March 8 TEXAS: Administration wants Texas hearings for Mexicans on death row The Bush administration is asking Texas to conduct new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death row who say they were denied legal help from their consulates in violation of international law. The International Court of Justice in The Hague last year ruled that the convictions violated the 1963 Vienna Convention by not providing the Mexicans with consular access. In 1969, the Senate ratified the treaty, which requires such access for Americans detained abroad and foreigners arrested in the United States. The Supreme Court filing is an attempt by the administration to quell international criticism and comes a month before justices were to hear arguments in the case of Texas death row inmate Jose Medellin, who is challenging his conviction and sentence as a due process violation. Medellin is backed in his appeal by dozens of countries, legal groups and human rights organizations, as well as former American diplomats and the European Union. The filing by Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement argues that it is President Bush's decision, not the court's, to determine whether the United States should comply with international law. Nevertheless, the administration has chosen to do so in this case, states the Feb. 28 filing, which was circulated Monday by the court. "Compliance serves to protect the interest of United States citizens abroad, promotes the effective conduct of foreign relations and underscores the United States' commitment in the international community in the rule of law," Clement wrote. The filing states that Medellin and other Mexican nationals can now seek a fresh review in state court, which will then reconsider their claims in a way that "the president has determined is an appropriate means to fulfill this nation's treaty obligations." Texas attorneys had argued it was too late for Medellin to bring the challenge, because he failed at his trial to file objections that the Mexican government was not told of his arrest. Medellin was 1 of 5 gang members sentenced to death for raping and murdering Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in Houston in 1993. There are 118 foreigners from 32 countries on death rows in America. The case is Medellin v. Dretke, 04-5928. ************************** Prosecutor: Driver in smuggling case 'heartless and evil' The driver of a tractor-trailer carrying more than 70 illegal immigrants was the most "heartless and evil" member of a smuggling ring because he didn't help his passengers as they slowly died, a prosecutor said Tuesday in his opening statements at the man's trial. When the truck was discovered abandoned at a truck stop about 125 miles southwest of Houston in May 2003, 17 of the people inside had died of dehydration, hypothermia and suffocation, including a 5-year-old boy. Two others died later. The driver, Tyron Williams, faces 58 counts of harboring and transporting illegal immigrants. If convicted, he is the only one of 14 defendants who could receive the death penalty, which federal law allows in fatal smuggling cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rodriguez told jurors that Williams deliberately avoided learning the number of people the smugglers put in his truck as part of his effort to not get caught. Rather than help the desperate immigrants as they kicked out a signal light and cried for help, Rodriguez said, Williams demanded more money from other ring operators because he feared his human cargo would damage his truck. "At no time during that entire trip did he ever open the doors to see what was going on," Rodriguez said. "He was the most heartless, evil and cruel member of the organization." Williams' attorney, Craig Washington, told the jurors his client was not responsible for the deaths even though he transported the illegal immigrants. Washington said Williams would have helped the immigrants who screamed for help and tried to claw their way out of the hot, airless trailer, but he didn't speak Spanish and didn't understand their cries. He said Williams offered them water but couldn't understand what was happening to them. Williams' attorneys have argued that he was singled out for the death penalty because he is black. Most of the other defendants were Hispanic. The trial of Williams, 34, a Jamaican citizen who lives in Schenectady, New York, had been postponed 4 times since its original January start date because of appeals over the possible death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on Monday. The trial could last 6 to 8 weeks. (source for both: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Panel approves innocence plan--General Assembly will get proposal Officials from across the criminal justice system found enough consensus Monday to forward a proposal to state lawmakers creating a review panel to evaluate criminal defendants' innocence claims.By a vote of 19-9, the N.C. Actual Innocence Commission agreed to send a bill to the legislature that would make North Carolina the first state in the country with an agency to screen and investigate innocence claims. The idea for such an entity came after a series of wrongly convicted people were released from prison, including Alan Gell, who spent 9 years on death row but was later acquitted of