is best, it does not speak well of us. I will say only a little about the facts of the case, because you have other witnesses that know them better than I.

"But here is what I understand to be true. I understand that there is no physical evidence. No murder weapon. No fingerprints. No DNA.

"Just the testimony of a few frightened and confused people who were taken completely by surprise when a tragedy suddenly erupted — without warning — for just a few seconds — in the middle of the night. And now, the case against Mr. Davis, that rested on that testimony, is a shambles. I understand that there were nine key witnesses, seven of whom have recanted their testimony. The eighth witness has left the state and refuses to talk about the case. And the ninth cannot recant without confessing that he committed the murder. Indeed, some of the other recanting witnesses have now implicated him.

"You must surely know the evidence better than I. And you know the law better than I. But I know, with what we have learned since the original jury heard this case, that a reasonable jury today should have doubts — grave doubts — since we now know so much more than the original jury. I am sure the members of the original jury are fine people. And I am sure they tried to do the best they could with the tools they were given. But nobody ever gave them the tools to do the job right. Those tools were offered to the courts years later, but they said it was too late to use them.

"So now the tools are in your hands. Hands that are not bound by technicalities. And it is not too late to use the tools you have been given. But I am here now, because I could not stay away.
If executing Troy Davis on the evidence we now have is the best our justice system can do, then that system is not worthy of the word justice. People of good faith can and do disagree about the death penalty. But all of us must certainly agree that before we carry out the ultimate penalty, we must be sure. The only thing I am sure of is that nobody can even come close to being sure that Troy Davis committed this crime. I am, frankly, shocked to think that we could execute anyone under these circumstances. And I ask you not to let that happen.

"Before I sit down, let me say a few words about a man who cannot be here today. I speak, of course, of the victim of this terrible crime, Officer Mark MacPhail. And I hope you will think of him too as you make your decision. Officer MacPhail's death was a senseless tragedy, and I am sure his loved ones still feel the pain of his loss. I pray for them and for Officer MacPhail today. And I ask you to do the same. For it is a terrible thing to be a victim of a violent crime.

"I know, because I am one. I was beaten senseless by a Coca-Cola crate when I arrived at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, Alabama as a Freedom Rider in 1961. I could easily have died. I was clubbed nearly to death a few years later on Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, and for awhile I looked death in the face, sure that I was about to see God. Indeed, of all the people in this room, I suspect that I am the only one who has any real idea of what Officer MacPhail felt in the last moments of his life.

"And I also think I know what he would say if he could speak to us today. He would tell us not to compound one tragedy with another. He would tell us not to make another man's family feel the pain that his family felt. He would tell us that his killer may still be at large. And he would tell us that, as an officer of the law, he wants our legal system to do what is right. That winning cases does not matter. That only justice matters. And that he does not want his legacy to be the death of an innocent man. As a fellow public servant, I believe I know what you should do. And as a man of faith, I am sure I know what God wants you to do. Do justice. Commute the sentence of Troy Anthony Davis.

"Thank you very much."

9 a.m. Monday morning

That's when the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles meets to consider the fate of Troy Anthony Davis, scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Scroll down to see what you can do to take action!

Meanwhile, today the Atlanta Journal-Constitution weighed in with this lead editorial:

A chance of innocence
State parole board must intervene in death row inmate's case Published on: 07/13/07

Last-minute appeals by lawyers to spare the life of a death row inmate are common. And sometimes the claims made on behalf of inmates strain credibility.

Others are much more than that. Sometimes, they are legitimate efforts to stop the state from executing someone who could very well be innocent. The case of Troy Anthony Davis, scheduled to come before the state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday, is one of those. It would be a grave injustice if Davis is killed by lethal injection next week.

Davis, 38, was convicted of the brutal murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, a young Savannah police officer responding to a fight in a parking lot in 1989. Without substantive physical evidence — no gun, no DNA — prosecutors relied entirely on the testimony of witnesses. They found nine who implicated Davis. A jury found him guilty. He has been on death row since 1991, but Davis has maintained his innocence from the day he was arrested.

After his legal appeals were exhausted, however, significant developments occurred that demand closer examination:

• Seven of the original nine witnesses against Davis have renounced or contradicted their trial testimony. An alarming number now claim they were intimidated by the police. Of the two witnesses who have not recanted their testimony, one was implicated by two other witnesses during the trial as MacPhail's killer, and by four new witnesses since then.

• Davis is caught in an untenable procedural bind. Because of a 1996 law aimed at speeding up death penalty appeals, federal and state courts have ruled they can't consider new evidence in a death penalty case if the defendant should have brought it to the court's attention during the appeals process. But in the Davis case, most of the witnesses didn't recant their testimony until years later. Moreover, to get the courts to reopen the case, the defendant must be able to show that given the new evidence, no reasonable juror would convict him. That's an impossibly high standard.

• Some of the witnesses didn't get a chance to recant because the initial appeal in the Davis case was handled by attorneys from an underfunded state defender's agency that lacked the resources to track witnesses down and investigate what they told police, as opposed to what they testified to at trial.

The case has generated an exceptional amount of interest. Groups and individuals opposed to the death penalty support Davis, including Amnesty International, Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu, Sister Helen Prejean and Harry Belafonte. Archbishop Wilton Gregory has asked Catholics in the Atlanta archdiocese to pray for clemency for Davis.

The case has also drawn the attention of the Constitution Project, a bipartisan group that seeks consensus on difficult legal issues. William S. Sessions, a former federal judge and FBI director under three presidents, a death penalty advocate and a member of the project's Death Penalty Initiative, has researched Davis' case and strongly believes more investigation is needed.

Over the years, 124 death row inmates have been released from state prisons after evidence proved their innocence. Police, prosecutors, judges, witnesses and juries make mistakes, but those mistakes can never be reversed once a death sentence is carried out.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles is not being asked to set Troy Anthony Davis free. But in the name of justice it should allow him to make a new case for his innocence.
— Mike King, for the editorial board

'But what about my client, Mr. Bush?'

JUSTICE DENIED
But what about my client, Mr. Bush?
Reformed killer denied commuted death sentence by the then-Texas governor
By DAVID R. DOW
Houston Chronicle
George W. Bush became governor of Texas in 1994, when he upset the popular incumbent, Ann Richards. The following September, my client, Carl Johnson, was scheduled for execution.

