Nov. 18
CALIFORNIA:
Peterson life insurance order vacated----Lawyer says misleading fax at
fault for missed hearing
Scott Peterson will get a do-over.
A Stanislaus County Superior Court judge on Thursday vacated an order that
said $250,000 from a life insurance policy on Laci Peterson should go to
her mother, Sharon Rocha, the executor of her estate.
The new ruling came after attorneys for Scott Peterson complained that
they were not given a chance to argue their case last month, when Judge
Roger Beauchesne made his order.
The judge took umbrage at a suggestion, by attorney Matt Geragos, that
Peterson had been denied due process. But he also agreed to reconsider the
case and hear arguments from both sides on Dec. 16.
"This court never denied any request," Beauchesne said.
Geragos, who represents Peterson on several civil cases, said attorney
Adam Stewart of Modesto, who represents Rocha, led astray the attorneys in
Geragos' office.
Geragos said Stewart faxed a note to his office late the afternoon of Oct.
20, saying he would not appear at a hearing the following day.
Geragos said an associate with his firm decided not to come to Modesto, as
planned, because he believed the hearing had been canceled.
"We always truly believed that we were going to have an oral hearing,"
said Geragos, the brother of defense attorney Mark Geragos, who
represented Peterson in his headline-grabbing double-murder trial.
Stewart said the fax he sent to Geragos & Geragos of Los Angeles was a
courtesy.
In civil cases, judges issue tentative rulings the afternoon before a
hearing. Attorneys who want to argue the case must advise the court by 3
p.m. If neither side requests a hearing, the ruling becomes final.
No request for hearing
Stewart said he checked with the court, heard that Peterson's attorneys
had not requested a hearing, then sent a memo about the tentative ruling,
which said the life insurance money should go to Rocha.
He said it is not his job to explain the rules of court to opposing
counsel.
"He can come in and make an argument in my absence," Stewart said. He also
represents Rocha in a wrongful death lawsuit against Peterson. A trial is
scheduled for April.
Beauchesne said no one called the court clerk's office by 3 p.m. to
request a hearing, as required.
The judge also said he received an e-mail from a court reporter at 4:13
p.m., indicating that Peterson's attorneys had asked that a court reporter
be present at the hearing.
Tough fight ahead
Stewart showed up in court the following morning. Beauchesne waited, then
confirmed his tentative ruling because no one from the Peterson camp was
there to argue against it.
The judge said he will blame no one for the misunderstanding, and Geragos
said he is glad to get a chance to argue Peterson's case.
Geragos might have an uphill battle, because the judge already has ruled
against Peterson and state law says murderers forfeit their rights as
beneficiaries.
On Nov. 12, 2004, a jury in Redwood City found Peterson guilty of
murdering his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner. A month later, the same
jurors said Peterson should die by lethal injection.
He was sentenced March 16.
In legal papers, Peterson's attorneys argue that the money should not be
distributed to Rocha while the murder case is on appeal.
All death penalty cases automatically are appealed to the California
Supreme Court and can proceed to the federal court system if they are
upheld in state court. The process can take decades.
Stewart said Rocha should not have to wait.
Principal Life Insurance of Des Moines, Iowa, deposited $256,429 - the
value of the policy plus interest - with the court more than a year ago.
(source : Modesto Bee)
********************
Killer's Fate Rests With Governor----D.A., other officials press
Schwarzenegger not to grant Stanley Williams clemency. He says he is
facing the decision with dread.
California law enforcement officials have launched an unusually fierce
campaign to block clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the
Crips, whose impending execution is shaping up as the state's most closely
watched death penalty battle in decades.
In arguments both legal and emotional, officials are asking Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to reject pleas from clergy, legislators and entertainers
that Williams, who is scheduled to be put to death Dec. 13 for the murders
of four people, has redeemed himself by his work on death row to dissuade
young people from joining gangs.
Schwarzenegger has almost total discretion in deciding clemency, which
would commute Williams' death sentence to life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
On Thursday, the governor, speaking to reporters in Shanghai, said he had
not made up his mind on the Williams case. He described the decision as
"part of the job" but one that he approached with "dread."
"It's never a fun thing to do, let me tell you," he said. "This is the
toughest thing when you are governor, dealing with someone's life."
When asked whether redemption or mercy would come into play, the governor
responded: "I really don't have any guidelines for that. It's a
case-by-case situation."
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office Thursday filed its
formal response to Williams' clemency petition, declaring that Williams,
51, is a "cold-blooded killer" who has "left his mark forever on our
society by co-founding one of the most vicious, brutal gangs in existence,
the Crips."
The filing was backed by personal letters from Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley,
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton, Los Angeles County Sheriff
Lee Baca, the head of the California District Attorneys Assn., the
president of the California Gang Investigator's Assn. and the stepmother
and brother of one of the murder victims, all urging the governor to show
no mercy to Williams, who has been on death row for 24 years.
Harriet Salarno, chairwoman of Crime Victims United of California, said
her group was trying to raise money to bring the victims' families, who
are in the Midwest, to California to watch the execution. Williams must
"be held accountable for the crimes he committed and the lives he took,"
and his execution will send out an anti-gang "message that is loud and
clear," Salarno said.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Corrections briefly
posted a statement on its website contending that a decade ago Williams
had entrenched himself as the leader of the Crips at San Quentin.
State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), among others, expressed anger
that the government agency had taken a public position on a condemned man,
and the statement has since been removed from the website. On Thursday,
Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that there was
"nothing sinister" about the statement and that the department, like many
organizations, frequently changes things on its website.
On Saturday, a pro-Williams rally outside San Quentin prison will feature
rap star Snoop Dogg. In addition, Williams' supporters have scheduled
several other rallies and showings of "Redemption," a film about his life
starring Academy Award-winner Jamie Foxx.
Williams was convicted of murdering Albert Owens at a 7-Eleven in Pico
Rivera in February 1979, and Tsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Yee-Chin Lin
at a South Los Angeles motel in March 1979.
