[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.J., N.C., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 10



TEXAS:

Reasonable Doubt----Is death row immune to DNA exonerations?


The prison door has swung open repeatedly in recent years to allow
wrongfully convicted prisoners to walk free. In many cases, DNA evidence
has offered them a 2nd chance at life on the outside.

The headlines trumpeting their innocence provide us with bold-letter
reminders that our justice system doesn't always get it right:

Inmate freed after DNA test

Exonerated man is pardoned by Perry

DNA helps Dallas County prisoners

Last week, Andrew Gossett became the 11th Dallas County man granted his
freedom after DNA confirmed what he had been saying for 7 years: He didn't
do it. Mr. Gossett had been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a sexual
assault he did not commit.

That juries and judges are fallible is not a revelation. Human error is an
inherent part of the system. Thank goodness that in the case of Mr.
Gossett a terrible wrong has been corrected.

At the same time that this 46-year-old Garland man begins to rebuild his
life, newspaper headlines note that January will be a particularly deadly
month for Texas prisoners. The state is poised to execute 5 death row
inmates during a 20-day stretch.

Against a backdrop of overturned convictions and DNA advances, these
planned executions also should give us pause. For the condemned, evidence
of an error could come too late. Lethal injections don't allow those 2nd
chances.

And while improved technology and new evidence have cleared only a tiny
fraction of prisoners, those cases serve notice that even the remote
possibility of a mistake is unacceptable in death penalty cases.

At least 10 other states are reviewing their capital punishment laws. 2
have declared a moratorium. But Texas has pressed on, accounting for
nearly 1/2 of the executions in the country last year. Lawmakers have
dismissed our calls for a death penalty moratorium. But the frailties in
the justice system that have been exposed suggest that it's time to
revisit this issue.

When Mr. Gossett was set free last week, newly elected District Attorney
Craig Watkins was in the courtroom. He thought it was important to tell
Mr. Gossett, "We're sorry."

State officials won't have that opportunity if capital punishment is meted
out incorrectly.

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)

*****************

Mother says truck driver's life in 'my Father's hands'----As jury debates
Williams' fate, his sister says he's a scapegoat in immigrants' deaths


Jurors in Tyrone Mapletoft Williams Jr.'s smuggling trial will resume
deliberations at 8:30 a.m. today to determine whether the truck driver
will be executed or sentenced to prison.

The 7-woman, 5-man jury found Williams guilty last month on 58 smuggling
counts, 20 of which can bring a death sentence. It now could choose the
death penalty, life in prison without release or to allow the judge to
decide.

He is the 1st person to face the death penalty under a 1994 federal
smuggling law.

Williams, 35, a Jamaican immigrant from Schenectady, N.Y., was found
guilty for his role in a 2003 transport attempt that left 19 illegal
immigrants dead. An estimated 100 illegal immigrants were sealed in his
truck's refrigeration trailer. He abandoned the trailer at a Victoria
truck stop after discovering that it had become a death trap.

Late Tuesday, the trucker's relatives held a news conference outside the
federal courthouse.

"My brother is very faithful. He's a man of God, and he's leaving
everything up to God at this point. We're praying for him, and we support
him 100 %," said his sister Coretta Williams. "As far as him being a
scapegoat, yes. You've seen how this whole thing has played out, and he's
really the person who is taking the fall for everything."

Among the 14 defendants in the case, including the smuggling masterminds,
Tyrone Williams is the only one to face capital punishment.

"I just leave my son's life in my Father's hands," his mother, Dorothy
Williams, said before she became too distraught to speak.

"He's a good man. I wish the judge and jury would meet him in a different
setting. He's a loving brother, a good husband and a good father. Also, a
good and loving son," she said, adding that she grieves for the relatives
of victims.

The trucker's relatives left Houston late Tuesday for Massachusetts and
won't return to hear the jury's decision.

Lead defense lawyer Craig Washington also will miss the verdict if it is
returned today. He will be attending the funeral of former Texas House
Speaker Bill Clayton in Springlake. Clayton appointed Washington, a
liberal Houston Democrat who once served in the state Legislature, as the
first black speaker pro tempore.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

***************

FAMILY MEMBERS TESTIFY IN RETARDATION HEARING


Family members of Allen Bridgers continued testifying Tuesday in the
hearing that will decide whether the death row inmate is mentally
retarded.