Johnson had killed a security guard during a holdup of a convenience store. The guard had opened fire on Johnson first, but Johnson did not use that as an excuse. He accepted responsibility for what he had done, and he was remorseful. He had been robbing the convenience store in the first place because he had an expensive heroin habit to support, a habit he picked up in Vietnam, after being drafted.

Johnson had been represented at his trial by one of the most notoriously inept death penalty lawyers in history. The lawyer fell asleep in numerous trials, including Johnson's. He was eventually no longer permitted to represent capital murder defendants. Johnson's co-defendant pleaded guilty, and had long since been released from prison by the time Johnson's execution date rolled around.

Johnson grew up in prison. He became religious and repentant. He did not falsely proclaim his innocence or blame anyone other than himself for his mistakes, which he acknowledged to be serious and perhaps unforgivable. At the same time, in his years in prison, he had no significant disciplinary violations. He worked in prison. He crafted religiously-inspired art. He got his high school equivalency diploma.

I thought of Johnson on the day that President Bush commuted the prison sentence of I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, a man who was convicted of lying to a grand jury -- that is, a man who was convicted of perjury. President Bush went to the White House saying he was going to bring integrity back to the Oval Office, a reference to President Clinton, who had been impeached for lying to a grand jury, the same as Libby's crime. President Bush got elected despite charges that he had used his father's connections to avoid service in Vietnam, the place where my client, Carl Johnson, found heroin.

In Texas, the governor cannot commute a death row inmate's sentence without approval of the Board of Pardons and Parole. The governor still wields great power, however, because the governor appoints the members of the board, and they take their cues from him. When Gov. Bush wanted to commute the death sentence of Henry Lee Lucas, a man believed by some law enforcement officers to have been a serial killer but who probably did not murder the woman he was sent to death row for killing, he let it be known, and the board accommodated his wishes, recommending a commutation, which Governor Bush signed in 1998.

I asked then-Gov. Bush to grant my client a 30-day reprieve, with the idea that he could thereby signal to the board his belief that Johnson's death sentence should be commuted to life. He denied my request, as he denied the other 56 requests that were made of him by lawyers representing death row inmates. Some of these inmates were mentally retarded. Some were juveniles when they committed their crimes. Gov. Bush always gave the same explanation: that the inmates had had full access to the legal system. He gave that same reason when he turned down a reprieve request made by the lawyers representing Karla Faye Tucker, whose reformation on death row was legendary, and when he rejected the reprieve request made by lawyers representing Gary Graham, who was probably innocent.

My client, Carl Johnson, committed the worst crime that can be committed against another human being: He killed someone. And Lewis Libby committed the crime that is most injurious to our criminal justice system: He lied. Unlike my client, Libby, who was convicted by a jury of his peers despite being represented by the best lawyers that money can buy, has never shown any public sign of remorse. Nevertheless, despite all that, President Bush did not exceed his authority in commuting Lewis Libby's prison sentence. The Constitution gives him the power to do what he did. But it is possible for actions to be lawful and simultaneously in conflict with other constitutional principles. Last week's pardon deeply offends the constitutional value of equality, the idea that all citizens stand equal before the law.

Lewis Libby had something in common with the other people George Bush has pardoned, and with people President Clinton pardoned as well: He is rich and powerful, and he has rich and powerful connections. People do not get pardons because they are mentally retarded, or because they were young when they committed their crime, or because they had terrible lawyers, or because they have reformed, or even because they are innocent. They get them because they have friends in high places. That might not be illegal, but it's still wrong, and a president who issues pardons and commutations on that basis has not done very much at all to bring integrity to the Oval Office.
Dow is the University Distinguished Professor at the University of Houston Law Center.

In Memory: Doug Marlette

Doug Marlette, award-winning cartoonist and death penalty opponent, died this week in a car accident. We will miss Doug's work. Here's an Associated Press story about Doug and his career:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Doug Marlette, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who recently turned his incisive wit toward a budding career as a novelist, has died in an auto accident in Mississippi. He was 57.

Marshall County Coroner John Garrison said the accident occurred in heavy rain about three miles east of Holly Springs. He said he believed the truck hydroplaned, then struck the tree.
Marlette started his cartooning career in 1972 at The Charlotte Observer and most recently was on staff at the Tulsa World. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his work at The Observer and the Atlanta Constitution, the same year The Observer won the Pulitzer's public service award for its work detailing the misuse of funds by Jim Bakker's PTL television ministry.

Marlette published two novels, "The Bridge," in 2001, and "Magic Time," in 2006.

He received death threats for a cartoon he drew in 2002 that depicted a Muslim driving a rental truck with a nuclear weapon on board. Above were the words, "What Would Muhammad Drive?"

Marlette graduated from Florida State in 1971 and joined The Observer the next year. After more than a decade in Charlotte, he moved to the Atlanta Constitution before stops at New York Newsday and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Amnesty International USA and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Wende Gozan at 212/633-4247
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 or David Elliot at 202-331-4090

RELIGIOUS LEADERS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, ENTERTAINERS, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS LEAD WORLDWIDE CLEMENCY CALL FOR TROY DAVIS

(Atlanta) -- In the run-up to the scheduled execution of Troy Anthony Davis, and as Amnesty International holds a press conference calling for his clemency Tuesday morning, religious leaders, members of Congress, entertainers and civil and human rights leaders have written letters to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to ask that its members look at the Davis case with fresh eyes. Nobel-prize winner Rev. Desmond Tutu, singer Harry Belafonte, actor Mike Farrell, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Sister Helen Prejean, Sam D. Millsap, Jr. (former D.A. of Bexar County, TX), record producer and activist Russell Simmons and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation are among those who have voiced support for clemency.

"The facts with which the jury was presented nearly 16 years ago have fallen into considerable doubt," said Irene Khan, London-based secretary general of Amnesty International. "To allow this execution to proceed would be to knowingly countenance an irrevocable injustice."

In total, thousands of concerned individuals -- from across Georgia, the United States and around the world -- have sent letters calling for clemency for Davis. Following the Tuesday press conference, Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery will deliver to the Parole Board approximately 4,000 letters and postcards that add to the several thousand that have already been sent.

"Certain cases are emblematic of the dysfunctional application of justice in this country; the case of Troy Davis is one of them," said Cox. "There is ample evidence to show that Davis may not have perpetrated the crimes for which he may lose his life. Georgia's Parole Board needs to give this serious consideration and decide whether it is worth even the possibility of killing an innocent man."

