Dec. 7
Dear Friends,
I have important information to share, as well as a vitally urgent
request.
Yesterday, Acting Governor Richard Codey announced his support for
legislation that would impose a two year moratorium while the capital
punishment system is comprehensively studied. The Star Ledger article
and NJADP's response can be found below this email.
In another development, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected death row
inmate John Martini's request for appeal. Meanwhile, as you know, the
moratorium on NJ executions that was imposed by the Appellate Court as
a result of NJADP's legal challenge to the state's regulations on
lethal injection is still in place. The NJ Department of Corrections
published new draft regulations in an attempt to lift the moratorium
and public hearings on those draft regulations will be held sometime
next year.
There has never been a more critical moment to make your voice heard.
Here is what to do:
Contact: Governor Richard Codey
Tell Him: "I support your call for a moratorium on executions and
study of New Jersey's capital punishment system. Thank you for your
leadership on this important issue."
Reach him at: PO Box 001, Trenton, NJ 08625 * 609-292-6000. Or send an
email through his web site at
http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html
Contact: Your State legislators.
Tell Them: "Please cosponsor and support the death penalty study bill,
with a moratorium provision."
Reach them at:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp or reply to
this info for your legislator's information.
Please let us know if you receive any feedback from the Governor or
your legislators. As always, thank you for your support. We would
not be at this moment without you.
In peace, Celeste
**********************
Codey supports death penalty moratorium during new study
Senate measure likely to impose two-year hold on executions as death
row inmate loses another appeal
Tuesday, December 07, 2004 BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff
As one death row inmate moved closer to lethal injection yesterday,
acting Gov. Richard Codey endorsed a moratorium on executions until a
proposed study commission determines whether the state's death penalty
system is just, fair and worth its cost.
Codey, who is also Senate president, called for the moratorium
yesterday as he stalled a Senate vote on a bill that would have
created a 13-member death penalty study commission.
Such an action could stop any executions from being carried out for up
to two years after the bill is signed.
"The governor does not think it makes sense to do a study without a
moratorium," said Kelley Heck, a spokeswoman for Codey. "So he does
support a moratorium right now, and he supports it for 18 months to
two years."
New Jersey has not executed anyone in 41 years, and capital punishment
is already on hold as the Department of Corrections devises new lethal
injection rules. The death row inmate who has exhausted the most
capital punishment appeals -- convicted murderer John Martini -- lost
another round in court yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused
to hear his case.
The bill would create a commission to determine whether the death
penalty is consistent with "evolving standards of decency," whether it
is discriminatory and whether it is worth its cost, both in money for
lawyers and the risk of executing an innocent defendant.
Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer), the sponsor, said Codey took her aside
yesterday and told her he wanted to add a ban on executions while the
panel studies the death penalty system, and she readily agreed. As
Senate president, Codey decides which bills come up for a vote.
"If we're going to study the death penalty, I think we should not
allow anyone to be executed until the report is in," Turner said.
Last year, a bill to create a study commission without blocking any
executions passed the Legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. James E.
McGreevey, who said capital punishment had been "continuously studied
in painstaking detail."
Just hours before yesterday's Senate session, the U.S. Supreme Court
announced it had declined to hear Martini's latest appeal. While he is
considered the inmate closest to lethal injection, Martini's execution
is not imminent. He still has a legal challenge to his death sentence
pending in state court, and the Department of Corrections is
temporarily blocked from carrying out executions until it adopts new
regulations for performing a lethal injection.
Martini was sentenced to die in 1991 for kidnapping and murdering Fair
Lawn businessman Irving Flax. At 74, he is older than any of the 10
other men on New Jersey's death row. In 1999, after saying he would
rather die than spend his life in prison, Martini came within five
weeks of execution before he changed his mind and pursued his legal
appeals.
Yesterday, without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a
ruling by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia upholding Martini's
death sentence.
"We're disappointed," Tom Rosenthal, a spokesman for the Office of the
Public Defender said, adding that the office "will actively pursue and
investigate all available options in the effort to save the life of
our client."
Rosenthal said Martini's public defenders filed a petition for
post-conviction relief -- Martini's third -- in state court last week,
contending that the jury that condemned him was improperly instructed
in the law.
John Hagerty, a spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice,
said, "We believe the court has previously ruled on this issue and we
will request a quick and expeditious rejection of this 11th-hour
request."
But Hagerty said no execution can be performed until the state adopts
valid regulations for carrying one out, and "the timeframe on that is
an unknown factor."
Last February, a state appeals court struck down the old regulations
as "arbitrary" because they shrouded executions in secrecy and made no
provision for halting one once it started, even if a last-minute
reprieve came.
The Department of Corrections proposed revised regulations in
September but has gotten so many comments on them -- more than 100 --
that it is planning to hold a public hearing in early February, said
Matt Schuman, a spokesman for the department.
****************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Celeste Fitzgerald 973-635-6396 or 609-278-6719
DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS HAIL CODEY'S
CALL FOR MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS
Trenton -- New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(NJADP), a statewide organization of more than 10,000 members, today
(Tues. Dec. 7) announced support for a death penalty moratorium,
proposed yesterday by Acting Governor Richard Codey. Governor Codey
also endorsed a comprehensive study of the state's capital punishment
system, which NJADP has long advocated.
"No execution should be carried out, when overwhelming evidence
suggests that New Jersey's death penalty system is badly broken," said
NJADP Director Celeste Fitzgerald. "A thorough review of the capital
punishment system is clearly needed. We are grateful to the Governor
for his leadership on this serious issue."
Earlier Monday, the United States Supreme Court declined to
hear the appeal of 74-year-old John Martini, the New Jersey death row
inmate closest to death by lethal injection.
"Both the Legislature and the Judiciary - and now the Acting
Governor - have called New Jersey's death penalty into question,"
Fitzgerald said. "Its only common sense that executions be stopped
while this intensive review goes on."
Last February, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate
Division, by unanimous decision, halted executions here, calling the
state's regulations for lethal injection killings 'arbitrary and
unreasonable'. That moratorium remains in effect.
Fitzgerald noted that the 2003 Legislature overwhelmingly
passed a bipartisan bill calling for a death penalty study, which was
later vetoed by then-Governor James E. McGreevey on the last day of
the legislative term.
Since New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, nearly
70 percent of all the state's capital sentences have been overturned
for serious error and, according to the Death Penalty Information
Center in Washington DC, since 1977, 117 Americans sentenced to death
were later discovered to be innocent and freed from death rows -
roughly one for every eight executed.
According to a May 2002 Rutgers-Eagleton poll, sixty-six
percent of New Jerseyans, including the majority of those who say they
support the death penalty, support a moratorium and study.
NJADP, which has campaigned since 1999 for an end to the death
penalty, is core group of more than 200 New Jersey organizations
comprising 120,000 members. For information, visit www.njadp.org or
call 609-278-6719.
###
Celeste Fitzgerald
Director, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Trenton Office: 609-278-6719
Chatham Office: 973-635-6396
[email protected]