Bridgers, sentenced to lethal injection for the 1997 capital murder of
53-year-old Mary Amie in Tyler, is claiming he is mentally retarded and
therefore should not be executed.

If 114th District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent finds that he is mentally
retarded, Bridgers' death sentence would be commuted to a sentence of life
in prison because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the
mentally retarded is unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, Bridgers' stepfather Gary Gorum testified that his stepson was
always a real nice person, was always cool and calm and was ordinary
growing up. He said he was a little slower than other children and had a
learning disability. He said Bridgers could do things such as put together
a bicycle, but not as fast as other kids.

Gorum said Bridgers began reading the Bible when he was 5 or 6, but he
would have to explain the passages to Bridgers several times. At 14,
Bridgers' reading ability was that of a 6-year-old, Gorum said. Bridgers
told Gorum that he saw words from right to left and was dyslexic. Gorum
said the disorder could have affected Bridgers' ability to read.

He said Bridgers worked for him at his floor-laying company. He could do
the work but it took him a while to learn it and he would always have to
correct his mistakes, Gorum said.

"Allen would not be a person who was mentally retarded to the point where
he can't help himself but he was definitely slower than (his brothers),"
Gorum said.

Gorum said Bridgers was gullible and could be enticed to do things by
other kids. He said he had quite a few friendships that Gorum didn't agree
with.

He said Bridgers burglarized houses when he was 13 in Virginia and later
was sent to prison for about four years in Georgia. Bridgers told Gorum
after prison that he had been using drugs. He also talked about suicide
and depression, he said.

Harry Bridgers Sr., Allen Bridgers' younger brother, testified that he had
to look out for his brother when they were kids. He said Allen, who was
his best friend, was "a little slow to certain things," he couldn't read
very well, was quiet and usually kept to himself. He said people made fun
of Allen and he didn't defend himself.

Harry Bridgers said his brother was nave and did things to impress people.
He said his brother was dyslexic and was a "hard worker" but repeated a
lot of mistakes.

When Allen was 17, he moved to California and lived with a relative before
Harry joined him there. The brothers later moved to Georgia to live with
their biological father and where Allen was sentenced to prison, he said.

Prosecutors played a recorded phone conversation between the brothers made
from the Smith County Jail on Jan. 1.

Harry was heard telling his younger brother about family and personal
problems and Allen gave him advice. "Take care of your kids and keep on
trucking, Allen Bridgers said.

Allen also told his brother during the conversation that he was thinking
about writing a book.

During his brother's 1998 capital murder trial, Harry Bridgers said he and
his brother began drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana when Allen was
12. Around the same age, they burglarized a couple of houses and he said
he had smoked crack cocaine with his brother when they were teenagers.

BRIDGERS' INTERVIEW WITH POLICE

John King, who was called by prosecutors during the defense's case on
Tuesday because he had to fly back to Florida, was a homicide detective in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when Bridgers was arrested there for capital murder
in 1997. He said during an interview that he had no problems communicating
with Bridgers, who gave him a detailed account of how he planned and
carried out the murder and robbery of Ms. Amie in Tyler before he fled
from Texas. He said he considered the murder and flee complex.

King said Bridgers was very polite, articulate and cooperative with him.
He killed the victim, stole her car, money and jewelry, drove to Dallas,
booked a hotel and bought a bus ticket, but the next day flew to Florida.

On Monday prosecutors played recorded telephone conversations with
Bridgers and his girlfriend and relatives.

"I'm not retarded," Bridgers said during a Jan. 1 phone conversation
placed from the Smith County Jail. He said claiming he was mentally
retarded would buy him a "couple more years."

The convicted killer was set to die in July until he claimed that he was
mentally retarded.

The burden of proof in a mental retardation claim lies on the defense. The
3-pronged approach to diagnosing mental retardation includes below-average
intellectual functioning, usually denoted by an IQ score of 70 or less;
manifestation of the disorder by age 18; and consideration of adaptive
functioning, or how a person operates in daily life.

Bridgers is being defended by Houston attorneys Jared Tyler, Jason Luong
and David Dow, who work for the Texas Innocence Network. Smith County
District Attorney Matt Bingham and Assistant DA Mike West are representing
the state.

The hearing will continue in Kent's court 9 a.m. Wednesday.