He has consistently maintained his innocence, and supporters are focusing
on his anti-gang work, including several books he has written, since his
turnaround on death row.
Schwarzenegger denied the 2 other requests for clemency he received, one
from Donald Beardslee, who was executed earlier this year, and another
from Kevin Cooper, who was granted a stay by a federal appeals court hours
before he was to be killed last year by lethal injection. His case is
still pending.
New York attorney Peter Fleming Jr., Williams' lead clemency lawyer, took
some comfort in the papers filed by the district attorney's office
Thursday. "Significantly, for the issue which faces the governor, the
district attorney does not challenge, and essentially concedes, the basis
of our petition - that for over a decade Stanley Williams has been a force
for good and a source of hope for those who live with a sense of
hopelessness," Fleming said.
Law enforcement officials, however, have told the governor that they don't
believe in Williams' redemption because he has refused to admit that he
committed the murders and has declined to participate in "debriefing"
sessions with corrections officials about gang members.
Williams has said that even though he formally renounced gang life in
1997, participating in the "debriefing" sessions would make him a
"snitch."
"Despite the overwhelming nature of the evidence against him, and despite
the nonexistence of any credible defense, Stanley Williams steadfastly
refused to take any responsibility for the brutal, destructive and
murderous acts he committed. Without such responsibility, there can be no
redemption, there can be no atonement, and there should be no mercy," says
the filing by the district attorney, which was signed by John Monaghan,
assistant head deputy district attorney, and Deputy Dist. Atty. David
Walgren.
Cooley's letter to Schwarzenegger said that since Williams founded the
Crips in 1979, the gang "has been responsible for literally thousands of
murders in Los Angeles County alone."
Bratton took a similar approach. "While Williams' supporters talk of his
reform and rehabilitation, one must not lose sight of the fact that
Williams' actions still impact the victims' families and the nation as a
whole. The Crips street gang continues to commit murders and other violent
crimes."
Among the most poignant letters sent to the governor was one from Owens'
brother, C. Wayne Owens, who said that his brother moved to Los Angeles at
the age of 26 with his wife and 2 children.
"And then, one night, someone held up the store where he worked as a
clerk. He did not resist. In fact, he did, as he was taught to do,
whatever the robbers told him. Despite Albert's cooperation, they took him
into the back of the store, forced him to lie down on the floor and then
shot him twice in the back. He was not a threat to them, he was not
fighting them. He wanted to live."
(source: Los Angeles Times)
*******************
A plea to the governor to spare 'Tookie' Williams' life
Dear Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Let me put my cards on the table. I am
not only opposed to capital punishment; I'm opposed to life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole. I believe with Gandhi that an eye for
an eye makes the whole world blind. I believe in mercy and forgiveness.
But make no mistake, I do not take murder lightly. I am appalled by our
national homicide epidemic, and I refuse to be entertained by purveyors of
violence in the media. Nor will I ever forget the victims and their
families. It sickens me that we turn serial killers into celebrities; it
saddens me that we so egregiously neglect the victims.
I have promised myself not to write about the death penalty without first
honoring the victims. So, today, I honor Albert Owen, Thsai-Shai Yang,
Yen-I Yang and Yee Chen Ling.
They were the victims of the crimes for which Stanley "Tookie" Williams
stands convicted, and for which he is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Dec.
13, unless you intercede on his behalf.
I am ashamed to say I know almost nothing about the four victims. But I do
know a lot about Williams. Not about the Crips thug who allegedly
committed those 1979 murders, but about the man so many of us now admire
and love -- the man who speaks out against gangs and guns, the author
whose life work has moved us to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Today, Williams understands deeply what we all need to learn about
gang-banging: It is wrong, preventable and best addressed by those among
us who provide social programs and compassion rather than cages and lethal
injections.
I think Williams should receive the Nobel Prize because he teaches our
children peace and because he embodies the miracle of rehabilitation. But
I also propose that Williams share his Nobel Prize with Thsai-Shai Yang,
Yen-I Yang, Yee Chen Ling and Albert Owen. Let them represent our capacity
for forgiveness and our recognition that to heal from violence we must do
much more than punish the "bad guys." We must transform our society.
Governor, I can give you all the standard arguments for abolishing the
death penalty: It is ineffective as a deterrent. It is racially biased,
inhumane and unevenly applied. With every execution, we increase the risk
of killing an innocent person, as indeed may be the case with Williams.
But, most of all, the death penalty dishonors the victims. Capital
punishment's message is that we, too, pull the trigger on unarmed men. We
keep them in a cell for 25 years. We shackle them like animals, by hand
and by foot. We ignore their potential for change. And, finally, we
exterminate them, according to our laws and customs. The death penalty is
bad law and bad custom.
I learned the truth about murder and murder victims from Dr. Martin Luther
King. In 1963, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.,
was attacked by terrorists. An 11-year old girl, Carol McNair, and three
14-year-olds, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, were
slain.
Dr. King -- 5 years before his own murder -- spoke at their funeral. The
girls, he explained: "have something to say. They say to us that we must
be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the
way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers.
"Death is not a blind alley," King told the dead girls' parents, "it's an
open door."
Gov. Schwarzenegger, open the door to redemption. Do the right thing.
Grant clemency.
(source: Ventura County Star; David Howard, of Ojai, is co-chairman of
Ventura County Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions)
***************************
Killing possibility: The imminent execution of Stanley Williams in
California
[I]f it is impossible to construct a system capable of accommodating all
evidence relevant to a man's entitlement to be spared death -- no matter
when that evidence is disclosed -- then it is the system, not the life of
the man sentenced to death, that should be dispatched. -- United States
Supreme Court Justice T Marshall, 19901
[Stanley] Williams's good works and accomplishments since incarceration
may make him a worthy candidate for the exercise of gubernatorial
discretion. -- Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Hug, 20042
On 13 December 2005, the State of California plans to execute Stanley
"Tookie" Williams, who has been on San Quentin prison's death row for well
over two decades. Williams founded the notorious "Crips" street gang in
Los Angeles, California, in the early 1970s. He was sent to death row in
1981 for two separate robbery murders. In one robbery a convenience store
clerk was killed and in the other the owners of a motel were killed
(father, mother, and grown daughter). Stanley Williams has always asserted
his innocence of these specific crimes. Indeed, the United States federal
appeals court described his convictions as based upon "circumstantial
evidence and the testimony of witnesses with less-than-clean backgrounds
and incentives to lie in order to obtain leniency from the state."3
Amnesty International is not in a position to comment on Stanley Williams'
claim of innocence, but would note the ever-growing evidence of wrongful
convictions in capital cases in the USA, and that lingering doubt about
guilt is itself a solid ground for commutation of a death sentence.4
Whether or not Stanley Williams committed the crimes for which he is
scheduled to die, by his own admission he participated in violent
behaviour before he was sent to prison and during his first 7 years there.