murder. The commission was under some pressure Monday to approve the proposal, which has to be introduced in the legislature by April 20 to be considered this session. The commission would have had to wait two years before being able to introduce the bill. "It's the right thing for all of us to do. It's not right to wait two more years," former Superior Court Judge Tom Ross said in support of the measure. Ross was joined by prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, law professors and law enforcement officials -- although some acknowledged support of the concept with a bit of hesitation about the details. "Although I might feel a little bit uncomfortable, I can still hold my head up and say I've done what I think is right," Burlington Police Chief Mike Gauldin said. The proposal was opposed by Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby, Mel Chilton with the N.C. Victim Assistance Network and some law enforcement officials. While not opposed to an innocence review panel, they wanted more time to garner support among their constituents, which they say is key to making the proposal a reality. "I think whatever we got is going to go to the General Assembly without any broad base of support from victims, law enforcement or the district attorneys. I think it's going to be doomed," Willoughby said. "Should we be trying to do this fast or should we be trying to do this right?" Melanie Thomas of the State Bureau of Investigation echoed Willoughby's concerns. "When we introduce this bill, let's make sure we have the support we need. I'm afraid at this point we don't." In response, Ross, now executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc., said the legislative process would allow those groups to raise any remaining concerns and have them addressed by lawmakers. "There's a long road left ahead," Ross said. "There's plenty of time." The N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission would investigate inmates' innocence claims. The results would be evaluated by a 7-member panel, whose members would be appointed by the chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court and include a prosecutor, a judge, a defense lawyer and a victims' advocate. As a deterrent for false innocence claims, a defendant would have to waive the attorney-client privilege, and any evidence that the defendant committed other criminal activity would be forwarded to law enforcement agencies for possible investigation. If five of the seven panel members find "sufficient evidence of factual innocence to merit judicial review," the panel will forward the claim to a three-judge panel for a public hearing. (source: News Observer) NEW MEXICO: Senate panel: Pass death-penalty ban An effort to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico came one step closer to reality Monday when a Senate committee voted for a do-pass recommendation for a bill that would replace capital punishment with a sentence of life in prison without parole. The Senate Rules Committee voted 4-2 in favor of House Bill 576 sponsored by Rep. Gail Beam, Albuquerque. Monday's vote was along party lines - Democrats in favor, Republicans against. But one Republican senator who missed the vote because he was tied up in another committee said Monday he is considering voting for the bill. Sen. Steve Komadina of Rio Rancho said he would probably vote for Beam's bill if some amendments were added. "And I'd probably vote against it if my amendments aren't adopted," he said. Komadina said he would like to see more "aggravating circumstances" that would qualify a murderer for life in prison without parole. These include deliberately murdering a child under 13, murdering a law enforcement officer whether or not the officer was on duty, multiple murders and "heinous crimes that defy human understanding." The bill now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where prospects for the legislation look good. The Judiciary panel includes 2 senators - John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, and Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque - who voted for the bill on the Rules Committee; 2 outspoken advocates for repealing the death penalty, Sens. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque , and Senate Majority Michael Sanchez, D-Belen ; and two senators who voted to repeal the death penalty 4 years ago, Richard Martinez, D-Espaola , and Lidio Rainaldi, D-Gallup. The bill could have a tougher time on the Senate floor. A similar death-penalty repeal bill lost by 1 vote in 2001. And even if it passes, to become law it must be signed by Gov. Bill Richardson , who is in favor of keeping capital punishment on the books. Voting in favor of the death-penalty repeal measure were Grubesic, Lopez and 2 other Albuquerque Democrats - Sens. Dede Feldman and Gerald Ortiz y Pino. Voting against the measure were Republican Sens. Rod Adair of Roswell and Kent Cravens of Albuquerque. While groups representing churches - including the New Mexico Catholic Conference of Bishops and the New Mexico Conference of Churches - were on hand to testify against the death penalty , many denominations support capital punishment, Adair noted. "Please don't impugn to your opponents' bad motives and yourselves' purity," Adair told backers of the bill. "I was ambivalent about