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 or contradicted their testimony in sworn affidavits; nine witnesses have implicated another man in the murder.

Despite this, Davis' habeas corpus petition was denied by the state court on a technicality -- evidence of police coercion was "procedurally defaulted," so the court refused to hear it. Davis is now out of legal appeals. His clemency hearing is scheduled for Monday, July 16; his execution is set for Tuesday, July 17, at 7:00 p.m.

"This case is a reminder that the death penalty system is fraught with error," said Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which has joined AIUSA in a national and international campaign on Davis' behalf. "Executive clemency exists when courts cannot or will not provide justice. We must not allow an execution to proceed when substantial doubt exists as to guilt or innocence."

# # #

For more information, visit www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis or http://www.ncadp.org/.

Troy Davis makes Daily Kos

"Sometimes, a death penalty case comes along in which it looks for all the world like an innocent person is about to be executed. Sometimes the Supreme Court washes its hands of that case, turns its back, and diddles while somebody is fastened to the gurney."

Read more at Daily Kos.

Eleven days, folks. Eleven days.

Meanwhile, to take action go here.

Blog Conference

Today, thanks to the organizers over at Amnesty International, an historic first happened: A "press conference" for bloggers only about the Troy Anthony Davis case. Davis, the reader may recall, faces a July 17 execution date for a crime many of us believe he did not commit.

Here's the news advisory announcing the call (with some contact info deleted, for reasons of personal privacy)

New Media Release

Non-Traditional Media Advisory
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Press Conference for Blog, Podcast, and New Media Journalists
Finality Over Fairness

Troy Anthony Davis, Unjustly Sentenced to Death, to be Executed Within Days

Washington, DC - Troy Anthony Davis may well be innocent. He was sentenced to death for the killing of a white police officer, and the state of Georgia has scheduled him for execution on July 17. Compelling evidence of his innocence has been uncovered, but, citing procedural bars, no court has ever held a hearing on this new evidence.

Troy Davis was convicted entirely by witness testimony. There was no forensic evidence, no murder weapon, no DNA evidence. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses who testified against him have since recanted or contradicted their trial testimony in sworn affidavits, many alleging police intimidation or coercion. One of the two witnesses who has not recanted has been implicated by several others as the real assailant.

Without most of their witnesses, the state of Georgia does not have much of a case. This raises grave doubts about Troy Davis’ guilt. But in our appeals courts, upholding procedural rules has become more important than addressing questions of innocence, and these doubts remain unresolved. Not only might an innocent man be executed on July 17th but he might be executed without ever having the chance to prove his innocence.

Join a telephonic Press Conference for non-traditional media journalists including bloggers, podcast producers, online radio stations, alternative media, etc.

Who: Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Harvard Law School, Founder and
Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice

Martina Correia, sister of Troy Davis and anti-death penalty activist

Jason Ewart, attorney for Troy Davis, Arnold & Porter LLP

Moderator: Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn (Director – Amnesty International USA’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty)

When: Thursday, July 5, 4:30 pm EDT
Where: via phone - call in number is 1-877-465-1385

'A politician's best toy'

Hours from now, a bunch of hungry and sun-baked activists will be wrapping up the 14th Annual Fast & Vigil in front of the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. They are commemorating the Furman and Gregg Supreme Court decisions, which struck down death penalty statutes and then allowed executions to resume.

Among the visitors this weekend was a former prison warden from Florida who actually oversaw executions. His story was told this past Friday in the Tallahassee Democrat:

From prison warden to anti-execution advocate

By Bill Berlow
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Eleven years ago, when Ron McAndrew became superintendent of the Florida prison where Death Row inmates are executed, he was an unflinching supporter of capital punishment.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," he said.

Early today, the Dunnellon resident will fly to Washington to participate in a fast and vigil organized by the anti-death-penalty Abolitionist Action Committee in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The demonstration, which includes a press conference in which McAndrew is a featured speaker, is part of four days of activities commemorating 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings suspending then reinstating capital punishment in the United States.

"The death penalty puts us right up there with the barbarians in Iran, where killing other people is a sport more than justice," he said. "It's an absolute political manipulation - a politician's best toy."

It's been an interesting, introspective journey for McAndrew, 68, who witnessed and was victim of his share of prison violence as he worked his way up through the Department of Corrections ranks.

Just a few weeks after becoming top dog at Florida State Prison at Starke, he oversaw his first execution. John Earl Bush was electrocuted on Oct. 21, 1996, for killing Evinrude outboard heiress Francis Slater in 1982.

"I realized," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday, "that I had no business standing there."

McAndrew said the process leading up to the execution, and the final, carefully choreographed act itself, horrified him.

While at Starke, McAndrew oversaw two other executions - including John Mills Jr., who murdered Les Lawhon in Wakulla County, and the infamous botched execution of Pedro Medina in 1997.

After flames leapt from Medina's mask, filling the execution chamber with smoke and the smell of burning flesh, Florida aggressively pursued lethal injection as its preferred execution method, although condemned inmates may still request the electric chair.

McAndrew went to Texas while still a Corrections administrator to see how lethal injections worked and help Florida make the transition. Lethal injections temporarily reduced his ambivalence, but didn't rid him of it. It wasn't until a few years after he left Florida State Prison that he decided capital punishment was wrong under all circumstances.

He retired from the DOC several years ago and now, as a consultant on prisons, occasionally testifies against his former employer despite his generally fond feelings for the agency.

About seven years ago, he said, he found religious faith and became a Catholic. Previously, he said, faith played almost no role in his life, but now he believes "that killing people is a sin" - even killing those who took innocent lives themselves.

But what would he say to diehard supporters of the death penalty, particularly the loved one of a murder victim?

"It's very easy," he said. "You just say that the most severe punishment you could ever give anyone would be to lock them in a little cage made out of concrete and steel ... with a steel cot, a mattress that is 2 inches thick, a stainless steel toilet that does not have a lid, and you leave them there for the rest of their natural life.

"There can't be a more severe punishment than that," he said, "and you feed them institutional food for 365 days a year."

And, when DNA testing reveals the occasional wrongful conviction, it's not too late to correct - to the extent possible - the state's mistake.

Like McAndrew, I used to support the death penalty, and people I respect still do. I just can no longer justify even one execution of someone wrongfully convicted as worth the price for putting so many more actual murderers to death.

