Jan. 23 NEW JERSEY: For a most unlikely lobbyist, a major death-penalty victory Some high-powered lobbyist. In a booth at Angie's, a deli on Chatham's Main Street, she sits over a glass of water and a dollop of chicken salad, greets neighbors she's known for years, and talks about her big errand for the day -- finding a used car for her son. Yet Celeste Fitzgerald achieved one of the most dramatic legislative victories of any Trenton lobbyist recently: Suspension of the death penalty. "It was just time, I think. People knew it wasn't working." Fitzgerald, 46, heads New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a curious hybrid: a membership group with no dues, an umbrella for 100 other smaller associations, and a subsidiary of the larger New Jersey Association on Corrections. She calls it "grass roots," but that belies her work raising money -- she has an annual budget of some $600,000 -- mostly from foundations. Fitzgerald spends much of her time writing grant proposals. "I do a lot of writing," says Fitzgerald, who is struggling through an undergraduate English degree at Rutgers in New Brunswick. She calls it the "100-year plan, one course per semester, with breaks for when I'm busy." And she has been very busy. Getting one bill calling for a study of capital punishment through the Legislature, only to see it vetoed by former Gov. James McGreevey. Orchestrating a successful court attack on the rules governing executions. Lobbying for the legislation that sets up a study commission and suspends executions pending the outcome of the panel's work. Some critics have downplayed the achievement, noting that, while the death penalty is law in New Jersey, no one has been executed for 42 years. "That was a big part of the backlash," she says. "We had to overcome that." Fitzgerald turned the de facto absence of the penalty into an arguing point. Pretending capital punishment really exists when no one is executed creates wasteful costs -- and represents a false promise to victims' relatives. "We attracted supporters who do not necessarily have a moral problem with the death penalty," she says. "They think it's a waste of time and money." Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas Kelaher represents that view. In a letter to then acting Gov. Richard Codey, Kelaher called the law "a cruel hoax on the families of the victims and the citizens of this state. "We in the law enforcement community have expended enormous resources on pursuing the application of our death penalty law. Years of appeal, countless delays, continuous hearings and millions of dollars later, the condemned are invariably moved to the general prison population." It's a good way to oppose executions without appearing soft on crime. Fitzgerald says she believes in "strict and severe" punishment and wants the death penalty replaced by life imprisonment with no chance of parole. Like all good lobbyists, she's ready with statistics. Since the passage of the latest death penalty law in 1982, she says, 197 capital cases have been tried, resulting in the imposition of the penalty 60 times -- and 50 of those sentences have been reversed. To land 10 persons on death row, the state spent $250 million, and no one has been executed. "It just made a lot of sense, at least to study the issue. And it makes sense to suspend executions while you're studying it." This unemotional, practical approach marked her opposition to executions since she first became aware of capital punishment as a teenager in Long Island in the '70s. "I became aware of Gary Gilmore and wondered, 'Is this really necessary?'" Gilmore, shot by a firing squad in Utah in 1977, was the first person executed after the penalty was resumed in the United States after a four-year, court-imposed hiatus. Fitzgerald wrote letters to politicians -- the response from Hubert Humphrey hangs in her office -- but did little else beyond attending a few rallies. She married at 21, moved to Chatham with her husband Kelly and raised two kids. The young woman became a real estate agent. But, in 1999, a brain tumor left her unable to work. Surgery was successful but Fitzgerald needed a long recuperation. She got a letter from Lorrie Post, an attorney who became an opponent of the death penalty after his daughter was murdered. He proposed starting the organization that became the one now headed by Fitzgerald. "I don't know how he got my address," she recalls. "I was supposed to be resting, but then I ended up working a lot more than I ever did." Fitzgerald dismisses her persuasiveness, contending the penalty lost popularity for many reasons, including the opposition of Pope John Paul II. She calls herself a "pro-life" Catholic and said the pope's views brought others like her into the campaign. Still, Fitzgerald's work has been recognized far from here. She has received congratulatory notes from death penalty opponents throughout the country and world. No other state has a legislatively enacted moratorium on executions. "I think it's the beginning of the end of the death penalty," she says. (source: Newark Star-Ledger) OHIO: DNA extends long arm of the law----Ohio database helps crack some cold cases Mark Godsey of Ohio's Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati says some states use DNA to clear the accused. A 2003 rape of an Over-the-Rhine girl, 14, in Inwood Park was solved after DNA linked Carter to the crime. Carter, 30, was convicted in Virginia on another crime, which caused his saliva sample to be entered into CODIS. Almost immediately, the system found a DNA