July 14 USA: Justice delayed and denied THE WELL-DOCUMENTED margin of error in our judicial system -- especially the effects of racial bias and the inadequacy of legal representation for the poor -- is a good reason to rethink the death penalty. The exoneration of several men on Illinois' death row led Republican Gov. George Ryan to impose a moratorium on executions in 2000. A group of Assembly Democrats is planning to propose a similar pause on capital punishment in California. Incredibly, the Senate Judiciary Committee may vote as early as today on a measure that would accelerate the pace of executions in this country by severely restricting the ability of condemned inmates to appeal their sentences. The Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005, sponsored by Sen. John Kyl, R- Ariz., and Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River (Sacramento County), is designed to curtail what they allege is an abuse of habeas-corpus appeals that allows capital cases to drag on for too many years. Their legislation would prevent federal review of cases from states that the U.S. Department of Justice has certified as having competent defense counsel. Inmates in those states would have to show evidence of their innocence -- not just flaws in the fairness or thoroughness of the proceedings against them -- to get a federal hearing. One of the problems with this attempt to fast-track justice is that many of the recent exonerations resulted from evidence that came to light as a result of appeals based on trial errors -- such as incompetent lawyering, jury bias, destruction of evidence or prosecutorial misconduct. Various concerns with Kyl's S1088 emerged at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. One of the senators asking sharp questions was Dianne Feinstein of California, potentially a key vote. If anything, the nation should be working to expose and reduce the margin of error in our judicial system -- especially in cases of life and death. The Judiciary Committee should reject S1088. It's not the American way. (source: Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle) ********************** Please take a minute to read and sign this very important petition. Stop The Exections of Women To: Women Advocacy groups, The Govenor's of the USA, United Nations, Human Rights Groups, Concerned citizens of the USA, and Worldwide This petition is a plea on behalf of all women incarcerated on death row, and future women to be given the death sentence. It is to stop the execution of female inmates. In a society where violence against women by men is no longer tolerated, the ultimate abuse against women is to be executed. Men are involved with the execution of female inmates: strapping them to the gurney, administrating the lethal injection drugs, and handling the female body after. This is cruel, inhuman, and degrading to women. Article 3 of the Declaration on the Elimintion of Violence Against women read: Women are entitled to the equal enjoyment and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any OTHER field. These rights include: (a) The right to life (h) The right not to be subjected to torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Lethal injection goes against the 8th amendment: see http://www.petitiononline.com/needles/petition.html We the undersigned demand that the act of men executing women be stopped immediately, as this is the ultimate act of violence against women. Sincerely, http://www.petitiononline.com/notwomen/petition.html VERMONT----new federal death sentence Vermont hands down first death penalty in decades A federal jury Thursday ruled that a man should be put to death for kidnapping and killing a supermarket worker in the state's 1st capital punishment trial in nearly a half-century. Jurors reached their decision on Donald Fell, 25, after deliberating about 10 hours over 2 days. Fell showed no emotion as a court clerk read aloud the jury's recommendation, but his lawyer then stood and said he had a statement from Fell for the jurors. "He respects your decision. He appreciates your hard work and wants to tell you and the family of his sincere remorse. He did not want to do it at any other time publicly as it would be construed to be less genuine,'' the lawyer said. Fell was convicted June 24 of kidnapping Terry King, 53, as she arrived for work at a Rutland supermarket, taking her into New York state and bludgeoning her to death as she prayed for her life. "It's justice for my sister,'' Barbara Tuttle said after the verdict. "Everyone got to listen to what he did to her and this is his punishment." Vermont does not have a state death penalty, and the last execution there was in 1954. But because the crime crossed a state line, U.S. prosecutors brought charges under a federal law that allows the death penalty for a carjacking that results in a death. Fell agreed in 2001 to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole, but that deal was rejected by then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who insisted on the death penalty. Under federal law the judge must impose the death sentence if that is what the jury recommends. Federal officials have said death would most likely be by lethal injection at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. Robert Lee, who allegedly carried out the kidnap-murder with Fell, died in prison in 2001. His death was ruled an accidental hanging. King's abduction came as Fell and Lee were fleeing Rutland after they had killed Fell's mother and a friend of hers. Fell's attorneys didn't contest his guilt. Rather, they argued the killing spree resulted from a lifetime of drugs and alcohol, and physical and sexual abuse by his parents and a baby sitter. "Donny's life is a life worth saving," defense lawyer Gene Primomo said. "There is nothing we can do here to bring back Mrs. King." Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Kelly said "the evidence, the law and justice" demanded a death sentence. Another Vermont defendant was sentenced to death in 1957, but the sentence was later commuted. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Death Penalty Sought Against Needius Grubb In Eaton, a Miami Valley man is facing the death penalty after a woman was found dead in a cornfield in Preble County on Monday. Prosecutors said Needius Grubb kidnapped, raped and killed his girlfriend. Now, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Grubbs was arraigned in Eaton Municipal Court on Wednesday. At this time, he is behind bars on a $1 million bond. (source: WHIO TV News) ************************* Execution dates scheduled for two murderers -- Licking County man has chosen to waive his remaining court appeals in '96 killing For the 1st time in more than a half-century, a murderer from Licking County is scheduled to be executed. The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday set Sept. 27 as the date that Herman Dale Ashworth will receive a lethal injection. Ashworth, 32, was convicted and sentenced to death for beating Daniel L. Baker to death in 1996 in a Newark alley. He is voluntarily waiving further legal appeals -and with them, most likely several years of his life. Ashworth wrote to U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus this year, saying there is no doubt about his guilt and he wants to be executed. "This all started with me doing something wrong. I'm asking you to let me end it by doing something right," he wrote. His attorneys have withdrawn from the case to honor Ashworth's wishes. However, Ohio public defender David Bodiker would not rule out possible intervention, especially if Ashworth changes his mind about waiving his appeals, something he said he has done in the past. Bodiker generally disapproves of the idea of death row inmates waiving their right to appeal, saying it amounts to assisted suicide. "If the person is functioning properly, there's nothing wrong with it. He can certainly make that decision. "Sometimes they just can't live with themself." The last time Licking County sent a killer to death was Jan. 23, 1953, when 19-year-old Louis Allen Angel died in the electric chair at the old Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Angel was absent without leave from the Marines when he and a buddy were given a ride by Allen Drake, 43, a gambling "numbers writer." Drake was shot in the head and left by the side of Rt. 40 near Kirkersville. Also yesterday, the Supreme Court set an Oct. 25 execution date for William J. "Willie" Williams, 48, convicted of murdering 4 men in 1991 in what came to be known as the "Labor Day Massacre." Williams, a Youngstown drug lord, killed 3 men - Alfonda R. Madison Sr., William L. Dent and Eric Howard - who were trying to take over the business in an east Youngstown housing project, court records show. A 4th victim, Theodore Wynn Jr., was killed by Williams shortly after he arrived. While Williams' conviction and death sentence have been upheld by state and federal courts, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justice Paul E. Pfeifer dissented when the Ohio Supreme Court heard the case in 1997. Moyer and Pfeifer said they would have granted Williams a new trial based on his argument that the trial court, without permission, "failed to protect his right to an impartial jury from the twin evils of juror misconduct and juror bias in favor of the death penalty." Another execution, that of John Spirko, 58, is set for Sept. 20 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. Spirko, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to die for the 1982 murder of Elgin postal worker Betty Jane Mottinger. Ohio has executed 16 men, 7 of them last year, since resuming capital punishment in 1999. (source: Columbus Dispatch) MASSACHUSETTS: Death penalty foes hope to sway state vs. Mitt's proposal Death penalty opponents will descend on the State House today to try to convince legislators that Gov. Mitt Romney's "no-doubt" death-penalty bill is no good. "We are taking it - not to pun - deadly serious," said Martina Jackson, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty. Jackson said 50 to 60 anti-capital punishment witnesses will attend the Gardner Auditorium hearing