(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)

************************

Mother of officer killed by Texas 7 dies


Jayne Hawkins, who became an outspoken critic of the Texas prison system
after her police officer son was gunned down by 7 escaped inmates in 2000,
has died. She was 62.

The Dallas interior designer died Saturday from leukemia, officials said.

Her only child, Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins, was eating Christmas
Eve dinner with his family when he was called to respond to suspicious
activity at a sporting goods store in Irving.

The 29-year-old officer interrupted a robbery by 7 inmates who had escaped
11 days earlier from the maximum-security Connally Unit, about 60 miles
southeast of San Antonio.

The group shot him 11 times and repeatedly ran over him with the getaway
car.

Over the next several years, Ms. Hawkins testified at all six of the
inmates trials and sat in the courtroom as they were sentenced to death.
The seventh had committed suicide to avoid capture.

Ms. Hawkins said that she did not plan to witness the executions of her
sons killers, who remain on Texas' death row.

"I want to move on with my life with a happy heart, as happy as it can
be," Ms. Hawkins said in 2003. "I want to be as happy as Aubrey would want
me to be, because he was such a happy soul."

She testified before the state Legislature that low pay and inadequate
training for guards contributed to the escape and filed a wrongful-death
lawsuit against the state. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2005 and Ms.
Hawkins was assessed costs. She vowed not to pay.

Besides prison reform, Ms. Hawkins was a vocal advocate of gun control,
womens rights, animal rights and the arts.

She is survived by her grandson, Andrew Hawkins, and her brother, James
Sellars. At her request, no funeral service will be held. Memorial gifts
may be made to the SPCA of Texas or The Family Place.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

(source: Associated Press)






NEW JERSEY:

Death penalty: one step closer to being abolished Chatham womans
grass-roots advocacy group moves toward approval by state Legislature


A 13-member commission that examined in detail the possibility of
abolishing the death penalty, voted, 12-1, to recommend to the state
Legislature replacing it with life without parole and Celeste Fitzgerald,
Chatham resident, is elated.

In 2003, the state Senate voted affirmatively for a bill, which would
establish a commission to study the death penalty.

As founding chairwoman of New Jerseyans for a Death Penalty Moratorium
(NJDPM), Fitzgerald haunted the halls of the state Senate supporting the
comprehensive senate bill, which would established the New Jersey Death
Penalty Study Commission. Ultimately, the New Jersey Legislature passed
the bill, which was vetoed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey.

On Jan. 12, 2006, Acting-Gov. Richard Codey signed the bill into law.

The report released today offers a complete and overwhelming indictment of
New Jerseys death penalty system, and should signal the closing chapter
for this outdated, risky, resource-draining hoax on victims families, said
Fitzgerald.

She said the study commission "conducted a thorough, credible and
transparent examination, and concluded that the death penalty in New
Jersey is fatally flawed and should be replaced with the stronger and more
certain punishment of life in prison without any possibility of parole."

State Senator John F. Russo (D-Ocean) voted against recommending life
without parole.

Russo was the writer and sponsor of New Jerseys death penalty bill, as
well as, a member of the commission.

Fitzgerald testified before the 13-member commission espousing the
benefits of life without parole, as opposed to what she called the
failings of capital punishment.

A series of five public hearings before the commission were held in
Trenton with former prosecutors, victims and victims families speaking out
against the death penalty.

A plethora of complaints against capital punishment littered the
legislative hearings. Many victims' families have had a change of mind
after witnessing the justice system at work. They have found that, "always
getting it right," is not always the case. In some instances, an innocent
person has been convicted of a crime he or she did not commit, which to
years of lost life to the state penal system, she said.

Lost Loved Ones

But commission member and victims advocate Kathleen M. Garcia was not
elated. She was relieved.

Even thought Garcia voted to replace the death penalty with life without
parole, she would support a death penalty if the system supported it.

Garcia lost her brother to murder in 1984, when he was 21-years-old.

"I was mad for 3 years," said Garcia on Monday. "The endless round of
appeals for people on death row is agony for victim's families."

Garcia said serving on the commission was an honor and a privilege.

"It is my own personal opinion, as well as the position of the victim's
right community as a whole, that our capital punishment system has served
those charged and convicted of capital murder very well," said Garcia.
"However, it has failed miserably to serve the law abiding citizens of New
Jersey  most importantly the survivors of murder victims."

