URGENT ACTION APPEAL
4 May 2005
UA 110/05 Death penalty / Legal concern
USA /Oklahoma: George James Miller (m), black, aged 39
George Miller is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma
on 12 May 2005. He was sentenced to death for the
murder of Kent Dodd in 1994.
On 17 September 1994, 25-year-old Kent Dodd, white,
was working as a night auditor in a Central Plaza
Hotel in Oklahoma City. At about 3.15am, he registered
a guest. Shortly thereafter, Dodd was attacked by
someone who stabbed him repeatedly, beat him and
poured acid on him. At about 6am, Kent Dodd was found
by another worker who had arrived for the morning
shift. Dodd was taken to hospital, where he died later
that day. Before he died, he told police that his
attacker had been a black man wearing grey trousers,
who had robbed him. Kent Dodd knew Miller, although
only under the alias Jay Elkins. However, Dodd did not
identify ''Jay Elkins'' as his attacker during police
questioning.
As the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals noted in
1998, ''all of the evidence against George Miller is
circumstantial''. The prosecution only
circumstantially linked George Miller to a sum of
money (around $100) similar to the amount taken from
the hotel reception. No forensic evidence identifies
Miller as the attacker and there were no eyewitnesses
to the crime. DNA testing of a microscopic drop of
what was suspected as blood found on one of Miller's
sandals could have come from the victim, but the jury
was told by a prosecution expert that it also could
have come from 1 in 19 Caucasians, 1 in 16 African
Americans or 1 in 55 Hispanics. According to a state
expert, a bloody footprint left at the crime scene
could have been made by one of Miller's sandals, but
there were no unique distinguishing marks in the
footprint that would conclusively identify Miller's
sandal as the footwear that left the print. What is
more, no blood was found on the soles of either
sandal. Also no blood was found in Miller's wife's
car, which Miller had borrowed on the night in
question.
In Oklahoma, the state is allowed to make two closing
arguments in the guilt/innocence stage of the trial.
It makes its first closing argument after all the
evidence has been presented, and the defense then
presents its closing argument. The state is then
allowed to make a second closing argument, after which
the jury retires to deliberate its verdict. During
this second closing argument at the Miller trial, the
prosecution introduced State Exhibit No. 55, a
photograph of blood on the floor and the walls of the
crime scene. The prosecutor told the jury that the
most important evidence had almost been overlooked,
and that the jurors could see that the murder victim
''went into his own blood... and wrote his killer's
name''. The prosecutor then placed a transparent
overlay with the name ''Jay'' written on it and
apparently matched it with a blood smear on the wall
in the photograph. The prosecutor also claimed that
Kent Dodd did more: ''He wanted to make sure that you
saw it, you people... Folks, he wrote the letter J in
the lower left-hand corner of that picture. J, which
of course, usually stands for the word Jay.''
The defense was not allowed to respond to this
presentation, which was submitted not as evidence
during the trial but as an assertion in the final
closing argument. In 1998, the Oklahoma Court of
Criminal Appeals rejected the claim that this
prosecutorial tactic had been prejudicial. It ruled
that ''the transparency was akin to counsel writing
with chalk on a blackboard. Counsel for both defense
and State are granted wide latitude...'' It said that
State Exhibit No. 55 ''was not introduced into
evidence and it was not taken into deliberations by
the jury''. Yet, in July 2000, two of the jurors from
the trial signed affidavits indicating that they would
not have voted to convict George Miller if it were not
for this evidence. One said: ''Had the footprint and
DNA evidence alone been presented, it is doubtful I
would have voted for guilt''. The other said: ''I
didn't think Mr Miller was guilty until that district
attorney showed us that photo where the victim wrote
the name ''Jay'' in his own blood''. In addition,
testing revealed that Kent Dodd had no blood on his
fingernails.
Upholding the conviction and death sentence in January
2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
acknowledged that ''the transparencies may have
unfairly emphasized or even exaggerated the
significance of the blood spatters, and may have
potentially injected a new theory into the case.''
However, federal courts are obliged to give
substantial deference to state court rulings and the
Tenth Circuit court ruled that the Oklahoma Court of
Criminal Appeals had not ruled unreasonably when it
found that the trial court had not been in error when
it allowed the prosecutor this leeway.
None of the blood from the crime scene was identified
as coming from Miller, even though Kent Dodd had
evidently fought for his life. In a 1998 report, a
serology expert noted that ''the bloodstain in the
lobby did not originate from Kent Dodd. This was not
testified to in trial''. Also in 1998, a man employed
as a maintenance worker at the Central Plaza Hotel in
September 1994 signed an affidavit that he had seen
another man, Reginald Robinson, in the early hours of
17 September 1994 and that Robinson ''had blood on his
clothes and was cut up. His right hand had a large
wound and he had it wrapped up. [He] had money with
him.'' The bloodstain in the lobby was not tested to
see if it was Robinson's. It is also alleged that on
the day of the murder, prior to any media reporting of
it, Robinson confessed to the crime.
On 20 April 2005, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
recommended by four votes to one that Governor Brad
Henry should deny clemency to George Miller. In
Oklahoma, the Governor cannot commute a death sentence
without a recommendation to do so from the Board.
However, he can order a temporary reprieve. He should
do so, and ask the Board to reconsider its decision.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Oklahoma has the highest rate of execution per capita
of all the US death penalty states. It ranks 27th of
the 50 US states in terms of population and third in
the number of executions carried out since the USA
resumed judicial killing in 1977. It accounts for 76
of the nationwide total of 963 executions since that
year. Oklahoma has violated international law and
standards in its pursuit of judicial killing and its
prosecutors have earned a reputation for misconduct in
capital cases (see USA: Old habits die hard: The death
penalty in Oklahoma, AMR 51/055/2001, April 2001).
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all
cases, regardless of questions of guilt or innocence.
Under the United Nations Safeguards Guaranteeing
Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death
Penalty, ''Capital punishment may be imposed only when
the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear
and convincing evidence leaving no room for an
alternative explanation of the facts.''
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible, in your own words:
- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of
Kent Dodd, and explaining that you are not seeking to
excuse the manner of his death or to downplay the
suffering that it will have caused;
- opposing the execution of George Miller;
- urging the Governor to issue a reprieve from
execution and to ask the Pardon and Parole Board to
reconsider their decision not to recommend clemency
for George Miller.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Brad Henry
State Capitol Building
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Fax: 1 405 521-3353
Salutation: Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact,
including contact information and stop action date (if
applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [email protected]
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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