Nov. 24 USA: Reprieve. Fight legal injustice and help the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast at the same time! Reprieve is looking for funds to help families of death-sentenced prisoners and exonerated death-row inmates who lost housing and other essentials in the hurricane. Writes co-director Billy Sothern, "It is folks like these who need the most assistance in putting their lives back together--lives that were unimaginably difficult before the storm--and who have been given the least from the government." This is an entirely volunteer organization with no overhead--its costs are borne by the Justice Center of New Orleans, an umbrella organization of nonprofits defending indigents charged with capital crimes in the Deep South. That means 100 % of your donation goes directly to these extremely needy people (Reprieve, 636 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA 70113; www.reprieve.org). (source: The Nation) ************************* Kill the death penalty I am ashamed that we are approaching the 1,000th execution since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. For our society, what does the death penalty accomplish? Nothing! It places us at odds with the world community, as we are the only developed country that executes its own citizens. With China, Iran, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, we are the leading practitioners of the death penalty. It does not act as a deterrent. Our Southern states have performed 80 percent of the executions but have the highest murder rates in our country. The death penalty is not cost-effective. Nationwide it is more expensive to execute criminals than to allow them to exist in our prisons for 40 or more years. As for fairness, ask yourself this: If I were charged with murder, would I rather be poor and innocent or rich and guilty? My prayers go out to the families and friends of murder victims, but we cannot teach that violence is wrong by continuing to carry out executions. The death penalty does not belong in our country. Dave Oster----Finleyville (source: Letter to the Editor, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) ********************* U.S. Prepares For 1,000th Execution Since 1976 Robin Lovitt might make history next week. If his execution goes as scheduled, he could be the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since the ban against capital punishment was lifted in 1976. Lovitt was convicted of stabbing a man to death with scissors during a pool hall robbery in Virginia. Initial DNA tests of the scissors proved inconclusive. Later the scissors were thrown away, supposedly because of a lack of storage space. One of his lawyers, Kenneth Starr, told Associated Press Television News he supports the death penalty in principle, but that it shouldn't apply in Lovitt's case, especially since there was "destruction of the DNA evidence." Opponents of the death penalty said the number of prisoners whose convictions have been reversed should fuel skepticism. (source: The Associated Press) ******************* Executions necessary as ultimate punishment----'Life without parole' is not a reasonable alternative to the death penalty. In prison, these inmates continue to rape and kill, knowing they cannot receive additional punishment. Capital punishment opponents are concerned, and rightly so, about the possibility of error and the danger of executing an innocent person. Capital punishment proponents are concerned about the same issue - contrary to popular opinion - because the execution of the innocent is unjust and does not solve the underlying crime. The real issue, however, is whether the only answer is paralysis of the justice system or a society where the innocent live behind bars while the streets are surrendered to the criminals. The idea that capital punishment must be "infallible" to exist, while noble in concept, ignores the fact that no human system is perfect. THE PROCESS Murder is defined as the "unlawful" killing of a human being, not just any killing. Murder (or homicide) is categorized in degrees, depending upon the nature of the crime. "Capital" first-degree murder (i.e. death-penalty eligible) is limited to those murders that meet specific statutory aggravating factors, such as being especially "heinous, atrocious or cruel," or some similar, specific factor. Jury trials are conducted in 2 phases, the 1st being the "guilt-innocence" trial, and the 2nd, the penalty phase. Jurors biased in favor of or against the death penalty cannot serve unless they can swear to decide the case on the evidence presented rather than their political or religious views. In Florida, the murderer, if sentenced to death, receives an automatic appeal to the Florida Supreme Court and, if the appeal is lost, the right to petition the U.S. Supreme Court. If the appeals are lost, the murderer receives the assistance of specialized counsel and can file a "Rule 3.850" petition back in the trial court. This petition can ask for a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence, the incompetence of the defense, counsel-juror bias or any other claim the defendant elects to argue. If the defendant loses, the defendant receives another appeal to the Florida Supreme Court and can petition the U.S, Supreme Court. The petitioner can also file a "state writ of habeas corpus," attacking the appellate review received. After exhausting these state remedies, the defendant can then repeat the entire process of post-conviction review in federal district court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He can seek U.S. Supreme Court review if he loses. When all else has failed, the inmate can seek clemency from the governor. This exhaustive system of checks and double checks is the reason why we have been able to filter out some 115 "innocent" defendants since 1971 nationwide. That is 115 errors out of thousands of murder trials in 50 states and the territories, from 1952 to 2005. Innocence, by the way, is a misnomer. Some of the defendants were "legally innocent" (i.e., the victim of a procedural error) but not "factually" innocent. Others, such as Florida's infamous Pitts and Lee, were never found innocent by any court. They were just pardoned in 1975 by then-Gov. Reubin