July 10 KENTUCKY: [Dear Friends in the Abolitionist Community: Here are 2 articles, the 1st from the Courier by the AP which might be in many other KY newspapers; the 2nd from the Herald-Leader about the widow of a murdered prosecutor attacking the Boyd County Commonwealth Attorney for not seeking death and recusing himself from the case. I hope that many of you will respond by writing letters to the editor of these newspapers and others in your area that might run the AP story. The AP story seems especially skewed since, to my knowledge, no one who represents the abolitionist position was about Whaley's comments regarding why we oppose the death penalty. I believe that we are the people standing up for life, not denying the horrible act of murder and the need to hold killers accountable, but also holding our State accountable by not becoming a killer in our names. It is up to those who decide to kill to provide overwhelming evidence of its necessity. Whaley contends the murder rate in prison is high so she abandons her Methodist church's teachings and seeks the death penalty. If anyone on this list has info on murder rates in prison, please contact me. E.g., is the murder rate in prison significantly different than in the general society; and, is murder in prison more likely committed by a convicted murder or someone else serving time? To emphasize how important it is for you to write, let me point out that Kentucky is nearing the time when we might have another execution, though that is still a few months off. It is important that our voices cry out now for life and continue to let legislators and our governor know we exist. Courier-Journal http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/edletter.htm Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/contact_us/newspaper_services/letters_ to_the_editor/ Ashland Independent https://secure.townnews.com/dailyindependent.com/forms/letters.php This link provides access to an excellent story about the prosecutor Fred Capps and his killer Eddie Vaughn who died also. Will give the reader a sense of the town of Burkesville and the people there, including State Senate President David Williams. http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/ 20001119mag-kentucky.html Rev. Patrick Delahanty, Associate Director--Catholic Conference of Kentucky] ***** Prosecutor opposed to death penalty has new critic----Wife Of Slain Commonwealth's Attorney Takes Issue With Religious Jurstification In Catlettsburg, a prosecutor's widow wrote to The Daily Independent in Ashland this week to take issue with the dictates of Stewart Schneider's conscience. Catherine Brown Capps of Burkesville, the widow of slain Cumberland County prosecutor Fred Capps, was the latest in a series of people who have challenged Schneider's decision to withdraw as the prosecutor in a death penalty case. Schneider, a minister with First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ in Ashland, touched off controversy among his colleagues when he said last month that his religious principles would not allow him to seek the death penalty. "The question is, if Christ's commandment to us is to love one another, is there a way to lovingly strap somebody to an electric chair?" he asked in an interview this week. "My decision was, 'No, there is not.' And so I did what I did." In her letter, Catherine Capps echoed sentiments expressed by various prosecutors as she thanked special prosecutor David Flatt of Sandy Hook, who will take over the case for Schneider. "Would Mr. Schneider have the public believe that prosecutors who carry out their sworn duties in full cannot be Christians?" Capps asked. "I take issue with that and with the implied discreditation of all those current and past Christian prosecutors who have stood tall and mightily performed their jobs, irrespective of the difficulty or danger involved." Schneider, who has served as Boyd County's commonwealth's attorney since 1993, is not the only minister who works as a prosecutor. But others say they're able to reconcile their public duties with their faith. Commonwealth's Attorney George Moore of Mount Sterling said he is a commissioned lay pastor in the Presbyterian church. "I don't view it as a conflict," said Moore, but he declined to comment on Schneider's situation. "I don't want to second-guess somebody else," he said. "It's not fair to Stewart, it's not fair to me and I don't try to define other people's theology for them." Moore said he knows other prosecutors who are opposed to the death penalty, "not necessarily for religious reasons, but I think they proceed." Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley, who took a leave of absence and graduated from the Lexington Theological Seminary in 1997, recently accepted her first death-penalty case since resuming work as a prosecutor. Whaley previously had prosecuted several capital cases, but was forced to re-evaluate the issue before she returned to court. "I came to the conclusion that ... what I'd experienced in the seminary didn't change my position on the death penalty," she said. "In some cases, prison is not the remedy. It's not going to protect people." In the case from which Schneider withdrew, 2 men are indicted on 2 counts each of 1st-degree murder, 1 count of 1st-degree arson and 1 count of tampering with physical evidence. Jonathan Nolan, 24, of Catlettsburg, and Patrick Campbell, 21, of Ashland, are charged in the slayings of Phillip "Bo" Booth, 32, and his wife, Shonda Booth, 26, who were found dead at their Catlettsburg home in May. Schneider said that, after he decided he could not seek the death penalty, "I took what I thought was the only course of integrity open to me, which is to rely on someone else to make the call." Flatt could not be reached for comment, but has filed notice he intends to seek the death penalty. Public defender Brian Hewlett of Ashland, who represents Campbell, said the local bar association was aware that Schneider had become increasingly involved in his church work, but was surprised by his recusal. "It may actually make my job a little harder because it's polarized the pro-death penalty people in the community," he said. Meanwhile, at least one prosecutor, Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson, has