match to semen collected from the victim. Carter was sentenced last year to 17 years in prison. The same thing happened to Gary Box. The 30-year-old man was convicted of aggravated assault, prompting the entry of his DNA into the database. That DNA matched evidence in a 2001 Hamilton County rape. Box got a 10-year prison term. Keith Hawkins, caught the same way, will be sentenced Jan. 31 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on a rape charge stemming from a 1994 sexual assault of an elderly woman. The 38-year-old Walnut Hills man faces 5 to 25 years in prison. Jonathan J. Gravely was arrested and charged this week with killing Ohio State freshman Stephanie Hummer of Finneytown 12 years ago. The arrest came after a sample of his DNA was entered into a statewide database and matched genetic evidence taken from the crime scene. A similar story played out in Akron this week after a death row inmate's DNA in the same database produced a match when authorities entered genetic material from the 1995 crime scene where a 13-year-old girl was killed. Those are just two of the hundreds of cases across the state being solved by DNA - using Ohio's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database that compares DNA samples collected from convicted offenders with DNA taken from crime scenes. Whenever a match is made, local police are notified. Ohio lawmakers approved the database 5 years ago. "In CODIS, we have created a remarkable investigative tool that will only get better in terms of solving crimes and achieving justice," said Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro. "Additionally, its presence as a crime deterrent will continue to grow as more and more offenders realize that we have their DNA and we will find them if they choose to continue a life of crime." Local law enforcement agencies say they are getting more calls from state crime labs informing them of a DNA match. "It's rare if somebody rapes and kills and it's their first and last crime," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. For example, Keith Hawkins, a 38-year-old Walnut Hills man, faces five to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced next week on a 1994 sexual assault of an elderly woman. A DNA match popped up in the long-unsolved case after Hawkins submitted a saliva sample in connection with another crime. "CODIS has the potential to really help in stranger-rape cases," said Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Bachman, who prosecuted Hawkins and formerly worked in the attorney general's office. Bachman remembers when DNA crime labs were set up in 1999. At that time, the national fingerprint matching system was considered high tech. "Everyone was really excited, but I'm not sure everyone realized the powerful tool it was going to be," Bachman said. "Now, you see it in action and everyone realizes how important it is." Deters is so confident in DNA that in October attorneys in his office presented a theft and burglary case to the grand jury based solely on somebody's DNA. The DNA came off blood the suspect left behind at an Amberley Village crime scene. No name is attached to the charges, but if the person's DNA is ever entered into CODIS, Deters will have his suspect. In Ohio, the database contains DNA profiles of more than 127,500 felons as well as 8,826 evidentiary profiles, according to Petro's office. Since the database began being used in 2000, it has helped in 1,555 investigations. In Kentucky, there are 9,103 offender profiles and 1,251 evidentiary profiles in that state's system, according to FBI statistics. That database has aided in 193 investigations. It's unknown how many matches in either state resulted in convictions. In Ohio, almost 25 percent of the people with DNA in the database were included after being convicted on drug or burglary charges. The evidentiary profiles most often were of suspects in burglary or breaking-and-entering cases. All 50 states and Puerto Rico have DNA systems. Only the ones in Florida, Illinois, New York and Virginia had aided more investigations than Ohio's, according to Bob Beasley, a Petro spokesman. The matching doesn't stop with states. The Ohio and Kentucky systems link to the FBI's national database, which includes nearly 2.7 million offender profiles and about 120,000 evidentiary profiles. Nationally, the database was started in the early 1990s as a trial. It was expanded to all 50 states by 2000. CODIS isn't hailed just by law enforcement officers. Mark Godsey, faculty director of Ohio's Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati, said some states use CODIS to help clear the accused, too. "Many people have been exonerated that way," Godsey said. He is working with Ohio legislators to amend laws so convicted criminals who claim to be innocent can have DNA from crime scenes entered into the CODIS for the purpose of seeing whether somebody else committed the crime. Hummer's parents say they are grateful DNA finally helped track the man suspected of being their daughter's killer. "As the days turned into a year and then a decade, the family knew that no good detective work would ever be enough," said Sue Hummer, Stephanie's mother. "It had to be DNA that was going to solve the case because there was nothing else." (source: Cincinnati Enquirer) ******************** Jury Rejects Death for Killer at University In Cleveland, a jury on Sunday recommended life in prison without parole for a former graduate student who killed another student and wounded 2 others in a 7-hour siege at the business school