Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> (personal comments only) -----Original Message----- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 4:12 PM To: '[email protected]' Cc: [email protected] Subject: Ryan 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Press Release Importance: High
On Monday, January 17, 2005 the United States of America will celebrate the annual National Holiday in honor of the late, great and martyred civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. To mark this occasion, University of Illinois College of Law Professor Francis A. Boyle has nominated former Illinois Governor George Ryan for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize because of his courageous and heroic opposition to the racist death penalty system in America, which differentially targets African Americans. 42% of America's death row population are African Americans. Of those defendants executed in the United States since 1976, 34% were African Americans. Of the 167 persons whom George Ryan liberated from Illinois' racist death row two years ago, about 60% were African Americans. Illinois proudly boasts that it is "The Land of Lincoln": President Abraham Lincoln, a resident of Illinois, freed the slaves. In the tradition of Lincoln, Governor Ryan freed over 100 descendants of slaves from Illinois' racist death row. As Dr. King's associate the Reverend Jesse Jackson has persuasively argued, today the administration of the Death Penalty in America is nothing more than a system of "Legal Lynching" (1996) against African Americans and other People of Color. The time has long passed for America to eliminate this racist and barbaric measure of state terrorism directed against African Americans, other People of Color, and poor Whites. Toward that end, George Ryan has performed more effective work against the racist death penalty system in America than the entire American Abolitionist Movement combined. For that reason, he richly deserves to win the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Just as the elimination of slavery in America emanated from "The Land of Lincoln," so too the final elimination of the death penalty from America shall be traced back to George Ryan and the State of Illinois. Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> (personal comments only) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/private/deathpenalty/attachments/20050113/19a21cca/attachment.htm From [email protected] Thu Jan 13 16:39:32 2005 From: [email protected] (Rick Halperin) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:14 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----TEXAS, KY. Message-ID: <[email protected]> Jan. 13 TEXAS: Gonzales and the Death Penalty----The Executioner Never Sleeps I am a Ford, not a Lincoln. Gerald Ford, 1973 Even I, biased as I am, am constrained to come to the defense of the oppressed majority now and again. Although I would be the first to contradict the commonly accepted notion (by Republicans and an occasional Democrat) that everyone who is born in a log cabin and raised in crowded quarters, is another Abraham Lincoln and should be elevated to the highest position available at any particular time in the history of the country, I nonetheless feel it important to correct the record of someone wrongly criticized. The log cabin is, of course, the reason Alberto Gonzales has been nominated to be the attorney general of the United States. When introducing Mr. Gonzales to the senate Judiciary Committee, newly elected Senator Ken Salazar quoted from a speech Mr. Gonzales had given at Rice University in which Mr. Gonzales said: "During my years in high school I never once asked my friends once[sic] over to our home. You see, even though my father poured his heart into that house, I was embarrassed that 10 of us lived in a cramped space, with no hot running water or telephone." Proof, if needed, that the log cabin and not great accomplishments got Mr. Gonzales where he is today is found in an examination of his conduct as counsel to the president, counsel that has been examined in considerable detail in the press and in his appearance before the judiciary committee of the United States Senate and needs no further recital here. Less closely examined was Mr. Gonzales's conduct as counsel to then Governor George Bush in Texas and it is for one alleged shortcoming of the fulfillment of his duties in that capacity that I come to his defense. In an article written for The Atlantic in July, 2003, Alan Berlow describes execution briefings Mr. Gonzales prepared while serving as counsel to Governor Bush. The briefings described the nature of the crime, mitigating circumstances and the like. Mr. Berlow obtained 57 confidential memoranda prepared by Mr. Gonzales. The memoranda formed the basis for discussions Mr. Gonzales then had with Governor Bush that sometimes lasted as long as one-half hour which is not all that surprising given the subject matter of the discussion. Their purpose was to assist Governor Bush in reaching the decision that it was appropriate to let the condemned person proceed to the death chamber for execution. In analyzing the memoranda Mr. Berlow observes that Mr. Gonzales "repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." While persuasive in many respects, Mr. Berlow's description of the memorandum prepared by Mr. Gonzales for the governor's review of the case of Carl Johnson who was executed on September 19, 1995 is not. Mr. Berlow notes that Mr. Gonzales did not point out to the governor that Mr. Johnson's trial lawyer had slept through much of the jury selection. What Mr. Berlow probably did not realize is that in Texas that is no big deal. Examples of sleeping lawyers abound as anyone who has followed Texas criminal law knows. George McFarland, for example, was tried for a robbery-killing and his attorney was described by court room witnesses as having been in a deep sleep