Then, during six years in solitary confinement, he underwent through
focused education what he describes as a "redemptive transition." Since
his release from solitary confinement in 1994, he has exhibited exemplary
behaviour in prison. In 1997, Williams issued the first of his
"apologies", renouncing gang life:
25 years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee
Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership
would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the
rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat
gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the
lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt
other young black men. . .
[T]oday I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa
-- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer
participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that
I ever did. . . . I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also
pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an
end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others. I
vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.5
Stanley Williams has "worked toward solutions" through his public
apologies, by writing an award-winning series of children's books that
warn about the perils of the gang lifestyle, by writing another book for
older children that demythologizes the prison experience (undercutting a
myth that prison is some kind of rite of passage for young
African-American males), by writing his own autobiography which renounces
gang violence, by producing a peace protocol to help street gangs turn to
peaceful behaviour, and by founding an internet-based peer mentoring and
anti-gang program involving children in the United States, Switzerland,
and South Africa.6 His work played a prominent role in gang truces in Los
Angeles and Newark, New Jersey. In 2004, after watching a film that
depicts Williams' life (Redemption, in which the actor Jamie Foxx plays
Stanley Williams), over 300 members of the Crips and Bloods gangs in
Newark, New Jersey, signed a peace treaty, agreeing to end gang violence.7
Inspired by Williams' work against violence, a member of the Swiss
Parliament has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. This year,
President George W. Bush's Council on Service and Civic Participation
bestowed upon Stanley Williams the "Presidential Call to Service Award."
The letter congratulating Williams for the award praised him for having
contributed to the "build[ing of] a culture of citizenship, service, and
responsibility in America."8 This special award "honors those who have
provided more than 4,000 hours of service over the course of their
lifetime."9
Several death sentences in the United States have been commuted after the
authorities were presented with evidence of rehabilitation. In 1988, the
Governor of Montana commuted the death sentence of David Keith after his
attorneys argued that he had changed since his arrest 4 years earlier and
that his life "might be put to good use if he [were] allowed to live and
help counsel others with alcohol and drug problems."10 In 1990, the
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted the death sentence of
William Neal Moore, influenced by the fact that Moore had been a "model
prisoner during his 16 years on death row" and had been "not merely an
example of the ability of the Georgia prison system to rehabilitate
criminals but an agent of the rehabilitation of others."11 In 1997, the
Governor of Virginia commuted William Saunders' death sentence following
the recommendation of his trial judge that he was "not the same violent
man sentenced to death 7 years ago."12 In 2004, the Georgia board commuted
the death sentence of Willie Hall, remarking about his exemplary prison
record.13
The record of governors, however, has been inconsistent, injecting further
arbitrariness into the application of the death penalty in the USA. In
1990, the Governor of Virginia failed to exercise his discretion to save
the life of Wilbert Evans, whom death row prison guards had credited with
saving their own lives. "According to uncontested affidavits presented by
guards taken hostage during [a death row] uprising, Evans took decisive
steps to calm the riot, saving the lives of several hostages, and
preventing the rape of one of the nurses."14 Lawyers for Evans asserted
that his execution would violate the prohibition on "cruel and unusual"
punishments under the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution, on the
grounds that the guards' affidavits provided overwhelming evidence that he
was rehabilitated and posed no risk to others. The State of Virginia did
not disagree with the evidence, arguing only that allowing Evans to raise
his complaint would "unleash an endless stream of litigation" tying up the
courts with claims made by other inmates.15 When the US Supreme Court
refused to stay Evans' execution, Justice Thurgood Marshall protested that
the "indifferent shrug of the shoulders with which the Court" met Evans'
claim revealed "the utter bankruptcy of its notion that a system of
capital punishment [could] coexist with the Eighth Amendment."16 Implicit
in his dissent was the argument that the Eighth Amendment requires that
some means be provided to "accommodat[e] all evidence relevant to a man's
entitlement to be spared death -- no matter when that evidence is
disclosed."17 In 1998, lawyers for Texas death row inmate Karla Faye
Tucker raised the same issue, arguing that her execution would be
unconstitutional due to the compelling evidence of her transformation from
"pick axe killer" to spiritual counselor for scores of people.