called for Schneider's resignation. But Schneider, who said he intends to seek re-election in 2006, appears unfazed. "The story to me, or the issue -- if there is one -- is living your faith," he said. "in light of what happens, historically, to Christians who really try to walk the walk, who really try to live their faith, I'm really being treated quite gently. It almost saddens me, but I'm not angry with anybody; I understand they see my position as a betrayal." (source: Lexington Herald-Leader) ******************* Balancing jobs, beliefs difficult ----Prosecutors find different answers to hard questions On Sundays, gospel preacher J. Stewart Schneider tries to lead lost souls to redemption. Monday through Friday he tries to send others to prison, in his other job as a prosecutor. Schneider was always able to reconcile those 2 roles until he was faced with a double-murder case that would have put him in the position of arguing for the death penalty. It was a line he could not cross. He stepped aside, turning the case over to a prosecutor in a neighboring county. "If I preach on Sunday God's commandment to love everybody, how can I then on Monday tell a jury of 12 people that its OK to kill someone?" Schneider asked, stroking his fingers through a graying brown beard. "If we kill someone, we cut off God's plan for that person's redemption." The dilemma of preaching prosecutors can be perplexing, but preachers in the rural South often hold secular jobs through the week. George Moore, a Presbyterian lay pastor and commonwealth's attorney from Mount Sterling, said he has come to terms with his support of the death penalty. "While I probably agree it would be a better world if we didn't have to have the death penalty, I am comfortable with the fact that that is the law," Moore said. "The question is more complex than do I favor or oppose the death penalty. The question is: Is this something I can do without violating my faith structure?" Barbara Maines Whaley, an ordained United Methodist minister who is a special prosecutor in the Kentucky attorney general's office, has wrestled with the issue and concluded that the death penalty is sometimes necessary. She has prosecuted 6 death-penalty cases, sending 2 convicted murderers to death row, one of whom later had his sentence reduced to life without parole. "Biblically, you can look in the Gospel of Luke and find the reference to Jesus speaking to one of the thieves on the cross next to him," Whaley said. "He said, `Today you will be with me in paradise.' There is no record of Jesus saying `you are being wrongfully punished' or of expressing any opposition to the law. Jesus could have expressed an opinion, but he chose not to." Schneider said he has heard all the scriptural and legal debates. But in the end, his role as minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) won out over that of Boyd County commonwealth's attorney. And if his decision prevents him from winning another term, so be it. "Christianity's message of love for all is more powerful than the need for vengeance," he said. "We kill and we kill and we kill. We bomb and we bomb and we bomb. Yet, 2,000 years ago, a guy in sandals said love one another." Schneider, 57, who has been the top prosecutor in his northeastern Kentucky county since 1993, was sharply criticized for his decision, and the head of the state association of prosecutors called for his resignation. Some said Schneider was trying to have it both ways. He had the power to seek only life sentences in the case, yet he is letting another prosecutor seek the death penalty for what all agree was a particularly brutal crime. 2 young men, Patrick Campbell and Jonathon Nolan, are charged with murdering a couple during a break-in, then setting their house on fire to destroy the evidence. Phillip and Shonda Booth's two children, ages 4 and 8, were home at the time of the May 24 fire but escaped with minor injuries. Moore said he tries to keep his roles as minister and prosecutor separate. He said he has an obligation as prosecutor to seek the death penalty in certain cases because civil law calls for it, and he has no problem doing that. "Each individual has to make that decision for themselves," he said. "Stewart decided that it violated his faith structure. That doesn't make him right or wrong. And I'm not going to say I'm right or wrong." Schneider said he believes putting murderers in prison where they no longer pose a threat to society is sufficient. Whaley said, however, that doesn't protect other inmates from convicted murderers bent on harming others. In fact, she said, murder among inmates is not uncommon. "The people have determined through their elected representatives that there is a need for this type of remedy," Whaley said. "Opponents to the death penalty generally focus only upon death as a punishment. They don't focus on the victim. They don't focus on future victims, on the fact that if this person is not executed, how many lives would be taken." Whaley, who has put her church ministry on hold while working in the attorney general's office, said prosecutors shouldn't feel that they carry the entire burden in a death-penalty case. "I don't believe a prosecutor has any more of a significant role in a capital-murder case than any other participant, beginning with law-enforcement officers, jury, defense attorney, the judge and the witnesses," she said. "The prosecutor is a public servant carrying out her role in upholding the law." (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: Decatur attorney wins against death----Mays honored for work on capital murder trials He never patterned himself after TV's great defense lawyer Perry Mason, and he certainly never attempted any of the dramatics in the courtroom performed by the witty Ben Matlock. The driving force behind John Edmond Mays' success in trying capital murder cases is the death penalty. "I absolutely, positively hate the death penalty. I've always opposed it for anybody, for any reason," he said. "I never paid any attention to TV lawyers because I knew that wasn't the real world." Mays, who defends many of the capital murder cases in Morgan County, received the Roderick Beddow Sr. lifetime achievement award recently from