Askew. DEATH DESERVED Some suggest that a life imprisonment sentence would serve the same purpose as capital punishment. That argument is uninformed and borders upon the factious. Inmates serving "life without parole" have received the worst punishment they can get. Thus they can run amok in the prisons knowing that they cannot receive any additional punishment. They rape other inmates, rob other inmates, attack prison staff, run drug and gambling schemes in the prison and, most important of all, they go right on committing murder. If the death penalty is unjust for a murderer, how much greater is the injustice of death for a non-capital offender? Of the approximately 40 capital cases I handled, roughly 15 percent involved inmate-on-inmate murders. One involved a gang called Perjury Incorporated, which murdered witnesses to cases arising out of the prison. Another involved a racist operation that required a murder as a condition of membership. Sadly, there is no reasonable alternative to the death penalty for the most dangerous and vicious killers. It would be legally and financially impossible to put a killer into solitary confinement for decades, yet the inmate presents a constant threat for as long as the inmate lives. The liberal solution, of course, is to throw up their hands, wail about the unsolvable problem, set up "coping mechanisms" for victims' families and "counseling" for the killers and wallow in their beloved misery and malaise. Human society cannot flourish in such a quagmire. Capital punishment, even not absolutely "perfect," is the only just result. (source: Mark C. Menser worked in the Criminal Appeals and Capital Collateral divisions of the Florida Attorney General's Office from 1981 until 2000. He has represented the state in approximately 40 capital cases (including lead counsel in the Ted Bundy case) and as counsel before the U.S. Supreme court in the landmark case upholding Florida's 3-part capital punishment process. Mr. Menser now works for the firm of Viles & Beckman, handling appellate and victims' rights cases in Fort Myers -- Opinion, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press) NEVADA----stay of impending execution Court grants mom's wishes in issuing stay of execution ---- Justices want further discussion of Mack's mental competency A mother's wish was granted Wednesday when the Supreme Court halted the planned Dec. 1 execution of her son, Daryl Mack. Justices asked lawyers to prepare legal arguments in the next 20 days on whether Mack, 47, was mentally competent during a recent District Court hearing when he requested an end to his appeals and be allowed to die. But his 86-year-old mother, Viola, on Monday asked the court to stop the execution, and a panel of 4 justices agreed to do so. "I can say on behalf of Mrs. Mack that she is pleased that someone will look into the issues in her son's case," Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Pescetta said. In a document filed Monday, Viola Mack said her son is being forced to take medication against his will, and that might be affecting his mental state. Despite his wish to die, Daryl Mack has maintained his innocence in a 1988 murder and assault of a Reno woman. Mack was convicted in 2002 of killing Betty May in her Reno home. At the time of the conviction, he was serving a life sentence for murdering Kim Parks in a Reno motel. DNA evidence linked Mack to the earlier murder. Pescetta, who filed legal documents for Viola Mack, noted that Daryl Mack is "the latest in a parade of mentally ill men who seek to make the state of Nevada end their lives for them." 10 of the 11 men executed in Nevada since the re-establishment of the death penalty in 1977 have gone to their deaths with opportunities to continue to appeal. In staying the execution, the justices said they wanted to know more about why Dr. Thomas E. Bittker did not testify at Mack's last hearing, before District Judge Robert Perry in Reno. They also questioned the stance taken by Mack's lawyer, Marc Picker of Reno. Picker said previously that he could not "advocate for a position" opposed to Mack's request to end his appeals. "I believe my ethical obligation is to advocate my client's position unless it is contrary to law or my ethical obligation to the court," Picker said following the release of the stay order. "We are denying this person the right to choose his legal destiny." Picker said a report from Bittker, who believes Mack is not mentally competent, was given to Perry, although the doctor himself did not testify. Perry added that he insisted 2 other doctors attempt to determine Mack's competency before Perry accepted his client's request to withdraw further appeals. Those doctors found Mack competent. "The judge made his findings based on the doctors' evaluations," Picker said. "Mr. Mack wants to give up further proceedings." (source: Las Vegas Review-Journal) US MILITARY: Patriot Under Fire James Yee was a U.S. Army captain and Muslim chaplain, stationed at Ft. Lewis. Then the Army accused him of being a spy and helping terrorist prisoners. Faced with the death penalty, James Yee started to fight back. He recently sat down for an exclusive interview with KOMO 4's Dan Lewis to talk about his life and his experiences. Yee grew up in a patriotic family in New Jersey. He says one of his favorite photos is of his family celebrating the nation's bicentennial. Another favorite photo is of him, as a West Point cadet. Although he had been raised a Lutheran, shortly after graduation from West Point, he began to study Islam. "I found a lot of things that were very common to Christianity and Islam, " he says. "But I was drawn by the very simple doctrine of Islam. The belief in one God and that throughout history there were a certain number of chosen people by God who taught that message that there was only one God." Yee studied Islam in Syria. That's where he met his wife Huda. In 2002, as one of the first Army Muslim chaplains, he was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba That's where the military holds what it considers the worst terrorists. His job was to minister to them and help U.S. interrogators better understand their captives. In one briefing, Yee caught the eye of a security