Let's face it, the death penalty is about vengeance at least as much as it's about justice. That's understandable. If someone murdered a person I loved, I'm pretty certain I'd feel like killing him.

But vengeance dehumanizes, and the death-penalty ritual is state-sponsored theater designed precisely to achieve that objective.

McAndrew still wrestles with ghosts of his past.

"These folks that you sent on to another world," McAndrew said, "they have a way of coming back and sitting on the edge of your bed at night. I don't like that. It's not the right thing to do."

Amen, brother.

Troy Anthony Davis

...has now received an execution date. The state of Georgia plans to execute him between July 17 and July 24. He is entitled to receive a clemency hearing before that time.

Please scroll down to learn what you can do to prevent the execution of a person many of us strongly believe to be innocent.

Change is up to us

Today Abolish the Death Penalty is pleased to introduce guest blogger Elizabeth Beck, who recently authored In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families.

Some excerpts from Elizabeth’s fine book:

“As he was being led away he said ‘They are ready to kill me and I am ready to go now. I don’t want any of you crying.’ Oh I held my tears until I got around the corner and then I nearly passed out.”
--An aunt of an executed man

“They just took him out and left us standing there. She [my wife] has been unable to put a marker on in the grave yet…My wife’s whole personality has changed so much so that her daughter said that when her brother was executed ‘I lost my mother as well.’”
--A father of an executed man

Each time an execution is announced “We relive the whole thing. Every one of those memories comes tumbling back. You know that someone else is suffering just like you suffered.”
--A daughter of an executed man

Today Elizabeth writes about the case of Troy Anthony Davis:

Martina Correia and her mother Virginia Davis fear that their worse nightmare
will come true. The execution of Troy Anthony Davis, their brother and son respectively, is likely to occur before the season ends. Troy has been on Georgia’s death row for more than 15 years, his conviction largely based on witness testimony. At the time of this writing, all but two of the nine witnesses who testified against Troy have recanted or contradicted their testimony and admitted that their initial statements convicting Troy were made under police duress.

I have been with family members when their fathers, sons, and brothers were executed. I have seen their families and lives unravel, and I know that a death sentence affects so much more than the accused.


Troy’s sister Martina is a wiry African American woman who is proud of her military service, and her years helping deliver babies as an Ob-Gyn nurse. Martina, however, is no longer employed. Rather, her boundless energy is being depleted as she fights Troy’s execution and her own battle against breast cancer. An average day for Martina involves hours on the phone and computer getting the word out about Troy, which can include supporting international petitions, contacting leaders in human rights organizations and clergy, as well as pitching stories to media outlets.
And, it is against this backdrop that she is seeking to raise her son with love and support, and buoy her mother, Virginia, whose fear of the execution of her son have brought Virginia into a debilitating depression.

Virginia explained that when Troy was first arrested, “I was really deeply depressed. I would lay in my bed and I would pray awhile and cry awhile…It was just like I got arrested.” Years later as more and more evidence came out about Troy’s innocence, Virginia’s depression lifted, and she even began to smile again, believing that the court would never kill an innocent man.

Until recently things looked up for Troy. His case was picked up by a high-profile law firm, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran several articles discussing the emergence of the new evidence. Martina’s work was paying off as it seemed Troy may have been on the road which could lead to exoneration. Additionally, her cancer was in remission.

After interviewing many family members whose loved ones were on death row, including the Davis/Carreia family, for our book, In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families, with a stunning forward by
Steve Earle (Oxford University Press), I remain haunted by a young man whom I
call Dray. When I first met Dray he communicated with his father regularly was in high school with a bright future and hope of an athletic scholarship. His accomplishment carried a lot of pride, for him and his father, as he did it against a backdrop drop of difficult neighborhoods where many residents engaged in drug and gang activity and where a number of his peers ended up in juvenile detention. However, after his father approached execution there was a spiral: Dray stopped playing sports and dropped out of school. His future far less bright.

Martina hopes for a very different outcome. She hopes that the international
organizing to stop Troy’s execution will save Troy, and if not she explains:
“I look at my son who is 13 now and he keeps repeating the same question,
‘Why do we kill innocent people, why do they want to kill my Uncle Troy?’
I have never had an answer for him that I thought was even close to being good,
but today I sat him down and I said if for any reason it comes to that, ‘Maybe
Uncle Troy is to be the catalyst of change.’

And that, my friends, is up to us.

Covering Troy -- or not.

When news broke yesterday that Troy Anthony Davis was denied cert by the U.S. Supreme Court, many of Troy’s supporters stepped it up a notch. Amnesty International put out a press release (which you can read here). Folks on Facebook and MySpace swung into action. (For Facebook users, you can see Rachel Sadler’s posting here.)

Unfortunately, the mainstream media could hardly be bothered with the story. After all, didn't Paris Hilton get out of the slammer last night? (and going on Larry King Live tomorrow, I might add. It would be nice if Larry King demonstrated the same interest in an innocent person who is about to face an execution date.)

Where is the Associated Press? The New York Times? The Washington Post? Where are the TV networks? The daily newspaper did do a tiny story, but barely mentioned the evidence supporting Troy’s innocence.

It’s not that the mainstream media doesn’t know about Troy’s case. They know. We’ve told them. Unfortunately, to them, it’s just not a priority.

Whether one agrees or disagrees on the utility and morality of capital punishment, we should all be able to agree that a country that executes innocent people occupies an entirely different – and even scary – moral ground than a country that executes only the truly guilty. And while my organization opposes the death penalty in every circumstance, we are truly concerned when society seems to simply stop caring about guilt and innocence.

Not all hope is not lost. An aggressive executive clemency campaign is being waged. Some progressive media outlets are sniffing around the story. And, of course, we have an army of supporters on Facebook and MySpace who are ready, willing and able to act.

Justice for Mr. Nifong -- and others

This letter to the editor appeared in today's Washington Post:

While I don't disagree with the disbarment of Durham County (N.C.) District Attorney Michael B. Nifong, as reported in the June 17 news article "Prosecutor in Duke Case Gives Up His Law License," I wonder whether he would have faced the same public outcry had the students he prosecuted been poor, black and from, say, North Carolina A&T rather than being wealthy and from Duke University.

The news is full of examples of poor or black defendants who are convicted, only to have those convictions overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct similar to Mr. Nifong's, such as the withholding of exculpatory evidence. Yet rarely do we hear of the prosecutors in those cases facing disciplinary action for their clear misconduct.