the death penalty until I heard the testimony today," Grubesic told the committee. "But I see now how, because of the death penalty, we glorify the killers." "We create a cult of death around these idiots. Look at Terry Clark. He manipulated the system and the media for years, and then he found God in prison like all these idiots do. Terry Clark can find God in prison and go to heaven? That's ridiculous . We ought to let people like him rot in prison for the rest of his life." Clark - a child rapist and murderer who killed 9-year-old Dena Lynn Gore of Artesia in 1986 - was lethally injected in 2001. His was the 1st and only legal execution in the state since 1960. (source: The New Mexican) ****************************** End executions and help victims As people of faith, we call on state legislators and the governor to place victims before those who have committed murder. In support of a justice system that is both humane and restorative, we urge New Mexico to replace the death penalty with life without parole, as drafted in House Bill 576. As pastors, we uphold the victims of violent crime and their family members in their grief and suffering and promote measures that will help their healing. That is why we support the 2005 Catastrophic Crime & Family Restitution Program and House Bills 576, 577 and 356/578. Under this program, state resources that are currently spent on legal fees related to death penalty cases would be redirected toward expanded services and assistance to victims' families and loved ones. Our state can provide the resources to allow victims' family members to begin the deeply personal and spiritual process of reconciliation with pain and grief. This legislative session, let's take action and put our attention and money toward those who need it: victims. --The Rev. Barbara Dua, Director, N.M. Conference of Churches Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan, Archdiocese of Santa Fe Bishop Donald E. Pelotte, Diocese of Gallup Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, Diocese of Las Cruces ---- Now N.M. can shun death penalty The United States has recently lost our distinction as the last nation on earth to legally sanction the killing of children. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is no longer acceptable to execute juvenile murderers. The court relied on "evolving standards of decency" to reach its decision. As in the court's earlier decisions eliminating the use of the death penalty on certain classes of offenders, the trend, as standards of decency evolve, is always away from government killing. The citizens of New Mexico now have an opportunity to take a giant evolutionary step in our own standards of decency by repealing the death penalty. The state House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for those convicted of the most serious crimes. Along with this bill, the House also passed legislation providing additional support for families of murder victims. Together, these bills demonstrate an evolving standard of decency that recognizes the harm done to families who suffer the brutal loss of a loved one, while eliminating the tremendous risk of injustice inherent in the death penalty. As these bills move on to the New Mexico Senate and the governor, I hope these elected officials will continue to lead us toward a higher standard of decency - one that recognizes that justice is more that mere vengeance, and punishment does not require us to become killers ourselves. D. Eric Hannum, Attorney, Albuquerque (source: Letters to the Editor, Albuquerque Tribune) OHIO: Killer's Execution No Closure For Victim's Daughter----After 17 Years, Bradford Still Keeps Mother Close To Her Heart The man who raped, robbed and killed her mother 17 years ago was executed Tuesday, bringing up both horrifying and happy memories for Glenda Bradford. Happy because Bradford, now a mother of 5 herself, holds her mother, Mary, tightly in her heart. "I miss her. She was beautiful to me," Bradford said in her only local interview with News 5's Juliette Vara. Bradford treasures a small, aged photo, about the only picture she has of her mother. "The most wonderful person I ever met, not because she was my mother, but because of her heart. She has left me with that," Bradford said. Horrifying because of the circumstances of her mother's death. On Sunday, Sept. 27, 1987, Bradford was expecting her mother for dinner when there was a knock on the door. It was the police with news that her mother had been raped and murdered inside her Over-the-Rhine apartment. William Smith stabbed Mary Bradford about 10 times, then raped her as she lay in a pool of blood bleeding to death. "I'm trying to live it, to be there, to imagine how she felt and what was on her mind," Bradford said. But it's too hard. "It was about what he wanted. He saw money and he saw that he could have something more," Bradford said. Bradford said Smith has never made contact with her family or apologized for what he did. Today, after numerous failed appeals, Smith died at 10:19 a.m. by lethal injection. Bradford fights back tears, yet admits Smith's execution will not bring closure or justice. Nothing ever will. Her nephew planned to drive up to Lucasville to represent the family at the execution. Bradford didn't go. It wasn't in her heart. (source: Channel Cincinnati)
