[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

May 4


TEXAS:

United Methodists Call for Abolition of the Death Penalty in Texas


The Worldwide United Methodist Church sent a message to Texas during the
General Conference held in Ft. Worth, TX. The General Conference passed a
resolution calling for the specific abolition of the death penalty in
Texas. The United Methodist Church has had a position against the use of
the death penalty for more than 50 years and reaffirmed that specific
position in separate resolutions for the whole church as well.

The Texas specific resolution originated from St. Johns United Methodist
Church in Lubbock, TX. Rev. Bill Martin, retired clergy and member of St.
Johns stated upon the passage of the resolution, We in Texas who oppose
capital punishment deeply appreciate this prophetic witness from The
United Methodist Church. It represents a direct application of the
Church's affirmation that we cannot accept retribution or social vengeance
as a reason for taking human life and our belief that the death penalty
violates our deepest belief in God as the Creator and the Redeemer of
humankind."

This resolution was developed in part due to the intensity of which Texas
uses the death penalty without regard to the many problems within the
death penalty system: problems of wrongful conviction, poor
representation, the arbitrary nature in which it is imposed, and the great
expense it represents to the state of Texas. The Rev. Julius Trimble of
the East Ohio Conference and committee chair presenting the Resolution to
the General Conference delegates, also pointed out that in Texas the
Governor cannot commute a sentence without the vote of the Board of
Pardons and Parole; and the specific event of Governor Perry, after a vote
from the Board on commuting the death sentence of a mentally ill inmate,
denying that vote and proceeding with the execution.

Vicki McCuistion, program director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty and member of Wimberley United Methodist Church hailed the
decision of the General Conference, "The passage of this resolution sends
a strong message to Texas and our state officials that our excessive
execution policy is recognized as extreme and in need of great reform by
the delegates of the United Methodist Church from the United States and
around the world and must be reevaluated sooner rather than later."

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church is held every 4
years with delegates from the US and around the world to determine the
business and direction of the United Methodist Church.

The text of the resolution follows:

Texas Death Penalty (81149-C1-R9999)

To Be Added to The Book of Resolutions:

Whereas, The United Methodist Church strongly opposes capital punishment,
and

Whereas, in the state of Texas over 400 persons have been put to death
since the state resumed executions in 1982;

 among the persons executed since 1982 at least six were mentally
retarded, at least twenty suffered from mental illness, and 13 were
juveniles when their crimes were committed;

 among those executed 83 African Americans were put to death for crimes
against white victims, and only 1 white person was executed for crimes
against African Americans;

 8 persons sentenced to die have later been proven innocent and removed
from death row;

 capital trials have at times been characterized by "unreliable witnesses,
lack of evidence, incorrect experts, official misconduct, and inadequate
defense attorneys";

 the Innocence Project of Texas has pointed to the likelihood that one or
more innocent persons have been executed; and

Whereas, over 250 organizations of all kinds, including religious, civic,
political, legal, and humanitarian groups, have officially called either
for a moratorium on executions or for the abolition of the death penalty
in Texas, and

Whereas, at least 10 major newspapers in Texas have endorsed either a
moratorium on executions or the abolition of capital punishment in the
state,

Therefore, be it resolved, that the 2008 General Conference of The United
Methodist Church, meeting in Fort Worth, Texas,

Express its deepest appreciation to all those organizations and
individuals in the state of Texas who have valiantly struggled and
continue to struggle for a more humane society in which the death penalty
is rare or non-existent.

Call upon the Texas Legislature either to abolish the death penalty
completely or to stop executions in the state until such time as all
capital cases can be tried in a completely equitable way,

Call upon the Texas Pardon and Parole Board and the Governor to commute
the sentences of persons currently on death row to life in prison without
parole or to life in prison.

Instruct the Secretary of the General Conference to have copies of this
resolution sent immediately to all members of the Texas Legislature, to
each member of the Pardon and Parole Board, to the Governor of Texas, to
the Texas Conference of Churches, and to the Texas Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty.

(source: By Texas Abolition Blog)






MISSISSIPPI:

Court has not ruled on request for Monday execution date


It's not so much that she wishes death on condemned inmate Earl Wesley
Berry, Jena Watson just wants an end to the nightmare that began with her
mother's murder more than 2 decades ago.

Attorney General Jim Hood requested that Berry be executed Monday for the
1987 slaying of Mary Bounds. However, as of Sunday, the Mississippi
Supreme Court had not approved the request nor ruled on several legal
arguments by Berry's attorneys, who are trying to stop his execution.

For Watson, the brutal slaying of her 56-year-old mother and the years of
legal wrangling that followed "just takes everything out of you."

"We've just been in limbo. That's what it felt like for the last 20
years," Watson said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"We are so ready to get through with this."

Berry, who turns 49 on Monday, was convicted of kidnapping Bounds from the
parking lot of the First Baptist Church in Houston, Miss., on Nov. 29,
1987. He beat her viciously, allegedly stomping her head so hard that a
tennis shoe impression was visible on her face, then dumped her body in
the woods. His confession was used against him at trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Berry's last scheduled execution on Oct.
30, 2007.

The justices wanted to consider the use of lethal injection as a method of
execution after 2 death row inmates in Kentucky claimed the procedure was
unconstitutional. But last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the method
is acceptable and executions could resume. The argument had been that if
the first of three drugs - that sedate, paralyze then kill - doesn't take
effect, the other 2 drugs will cause pain but the paralyzed prisoner won't
be able to express discomfort.

Watson can't help but think that her mother's pain was forgotten by the
courts.

"It makes me angry. It does," Watson said. "They say the inmate might feel
pain (from lethal injection) but can't tell anyone. My mother was lying in
a cold forest, severely beaten and couldn't tell anyone that she was in
pain. But that doesn't seem to matter."

There hasn't been an execution in the United States since Texas executed
Michael Richard on Sept. 25, 2007, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court
agreed to consider the constitutionality of Kentucky's 3-drug protocol.

But when the court ruled that Kentucky's method was acceptable on April
16, it effectively ended a 7-month hiatus on capital punishment. Several
states, including Mississippi and Georgia, quickly began legal maneuvers
to resume executions.

But Berry's attorneys responded with a motion to the Mississippi Supreme
Court that claimed he should not be executed because he is "mentally
retarded" and that Mississippi's lethal injection procedure is different
from Kentucky's and unconstitutional. It was not clear when the court
would make a decision.

Bounds worked as a quality control supervisor for Seminole Manufacturing
in Houston before her death. She is described as a deeply religious woman
who reached out to those struggling in her community. She once started a
Sunday school class for low-income families that eventually grew into a
church of its own, Watson said.

"She really was the backbone of the family. She was strong. She was
everything. She was full of fun and love and life," Watson said.

Besides asking the courts for a reprieve, Berry plans to ask Gov. Haley
Barbour for clemency. Barbour has declined to spare Berry's life in the
past and his "position has not changed," said spokesman Pete Smith.

Berry would be the 1st person put to death in Mississippi since Bobby Glen
Wilcher was executed in October 2006 for the murders of 2 women.

(source: Fort Mill Times)