I wonder how much media coverage would have been given to three young black men who had been falsely charged with the rape of a stripper. I wonder where the high moral dudgeon exhibited by our pundits and politicians is when we discover that black men who have sat on death row for 10 years or longer are freed when the misconduct of their prosecutors is revealed.

Let us hope that the next time one of these cases is adjudicated, the prosecutor gets the same justice that Michael Nifong got.

JOHN HEATH
Annandale

Today.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to meet behind closed doors to "conference" the case of Troy Anthony Davis. It is my understanding that there are four things that could happen:

1. The Court could agree to formally review the case, thus accepting "cert."

2. The Court could deny cert, thus rejecting Troy's appeal, a move that likely would result in Troy's receiving an execution date soon.

3. The Court could kick the case back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for further review (this seems unlikely.)

4. The Court could set the case for conference the following week. (This happens upon occasion if the Court is deeply divided or if one or more justices need more time to review the case.)

We MIGHT learn the Court's decision Friday afternoon, or it could be Monday morning at the latest.

If the Court denies cert, which unfortunately (and unfairly) seems the most likely outcome, then we go full steam ahead with our clemency campaign. Here's a copy of an action alert NCADP sent to our 21,000 supporters:

Dear Friends,

In recent weeks, we've been working to get the word out about Troy Davis, a Georgia man on death row, using the traditional media, blogs, radio stations, and of course, Facebook. Now, we're taking the first big step to reach out to the people who will ultimately decide Troy's fate.

Right now, we're starting up a letter writing campaign to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. If Troy's last appeal is denied in the Supreme Court (unfortunately, a likely outcome), the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will be making the last call on whether Troy Davis lives or dies. They have the power to pardon him, or to commute his sentence from death to life.

So, here's how it works:

1) Go to this site:

2) Copy and paste the letter into a Word document. Print it out on your personal/school/company letterhead if possible.

3) Sign at the bottom of the page, and print your name and mailing address under the signature to give your letter more weight.

4) Send your letter to:
Amnesty International
730 Peachtree St.
Suite 1060
Atlanta, GA 30308
Attn: L. Moye

Or, fax it to 404-876-2276

Amnesty International will be collecting all the letters and delivering them to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

So that's all you need to do!

If you have time, feel free to handwrite the letter or to write one in your own words.

And the most critical thing to increase the impact: tell ten friends about this campaign, and ask them to write too!

Thank you for all you do.

45,000 and counting

That's the number of war veterans who have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq and have sought treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And, if anything, that number is a substantial underestimate of returning veterans with PTSD, because many will not report their symptoms or seek treatment for fear of stigmatization.

On Sunday and Monday, the Washington Post published a lengthy and comprehensive report on the quality of treatment these veterans are getting -- or, in many cases, not getting. You can read part one of the series here and part two here.

This is a single-issue blog. Our issue is the death penalty. We don't talk about any other issue besides the death penalty -- hence the name of the blog. Duh.

But this issue is about the death penalty.

We have already executed a number of Vietnam veterans as well as veterans of the first Gulf War. (Indeed, two of the three inmates executed by the federal government have been veterans -- one of Vietnam, the other of the first Gulf War.)

Veterans returning with untreated PTSD, in many cases, commit suicide. In many cases, they pose a threat to themselves or others. Left untreated, some will lash out.

And some, invariably, will end up on America's death rows. And the sad thing is, it is all so damn preventable.

The Washington Post notes:

By this spring, the number of vets from Afghanistan and Iraq who had sought help for post-traumatic stress would fill four Army divisions, some 45,000 in all.

They occupy every rank, uniform and corner of the country. People such as
Army Lt. Sylvia Blackwood, who was admitted to a locked-down psychiatric ward in
Washington after trying to hide her distress for a year and a half; and Army
Pfc. Joshua Calloway, who spent eight months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and left barely changed from when he arrived from Iraq in handcuffs; and retired Marine Lance Cpl. Jim Roberts, who struggles to keep his sanity in suburban New York with the help of once-a-week therapy and a medicine cabinet full of prescription drugs; and the scores of Marines in California who were denied treatment for PTSD because the head psychiatrist on their base thought the diagnosis was overused.

They represent the first wave in what experts say is a coming deluge.

As many as one-quarter of all soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq are
psychologically wounded, according to a recent American Psychological Association report. Twenty percent of the soldiers in Iraq screened positive for anxiety, depression and acute stress, an Army study found.

It gets worse:

For the past 2 1/2 years, the counseling center at the Marine Corps Air
Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., was a difficult place for Marines seeking help for post-traumatic stress. Navy Cmdr. Louis Valbracht, head of mental health at the center's outpatient hospital, often refused to accept counselors' views that some Marines who were drinking heavily or using drugs had PTSD, according to three counselors and another staff member who worked with him.

"Valbracht didn't believe in it. He'd say there's no such thing as PTSD,"
said David Roman, who was a substance abuse counselor at Twentynine Palms until he quit six months ago.

"We were all appalled," said Mary Jo Thornton, another counselor who left last year. A third counselor estimated that perhaps half of the 3,000 Marines he has counseled in the past five years showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress. "They would change the diagnosis right in front of you, put a line through it," said the counselor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he still works there.

"I want to see my Marines being taken care of," said Roman, who is now a substance-abuse counselor at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C.

In an interview, Valbracht denied he ever told counselors that PTSD does not exist. But he did say "it is overused" as a diagnosis these days, just as "everyone on the East Coast now has a bipolar disorder." He
said this "devalues the severity of someone who actually has PTSD," adding: "Nowadays it's like you have a hangnail. Someone comes in and says 'I have PTSD,' " and counselors want to give them that diagnosis without specific symptoms.

Valbracht, an aerospace medicine specialist, reviewed and
signed off on cases at the counseling center. He said some counselors diagnosed Marines with PTSD before determining whether the
symptoms persisted for 30 days, the military recommendation. Valbracht often talked to the counselors about his father, a Marine on Iwo Jima who overcame the stress of that battle and wrote an
article called "They Even Laughed on Iwo." Counselors found it outdated and offensive. Valbracht said it showed the resilience of the mind.

We have two choices in front of us. We can provide the counseling and help
these veterans need and deserve. Or we can simply start building more prisons.
Because unless something is done, we're going to need them.

