Sept. 14 OKLAHOMA: Film Planned on McVeigh's Father Bud Welch, who lost a daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing, went from wanting to kill bomber Timothy McVeigh to becoming a leading opponent of the death penalty. And along the way, he came to know and have sympathy for McVeigh's father, Bill McVeigh. The journey of these 2 men after the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history forms the basis for "Bud & Bill," a film being produced by Robert Greenwald, known for the political documentaries "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Uncovered: The War in Iraq." Julie Welch, 23, was working in the Social Security Administration office in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on the morning of April 19, 1995, when McVeigh pulled up in a bomb-laden Ryder truck and touched off an explosion that destroyed the building, killing 168 people. For nearly a year, Welch wanted McVeigh to die for the crime. But he shed this wish for revenge, realizing it would not bring his daughter back, and began traveling the nation to speak out against the death penalty. In his travels, he met McVeigh's father, a retired auto worker in Pendleton, N.Y. "This is about my journey and Bill's journey," Welch said. "It's about what I went through in losing a daughter and what Bill went through in losing a son. Tim is as much dead as Julie and Tim was his son. "You have to understand the feelings of family members who have been executed. They love them just the same in spite of what they've done." The two men met about three years before McVeigh was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. They met again more than a year after the execution and have kept in contact by telephone. "Me and Bud are friends," Bill McVeigh said in a telephone interview from his home. "He is on a crusade to stop the death penalty and he calls me from places you wouldn't believe." He did not witness his son's death and holds no hard feelings toward the government. He said he is "more or less" opposed to the death penalty. "I'm not positive on that," he said. "I'm a Catholic and they oppose it." The idea for the film grew out of Welch's prominence as a death penalty opponent, said Alys Shanti, who is producing the film along with Greenwald. "Robert and I are active opponents of the death penalty in the state of California and Bud Welch is such an integral figure to the movement that we started to read about him and in the process found a beautiful and compelling story," Shanti said. She said the movie should be produced within the next year, and the release date will be several months after that. It is being developed as a low-budget feature for theatrical release. While Welch has been outspoken in his opposition to the death penalty, many others who lost family members in the bombing favored McVeigh's execution and wanted McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, sent to the death chamber as well. A federal jury in Denver sentenced Nichols to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the bombing. Oklahoma prosecutors tried him in state court earlier this year in hopes of winning a death sentence. The lengthy prosecution, with an estimated cost of $10 million, resulted in Nichols being convicted of 161 counts of murder, but he was spared the death penalty when the jury deadlocked in the sentencing phase of the trial. ********************** Death-row inmate will get hearing An Oklahoma man on death row since 1996 must receive a hearing to determine whether he had effective defense attorneys, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed partially with Jemaine Monteil Cannon, who argued that his trial lawyer made errors. Cannon was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the February 1995 stabbing death of Sharonda Clark. (source for both: Associated Press) VIRGINIA: Death penalty possible in trial An appeals court ruled Monday for a 2nd time that the government can seek to execute Zacarias Moussaoui, the only U.S. defendant charged with a role in the Al-Qaida conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11 attacks. In a ruling that allows trial preparations to proceed, the court also said Moussaoui must be given access to statements from 3 Al-Qaida witnesses who made statements that may help his defense. The opinion appeared to give Moussaoui's lawyers their 1st opportunity to submit questions to the Al-Qaida leaders, 2 of whom planned the Sept. 11 attacks. However, an explanation of the defense's new authority was blacked out by the judges because of national security concerns. Moussaoui, the only U.S. defendant charged with crimes related to the Sept. 11 attacks, contends he had no role in planning the hijackings. The three high Al-Qaida officials in custody could reinforce that claim. In affirming a lower court ruling, the three-judge panel found "the enemy combatant witnesses could provide material, favorable testimony on Moussaoui's behalf." But the panel said the lower court's remedy of removing the death penalty was not the proper way to penalize the government for refusing to grant Moussaoui adequate access to the witness statements. In reaffirming the death penalty, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said "no punitive sanction is warranted" by the government's attempt to protect national security by limiting defense access to witness statements. Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges after officials of a Minneapolis flight school became suspicious of his poor flying skills. (source: Associated Press) INDIANA: Judge will decide on death sentence by December A day after raising thousands of dollars in honor of their murdered daughter, Dale and Connie Sutton came to court to hear attorneys ask that the man convicted of killing her seven years ago get a lesser sentence. A Johnson County judge now has three months to decide if a death sentence is the appropriate penalty for Michael Dean Overstreet. The 37-year-old Overstreet was convicted in 1997 of abducting, raping and murdering the Suttons daughter, 18-year-old Franklin College freshman Kelly Eckart. The Boggstown teens body was found in Brown County 3 days after she disappeared in September 1997. Overstreets attorneys from the state public defenders office are asking Judge Cynthia Emkes to re-examine evidence and reverse the death sentence she handed down in July 2000. Testimony began in mid-August in Johnson County Superior Court 2. Overstreets 3-member defense team is arguing that mistakes were made during the original trial and that Overstreet did not receive adequate legal counsel. For the 8-day appeal in county court, the defense recalled witnesses and testimony from the trial, including defense lawyers, police officers, doctors and Overstreets family members. On Monday, 3 DNA experts added testimony about the crime. Overstreet waived his right to attend the court hearing. The defense had asked for another court hearing in October to hear testimony from another witness, but Emkes denied the request. Mondays hearing was the final one in Overstreets appeal and came a day after Eckarts parents hosted the 5th annual memorial run/walk at Franklin College in honor of their daughter. The Boggstown family drew about 200 people and raised about $8,000 with the event, lower this year because of the week they spent in court in mid-August. "That week hurt us; were usually out preparing," Connie Sutton said. "We were so exhausted (on Monday), but it helped that he wasnt there and we could just think about the walk." The judge has until December to reach a decision about the death-sentence appeal. The Indiana Supreme Court rejected Overstreets appeal in February 2003 and upheld his conviction and death sentence. If Emkes denies the petition to change Overstreets sentence, he can appeal to the Indiana Court of Appeals and again to the state Supreme Court. Failing that, he can try to appeal in federal courts. Both sides, depending on the outcome of the decision, say theyll appeal. The entire appeals process could take years. If the death sentence is carried out, Overstreet would be executed by lethal injection. He has been on death row at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City since his sentencing. (source: The Daily Journal) PENNSYLVANIA: Allentown architect's killer is granted stay of execution A federal judge has stayed the Oct. 20 execution of a man convicted of killing his nephew's landlord in Allentown. U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick in Philadelphia issued the stay for George Ivan Lopez on Friday. Lopez, 45, was convicted in 1996 of the killing of David Bolasky, an Allentown architect and landlord. Lopez conspired with his nephew and 2 other men to kill Bolasky when he came to his N. Sixth Street building to collect rent. Legal action has stayed Lopez's execution following his sentencing. Gov. Ed Rendell signed Lopez's most recent death warrant in late August. Lopez is an inmate at the state prison in Greene County. (source: The Morning Call) USA: Opposing DNA Reform You wouldn't think that what's left of Sen. Patrick J. Leahy's Innocence Protection Act could spark much controversy. A few years ago, when Mr. Leahy started pushing legislation to encourage post-conviction DNA testing at the state and federal level and improve the woeful quality of counsel in death penalty cases, the measure had real teeth. Now, however, compromise upon compromise has left the Innocence Protection Act, which has been merged with a bipartisan package with President Bush's initiative to reduce the backlog of physical evidence awaiting DNA testing, a shadow of its former self. The House passed the DNA legislation by a lopsided vote, 357 to 67, last year. Yet the Bush administration continues to oppose the Innocence Protection Act, and last week the Senate Judiciary Committee's conservative members, led by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), managed to stall the larger bill of which it is a part, the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act. Though the committee is scheduled to continue marking up that bill today, and though it would clearly command majority support in the full Senate, it is far from clear that the bill will ultimately get to a vote. The bill does little that shouldn't be a matter of consensus. It would make sure that physical evidence in federal cases is preserved and made available for post-conviction testing and law enforcement purposes. To encourage states that do not already facilitate such testing, the bill would tie some of the grant money it authorizes to the adoption of reasonable rules. It would also use grant money to try to improve the quality of counsel, authorizing as much as $100 million a year for five years to support capital defense and prosecution. States that accept this money would be bound by federal standards and subject to review by the Justice Department's inspector general -- except that certain states, notably Texas, would be bound to follow only new state-level reforms enacted by their legislatures. These changes are well worth enacting, but the bill does not force states to reform; even if the bill is fully funded it will, at most, bribe states to make revisions. It is a reflection of a sorry political reality that this is the best that Congress can do by way of protecting innocent people from wrongful conviction and execution. But given all of the people who have been freed from death row or long prison sentences based on DNA evidence of their innocence, it is hard to imagine that anyone -- let alone the Justice Department -- can still oppose offering states money to make post-conviction testing easier and trial counsel better. (source: Editorial, Washington Post)