Then-Governor George W. Bush recognized her extraordinary rehabilitation,
but announced that he felt compelled to defer all decisions about the
human heart to a "Higher Authority."18 Texas Governor Rick Perry
subsequently ignored similarly strong evidence of rehabilitation presented
in the clemency petitions of Napoleon Beazley and James Allridge, who were
inmates so trusted by the Texas prison authorities that they were given a
kind of "trustee" status on death row.19
As well as the impossibility of consistent application, another reason
behind the global trend towards abolition is the death penalty's absolute
denial of the possibility of rehabilitation. In the words of the Irish
Commission for Justice and Peace: "In executing someone, we rule out
irrevocably any possibility, however remote, of subsequent repentance,
conversion, or reconciliation; we exclude finally the possibility of moral
development and of the growth of conscience."20 In the Inter-American
system, it is recognized that "the application of the death penalty has
irrevocable consequences . . . preclud[ing] the possibility of changing or
rehabilitating those convicted."21 In the South African Constitutional
Court's landmark decision in June 1995 recognizing that the death penalty
violated fundamental human rights and threatened to "make a mockery of the
civilized, humane and compassionate society to which the nation aspires"22
, Justice Mahomed, who was to become his country's first black Chief
Justice, put it this way:
The death sentence must, in some measure, manifest a philosophy of
indefensible despair in its execution, accepting as it must do, that the
offender it seeks to punish is so beyond the pale of humanity as to permit
of no rehabilitation, no reform, no repentance, no inherent spectre of
hope or spirituality . . . . [T]he finality of the death penalty allows
for none of these redeeming possibilities. It annihilates the potential
for their emergence.23
In the decade since South Africa abolished the death penalty, countries
have rejected judicial killing at the rate of three per year.24 Today,
some 121 states are abolitionist in law or practice compared to the 75
which retain the death penalty, a handful of which account for the vast
majority of the world's executions.25 As well as reflecting a growing
recognition that the death penalty violates the right to life and the
prohibition on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
enshrined in international law, the abolitionist trend is also a rejection
of the notion that capital punishment can be considered compatible with
"human dignity," which should surely be defined as including the potential
in all persons for change and growth.26 South Africa's Justice Mahomed
wrote in 1995 that the death penalty "cannot accomplish its objective
without invading in a very deep and distressing way, the guarantee of
human dignity... The invasion of [the prisoner's] dignity is inherent. He
is effectively told: 'You are beyond the pale of humanity. You are not fit
to live among humankind. You are not entitled to life. You are not
entitled to dignity. You are not human. We will therefore annihilate your
life'." Justice Mahomed added:
It is not necessarily only the dignity of the person to be executed which
is invaded. Very arguably the dignity of all of us, in a caring
civilization, must be compromised, by the act of repeating systematically
and deliberately, albeit for a wholly different objective, what we find to
be so repugnant in the conduct of the offender in the first place.27
Stanley Williams has repudiated his past violent conduct and continues to
make efforts toward changing the violent conduct of others. It now remains
to be seen whether the state will favour a policy of hope or annihilation.
International human rights instruments repeatedly stress that, if a state
retains the death penalty, it must provide procedures for meaningful
clemency review. These include the ICCPR (Article 6.1 and 6.4); the
Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death
Penalty (Safeguard 7); and the American Convention on Human Rights
(Article 4.1 and 4.6). As a party to the ICCPR, the USA must therefore
provide the means for appropriate consideration of the evidence of Stanley
Williams' "good works and accomplishments since incarceration" as grounds
for reduction of sentence. Commutation of Williams' death sentence would
be consistent with the Covenant's additional requirements that all
prisoners be treated with respect for the "inherent dignity of the human
person" (ICCPR, article 10.1) and that a goal of the penitentiary system
be "reformation and social rehabilitation" (ICCPR article 10.3).
Stanley Williams' long incarceration on California's death row itself
raises serious legal and moral issues.28 However it unquestionably has
allowed him to have a greater opportunity to realize his own potential for
rehabilitation and reform than most other death row inmates receive. By
all accounts, he has taken advantage of this opportunity and has made a
compelling case for his own moral transformation, including absolute
repudiation of his past acts. So much so that the US Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit noted the Nobel Peace Prize nomination "for his laudable
efforts opposing gang violence from his prison cell", and found that his
"good works and accomplishments may make him a worthy candidate" for an
act of executive clemency.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should recognize the
extraordinary facts in Stanley Williams' case and commute his death
sentence. The alternative would be to send the message to gang members
around the world that "there are no second chances in the eyes of justice
. . . that in some cases, killing is right."29
--
1 Evans v. Muncy, 498 U.S. 927, 931 (1990), Marshall J., dissenting from
denial of stay of execution.
2 Williams v. Woodford, 384 F.3d 567, 628 (9th Cir. 2004).
3 Williams v. Woodford, 384 F.3d 567, 624 (9th Cir. 2004).
4 Safeguard 4 of the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights
of those facing the death penalty states: "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." Amnesty International has also noted with concern the possible
impact of race in Stanley Williams case, namely that of an African
American man sentenced to death by an all-white jury. See USA: Death by
discrimination - the continuing role of race in capital cases, AI Index:
AMR 51/046/2003, April 2003, page 55.
5 Available at www.tookie.com/apology.html.
6 See Venise Wagner, Practicing peace in a North Richmond enclave, trouble
kids learn not to fight. San Francisco Chronicle, 11 December 2000.
7 Peace breaks out on the streets as gangs shun colour of blood. The Times
(London), 1 June 2004.
8 See the clemency petition at www.cm-p.com/pdf/executiveclemency.pdf
9 See www.usafreedomcorps.gov/content/council/pvsa/index.asp.
10 U.P.I. Regional News Release, December 23, 1988.
11 Editorial, When Mercy Becomes Mandatory, Atlanta Constitution, 16
August 1990, at A10.
12 Death Sentence Commuted, Washington Post, 16 September 1997, at B03.
13 Amnesty International, Urgent Action, USA (Texas): Death Penalty, James
Vernon Allridge, AMR 51/125/2004, 12 August 2004.
14 Evans v. Muncy, 498 U.S. 927, 928-29 (1990) (Marshall, J., dissenting
from denial of stay).
15 Id. at 930.
16 Id. at 931.
17 Id.
18 Sister Helen Prejean, Death in Texas, New York Review of Books, Vol.
52, No. 1, 13 January 2005.
19 See Allridge Urgent Action, supra, AMR 51/125/2004 ("James is deserving
of clemency because he is the perfect role model inmate. I think if James
was put back in [general inmate] population he would continue to be a good
role model prisoner.") (Texas prison guard); Amnesty International, United
States of America: Too Young to Vote, Old Enough to be Executed, AMR
51/105/2001, 31 July 2001 ("The jury's finding of future dangerousness has
also been called into question by the fact that Napoleon Beazley has been
a model prisoner. Before death row was recently moved from Ellis Unit in
Huntsville to its new location in Terrell Unit, Livingston, and all
prisoners were confined to their cells for 23 hours a day, Napoleon
Beazley was one of a few prisoners assigned to jobs within the prison. At
the trial the state's experts had testified that Beazley would pose a
threat of violence in prison. It seems they were wrong.") 20 Quoted in
Amnesty International, When the State Kills - The death penalty v. human
rights. AI Index: ACT 51/07/89 (1989), page 9.