Bring it.

Thanks to some cross-pollination with sites on Facebook and MySpace, 55 people, as of this writing, have stopped by and left messages of support for Troy Davis (see below.) That's an incredible number, given that the typical blog post might yield a total of one or two comments -- certainly not 55!

Keep it coming, folks. Bring it. And we'll be back shortly with more information on what you can do to prevent the execution of Troy Anthony Davis.

In this country we still have the power to make a difference. Never forget that.

Is Antonin Scalia coming to Georgia?

We’ve all been led to believe that there are mechanisms in place to prevent miscarriages of justice, like an innocent man being executed.

We’re familiar with the “CSI Syndrome,” the fanciful theory that new DNA technology prevents such miscarriages from occurring. We know about the 200 people who have been freed from prison because of such technology – including 15 from death row. We’ve read the investigative reports from Texas and Missouri, which indicate that at least four innocent people have been executed. And when we hear the number 124, we know that’s the number of people released from death row after new evidence of innocence emerged.

However, despite these facts, figures and the tremendously popular hit television shows, we still have people like Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who cling to the notion that an innocent person has never been executed in our country. It was Scalia himself who famously said last year that if an innocent person were executed, that person’s name would be “shouted from the rooftops.”

How could Scalia be so wrong? And has he now taken up residence in Georgia?

The truth is that recent polls reveal a large majority of people believe an innocent person has been executed. And soon – very soon – it could happen in Georgia.

Troy Anthony Davis is sitting on death row. His life is in the balance for a crime many believe he didn’t commit. Davis’ case is a classic example of “CSI Syndrome;” no physical evidence links him to the murder: no hair, no fibers, no blood, not even a murder weapon was found. The appellate courts, yet another mechanism designed to prevent wrongful convictions, are of no help, thanks to a federal law passed in 1996 that prevents federal courts from reviewing new claims of innocence.

Next Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court will consider Davis’ case one last time. After that, an execution date could be set next month.

The state of Georgia is basing its decision to put Troy Anthony Davis to death on eyewitness testimony — the only evidence used to convict him. Of the nine eyewitnesses that implicated Davis, all but three have recanted. In all incidences, these eyewitnesses have given disturbing reasons for implicating Davis in the first place, such as police intimidation and coercion. One witness was persuaded to sign a police statement implicating Troy Anthony Davis despite the fact that he could not read.

No DNA, no physical evidence, no murder weapon, and a lack of reliable eyewitness testimony have not been enough to lead Georgia back from the brink of making a colossal error. With Troy’s life in the balance, the Scalia mindset harshly moves forward. Most disturbingly, this execution is being carried out in our name.

Troy’s fate now lies in the hand of Georgia’s Board of Pardons and Paroles—which has the sole power to grant him clemency. Regardless of your personal feelings on capital punishment, we can all agree that the state of Georgia should do everything in its power to prevent the execution of an innocent man. We need it “shouted from the rooftops” that there are problems with this case and that Georgia must not execute a person when such pervasive doubt about guilt exists.

The saga of Larry Peterson

"Kill them all," death penalty proponents like to say. "Let them fry."

Try telling that to Larry Peterson. The state of New Jersey once sought death for Larry. A jury disagreed, but did find him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

That was, oh, about 18 or so years ago. Today, after new DNA testing, Larry Peterson is a free man -- and a living, walking testament as to why the death penalty is a seriously flawed, mistake-ridden public policy.

Over the past two days, National Public Radio has taken a look at Larry's case.

Their story begins:

Larry Peterson spent more than 17 years in prison for murder and rape before DNA testing led a judge to overturn his conviction.

The legal victory ended one phase of Peterson's life. But it also marked the beginning of a new battle: Even though the state agrees that Peterson is no longer guilty of the crime, the burden now falls on him to prove that he is innocent of the charges, which he must do in order to receive compensation for the years he spent in prison.

"My life has not always been an honorable life," the 56-year-old New Jersey man says. "[B]ut I have never been a murderer, never been a rapist."

For the past two years, Robert Siegel has followed Peterson's long and difficult journey from incarceration to vindication. This is the story of Peterson's efforts to rebuild his life, and of his continuing fight to seek redress for the years he lost in prison. It also seeks to show how Peterson's exoneration has affected the family of the victim of the crime that originally put him behind bars.

You can read part one of the NPR series here.

And part two is here.

Kill them all? Let them fry? Well, maybe not.

New execution date set in Georgia

John Washington Hightower is scheduled to be executed June 26 in Georgia. If executed it would be the first execution in Georgia in nearly two years. Hightower was convicted of the July 12, 1987, slayings of Dorothy Hightower, Evelyn Reaves and Sandra Reaves.

At trial his prosecutor used 6 of his 7 peremptories to strike blacks from the jury. His trial prosecutor historically used 90% of his strikes to remove people of color from juries in the capital cases he had tried and previously had written memos on striking blacks from juries.

Euthanasia?

For some reason, this reminds me of that old Ramones song from the late '70s, I Wanna Be Sedated:

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane...

Seriously, though: The state of Oklahoma is proceding with plans to execute this guy whose lung cancer has spread to his brain and beyond. From the Associated Press:

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The state parole board refused Tuesday to block the
execution of a death row inmate who is dying of cancer.

Jimmy Dale Bland is to be executed June 26 for the Nov. 14, 1996, murder of
62-year-old Doyle Windle Rains 11 years ago.

He is "on the verge of death" with advanced lung cancer that has spread to
his brain and his hip bone despite radiation and chemotherapy, defense attorney
David Autry told the five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

Even if the 49-year-old man were not executed, doctors have said he has as
little as six months to live, Autry said.

The board voted 5-0 to deny clemency. Bland chose not to address the board
via videoconference from his cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in
McAlester and did not speak to board investigators before Tuesday's
hearing.

"He feels at this point that all hope is lost," Autry said.

He said Bland's death sentence should be commuted out of "simple decency
and mercy for a person who is terminally ill and is going to die
anyway."

Assistant Attorney General Seth Branham said Bland's medical condition was
not grounds for clemency, and that Bland forfeited his right to die of natural
causes when he shot the victim in the back of the head.

"Cancer doesn't change what happened at that trial," Branham
said.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Bland's final appeal in April.
Autry said courts had found prosecutorial misconduct in Bland's trial but that the
acts were not serious enough to reverse the conviction and order a new
trial.