These sentiments are why she voted in favor of supporting life without
parole rather than capital punishment. She has spent the last two decades
advocating for the rights of surviving victims.

Illogical Supreme Court rulings force surviving victims to endure years of
endless appeals and multiple trials, said Garcia.

"I agree with Senator Russo," she said. "The fundamental problem is not
the statute, but rather the liberal judges and other individuals who have
consistently disregarded the legislative will and refused to enforce the
law as written."

Jo Anne Barlieb lost her mother Cynthia 21 years ago when she was brutally
shot to death. Her mother was only 25-years-old and the mother of four
children.

"I can testify from experience that our current system is most unjust for
the victims and their loved ones," said Barlieb. "I can only hope to save
other families from the grief of the never-ending appellate process."

Barlieb said given the option, she would be grateful to adopt life without
parole over capital punishment.

Governor's Approval

On Tuesday, Jan. 2, Gov. Jon S. Corzine released a statement in support of
the commission's findings.

"I want to thank the New Jersey Death Penalty Study commission for its
careful and exhaustive examination of our states death penalty system,"
said Corzine. "The blue-ribbon commission was comprised of well-qualified
and knowledge experts from a broad spectrum of personal and professional
backgrounds and experiences, including a former Supreme Court Justice,
county prosecutors, advocates for crime victims and their families and New
Jersey's public defender. As someone who has long opposed the death
penalty, I look forward to working with the Legislature to implement the
recommendations outlined in the report."

As a U.S. Senator, Corzine opposed the death penalty, according to a
vote-smart.org questionnaire in September 2000. Corzine favored a
moratorium on the death penalty and backed further DNA testing. During
this time, Corzine sponsored a bill that would limit capital punishment,
which was designed to reduce the risk of an innocent persons execution.

Fitzgerald is hopeful that as governor, Corzine would be inclined to sign
a bill crafted to replace the death penalty with life without parole.

Advocate Attorney

Lawyer Richard Pompelio, whose son was murdered, is the founder of the New
Jersey Crime Victim's Law Center testified before the commission.

"The death penalty process in New Jersey over the past quarter century has
been the greatest failing of the justice system in the history of our
state," said Pompelio. "It is the failing of those in power, the
politicians and the judges  but it is a failing that has been spawned from
good and righteous intentions, and also pride, a pride on the part of
these people in power to do what they believe is right. The system can no
longer suffer the pride of those in power. The taxpayers can no longer
bear the cost of this failure."

Pointing out that human beings are flawed, even at their best, Fitzgerald
told of Jennifer Thompson, a rape-victim, who sat before the commission,
staring into their souls and communicating a horror that became an
innocent mans "colossal nightmare," after victim, police, prosecutor,
judge and jury, with the best of intentions, "made one small mistake."

Lorry Post, who lost a daughter to murder, founded NJADP in 1999, said
Ftizgerald.

"He contacted me because I was a member of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace
organization," said Fitzgerald. "I attended the first meeting and soon was
appointed chairperson."

Grass-roots Grows

The grass-roots organization, which now boasts 10,000 members and 200
supporting organizations, began small with a nominal membership and
migrating meetings held in member's homes.

Fitzgerald became director of the organization in January 2004, after
serving as its chair from its founding until May 2001. That year
Fitzgerald joined Equal Justice USA (EJUSA), a national organization,
serving as its northeast field office director and championing death
penalty moratorium campaigns in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Fitzgerald was the recipient of the Pax Christi New Jersey Dorothy Day
peacemaker award in 2002, for her work with NJADP.

A new office in Trenton and a new campaign to replace the New Jersey death
penalty with life without parole found Fitzgerald once again haunting the
halls of the state legislature. Bipartisan legislation creating the first
legislatively imposed moratorium on executions in the nation and
establishing a 13-member commission to study all aspects of capital
punishment, was the result of her efforts and the efforts of the NJADP.

(source: The Chatham Courier)






NORTH CAROLINA:

NAACP, other groups plan march


The state chapter of the NAACP and at least 20 other groups announced
plans Tuesday to march in downtown Raleigh next month to push their aims
at the General Assembly.

The Feb. 10 march will highlight a 14-point agenda that includes more help
for public schools, abolishing the death penalty, collective bargaining
power for government employees and expanding health care coverage for all.

After a program at Memorial Auditorium, participants will march through
the city to the Legislative Building. Speakers at Tuesday's news
conference outside the building's front doors pledged to work to keep
their issues in front of lawmakers.