at Case Western Reserve University. The killer, Biswanath Halder, 65, was convicted last month of killing Norman Wallace in the shooting spree and standoff in 2003. He could have received the death penalty, but the jury rejected that sentence in two days of deliberations. Judge Peggy Foley Jones, who must formally decide Mr. Halder's fate, set sentencing for Feb. 17. "We're just happy they fell on the side of giving him life," said Kevin Cafferkey, a defense lawyer in the case. "But he will serve the rest of life in prison and will never, ever leave a jail cell, and I feel comfortable with that." William D. Mason, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said Mr. Halder deserved the death penalty. "While we are disappointed that Mr. Halder will not receive the maximum punishment for his deadly siege, we hope that his victims and their families can take some comfort in the fact that Mr. Halder will never again see the light of day," Mr. Mason said. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA----re: foreign national/death sentence Ruling in Va. Case Restores Death Penalty Option The Virginia Supreme Court ruled yesterday that prosecutors can ask for the death penalty in the case of a Vietnamese man accused of strangling a Fairfax County woman and her 22-month-old daughter. The ruling overturned a lower court decision that prohibited prosecutors from seeking the execution of Dinh Pham, 34, of Annandale for the January 2004 killings of Loan P. Nguyen, 30, and her daughter, Ashley N. Ton. Their bodies were found in a crawl space beneath the family's townhouse in the Merrifield area. This month, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Leslie M. Alden threw out the death penalty option, ruling that police violated Pham's rights under the Vienna Convention by not informing him that he could contact his embassy. The Vienna Convention, signed by the United States in 1969, was created to provide legal protections for people arrested in another country. But the Supreme Court ruled late yesterday that Alden had exceeded her authority because she made a sentencing decision based on a motion filed before the trial. Alden's decision came 6 days before the scheduled start of Pham's capital murder trial. "No statute . . . authorizes Judge Alden to exercise such sentencing discretion in a pre-trial context," the court said. "In other words, the action taken by Judge Alden was not within her discretion." In directing Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. not to seek the death penalty if Pham is convicted, "Judge Alden performed an executive function and exercised discretion that resides solely in the Commonwealth's Attorney," the court added. The court directed Alden to let Horan seek the death penalty. "We thought the court had exceeded its powers," Horan said. "That's why we filed for the writ." Paul A. Maslakowski, a capital public defender representing Pham, did not return a call. The case is the 2nd Fairfax slaying to prompt a legal battle over the failure to notify a murder suspect of his Vienna Convention right to consult with embassy or consular officials. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Honduras native Mario A. Bustillo, convicted of a fatal beating in Springfield in 1997, because he also was not told of his international treaty rights. Horan has said Fairfax police have a written policy requiring them to notify defendants of their Vienna Convention rights. In Pham's case, homicide detectives sent a fax to the Vietnamese Embassy informing them of Pham's arrest but did not tell Pham that he had the right to consult with his country's officials. Pham is charged with 1st-degree murder in the slaying of Nguyen and capital murder in the premeditated killing of a child. He was arrested Jan. 8, 2004, 1 day after Huy Huang Ton discovered the bodies of his wife and daughter. In an interview with Fairfax detectives and with a Vietnamese interpreter, Pham said he went to the family's home on Lester Lee Court to steal money, was surprised by Nguyen, strangled her with a belt and then strangled the crying child, according to court records. Pham had worked for Ton, a construction contractor. It was unclear yesterday when Pham's trial will begin. (source: Washington Post) CALIFORNIA: Local Rapist, Muderer Fights State's Death Penalty Michael Morales, who is scheduled to be executed next month for raping and murdering a 17-year-old Lodi girl, claims injecting him with lethal amounts of poison to end his life is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishmenta claim the U.S. Supreme Court never has endorsed. Morales, scheduled to be executed Feb. 21, would become the 3rd inmate put to death in California since December. Condemned California inmate Donald Beardslee, who was executed last year, made similar claims that were rejected. In court briefs filed Friday in San Jose federal court, attorneys for Morales allege a mistake in the sedation process might mean he would appear unconscious, but internally would succumb to excruciating pain once the paralyzing and the death drug were administered. Morales could be "paralyzed but conscious and suffering death from ... burning veins and heart failure," attorney David Senior wrote. A hearing is set for Thursday. The U.S. Supreme Court has never directly addressed whether death sentences carried out by lethal injection are cruel and unusual punishment. The justices have upheld executions in general despite the pain they might cause inmates, but have left unsettled the issue of whether alleged