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

Rwanda moves toward abolition

Rwanda's Legislature voted on Friday to abolish the death penalty. It's interesting that countries that have either a) suffered from the worst genocides or b) fallen under fascist leadership later become the first ones to reject capitol punishment (in Europe, for instance, Spain, Italy and Germany rejected the death penalty before France and Great Britain did).

Survivors of the slaughter welcomed the decision, noting that the death
penalty had existed in Rwandan law before the genocide.

"It didn't deter people from picking up machetes to slaughter their fellows - that's why we are not bothered by its removal," said Theodore Simburudali, president of the Ibuka genocide survivors' group.

For more on this very welcome development, go here. (Hat tip to Jason over at Democracy In Action.

Revisiting the case of Troy Anthony Davis

We've blogged before on the case of Troy Anthony Davis, the Georgia man who faces execution despite holes in his case large enough to swallow up an SUV.

Now it appears we're going to be talking about Davis a lot more.

The U.S. Supreme Court has set Troy's case for conference on June 21. This means on that day, the high court will decide whether to formally accept his case for review. Keep in mind that the court declines to accept something like 99 percent of the cases that reach it on appeal.

This is Troy's final appeal. Assuming he loses, then the only hope he would have of avoiding execution would be a recommendation from the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency.

Over at Amnesty International's blog, Tennessee Dude has blogged today about Troy's case today. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we're just going to borrow Tennessee Dude's blog entry and make it our own:

Death Penalty
procedure trumps justice...again...this time for troy davis...

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

we've blogged about it before...all sorts of people succumb to it...reasonable people may refer to it as "sentence fatigue"...angry people may say that enough is enough already...just plain mean-spirited people may simply drive around screaming, "fry that m__________ f____________,"...

i refer to it as procedure being more important than substance...finality being more important than truth in justice...just one more scenario in which we, collectively, share the warm and fuzzy opportunity to kill an innocent man (and yes, that's ironic sarcasm right there)...

this time i'm referring to the case of troy davis in which my home state of georgia is on the verge of poisoning to death a young man where no physical evidence ever linked him to the murder for which he was convicted and all but 2 so-called eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony:

Darrell Collins: "[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 sixteen and was so scared of going to jail."

Antoine Williams: "After the officers talked to me, they gave me a statement and told me to sign it. I signed it. I did not read it because I cannot read ... I was totally unsure whether he was the person who shot the officer. I felt pressured to point at him ... I have no idea what the person who shot the officer looks like."

Jeffrey Sapp: "The police came and talked to me and put a lot of pressure on me.... They wanted me to tell them that Troy confessed to me about killing that officer. The thing is, Troy never told me anything about it. I got tired of them harassing me .... I told them that Troy did it, but it wasn't true."

Daniel Kinsman: "[T]here was and is no doubt in my mind that the person who shot the officer had the gun in and was shooting with his left hand." Davis is right-handed.

Shirley Riley: "People on the streets were talking about Sylvester Coles being involved with killing the police officer, so one day I asked him if he was involved .... Sylvester told me he did shoot the officer."

Joseph Washington: "I am positive that it was Red [Coles] who shot the police officer... [He] was wearing a white shirt...I had no idea that the shirt...was important because no one ever asked me...I would have testified to this but I was not asked by the state or by Troy's lawyers."

and of those witnesses who have not recanted??? well, one "witness" has been implicated as the murderer by nine people while the other could only recall the color of the shooter's clothes...and as we often respond to questions about how this execution could come to be, death penalty appeals are very difficult and no court has reviewed all the new evidence that came out since his initial trial...

restrictions on federal appeals have prevented troy anthony davis from having a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him, despite the fact that most of the witnesses have since recanted, many alleging they were pressured or coerced by police...troy davis remains on georgia death row, and may be scheduled for execution as early as next month...

for the brief back story...troy davis was sentenced to death for the murder of police officer mark allen mcphail at a burger king in savannah, georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit...there was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found...the case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial...since then, all but three of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony...many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against troy davis (see above)...
for further details in the back story and its context read Where is the justice for me?: The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia...

but we need YOU to TAKE ACTION TODAY...

troy's best chance at survival through this heresy of "justice" is clemency - please click here to print out a letter to the parole board in georgia and mail it today! - please forward the link to your friends, associates and broad network and ask them to do the same...this is critical...
the blogosphere may be able to generate enough attention to this moral and ethical outrage but only if you choose to make it happen...so today - and i'm only asking this today - rather than downloading a funny youtube video and sharing it please share this action...so, please organize as many appeals as you can...if you can organize a petition, collecting signatures supporting clemency for troy davis to send to the Board, please do so to

State Board of Pardons and Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE
Suite 458, Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, Georgia 30334-4909
USA Fax: +1 404 651 8502

My note: We'll have some more developments to report on regarding this case as the summer progresses. But I'd like to close simply by saying that both opponents and proponents of the death penalty should be able to reach consensus on one thing: Executing a person when fundamental questions about his guilt have been raised -- but not reviewed -- is a practice that is every bit abominable as what took place in Stalinist Russia, Saddam Husseinist Iraq, Osama bin Ladenist Afghanistan, and on and on and on.

This will not stand. Not in our country. Not in my country.

A prevarication from the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation

Prevarication:

Noun: prevarication
A statement that deviates from or perverts the truth -- lie.

Intentionally vague or ambiguous -- equivocation, evasiveness.

The deliberate act of deviating from the truth -- lying, fabrication.

Today there's an Associated Press story receiving widespread distribution on the national AP wire about problems with Ohio's latest execution. Readers may recall that at Christopher Newton's execution last month, it took 90 minutes and at least ten stabs of a needle for the execution team to find a vein.

In response, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is seeking state records, including the names of the volunteer medics and guards who oversaw the execution. AP reports that the request has drawn Ohio into a wider debate over whether executioners' identities should be kept secret.

According to AP:

Death penalty opponents say Newton's May 24 lethal injection was the latest in a series of botched executions nationwide, and that executioners' identities and professional credentials should be open to public scrutiny.

They point to the case of Dr. Alan Doerhoff, a participant in Missouri executions who was revealed in news reports to have been sued for malpractice more than 20 times. The state is no longer using his services.

They also point to the December execution of Florida inmate Angel Diaz, who took 34 minutes — twice as long as usual — to die. Executioners administered a rare second dose of lethal chemicals to Diaz, and an autopsy found the needles had been pushed through Diaz's veins into the flesh of his arms.