21 Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to
Abolish the Death Penalty.
22 Didcott, J., State v. Makwanyane, 1995 (3) SALR 391 (CC).
23 Mahomed, J., State v. Makwanyane, 1995 (3) SALR 391 (CC).
24 Amnesty International, Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries,
www.amnesty.org.
25 Id.
26 Shigemitsu Dando, Toward the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 72 Ind. L.
J. 7, 16, 19 (1996) ("[I]f every human being is able to develop his or her
personality at any stage of life, the death penalty - which, by nature,
deprives one of such chance of rehabilitation - is deemed inconsistent
with human dignity.").
27 Mahomed, J., State v. Makwanyane, 1995 (3) SALR 391 (CC).
28 See Pratt and Morgan v. Jamaica (Nos 210/1986 and 225/1987), UN Doc.
A/44/40 222 (1989); Soering v. United Kingdom, 161 Euro Ct. H.R. (Ser A)
para. 81 (1989) (holding that lengthy incarceration on death row is
inhuman punishment).
29 Last Statement of Napoleon Beazley; Amnesty International, United
States of America: The Human Dignity that Texas Refuses to Recognize, AMR
51/087/2002, 31 May 2002.
(source: Amnesty International)
*************************
An Open Letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger----Grant Clemency to Tookie Williams
Open Letter to Governor Schwarzenneger:
I write this letter on faith that you are not, at core, the Terminator,
for we know that the Terminator would not hesitate to execute people in
cold blood, and my appeal to grant clemency to Stanley "Tookie" Williams
would fall on deaf ears. As you know, Crips co-founder, Nobel Peace Prize
nominee, and writer, Tookie Williams is scheduled for execution on
December 13, 2005.
I write with the conviction, rather, that you identify with Kindergarten
Cop-hard when necessary, soft when humanity requires it.
Crimes against humanity are the terminator's reason to be: terminators are
the non-human state's means of eradicating human imperfection, and nothing
is more imperfect than violent, gratuitous homicide. The movie that made
you famous teaches us that human beings are morally superior to robotic
terminators. We do not terminate imperfect human beings; we embrace
them-we embrace ourselves. When (we) people sin, we forgive them
(ourselves), we show mercy. Kindergarten Cop understands this.
Kindergarten Cop has a big heart.
It's the Terminator who coldly endorses capital punishment, the Terminator
who, like George W. Bush when governor of Texas, shows no mercy. The
Terminator loves our practice of terminating human beings who, by
committing homicide, have taken human imperfection to the limit. Actually,
one needs only be convicted of homicide, since justice, as it happens, is
as imperfect as the people who dispense it. Guilty in fact, or guilty by
conviction-the mark of imperfection either way.
To the terminator, Kindergarten Cop himself is a jumbled mess of emotions
and, therefore, does not deserve to live. If the Terminator had his way,
you would not be Governor sitting in final judgment over the lives of
condemned men, and I could not be appealing to your softer, human side.
Thankfully, the original Terminator was terminated before he could execute
Kindergarten Cop.
Whether Stanley "Tookie" Williams is innocent, as he claims, or guilty, as
determined at his original trial by (an imperfect) jury, or whether he
deserves all the attention, awards and honors-including a 2005
Presidential Call to Service Award by merciless George W. Bush-- bestowed
on him for his Herculean efforts over the past two decades to dissuade
kids from joining gangs and embracing violence-these question are beside
the point.
Kindergarten Cop knows that systematic, cold-blooded termination of people
is wrong. If one of his kindergarten munchkins were to hit the kid who hit
her, Kindergarten Cop would tell her that violence is not the way to solve
a problem. 2 wrongs don't make a right. We don't kill people just because
they kill us. We talk to them, we tell them how their killing us made us
feel; we give them a very long, maybe (or often) even a permanent time
out, but we do not kill them back. Our restraint makes us human; we are
civilized.
As you make your decision, the civilized world will be rooting for the
strong but compassionate voice of Kindergarten Cop to drown out the
heartless, violent screeching of the Terminator and his kind.
Please, Governor, do not sign off on yet another American crime against
humanity. Help the state of California and the nation regain the civilized
high ground.
Grant Stanley "Tookie" Williams clemency now.
Tom Kerr
(source: CounterPunch - Tom Kerr teaches writing at Ithaca College,
Ithaca, NY.)
*************************
Cousin waits for Friday's "satisfaction of justice"
For Gerry Schletewitz Weber, 73, being at the Glenn County Superior Court
hearing Friday to hear a judge set the execution date of Clarence Ray
Allen will be the "satisfaction of final justice" that her cousin - and
his slain son - never saw.
Schletewitz Weber and her husband, Jerry Weber, plan to attend the 10 a.m.
hearing in Willows. Other relatives may also be there.
One person who won't attend the hearing is her cousin, Ray Schletewitz,
who attended the penalty phase of Allen's trial.
Allen was sentenced to death for plotting the triple murders of Bryon
Schletewitz, 27, Josephine Rocha, 17 and Douglas White, 18 at Fran's
Market in Fresno.
Ray Schletewitz died earlier this year, waiting 25 years for the sentence
of his son Bryon's murder conspirator to be carried out. That's why
Schletewitz Weber wants to attend the hearing, to see her cousin's long
ordeal come to an end.
The long delay has been horrible, said Schletewitz Weber.
"I think it's ridiculous when people are on death row and they have so
many options - anyway, I don't agree with it," she said.
The Allen death sentence was the 1st one of its kind by a Glenn County
jury. There hasn't been one since.
Since his sentencing in 1982, Allen has been at San Quentin Prison on
death row, appealing his conviction. He lost his last chance to escape
execution when the U.S. Supreme Court denied him another hearing last
month.