chief, Army Reserve Captain Jason Orlich. Orlich is quoted as saying that some of the things Yee said sounded extremely sympathetic to the detainees and it made the hair on the back of Orlich's neck stand up at attention. "Some people later on would say that I was in a no-win situation from the beginning," says Yee. In a newspaper article, Orlich also says people in the briefing wondered about Yee, asking if Yee was on their side, or the enemy's side? "One of the things I did very much stress at those briefings," says Yee, "was the importance of treating every prisoner humanely." Yee says everyone at Guantanamo knew they were under surveillance by what he calls "secret squirrels." Every email, every phone call, was monitored. He says he became more concerned about mistreatment of prisoners and reported that to his boss. "The guards found that when they searched, especially the Korans, it would upset the detainees," says Yee. "And it was a way to make them upset and frustrate them." The more Yee helped detainees, the more the suspicions grew about him and all U.S. soldiers who were Muslim. "It got so bad that even some personnel would label Muslims that prayed daily as 'extremists' or as 'the Muslim clique' or as 'Hamas'," says Yee. On a trip home to Ft. Lewis to see his wife and daughter, he got as far as Jacksonville, Florida. That's where the Army arrested him. They accused him of spying, punishable by death. His first thought was, that's absurd. But, after 76 days in solitary confinement, James Yee was frightened. "I was never a spy," says Yee. "I never aided the enemy. I was never engaged in espionage and I'm not a criminal. The government made a huge mistake, a gross miscarriage of justice, one that I hope one day I'll receive an apology for." Yee says he never passed any information from any detainee at Guantanamo to Al Qaida and he never passed any information from any detainee to anyone outside Guantanamo, not even on a personal level. The Army never charged Yee with spying. They charged him with mishandling documents, with adultery, and storing pornography on his Army computer. Six months later, the Army dropped all charges. The Army insists it did not prosecute only because it would have to release classified information. "The only information that they did not want public," says Yee, "was the information that I knew from the prisoners first hand of the mistreatment and the abuse that were subjected to down in Guantanamo." When Yee returned to Ft. Lewis, he says he was warned not to criticize the Army or he would end up back in jail. He eventually resigned his commission. His marriage ended in divorce. "All of us are really still recovering, mentally, psychologically, emotionally," he says. "And we're trying to take it one day at a time, trying to find that level of normalcy." But Yee says one part of his life will never be normal again. "I've pretty much accepted that my whole life, until the day I die, I will be under some type of surveillance," he says. (source: KOMO News) OHIO: Part of death sentence tossed for killer in Eureka Street slayings In COlumbus, the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed 1 of the death penalty sentences for a man convicted in the Eureka Street shootings that killed 2 girls and wounded 6 others in 2002. The ruling does not take Cleveland Jackson off death row. The court upheld the remainder of his sentence including another charge for which he re-ceived a death sentence. But Jackson will have to be brought back to Allen County to be resentenced for one of the aggravated murder charges which the court said an error was made during jury selection. Jackson and his half-brother, Jeronique Cunningham, were convicted in the Jan. 3, 2002, shooting deaths of 3-year-old Jala Grant and 17-year-old Leneshia Williams. 6 others were wounded in what was described during trial as execution-style killings in an apartment over drugs and money. Cunningham remains on death row and the same court last year upheld his death sentences. Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick said the ruling will be reviewed and all options will be explored including seeking the death penalty again on the one charge, even though Jackson still has one death sentence against him. Prosecutors may have to impanel a new jury for the sole aggravated murder charge which was for Grants death. The jury would participate in the penalty phase of the case, not an entire trial since the conviction on the charge stands, Waldick said. Waldick said he is committed to justice, especially with years of appeals remaining and the case heading to federal court where death sentences are struck down more often than in state court. "We want to go into the next round of appeals with as many counts as possible and as strong of a case as possible. As we've seen in the past anything can happen in federal court," he said. The death penalty is the appropriate sentence giving the circumstances of the crime, Waldick said. "He deserves to die. We want to make sure that sentence is carried out," Waldick said. Jackson's attorney, David Stebbins of Columbus, could not be reached for comment Wednes-day. The court's ruling said the trial judge erred during jury selection by not allowing defense attorneys to question prospective jurors on how they felt about a person who kills a 3-year-old child and what penalty that person should receive. The 6-1 ruling tosses a death sentence handed down for Grant's death. The court in a 7-0 ruling upheld the death sentence handed out for Williams death. "The possibility that one juror might not have fairly considered sentencing options and may have voted for the death penalty solely because appellant murdered a 3-year-old child is too great a risk to ignore," Chief Justice Tom Moyer wrote. Justice Alice Robie Resnick disagreed with the other 6 saying she would have upheld the death sentence in Grant's murder. The jury selection process was fair and jurors were questioned on whether they would consider sentences other than the death penalty, she said. Jackson was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated murder, each carrying a death sentence, 6 counts of attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. (source: Lima News)