A commission created afterward to study the incident called for more training and better protocols for executioners.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty, said the public can't properly scrutinize the effectiveness of capital punishment without adequate information on those carrying it out.

"Public executions should be as public as possible," he said. "They supposedly have nothing to hide, and as with anything government does, it benefits from more scrutiny. For medical personnel, yes, there may be a cost. But that's sort of like the cost that the state, or all of us, bear."

But now comes Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif. Rushford has committed at least one and quite possibly two prevarications -- the word we will use because we wish to be polite.

In the AP story, Rushford accuses capital punishment opponents of wanting to expose members of execution teams to intimidate them. "The ACLU, which has staked out its turf as severely against the death penalty, will use this opportunity to out someone involved in an execution, and use it to put these people at risk," he said. "Unfortunately, that's how important their cause is to them."

Oh, really? No one I know of in the abolition movement wishes to put anyone at risk. (In fact, if you think about our work, that is antithetical to what we do.) We DO want to learn everything we can about the lethal injection process through a legal process known as discovery. Indeed, this is how we have come to learn there are problems with lethal injection in the first place.

Mr. Rushford may have engaged in a second prevarication when he states, "They (the ACLU) were against the gas chamber 30 years ago — they said there was only one humane alternative and that would be lethal injection."

The ACLU came out in favor of lethal injection? Really? I can't definitively state that it didn't happen -- I was a freshman in college when the first lethal injection execution occurred. But I would be shocked if any group, including the ACLU, including Amnesty International, including the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, came out in favor of one method of execution over another. That's not what we're about and that's not what we do.

On the first point, Mr. Rushford owes the ACLU an apology for stating that the organization wishes to put executioners at risk. On the second point, Mr. Rushford needs to either provide substantiation for his claim that the ACLU came out in favor of lethal injection -- or he needs to retract it.

Either way, I'm not holding my breath.

Wrongful execution in Colorado

The year was 1939. His name was Joe Arridy. He was mentally retarded, with the mind of a five-year-old. He liked to play with toy trains. Some fought valiantly for his life, even more so because he was innocent of the crime for which he died after 20 agonizing minutes in Colorado's gas chamber.

Now it appears that a movie about this sad saga is in the works. Called The Woodpecker Waltz, the movie will celebrate the efforts of those who tried to save him, and focus attention anew on the terrible and irretractable mistakes that occur under the death penalty system in the United States and worldwide.

But let's step back and look at the story.

Young Joe Arridy was dropped from the Pueblo elementary school system at an early age because he could not keep up with the other children and he became a soft and harmless wanderer who could be seen walking all over the town of Pueblo. Later, a judge ordered the young man to be sent to the “Colorado State Home and Training School for Mental Defectives” at Grand Junction. At age 22, Joe ran away from the institution and, while trying to find his way home to his parents, was arrested for vagrancy in the Cheyenne railroad yards on August 26, 1936.

Eleven days earlier on August 15, Dorothy Drain, 15, and Barbara Drain, 12, were brutally beaten with an ax. The older girl was killed and the younger one was rushed to the hospital and saved. Dragnets were organized in towns up and down the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

Cheyenne Sheriff George Carroll decided to interrogate Joe regarding the crime. According to the sheriff, Joe gave a changing series of stories. Then he finally admitted that he was the ax murderer.

Carroll then called Pueblo Police Chief Arthur Grady with the news. Grady received it with great surprise. The Pueblo police department already had the killer, Frank Aguilar, in custody. They even found the weapon -- an ax head -- in Aguilar’s home.

Even so, one element in the investigation was still missing: Aguilar refused to confess to the crime. With this in mind, Sheriff Carroll interrogated Joe again and got him to admit that he was present at the murder scene “with a man named Frank.” Both Aguilar and Joe were sent to death row for the murder of Dorothy Drain.

As strange as it may seem for a prison official, Warden Roy Best developed a warm friendship with Joe Arridy. He gave him toys to play with in his cell. The tough warden took Joe home on Christmas Eve of 1939 and presented him with a toy train. The toy train ran an express lane down the corridor of Death Row. A death row inmate would reach through the bars and poke the train over, and Joe would joyfully yell out: “Train wreck! Fix the wreck!” To make Joe happy, the hardened death row inmates would send the toy train back down the corridor to Joe.

Then as his friend’s death date neared, the warden joined with legal professionals in an attempt to stop the execution. Chaplain Albert Shaller stood with the warden, saying that if Joe went to the chamber, he would only deliver the Catholic Church’s Last Rites for a Child.

During these last frenzied battles, Denver attorney Gail Ireland became a real hero. Ireland worked day and night, vigorously pursuing every legal avenue to save Joe’s life, and finally losing a 3-2 decision in the Colorado Supreme Court. Ireland eloquently argued that we are: “doing the State of Colorado a real service if we can keep it from committing a murder itself. Believe me when I say that if he is gassed, it will take a long time for the State of Colorado to live down the disgrace.” Governor Teller Ammons made a stern call for Joe Arridy’s immediate death. It took over 20 minutes for young Joe Arridy to die in the gas chamber.

Postscript

This Saturday, June 2, 2007, at 11 a.m. in Canon City’s Greenwood Cemetery, a dignifying tombstone will be placed on the grave of death row inmate Joe Arridy. Arridy was executed in the Canon City prison gas chamber on January 6, 1939, and buried on top of Woodpecker Hill. The tombstone, which will feature an etching of a replica of Joe’s toy train, is being placed and dedicated by a number of citizens in the Pikes Peak Region who have taken a newfound interest in Arridy’s life and death. Evidence uncovered in the past decade indicates that he was a victim of police and prosecutorial misconduct. This is the first time in the history of Colorado that a personalized tombstone will be placed on the grave of an executed prisoner.

Apparently an outfit called the Keller Entertainment Group has optioned the screenplay entitled The Woodpecker Waltz with the intent of producing a movie. Producer Micheline Keller writes that what attracted her to the script was not only the quality of the writing and the tragic story, but the element of hope in the people that fought so valiantly to save young Joe’s life. She states: “The beauty that exists in the script is that it so eloquently demonstrates that even in the face of tragedy and a flawed world, there are still righteous people who fight for justice and truth… and as long as that continues to happen, there is hope for the survival of our world.”