pain in lethal injections is unconstitutionally excessive and can be avoided. Most of the 36 states that perform lethal injections use the paralyzing agent - pancuronium bromide - after a sedative is given. California attorney general spokesman Nathan Barankin noted that lethal injection challenges have not prevailed. "We expect that Morales' lawsuit will also be unsuccessful," Barankin said. Morales, 46, of Stockton, raped and brutally beat a 17-year-old Lodi girl 25 years ago. Terri Winchell was found beaten and stabbed in a secluded vineyard. He was tried in Ventura County because of extensive pretrial publicity in San Joaquin County. The case is Morales v. Hickman, 06-219. (source: Associated Press) ******************** Death penalty a divider----Death penalty issue may hurt Brown The recent executions of Stanley Tookie Williams and Clarence Ray Allen have reignited debate over the death penalty in California, and the controversial issue could play a key role in this year's race for attorney general. While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew stinging criticism and broad protests for his decision not to grant clemency in the cases, all 3 major likely gubernatorial candidates support the death penalty. But Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, the presumed front-runner for attorney general, will face tough questions about his long-standing opposition to the death penalty at a time when most Californians - and his likely opponents - support it. Experts say, however, that voters often will consider supporting a candidate whose views conflict with official duties if there are other qualities they consider more important. "You hear it all the time with abortion," said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the University of Southern California. "(Candidates say) 'I'm personally against abortion, but abortion is the law of the land and I'm not going to go against that.' You hear it in Supreme Court hearings. So voters are used to that." As governor in the 1970s, Brown vetoed legislation that would have reinstated the death penalty after the courts struck it down as unconstitutional. The Legislature, however, overrode his veto, and voters later passed a measure to strengthen the death penalty law. Brown also appointed to the California Supreme Court death penalty opponent Rose Bird, who voted to overturn it on every case that came before the panel. Brown continues to personally oppose the death penalty, but says he would fulfill the duties of the office of attorney general. The state attorney general's responsibility regarding the punishment includes defending the original judgments in capital cases once they have been automatically appealed to higher courts. The Attorney General's Office also will occasionally prosecute the initial criminal case if there is a conflict in the local county district attorney's office, which occurred with the Allen case. In those instances the process includes a decision on whether to pursue the death penalty. "His position is personally opposed, but he will enforce the law," said Ace Smith, Brown's campaign consultant. "That's the job of the attorney general." Brown's opponent in the Democratic primary, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, supports the death penalty, as does the main Republican candidate, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno. But neither is ready to hammer Brown on the issue. Poochigian simply said Brown will have difficulty proving to voters that he can fulfill his duties on capital cases. "Death penalty issues are a central and very important function on the appellate level of the Attorney General's Office," Poochigian said. "He's going to have to be a very effective salesman to persuade the people that there would, under his administration, be a dispassionate use of the energies of the office (in capital cases)." Poochigian said he supports the death penalty because he believes it is a crime deterrent and said he opposes recent efforts for a temporary moratorium because he believes the state's lengthy appeals process is adequate. Delgadillo said his support for capital punishment stems from an empathy with victims of violent crime, whom he deals with through his office's victim- and witness-assistance program. "When I sit across the table from victims or their families and see the pain and anguish that they have to go through, for me it becomes a matter of justice," Delgadillo said. Capital punishment was first legalized in California in 1851, and the state has executed 513 people, including 4 women, since 1893, when the state took over responsibility for executions from local officials, according to the California Department of Corrections. The death penalty was briefly declared unconstitutional in the 1970s by various state and federal court decisions and then reinstated by voters with Proposition 7 in 1978. The last governor to grant clemency was Ronald Reagan in 1967. The issue drew renewed public attention in recent months with the highly publicized campaign to spare the life of Crips co-founder Williams. Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Williams last month, and for Allen, 76, executed last week. State Controller Steve Westly, one of two candidates vying for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, said he supports the death penalty, opposes a moratorium and agrees with the governor's recent decisions not to grant clemency. He said the state's lengthy appeals process should address any concerns about the possibility of condemning innocent people. "For the most heinous crimes committed, I think the death penalty is appropriate," Westly said. "One of the reasons I support the death penalty is I believe California has more safeguards than any other state in the country." Westly's primary opponent, Treasurer Phil Angelides, also supports the death penalty and opposes a moratorium, but had no comment on Schwarzenegger's clemency decisions, campaign spokesman Brian Brokaw said. "As a candidate for governor, he believes that when making life and death clemency decisions, it is the obligation of the governor who sits in judgment to gather all the facts and listen to those with differing opinions and proceed thoughtfully and deliberately," Brokaw said. Schwarzenegger has described having to consider clemency requests as "a terrible decision" and one of his most difficult as governor. He said he considers the requests on a case-by-case basis without applying any set of standard, personal guidelines. Ultimately, the governor's support for the death penalty might have caused him more trouble in his hometown than it has in California. Some elected officials in Graz, Austria - where the death penalty is banned and seen as barbaric - heavily criticized their hometown hero for allowing the execution of Williams and called for his name to be removed from the local soccer stadium. Schwarzenegger responded by demanding that his name be removed from the stadium and returning an honorary ring presented to him by city officials. In California, however, where voters have supported the punishment for decades, his position is a popular one. A Field Poll in 2004 found 68 % of the state's registered voters favor the death penalty, with 26 % in opposition. According to Field's historical data, a majority of the state's residents have supported it since 1960, when support was at 60 %. "It hasn't (been a campaign issue) recently, since Democrats decided it didn't make sense to be rigidly opposed to the death penalty," Jeffe said. "It does not appear to me that Schwarzenegger has been hurt by carrying out those that he's had carried out." (source: Los Angeles Daily News) ************** St. Helena group leads death penalty fight St. Helenans who may want to express themselves about the Tuesday morning execution of Clarence Ray Allen have a venue in town: Napa Citizens for a Death Penalty Moratorium has been meeting since July. The group, which focuses on educating people about the anti-death penalty stance through meetings and events, was founded in a joint effort between St. Helena residents Janice Gay and Dick Wollack. "I was a teacher at RLS when I took a leave in 2000," Gay said. "It was then that I decided to explore the death penalty. My grandfather had been hanged at Folsom Prison here in California in 1924 and I didn't learn about it until I was 21. It was this repressed family secret." During her leave from the school, Gay began working with Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation, a national anti-death penalty group that includes family members of murder victims and those executed. Met in San Francisco Gay met up with Wollack at an MVFR function in San Francisco, where he complimented her for a commentary she had written about the death penalty for the St. Helena Star. Wollack was involved with a separate, statewide organization called Death Penalty Focus. "Dick asked me if I wanted to start something back in St. Helena," Gay said. "And I had gotten a few people around town interested at that point, so we got together and did a presentation in St. Helena with Lance Lindsey, the executive director of Death Penalty Focus." The group, which came to be known as Napa Citizens for a Death Penalty Moratorium, began meeting every 8 weeks. Evans is supporter The group's central issue is supporting Assembly Bill 1121, which calls for a moratorium on any execution being carried out in California from Jan. 1, 2007, until Jan. 1, 2009, which will give the Legislature a year to study a state-ordered report on the death penalty due by Dec. 31, 2007. The bill, introduced last summer, was co-authored by Noreen Evans, who represents Napa County in the State Assembly. The bill has passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee and was scheduled to be heard Wednesday by the Appropriations Committee. Other goals of the Napa Valley group include educating local residents about the death penalty issue. "The death penalty is something that people need to talk about before they form an opinion," Wollack said. "Most people have this knee-jerk reaction where they say they are pro-death penalty but they don't know why." Some change opinions Wollack said that group meetings attract local people who are on the fence regarding the death penalty issue, and when they are presented with the facts, they often change their minds. The group also hopes to prove to local lawmakers that there is a significant, and politically active, bloc of voters in the Napa Valley who are against the death penalty. "This is a tertiary issue for most people," Wollack said. "Most people are primarily concerned with their family, their kids and getting them an education. Only then do they worry about global warming, the war in Iraq, etc. We just want to raise this to a secondary issue." Napa Citizens for a Death Penalty Moratorium is preparing for 3 coming house meetings. They will be held in St. Helena on Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2 and will feature "round table discussion" of the death penalty issue. (source: St. Helena Star, Jan. 19)
