August 3 ALABAMA----impending execution: Murderer 'too old' for execution A 74-year-old convicted murderer, who is within days of becoming the oldest US prisoner executed in decades, asked an appeals court today to block his execution, saying he was too old and sick to be put to death. Death penalty opponents, meanwhile, asked Alabama Governor Bob Riley to have mercy on James Hubbard, set to die by lethal injection on Thursday for a 1977 killing. Psychological and medical screenings showed Hubbard was suffering from dementia, hepatitis, diverticulitis, hypertension, acute back pain and was mildly retarded, according to papers filed by his lawyers with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Executing Hubbard would be cruel and unusual punishment, the papers said. "We contend that he's basically too old," said Hubbard's lawyer Alan Rose, of Boston. The state is opposing any delay. It contends Hubbard is competent for execution. Records from the Death Penalty Information Centre show Hubbard would be the oldest US prisoner put to death since executions resumed in 1977 with the approval of the US Supreme Court. In asking Governor Riley to intervene, the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said Hubbard would be the oldest person executed in the United States since 1941. "Even if one supported the death penalty, it is difficult to understand what purpose James Hubbard's execution would serve," said David Elliott, a spokesman for the group. Mr Riley's office had no immediate comment on the request. Hubbard is the oldest person on Alabama's death row and one of the oldest people in the nation awaiting execution. The defence said he only had a 6th-grade elementary school education. Hubbard was convicted twice in the murder of 62-year-old Lillian Montgomery, of Tuscaloosa, who was shot three times and robbed after befriending Hubbard. A prosecutor said Ms Montgomery had sponsored Hubbard after his release from prison in 1976, when he was freed after serving time on a 2nd-degree murder conviction in 1957. A court threw out Hubbard's initial conviction and death sentence in Ms Montgomery's slaying, but he was convicted again in 1982 and sentenced to death. Hubbard, who had been held at a prison near Birmingham, has already been transferred to Holman Prison at Atmore, site of the state's death chamber. (source: Herald-Sun News) FLORIDA: Florida criticicized over new $4 monthly fee on inmate accounts Prisoner rights advocates are criticizing the state for its new $4 monthly fee on inmates' spending accounts - a fee that is charged even if a prisoner has no money. Hannah Floyd, the wife of a death row inmate, and leader of the Florida Death Row Advocacy Group, said the fee is unfair, because it penalizes families and charities that contribute to inmate banking accounts. The fee, which prisons began collecting Friday, will generate $3.5 million annually for the state. "The men are upset. Some of these guys are on a shoestring budget, trying to make it with close to nothing. If you have $10 a month to get by on and the state takes 4, your whole budget totally collapses," Floyd said Monday in an e-mail. All inmates at Florida's 56 prisons are required to have an account whether they shop at the canteen or have any money. Money gifts received by the inmate are deposited in the account as well as any money a prisoner might earn for working in prison industries. The inmates can then use the accounts to buy toiletries, such as deodorant, junk food, and some clothing, such as tennis shoes, not provided by the Florida Department of Corrections. Prisoners are prohibited from carrying money or receiving goods from outside the prison. The fee was tacked on as a final paragraph of a bill dealing with the Correctional Privatization Commission and approved in an unanimous vote of the Legislature earlier this year. State Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, who sponsored the provision calling for the automatic deduction from inmate accounts, said he did so at the request of the Department of Corrections so it could recoup the fees it spends maintaining the inmate accounts. "It's like the same fee you and I pay for bank service charges," said Brummer, who serves on the powerful Appropriation and Rules committees. Brummer believes inmates should pay more of the cost of their care and doesn't buy the argument it is unfair to prisoners and their families. "I have a tough time being sympathetic to that issue. Taxpayers spend a lot of money to make sure they pay their debt to society," Brummer said. But Peter Siegel, an attorney with the Florida Justice Institute, said a lawsuit filed July 23 in Tallahassee is challenges the law because it was included in a bill containing more than one subject. The institute also believes the fee is unfair. "There is an awful lot of prisoners who don't have any money," he said. The suit asked for an immediate hearing, but Siegel said attorneys still have not been given a hearing date in Circuit Court in Leon County. Inmates who do not have any money in their inmate accounts will still be charged $4 a month, said Sterling Ivey, a Department of Correction spokesman. A lien will be placed on the account and inmate will have to pay the late fees before new money paid into their account can be used. The department will not go after an inmate when he leaves prison for the amount of money he owes and it will not be deducted from the $100 given to inmates leaving prison. However, if an inmate returns to prison, his account will show the amount he previously owed. (source: Associated Press) USA: Court TV Begins Production on Its 4th Original Film, An Adaptation of The Exonerated, the Critically-Acclaimed Play Based on the True Stories of Innocent People on Death Row Bob Balaban Directing, Producing; Starring Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, David Brown, Jr. The Investigation Channel(TM) began production today in New York City on its 4th original movie, The Exonerated. The cinematic adaptation of the award-winning off-Broadway play of the same name focuses on the stories of six innocent people who spent years on death row before being set free. Court TV will air The Exonerated next year. This film joins the roster of issue-related programming that the network continues to feature including such controversial subjects as federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws to unsupervised police interrogations of juvenile suspects to political asylum and now, capital punishment and wrongful incarceration. Award-winning actor/director/producer and Chicagofilms founder Bob Balaban, who developed and directed the stage production, serves as director and executive producer for the screen version. In the actual words of the 6 death row exonerees, we relive their stories. The film features Academy Award(R)- winning actor Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, and introduces David Brown, Jr. "Court TV continues its commitment to air important, cause-related programming, through our production of original movies and documentaries," said Court TV Chairman and CEO Henry Schleiff. "The Exonerated exposes the potentially devastating anguish inflicted by the death penalty. Since its opening, the play has been a catalyst for the reevaluation of capital punishment laws and we expect the movie to further that momentum." Written by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen and based on true stories, The Exonerated uses documentary material including interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and the public record to illuminate the fallibility of the American criminal justice system. Through 6 interwoven stories often told with humor and hope, we witness the potential of the human spirit to transcend unimaginable bitterness and hate. Court TV is producing the film in association with @radical.media. Court TV executives in charge of original movies are Mary D. Silverman and Rosalie Muskatt. Producing for @radical.media are Jack Lechner and Greg Schultz. Steven Tabakin and Karen Wolfe are also producers on the film. Court TV - The Investigation Channel(TM) is the leader in the investigation genre, providing a window on the American system of justice through distinctive programming that both informs and entertains. Court TV telecasts trials by day and high-profile original programs like Forensic Files(R) and popular off-network series like NYPD Blue(R) in the evening. Court TV is 50% owned by Time Warner, and 50% owned by Liberty Media Corp. The network is seen in over 82 million homes. (source: Court TV)