to fight the proposed law Romney announced inApril. Among those expected to testify are former Gov. Michael Dukakis, Suffolk Sheriff Andrea Cabral, gubernatorial hopeful Deval Patrick, state prosecutors, those wrongfully convictedand the families of murder victims. Massachusetts officially abolished the death penalty in 1984, but no one had actually been executed here since the 1947 electrocution of convicted killers Edward "Dutchy" Gertson and Philip R. Bellino. The Republican governor is fulfilling a campaign promise to make Massachusetts the 39th state to have a death penalty. His proposed law would apply only to the "most heinous of crimes": murders committed through acts of terrorism or prolonged torture, multiple slayings, and killings aimed at changing the outcome of a trial. It also requires there be "conclusive scientific evidence" to connect the defendant to the crime and that juries on death penalty cases be instructedto adhere to a "no-doubt" standard of proof of guilt or innocence, as opposed to the traditional "beyond a reasonable doubt." DNA and other scientific evidence would have to then be examined by an independent commission before any execution could take place, according to the bill. Still, Massachusetts has a dismal history of convicting innocent people for crimes they didn't commit. Last year, the Herald reported at least 22 Bay State men had served time in state prison for such crimes as rape and murder over the past 2 decades - only to be exonerated years later. Romney has said his bill would - "to the extent humanly possible" - never result in a wrongful execution. (source: Boston Herald) ******************** Death penalty bill on firing line When Gov. Mitt Romney pitches his so-called "gold standard" death penalty bill to lawmakers today, he will be joined by a pack of outspoken opponents ranging from a MetroWest Democrat to the Unabomber's brother. David Kaczynski -- brother of Ted Kaczynski, who was sentenced in 1998 to life in prison for masterminding bombings that killed 3 people -- is expected to tell a State House crowd why a life should not be taken in retaliation for another. State Rep. David Linksy, D-Natick, a former prosecutor, plans to testify that a foolproof death penalty is impossible because of the imperfect human element of processing DNA evidence. Despite staunch criticism and State House sentiment that it will never pass the Legislature, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey yesterday said Romney's bill to reinstate the death penalty for some first-degree murder cases is appropriate and airtight. "I think there are enough layers of protection, that people's concern that you can never be sure, I think that's exaggerated," Healey said in an interview in her office. "Is it possible that someone could fall through all those layers of protection? I don't actually think so." Romney's bill would allow the death sentence for cases where the victim was a police or parole officer, judge, juror, prosecutor, attorney or witness killed to obstruct a trial. It also would apply to cases involving prolonged torture, multiple deaths, terrorism and a defendant already convicted of 1st-degree murder or serving a life sentence without parole. Safeguards in the bill include requiring scientific evidence connecting the defendant to the crime and creating a new standard of proof under which juries must have "no doubt" of guilt -- instead of "beyond a reasonable doubt." "There are some crimes that there is genuinely no doubt about who committed them, that the jury can say far beyond simply having no reasonable doubt they actually know that this is who committee the crime," Healey said. She gave the example of Joseph Druce, who killed pedophile priest John Geoghan in prison 2 years ago in front of multiple witnesses and then admitted to planning and committing the murder. Lawmakers have shot down several attempts to reinstate the death penalty in state since it was abolished in 1984. The measure came close to passing the House in 1997, following the murder of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley from Cambridge, but failed in a tie vote. While Healey said Romney's death penalty bill will sway lawmakers on the fence previously, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aren't so sure. "The shift that I've seen is going away from the reinstatement of capital punishment," said state Rep. George Peterson, Jr., R-Grafton. Yet Peterson supports Romney's bill, particularly the new "no doubt" standard for juries. "I do believe that given today's scientific data that is available that we can achieve a 'no doubt' standard in the commonwealth," said state Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury. Linsky, though, said that "despite anyone's best efforts, one cannot come up with a foolproof death penalty." DNA evidence is not 100 % accurate, because mistakes can be made by people who process it, from the time it is collected at a crime scene to when it is tested, he said. Linsky said the criminal justice system could not handle death penalty cases. The multi-million dollar cost