Said to be the leader of a crime ring in Fresno, Allen plotted the murders
while serving a life sentence at Folsom Prison for the 1974 murder of
17-year-old Mary Sue Kitts and a burglary at Fran's Market.
The murders in 1980 were in retaliation against Bryon and Ray Schletewitz'
testimonies at the Kitts murder trial, and to silence witnesses expected
to testify at Allen's appeal of the 1977 murder-burglary conviction.
It was Allen's ability to plan the murders from inside Folsom Prison that
contributes to some worry about their safety at Friday's hearing in Glenn
County.
Schletewitz Weber and her husband said they do worry some about their
safety. She said her cousin Ray Schletewitz moved from Fresno after the
murders and out of fear his daughter went into hiding.
"I'm sure they looked over their shoulders many, many times wondering if
they're safe," said Schletewitz Weber. "That's a horrible way to live."
Although she said she has thought about her safety a lot, she said she
didn't think Allen has the money to pose a real threat now.
Jerry Weber wasn't so sure Allen would be in any different position now
than he was in 1980.
"He might have more desperate feelings now," he said.
But Glenn County officials are planning tightened security for the
hearing. Allen will not be present.
If Allen's execution isn't stayed by the governor, neither of the Webers
plan to attend the execution, they said.
"I don't need to watch it," Schletewitz Weber said. "Just knowing is good
enough ..."
Although they talked about the final justice Allen's execution will bring
to her relatives and those of the other victims, their opinions about the
death penalty wavered.
"I think it's very barbaric, but some people deserve it," Jerry Weber
said.
To which his wife replied, "Well, if you've got a mad dog, you get rid of
it."
The death of Bryon isn't the only time the Webers have dealt with the
death of a loved one. Their partner in real estate was killed when he was
shot with a bow and arrow. Schletewitz Weber said they were very close.
"It's very emotional to know someone one day, and they're murdered the
next," she said.
The Webers haven't seen a lot of her Schletewitz relatives over the years,
but the mother of 4 children and grandmother of eight said the family is
close.
She said the hearing will make her feel like the Schletewitz family
tragedy will finally conclude.
"We've been waiting all these years," she said. "I don't dwell on it, it's
away in the back of my mind. It'll be nice to have it finished."
She doesn't expect the hearing to be emotional.
"It's sort of like when you read a novel and the ending is what you were
hoping for all along," said Schletewitz Weber. "It's just a finished
chapter of my life."
And for her cousin Ray Schletewitz and his wife Fran, she said were they
alive there would be such jubilation at the nearing final chapter.
Clarence Ray Allen's execution is expected to be set for Jan. 17, 2006.
BACKGROUND: Murder mastermind Clarence Ray Allen was convicted and
sentenced to death in a Glenn County trial in 1982.
He lost his final legal appeal to overturn his conviction last October.
WHAT'S NEW: A hearing to set a final execution date will occur at 10 a.m.
Friday at the Glenn County Courthouse in Willows.
WHAT'S NEXT: Allen, recovering from a heart attack and surgery last
September, will likely be executed Jan. 17, 2006.
(source: Chico Enterprise Record)
****************
Council backs Assembly bill for death penalty moratorium
With the execution of convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams slated
to take place in less than a month, the topic of capital punishment has
been thrust into the spotlight, with the San Mateo County Board of
Supervisors backing a proposed moratorium on executions in California.
Assembly bill 1121, co-authored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West
Hollywood, was created to "ensure that no innocent person is ever executed
in the state, and that the death penalty is not applied in an unjust and
arbitrary manner," according to the bill.
Spearheading the Board of Supervisors' discussion of the moratorium was
Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, who said it was the concerns of county
residents that prompted her to take a look at the possibility of a
moratorium.
"This was one issue that we hadn't really considered until a resident came
to us," Jacobs Gibson said Thursday.
If passed, the bill could go into effect in January 2007, and would impose
a 2-year suspension on all death penalty cases, allowing the California
Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice to further consider the
death penalty as a whole, according to the bill.
In the Bay Area, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin and Alameda counties,
along with the cities of Salinas, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Oakland, East
Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, Sebastopol and Berkeley have passed moratorium
resolutions already.
According to Jacobs Gibson, San Mateo County must now work to make people
understand that the moratorium is "not person-specific."
"It's all about the process, and it stays away from focusing on individual
executions," Jacobs Gibson said. "This isn't about people saying Im for
the death penalty or I'm against the death penalty."
According to Koretz, with more than 600 inmates currently on death row in
California, the bill looks to reduce the chance that a person who is
innocent is executed.
"Basically, my concern about the death penalty is the accuracy of it more
than anything else," Koretz said. "There is nothing more horrifying then
the state committing what in essence is the murder of an innocent person."
The bill is not about releasing guilty people onto the streets of
California, according to Koretz. Rather, it works to exhaust every effort
in making sure if someone is on death row that they are guilty of the
crime they are accused of committing, Koretz said.
Since it was reinstated in 1978, the death penalty has been viewed by many
in California as being a "sacred cow," according to Koretz.
Koretz said publicly elected officials like Jacobs Gibson "can have a
significant impact, especially with a bill like this."
"Having met so many people here in San Mateo County, I get the sense that
the people here are very humane and have a lot of heart," Jacobs Gibson
said. "I think the people in our county would want to ensure that a person
is truly guilty."
(source: San Francisco Examiner)
WISCONSIN:
Halbach's murder stirs death penalty drive
Wisconsin has a long history of violent and horrific crimes.
Just say the names and they conjure up the stories. Ed Gein. Jeffrey
Dahmer. More recently, Chai Vang.
And if the allegations filed in court Tuesday are correct, Steven Avery
might be added to that list.
Avery was charged Tuesday in Manitowoc County Circuit Court with
first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse in the death of
photographer Teresa Halbach, 25, of Hilbert.
Halbach disappeared Halloween Day after going to the Avery family's auto
salvage yard to take photographs. Police searches of the salvage yard
turned up charred human remains in a burn barrel. The complaint also said
a search of Avery's trailer turned up a car key - a key that started the
ignition on Halbach's car which was found partially hidden in the salvage
yard.