for much of the trial. In response to a suggestion that a sleeping lawyer was equivalent to ineffective assistance of counsel the trial judge was quoted as saying, quite correctly: "The Constitution doesn't say the lawyer has to be awake." The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the result although a dissenting judge did hazard the observation that the majority's conclusion was ridiculous. Another example of Texas style defense was offered by Calvin Burdine who was also represented by sleeping counsel. In his case not only the court of criminal appeals in Texas but a panel of the Federal 5th Circuit of Appeals thought that was no big deal. Writing for the panel federal judge Edith Jones (who may soon be nominated to join Clarence Thomas and friends) said: "We cannot determine whether [defense counsel] slept during a critical stage of Burdine's trial." She said other equally amusing things the recounting of which space denies me. Notwithstanding Texas's somewhat cavalier attitude towards sleeping lawyers, higher courts have intervened and both men remain alive as the wheels of justice creak along. For all the valid criticism one can make of Mr. Gonzales's' legal advice to Mr. Bush in his various capacities, failing to point out to then Governor Bush that Texas defense counsel was sleeping does not reflect badly on Mr. Gonzales. That is simply part of life and death in the Texas Criminal justice system. (source: Christopher Brauchli is a lawyer in Boulder, Colorado; CounterPunch) KENTUCKY: Complaint against Fletcher rejected With no public discussion, a panel that oversees physician conduct in Kentucky voted today to reject an allegation that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a doctor, violated medical ethics by ordering the execution of a man on death row. The state Medical Licensure Board committee unanimously agreed that Fletcher did not violate ethical guidelines that bar physicians from participating in executions because he was acting as governor, not a doctor, when he signed a Nov. 8 death warrant for Thomas Clyde Bowling. Bowling, convicted in the 1990 slayings of a Lexington couple, was to be executed Nov. 30, but the execution has been indefinitely delayed by several issues his lawyers have raised on appeal. Dr. Preston P. Nunnelley, chairman of the 8-member inquiry panel that reviewed the allegation about Fletcher, said he believes it's clear that Fletcher's duties as governor are separate from his role as physician. "I just can't understand how this came up," he said in an interview after the meeting. But retired lawyer Carl Wedekind, one of four death penalty opponents who wrote the licensure board requesting they investigate the possible ethical violation, said he was disappointed the panel dismissed the complaint so quickly and refused to allow him or others to speak. "We had come with the hope that the Medical Licensure Board would hear what we have to say and let us present our case to them," Wedekind said. John Roach, general counsel for Fletcher, said the governor was pleased with the decision and believes it is appropriate. "It is our understanding that this is the end of the matter," Roach said. (source: Courier-Journal) *************************** Medical licensure board dismisses complaint against Fletcher A state medical board panel dismissed a grievance Thursday against Gov. Ernie Fletcher that questioned whether he violated medical ethics by ordering a death row inmate's execution. In a unanimous decision, a panel of the Kentucky Medical Licensure Board dismissed the claim as having "no merit." When Fletcher signed Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr.'s death warrant, he was acting as governor and not a physician, the board ruled. American Medical Association guidelines prohibit doctors from participating in executions. Kentucky law says doctors must follow the AMA ethical guidelines. The panel meeting Thursday could have recommended a formal investigation, which could have led to sanctions against Fletcher, including potential loss of his license. Brief deliberations were held behind closed doors while the group that filed the grievance waited. They were not allowed to address the panel about the claims, even when the group came out of closed session to vote. "We are very disappointed and very upset about it," said Carl Wedekind, a retired attorney who was one of four to file the grievance against Fletcher. Fletcher signed Bowling's death warrant on Nov. 8. Bowling was scheduled for execution Nov. 30, however his execution was postponed after a ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court and a Franklin Circuit Judge pending the outcome of other cases that involved Bowling. The governor has maintained he did not violate medical ethics by signing Bowling's death warrant. (source: Associated Press) ************************* Response to Governor's statement from KCADP "Governor Fletcher is mistaken about the decision of the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure," said Rev. Patrick Delahanty, chair of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "It did not take up the issue of whether or not he acted ethically as a physician. It ruled only that he was acting as Governor when he signed the death warrant for Thomas Bowling." Fr. Delahanty, present when the Board issued its decision, added, "Presumably, had the panel believed that he was acting as a physician, the result would have been otherwise." ****** For Immediate Release ---- Contact: Doug Hogan January 13, 2005----Jeanne Lausche----502-564-2611 The following is a statement from Governor Ernie Fletcher regarding the dismissal of a grievance filed with the State Board of Medical Licensure for the Governor signing an execution warrant: "I am pleased that the medical board panel unanimously ruled that my actions as Governor were unquestionably within our professional ethical standards." (source: KCADP)