"We need a movement and not just a moment," said the Rev. William Barber
of Goldsboro, the state chapter president. "We're calling on people to
come from all 100 counties of North Carolina."

(source: Wilmington Morning Star)




OKLAHOMA----execution

Killer makes no apology at execution----Victims' family members say
Hamilton showed no remorse despite prayers


Corey Duane Hamilton, who killed four employees during a Tulsa restaurant
robbery 15 years ago, was put to death Tuesday at Oklahoma State
Penitentiary.

In his last words, he offered no apologies but said: "I wish everyone
could experience the love of God the way I have. I love everyone.

"To the victims' families, I pray that you have peace and all that you are
in need of."

As the mixture of lethal drugs flowed into his veins, Hamilton said, "Into
thy hands I commit my spirit, O Lord."

He took a few labored breaths before he appeared to lapse into
unconsciousness.

Hamilton, 38, took his last breath at 6:14 p.m.

He was put to death for the Aug. 17, 1992, shooting deaths of Ted Kindley,
19; Sendy Lara, 26; Joseph Gooch, 17; and Stephen Williams, 24, at Lee's
Famous Recipe Chicken in Tulsa.

The 4 were herded into the restaurant's walk-in cooler and shot during a
robbery that netted slightly more than $2,000. Each died of a close-range
gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Williams' mother, Janice Ramsey, commented after the execution that "these
4 beautiful people were put on their knees and executed like they were a
piece of trash."

She said she hopes Hamilton was sincere in what he did say, but she said
his lack of an apology indicates that he might not have been.

"He had no remorse," Ramsey said. "None at all."

Gooch's mother, Patricia Hudson, said after the execution that "I am
grateful it is over."

Gilbert Lara, the husband of Sendy Lara, said he was not troubled by
Hamilton's lack of an apology in his last words.

"He took my wife," Lara said after the execution. "He'd just be wasting
his time saying, 'I'm sorry.' "

Before the execution took place, a written statement was released from the
Laras' daughter, Amanda Lara of Dallas. She was 6 when her mother was
killed.

"After all of these years of pain and suffering, of sleepless nights and
nightmares, the day has finally come when Corey Duane Hamilton will be
executed," she wrote.

"My mother was only 26 years old when she was taken away from us. . . .
Today my sister turned 16 years old. She was 18 months old when our mother
passed away.

"I regret that she did not get to know how wonderful our mother was. I try
to make sure that in some way, through our memories, she can know her as I
did."

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said in a press release shortly
before the execution: "4 innocent people died at the hands of Corey
Hamilton in 1992. It is time the sentence imposed upon him by a jury be
carried out.

"My thoughts today are with the families of his victims."

Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris was not at the prison to witness
the execution because of an unavoidable conflict. He said he wanted to be
present to support the victims' families.

Hours before the lethal dose was administered, Harris said the state and
his office take no pleasure in executions but that some crimes are so
horrendous and calculated that they "cry out for the ultimate punishment."

"The community spoke justice through the verdict," Harris said. "Justice
will be served through the execution of Corey Hamilton."

Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz was at the prison to witness the
execution.

He said the crime had a dramatic impact on the victims' family members and
the police who worked the scene.

"It is really senseless the way this happened," said Glanz, who has
witnessed several executions.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board unanimously voted Dec. 27 to deny
clemency for Hamilton, despite allegations from his attorney that Hamilton
was not the shooter.

Harris said he had no doubt that Hamilton pulled the trigger.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied his appeal challenging the
execution process.

Ann and Bruce Scott of Tulsa were among a handful of relatives of homicide
victims who gathered outside the prison walls around 4:30 p.m. with a
large display of pictures of murder victims from across the state. The
Scotts' daughter, Elaine Marie Scott, 21, was murdered in 1991 in Oklahoma
City.

"We want people to know who the victims were," Ann Scott said.

Hamilton was the 1st inmate put to death in the nation this year,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Hamilton was the 84th Oklahoma inmate executed by lethal injection, said
Jerry Massie, Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman.

The most recent previous execution in the state was that of Grady County
killer Patrick Malicoat, who was put to death on Aug. 31, 2006.

No other Oklahoma executions are scheduled, but Oklahoma has 84 men and
one woman on death row.

(source: Tulsa World)