Dec. 30 CONNECTICUT: State Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal in Ross case The state public defenders' office will get another chance to argue for the right to intervene in next month's scheduled execution of serial killer Michael Ross. The public defender's office has won a hearing on the issue before the state Supreme Court next week. The issue is whether New London Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford erred when he refused to allow the public defenders to represent Ross. Earlier this year, Ross fired the public defenders who represented him for 17 of the 20 years he has been in prison. He has retained a private attorney to help him move forward with his execution, saying he does not want to pursue any more appeals. The public defenders' office is arguing that Ross is incompetent and is trying to commit "judicial, state-assisted suicide." In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the public defenders argue that the office was wrongfully denied the right it has under federal common law to show that Ross is incompetent. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Black legislators support Mumia's release On Dec. 3, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) passed a resolution during its conference in Philadelphia calling for the freedom of African American political prisoner and death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. This comes on the heels of another important resolution passed at the NAACP national convention on July 15 that demanded a new trial for Abu-Jamal and condemned the racist application of the death penalty by the criminal justice system. The NAACP convention also took place in Phila del phia, the city where Abu-Jamal was shot and arrested on Dec. 9, 1981, charged with killing a white police officer. Both resolutions were brought about by the efforts of members and supporters of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal to help raise a broader awareness of this case and its political significance. The sham of a trial that took place in 1982 led to a murder conviction and a death sentence for Abu-Jamal. At least 29 constitutional violations were carried out during this trial, including the systematic exclusion of Black jurors by the prosecutor. Abu-Jamal was physically removed from some of the jury proceedings after being denied his right to the legal counsel of his choice. A worldwide movement in support of Abu-Jamal has kept him from being legally lynched by the powers that be who want to silence his revolutionary voice. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, writes eloquent columns denouncing war, racism and oppression in his maximum security cell in Waynesburg, Pa., while awaiting the outcome of state and federal court appeals in efforts to win a new trial. The state legislators' resolution reads: WHEREAS Mumia Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial in Philadelphia was characterized by illegal suppression of evidence, police coercion, illegal exclusion of Black jurors, and grotesquely unfair and unconstitutional rulings by the judge; and WHEREAS the trial judge, Albert Sabo, has been quoted in a sworn statement to have vowed at the time of the trial to help the prosecution 'fry the n--'; and WHEREAS subsequent appellate rulings have bent the law out of shape to sustain the guilty verdict of that trial; and WHEREAS the appellate courts have also refused to consider strong evidence of Mumia Abu-Jamal's innocence, most notably a confession by Arnold Beverly to the crime; and WHEREAS Mumia Abu-Jamal still is incarcerated on Death Row and still faces a death sentence; and WHEREAS Mumia Abu-Jamal's case is now on appeal before the federal Third Circuit and the state court system; and WHEREAS Mumia Abu-Jamal has for decades as a journalist fought courage ously against racism and for the human rights of all people; and WHEREAS the continued unjust incarceration of Mumia Abu-Jamal represents a threat to the civil rights of all people, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Caucus of Black State Legislators demands that the courts consider the evidence of innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal and that he be released from prison; and THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NCBSL demands that Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell instruct his Attorney General to take over the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal from the Philadelphia County District Attorney's office and actually pursue justice; namely, go to court, make a legal confession of error, and stipulate that the conviction be vacated; THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NCBSL will communicate its views on this matter to Gov. Rendell, 225 Main Capitol Bldg., Harris burg, PA 17120, and to the appropriate courts in consultation with the legal defense team of Mumia Abu-Jamal; and THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NCBSL will work with the legal defense team of Mumia Abu-Jamal to petition the courts to file any necessary friend of the court brief on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal. (source: Workers World) USA: THE DEATH PENALTY AND THE WAR (This article is adapted from a talk given at the Long Island Ethical Humanist Society on October 24. Russell Neufeld is an attorney in New York City.) In October of 1847, during the U.S. war with Mexico, New York Tribune publisher Horace Greely, a long time leader of the movement to end capital punishment, wrote in an editorial: "Still we have not the heart to labor for and give prominence to the Abolition of the Death-Penalty at a time when the nation is engaged in butchery, not by retail but by wholesale - not in taking the lives of a few miserable felons...but in plowing up the squares and tearing down the houses of trembling cities with bombs and cannonshot, until the streets run red with the blood of massacred women and children...It does seem too much like straining out a gnat to be anxious for the instant Abolition of Capital Punishment in a crisis like this." As much as we can sympathize with Greely's feelings, he viewed as a conflict two phenomena and the movements to eradicate them, when the two are actually quite symbiotic. The death penalty is something we impose on the people we send off to war, who get terribly messed up and then come home and do terrible things. War traumatizes the people in