of prosecuting just one death penalty case could be better spent on improving the system, he said, by investing in police officers, crime lab scientists, assistant district attorneys, public defenders and the medical examiner's office. Death penalty opponents expected to testify before the joint Judiciary Committee today include Jeffrey Curley's father and relatives of victims of terrorist attacks. (source: MetroWest Daily News) ******************* Frost: Standing against the death penalty As the Lincoln Journal hits the mailboxes and newsstands today, I will be testifying at a hearing at the State House against the death penalty. I hope to represent two different organizations, but at this writing, I am still ascertaining how much I can say as a mouthpiece. This isn't just a publicity-seeking stunt. 10 days ago I was asked at a meeting of the Mass Coalition Against the Death Penalty (MCADP) at the American Bar Association if I would arrange to have one of the organizations testify. To my chagrin, I discovered that the most likely speaker would be out of town. Since I'm not a speaker, I don't expect to get much sleep between this writing and the moment that I'll stand before the panel at the Gardner Auditorium - but I can't turn my back on a cause I care about so deeply. Last Sunday, at a Third Middlesex Democratic picnic in Bedford, I found myself talking with a would-be District Attorney (more about him another time...). Yes, I said a Democratic picnic, although I am Unenrolled; I will always vote for the best candidate, regardless of party. I wish thoughtful, caring Republicans could come to events like this one. Anyway, that was a prelude to my account of that conversation. Asked why I opposed the death penalty, I reeled off a handful of reasons that went more or less like this: It doesn't deter barbaric behavior. Look at Texas, which wields the death penalty at the drop of a (10-gallon?) hat: Texas also has the highest murder rate. (I could have added that the painful increase in murders in our Commonwealth would surely not have been deterred by killing the evil doers. Does a gang member who risks his life every day on the streets think or care about execution? What about the hideous phenomenon of "suicide by cop?" What about the men in prison who have told me and others they would prefer execution to life in prison?) It's appallingly expensive - far more expensive than the cost of a lifetime in prison. This is a time when Massachusetts, like the rest of the nation, is starved for funding for health care, food, and housing for the needy; higher education is costing an arm and two legs; public schools are being forced to charge fees for school activities that used to be free for all; and too many of our roads and bridges are falling apart for lack of maintenance - not to mention our Big Dig woes, homeland security, or the war in Iraq. And so on and on, ad nauseam - I'm sure you can double that list in the blink of an eye. How, then, can we even consider paying the millions of dollars each execution costs, not to help or heal or make restitution, but merely to wreak vengeance? It is not, and never will be, foolproof, Governor Romney's assurances not withstanding. That means some innocents will spend years on Death Row, eventually to be exonerated - if their innocence is discovered in time. If it is, ask yourself what that awful experience will have done to his (or her) mind and emotions. Can we hope for even a moment that the person who is released from years and years of brutal mistreatment will emerge whole and sane? A good, productive citizen? And if innocence is ascertained after it's too late, how can we, as a community and as individuals, live with the guilt of complicity? It's not necessarily the way to bring closure to a tragedy. I have had the great privilege of meeting people who have lost a loved one to murder, and still staunchly oppose taking the life of the perpetrator. And although I have not, thank God, walked in their shoes, I sincerely hope that I would never, under any circumstances, call for ending the life of another human being. Would you? I could have talked about the rewards our public safety and judicial systems get for hanging another scalp from their belts. I could have spoken about the racial and class inequities that permeate our so-called justice system. I could have said that it hurts me to think that my precious country is almost the only "developed" nation to still have the death penalty. I could also have talked about the exceptions to capital punishment: Youth and mental disability. When human beings mature at such different rates, for so many different reasons, what right have we to say that a single birthday makes such a huge difference in punishment? And how does a court decide who is mentally incapable of distinguishing right from wrong? But I didn't, because it was a picnic, and lots of other things were happening. And thank God, our Commonwealth was not about to put someone to death... October Cullum Frost is a Lincoln resident and a regular columnist for the Lincoln Journal. (source: Lincoln Journal)