Avery said at the outset - when Halbach was still being sought by search
crews - that he feared he was being set up to be framed by Manitowoc
County law enforcement officials.
That fear wasn't out of the realm of possibility, of course. Avery had
spent 18 years behind bars when he was mistakenly convicted in a 1985
assault of a Manitowoc woman.
He was released in 2003 after advances in DNA matching and state
collection of DNA evidence from convicted felons combined to point the
finger at another man who was in prison.
So there was some irony Tuesday when the criminal complaint again cited
DNA evidence - this time linking blood found in the passenger seat and
around the ignition of Halbach's car to Avery himself.
That seems to be damning evidence. Of course, it will be up to a jury to
sort out all the details. All we have now are allegations by the
prosecutor and law enforcement officials which must be proven.
But the story over the past couple of weeks has left many Wisconsin
residents and those outside our borders as well shaking their heads and
asking themselves questions like: Why would someone who had been behind
bars for 18 years ever commit a crime like this and risk giving up freedom
again? Why would Steven Avery even contemplate such an action when the
Legislature was readying a bill to give him more than $400,000 for the
time he spent behind bars? Or when he had filed a lawsuit for $18 million
against Manitowoc County for damages in that conviction? Those questions
don't even go to the real question of how someone - anyone - can murder a
young, bright, hard-working person like Teresa Halbach for
God-knows-what-reason, real or imagined, and then burn her body beyond all
recognition.
It's a heinous crime. We hope there will be no missteps by law enforcement
officials and investigators as they pursue this case and if Avery is found
guilty we hope as well that he would never again set foot outside a prison
wall.
But the Avery case - as well as the Chai Vang killings in northwest
Wisconsin - are already stirring thoughts by some legislators of reviving
capital punishment legislation and making Avery the poster boy for the
death penalty.
Such a law won't bring Teresa Halbach back. It would not have saved her
life in the 1st place - only a bad conviction that had gone unturned would
have done that if Avery is the guilty one.
The motives for such legislation, it seems to us, are couched more in the
blood-lust of revenge and more akin to the unreasoned and horrific actions
of Halbach's killer than they are to the cause of justice.
(source: The Journal Times)
************************
Wrongly convicted speak out
The ordeal of innocent prisoners doesn't end when they're released.
Starting a career decades later than one's peers, finding jobs and housing
before criminal records have been expunged, getting reacquainted with
family or trying to start one at a later age - those are some of the
challenges illuminated by "After Innocence," a documentary the Wisconsin
Innocence Project brought to the Wisconsin Historical Society on Thursday
night.
"I cried tonight because this is devastating, and I want you all to
understand that," said Madison resident Anthony Hicks, who was
incarcerated for a 1991 rape he didn't commit until his conviction was
overturned on DNA evidence in 1997. "It could happen to you."
Hicks was speaking after the film on the panel with two men who were freed
with the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project - Chris Ochoa and Evan
Zimmerman.
State Sen. Mark Miller, D- Monona, was the other member of the panel.
Miller wondered aloud what the state owes people like Hicks, Ochoa and
Zimmerman after taking some of the best years of their lives.
"What we owe them most is a commitment to prevent this from happening to
others," said Lawrence C. Marshall, co- founder of the Northwestern
University Center on Wrongful Convictions, who moderated the discussion.
In Wisconsin, the bill originally known as "the Avery Bill," passed by the
Legislature on Nov. 1, is designed to cut down on wrongful convictions by
encouraging police to record interviews and tightening procedures
surrounding eye witnesses.
Its name was changed after Steven Avery was charged with the murder of
Teresa Halbach earlier this week. Avery served 18 years in prison in a
1985 case before DNA evidence cleared him in 2003.
Some advocates for the wrongly convicted are aiming for things such as
monetary compensation.
Nick Yarris, who spent 23 years in solitary confinement on death row in
Pennsylvania for a murder he didn't commit, said in the film he wants DNA
evidence from his case and others to be entered into a national database
that could assist in finding the real culprit.
Marshall said that's important for helping the public overcome skepticism
about an exonerated person's innocence.
"It's grossly unfair, that because we can't solve it, we're not going to
accept you back into the community," he said, but it's an attitude
supported by films in which people clear their names by pointing a finger
at the actual perpetrator.
Ochoa, the Texas man who served 12 years after he confessed to a murder he
didn't commit because a police officer threatened him with the death
penalty, said it's important to find the person who ruined two families -
the victim's and his own.
Freed by DNA evidence in 2001, Ochoa is now a 3rd-year law student at
UW-Madison who's considering becoming a prosecutor.
"I'm not going into law to free all these people," he said. "I'm going
into law to make sure the guilty are truly guilty."
(source: Wisconsin State Journal)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Ludwig could face death penalty----Lititz consumed by romance related
double homicide
The Lititz community seems to be in collective shock as it tries to make
sense of the bizarre circumstances that prompted David Ludwig to allegedly
kill his girlfriends parents Sunday morning.
Dressed in an orange and white-striped jumpsuit and black chain shackles,
Ludwig was led into Courtroom Five of the Lancaster County Courthouse
around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Every seat was filled with members of
the national and regional media covering the unfolding story.
2 days earlier, Michael and Cathryn Borden were both shot in the head
following an argument about a romance between Ludwig, 18, and the Bordens
14-year-old daughter Kara Beth. After the shooting, Ludwig fled with his
girlfriend and was apprehended by Indiana State Police Monday afternoon,
more than 600 miles from the crime scene. Both teens were flown back to
Lancaster County Tuesday afternoon.
Ludwig is accused of murder. Police believe Kara Beth was kidnapped, and
she has not been charged with any crime.
Shortly after touching down at Lancaster Airport, Ludwig stood in front of
District Judge Dan Garrett as he was read the charges brought against him,
including two counts of criminal homicide and one count of kidnapping and
reckless endangerment. The homicide charges bring the possibility of life
in prison without parole, or the death penalty.
Ludwig looked subdued and had his head slightly bowed to the floor as
Garrett asked him questions, including where he lived and his employment.