it. Soldiers are trained to kill. They kill others and see their own comrades killed and wounded. They may narrowly miss death themselves. They come home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - known in earlier wars as "shell shock" or "combat fatigue". They use drugs and alcohol to self medicate - to deaden the awful feelings and thoughts. The Viet-Nam war was a major cause of the drug plague that swept this country during the 70's and 80's. By viewing addiction as a disease rather then as self medication we obfuscated the underlying causes of the problem and severed the causal connection between the war and addiction. When Manny Babbitt, a Black kid from Massachusetts, turned 17, he joined the marines. He completed 2 tours of duty in Viet-Nam and five major campaigns including the incredibly bloody siege of Khe Sanh. He was awarded the Cross of Gallantry, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Purple Heart and a drawer full of other medals and ribbons. When Manny Babbitt came home he was a total mess. He suffered from PTSD flashbacks and delusions. He broke into the home of an elderly woman who he robbed and beat. She later died from a heart attack resulting from the beating. In 2001 the State of California executed Manny Babbitt despite the protests of scores of Viet-Nam vets. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are producing a whole new generation of traumatized G.I.s, returning home with many of the same problems as their predecessors. The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on a study of U.S. forces in Iraq. One in 6 self report being traumatized. It is believed that self reporting results in some under reporting and that the true figure is closer to 1 in 4. And many of these young people go from being cannon fodder to grist for the capital punishment mill. In 2002 3 Special Forces soldiers who had fought in Afghanistan returned home and within 6 weeks each killed their wives. In July 2003 5 G.I.s just back from Iraq went to a strip club, got ejected and killed the one of their group who they blamed for getting them kicked out. They stabbed him over 33 times and then burned his body. This past Memorial Day another group of G.I.'s, also just returned from Iraq killed one of their group under similar circumstances. Last April another just returned G.I. killed his wife. In March a Special Forces soldier beat his wife and then shot himself. In an excellent and powerful article in the November '04 issue of GQ, Kenneth Cain interviewed several recently returned combat vets who are suffering from PTSD. One described his job of protecting an installation in Iraq from insurgents. They would shoot at anyone they saw approaching. One night they destroyed a van full of civilians. "We killed everybody in the car including what must've been a little boy or girl, but you couldn't tell, because the head was blown off." After being injured in combat himself, he went AWOL several times and once barricaded himself in his room. "I couldn't stand it. Every time I shot at someone, it was a mistake. Every time something blew up, some kid's head blew off. It was always a mother and a child, and those sumbitches are gone, you know?" Another soldier from an elite infantry division reported that he carried out night raids and other close combat missions in Iraq, killing a lot of people with his hands. "I didn't get upset the 1st time I killed somebody. I didn't feel any different that night than any other night in my life. Or. The 2nd time, or the 3rd time." But, months later, after being redeployed to a non-combat area, he fell apart. "I was not sleeping. I had nightmares that you wouldn't believe. And flashbacks. My hypervigilance was off the charts." He was examined by a doctor and was told he couldn't return to combat. When he told his sergeant, the sergeant said, "Don't be a pussy. You can go." The soldier then punched out the sergeant and an officer who intervened. There is a biblical admonition that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons. This is probably more of an historical observation than the pronouncement of a deity and is particularly true in the context of war. The story of one of my capital clients is a good example. His father went to Viet-Nam; another young, Black man. And, just like Manny Babbitt, he was at Khe Sanh. Assigned to an artillery unit, he saw his best friend get blown up, standing right next to him. He returned with PTSD. Every time there was a loud noise, he would fall to the floor. The V.A. was some help, but not much. He took to drinking and drugs; and violent fights with his wife which my client witnessed. When my client was nine years old, his father would take him with him to buy drugs. So, one of the results of dad's combat experience was that it greatly undermined his ability to parent and he certainly was no male role model. When my client was 13, his older sister started dating a drug dealer. This man appeared to my client as everything his father wasn't: successful and together. He looked up to him and soon started helping deal drugs. A few years later they were both charged with capital murder for drug related homicides. So, we send young people to war - to its horrors. It messes them up terribly and when they do terribly messed up things - beat or kill their wives - steal to support their drug habit and then kill someone in the course of a robbery - we disown them. We deny our own culpability as a society. They become "the other" and must be expiated as "evil" from our community. We distance ourselves from them instead of recognizing our common humanity and collective responsibility. If they are already part of an "other" group - racial or religious minority, it's that much easier for members of the majority not to identify with them. And war is the great creator of the "other". Whole peoples - Japanese in World War II became "japs", Vietnamese became "gooks" and we're now collectively dehumanizing arabs and Muslims. War creates a moral numbness, allowing us to kill totally innocent human beings. War, therefore, not only creates killers who face the death penalty, it also creates the moral climate that allows jurors to think it's OK for the state to kill the killers. With apologies to Horace Greely, there really is no conflict, for those who value human life, between trying to stop wholesale killing and trying to stop retail killing. (source: Russell Neufeld, Justicia, November-December 2004)