the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. The award honors Mays mainly for his winning record in capital cases and for his devotion to criminal law. "This is the biggest award that our association gives, and I can certainly think of nobody more deserving," said Bruce Gardner, immediate past president of the association. "We consider a variety of things, including significant performance in the defense of criminal cases, particularly in capital cases. It's just not something because a person has had a great year. It is for the person's lifetime dedication to criminal defense." Of 20 capital murder trials in which Mays represented defendants, only 3 resulted in capital murder convictions. "The others were either acquittals or the clients were found guilty of charges less than capital murder," said Mays. "None of the three clients who were convicted were sentenced to die by a jury, but by judge overrides." Mays' most recent win was last year when he was co-counsel on the case of Brian Jones, a Trinity man whom police accused of beating a child to death. A jury acquitted Jones of the capital charges. Born in Richmond, Va., Mays, 55, grew up in Pikeville, Ky., and his initial interest in the field of law came from inspiration on the front porch. "Two doors down from my house was a lawyer named John Hatcher, who represented Randall McCoy, who had been involved in the Hatfields and McCoys feuding. The Hatfields were from West Virginia and the McCoys lived in my home county, Pike," Mays said. "I used to go visit Mr. Hatcher every evening after supper and have a cigar with him on his front porch. I used to love to talk to him about history, and that's when I first became interested in law." Mays went to military academies through high school and college. He joined the U.S. Army, and when he got out in 1973 he enrolled at Birmingham School of Law. He graduated in 1976. In addition, he received a master's degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He also is a graduate of National Criminal Defense College at Mercer University law school. He was a judge advocate general in the National Guard for 17 years. He moved in 1977 to Decatur, where he has maintained a law practice. In addition, he is lead trial attorney for Birmingham attorney Richard Jaffe, who is representing alleged bomber Eric Rudolph. Mays' colleagues speak well of his career. "He has tried a lot of capital cases, and he doesn't take the easy ones where you're guaranteed to win," said attorney Brian White. "He doesn't select them based on whether they're going to be a cakewalk. He selects them because the defendants need help. In capital cases sometimes the win is they're convicted, but you're able to save their life." Morgan County Circuit Judge Steve Haddock said Mays has given much to criminal defense. "John has devoted a lot of time and energy to efforts to improve criminal defense practice throughout the state," said Haddock. "He has probably been involved in more capital murder cases than anyone else I know. He deserves the award." Mays has penned 5 books, which, Gardner said, other lawyers use for help in defending cases. The books are "Defending Death Penalty Cases in Alabama," "Defending Child Sex Abuse Cases in Alabama," "Defending Domestic Cases in Alabama/Crimes against the Family," "Drug Condemnations and Forfeitures in Alabama" and "Use of Computers in Criminal Trials." "Roderick Beddow Sr. was the greatest attorney Alabama ever produced, and to be granted this award is humbling," Mays said. He attributes his wins to his defense team - Gary Fox, a private investigator, retired from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and a former state trooper; and John Taylor, his law partner - and his work ethic. "The only secret there is to winning criminal trials is not what is done in the courtroom, but what is done in preparation," Mays said. "You have to go over all the evidence and facts many times over before trial because you can never tell the jury that you intend to prove something that you don't prove." "The other part of the secret is never try to trick a jury because if they ever lose confidence in your case, you no longer have credibility with them." (source: The Decatur Daily) FLORIDA: Gambino crew charges rule out death penalty A new federal grand jury indictment against members of a Gambino crime crew was unsealed Friday, but it did not include charges that could subject the alleged mobsters to the death penalty. Last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Schwartz said prosecutors planned to file capital counts, rare in a mob case. But the most serious charges in the new racketeering indictment seek only life sentences. "It's a big ado about nothing," said Scott Sakin, defense attorney for Kevin "Capone" Antinuche. "... Somebody has been watching too much TV." Edward "Crazy Eddie" Callegari, 39, was named with Antinuche, 34, as eligible for a life sentence for a double murder in Fort Lauderdale, a Publix supermarket holdup in Boca Raton and a Fort Lauderdale jewelry store robbery, all in 1995. The updated indictment alleged the crew, led by Gambino organized crime family "capo" Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, 52, was a corrupt enterprise engaged in a page-long list of crimes from New York to South Florida -- including murder, robbery, extortion, arson, kidnapping, fraud and witness tampering. The indictment also included allegations that the defendants plotted to kill the prosecutors and witnesses and to attack people in court. Two defendants, Joseph "Baby Face" Kondrotos, 35, and Valentino Nucci, age unknown, were dropped from the new indictment. Kondrotos is cooperating with authorities, according to court documents. Two defendants were added -- Peter "Bud" Zuccaro, 38, and Jamie Carr, 33. While Carr is in custody, Zuccaro is a fugitive, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence LaVecchio said. Zuccaro testified for the defense in a trial of the late Gambino don John Gotti in the 1980s. According to Playboy magazine, Zuccaro, who specialized in armored car heists, was asked if he turned money over to Gotti's headquarters. "I don't give money to nobody," Zuccaro said. "What am I, Santa Claus?" (source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