He answered the questions with short responses, stating he didnt have a
prior criminal record and was employed for 5 months at Circuit City in
Lancaster.
Garrett held him over in Lancaster County Prison without bail because of
the homicide charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on
Wednesday, Nov. 23 at the courthouse.
Outside the courthouse, the scene took on an almost circus-like atmosphere
as hundreds of news crews and curious onlookers waited for Lancaster
County District Attorney Donald Totaro to make a statement to the press.
News helicopters flew overhead, creating quite a racket on the streets of
Lancaster.
Totaro offered few details about the case, but he said he was impressed
with the way local departments handled the preliminary stages of the
investigation. He said he was especially happy with the help of the
Indiana State Police and the F.B.I. with the case.
Totaro said details of the case are still being straightened out and the
investigation is still ongoing, with more interviews to be conducted.
"We will not be releasing details of this investigation," Totaro said.
"The evidence will be presented in court and to a jury."
Lititz area residents were in a state of disbelief over the news of an
18-year-old who didnt fit the mold of an accused murderer.
Jill Nolt, a secretary at the Warwick School District, previously worked
with Ludwig at the Lititz Community Center. She was the finance manager
and human resources director, and hired him as a lifeguard at the pool.
Nolt said Ludwig was a reliable worker and friendly. He would routinely be
at the pool by 5:45 a.m. to open even though he was taking high school
classes. She said he was very dependable.
"(Ludwig) was a great kid," Nolt said. "He had a great attitude, willing
and responsible. He never had any problems."
Employees at the Circuit City in Lancaster would not make a comment on
Ludwig. One employee said the corporate offices of Circuit City instructed
employees not to discuss the case with the media.
According to an affidavit filed with Judge Garrett's office, police were
called to the Borden home, 15 Royal Drive (off of Rudy Dam Road in Warwick
Township), at 7:58 a.m. on Nov. 13. While in route, officers received
information from the county radio dispatcher that a male dressed in black
left the rear of the residence. The Bordens 11-year-old son, David, called
911 from a neighbors house.
Once officers arrived, the Bordens' 13-year-old daughter Katelyn ran from
the home. She later told investigators that she had witnessed Ludwig shoot
her father in the back of the head. She then hid in the bathroom and heard
a second gunshot, presumably the shot that killed Mrs. Borden.
Katelyn told police that Ludwig had gotten into an argument with her
parents. Ludwig had been dating her sister Kara, a relationship the
parents did not approve of due to the age difference between the 2 teens.
After the shots were fired, Katelyn heard Ludwig calling for Kara and then
the house became quiet.
An Amber Alert was dispatched throughout the region, and police throughout
the East Coast were on the lookout for the red Jetta that Ludwig was
driving. The search ended about 20 miles outside Indianapolis.
Both teens had personal websites, the content of which appears to be that
of normal teenagers.
David, who was last logged-in on Saturday, Nov. 12, describes himself as a
single male who hopes to have children some day. The site features photos
of his best friends, including Kara Beth. The blog space is now clogged
with hateful discussion about what should happen to the alleged killer.
Kara Beths website lists her interests as "Jesus, church, my youth group,
family friends, my doggie, kids, babysitting, soccer ... candy, pushpops,
shopping and hugging." An Oct. 24 entry mentioned how excited she was that
her older brother was coming home for her soccer tournament.
Warwick Township Police Chief Richard Garipoli said Kara Beth is still
considered a victim at this point.
"She's a victim, until I hear otherwise. We're very concerned about her."
At press time, police had not released Kara Beth's side of the story, and
the extent of her involvement remains unclear. Garipoli said that the
F.B.I. will be investigating the computers use by both teens. He also said
there was no information available regarding the weapons found at Ludwigs
home on West Orange Street, Lititz.
"This investigation could take a little while," he said.
The Bordens have 5 children - Kara Beth, Katelyn, David, Justin and James.
David Ludwig was living with his parents, Gregory and Jane, in Lititz, and
his 2 sisters.
Garipoli said he has talked to both families.
"Everyone is in shock," he said. "Everyone is devastated."
(source: Lititz Record Express)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Elon Poll Finds Mixed Support For Death Penalty
The death penalty is one of those issues with strong support for and
against it.
A new poll out Friday from Elon University shows that the public in North
Carolina supports the capital punishment -- in certain circumstances.
According to the Elon Poll support for the death penalty has strings
attached.
When asked what is the most appropriate punishment for 1st degree murder,
61 % say the death penalty while 27 % think life in prison is a better
punishment.
When it comes to the age of a criminal that support dwindles.
Only 34 % of those polled support the death penalty for people under 18 at
the time of the killing.
About 55 % oppose the death penalty in that case.
The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 4.5 %.
(source: WRAL News)
USA:
Bishops OK guidelines on lay ministry, reaffirm death penalty opposition
After selecting a new general secretary for the next 5 years and taking a
series of votes on major documents Nov. 15, members of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops moved into executive session for the 2nd half of their
Nov. 14-17 annual meeting in Washington.
But before they did, they debated and approved documents reaffirming their
opposition to the death penalty, revising the book of Scripture readings
for children's Masses and offering guidelines for lay ecclesial ministers
in the U.S.
Msgr. David J. Malloy, USCCB associate general secretary since 2001, was
elected to succeed Msgr. William P. Fay as general secretary in February.
A 49-year-old priest of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, Msgr. Malloy has served
in the Vatican diplomatic corps and in the Prefecture of the Papal
Household, which organizes public and private papal audiences and
ceremonies.
A new statement calling for an end to the use of the death penalty in the
United States, approved on a 237-4 vote with one abstention, says the
bishops seek "to seize a new moment and new momentum" in their campaign
against capital punishment, which they have opposed for more than 25
years.
"It is time for our nation to abandon the illusion that we can protect
life by taking life," says the statement titled "A Culture of Life and the
Penalty of Death." "Ending the use of the death penalty would be one
important step away from a culture of death toward building a culture of
life."
(source: Catholic News Service)
