[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., WASH., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

April 18


PENNSYLVANIA:

Open Letter to Fighters for Mumia's Freedom----by Partisan Defense
Committee


Open Letter: For Mass Labor Mobilizations to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! For
United-Front Action! The Partisan Defense Committee issued the following
open letter on April 8.

The March 27 Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision condemns Mumia to
either execution or the living death of life in prison. This ruling should
make clear to all who are committed to the fight to free this innocent man
that he can get no justice at the hands of the very forces that framed him
up and sentenced him to die. At every step, the courts have made clear
that Mumia has no rights that they are bound to respect and that innocence
does not matter. Even those who have mobilized for many years on the basis
that Mumia could get a "new, fair trial" now proclaim that there should be
no illusions in the American injustice system. Now more than ever,
mobilizing mass militant protest in the fight for Mumias freedom must be
based on rejecting any reliance on the courts. But when we went to an
April 5 meeting of the San Francisco Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
to propose that they endorse the Oakland mobilization initiated by the PDC
and Labor Black League for Social Defense, they outright refused. Jeff
Mackler, a leader of Socialist Action and director of the Mobe, pointed to
the PDC/LBL mobilization call and denounced the criticisms there of
Socialist Action and others who have subordinated the fight for Mumias
freedom to the call for a "new trial." He said that he would not want the
"good name" of the Mobe tarnished by endorsing the Oakland demonstration.
He accused us of being sectarian. In fact, the Spartacist League, with
which the PDC is associated, gave critical support to Macklers 2006
Senatorial campaign.

Over 2 years ago, when the Third Circuit Court allowed Mumia to raise a
paltry threeout of over 2 dozenissues on appeal, Mackler declared that the
ruling was a major blow to the Pennsylvania legal establishment. When the
recent court ruling burst his bubble, Mackler conceded that his Mobe was
in a "demoralized state." Indeed, this meeting, which was to plan for a
protest announced by the Mobe for April 20 in defense of Mumia, made clear
that they have no concrete plans for a protest.

On April 6, PDC representatives attended a New York planning meeting
called by the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) for the April 19
demonstration in Philadelphia. Unlike their past appeals for a "new
trial," the Coalitions flyer for the Philly protest declared, "We Say Free
Mumia Now!" Recognizing that this opened the possibility of building a
united-front action to mobilize the broadest number of forces on the basis
of fighting for Mumia's freedom, we distributed a letter signed by PDC
counsel Rachel Wolkenstein (printed below) and sought to present a motion
motivating the need for united-front action. In response, Suzanne Ross, a
leader of the New York Free Mumia Coalition, declared there would be no
united front and physically excluded us from the meeting. What are they
afraid of?

Ever since the PDC took up Mumias case over 20 years ago, we have sought
to mobilize the broadest forces in his defense. Rallies and protests
initiated by the PDC for Mumias freedom have always welcomed organizations
and individuals representing diverse political viewpoints and encouraged
them to air their points of view, including political differences. Indeed,
we had offered the New York Coalition a speaker at the PDC/LBL-initiated
emergency protest in lower Manhattan on March 28 (an offer they rejected).
We also recognized that these forces were very far removed from our
class-struggle perspective. Our fight to free Mumia and abolish the racist
death penalty is part of our struggle to bring working people and the
oppressed to the conscious understanding that the capitalist state, its
cops and courts, is not some "neutral" agency that serves society as a
whole, but rather exists to defend the class rule and profits of the
capitalists against those whom they exploit and oppress. The frame-up of
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a stark expression of the class and race bias of the
capitalist courts and underlines the need for the multiracial working
class to champion the fight for black liberation.

We fight for mass protest for Mumias freedom based on labors social power,
which lies in its ability to choke off the profits that are the lifeblood
of capitalism. To that end, the PDC has fought for genuine united-front
action in Mumia's defensei.e., unity in action based on agreed-upon
slogans and complete freedom of criticism. That means an open debate about
what strategy is needed to rebuild the movement for Mumia and fight for
his freedom. The call for a "new trial" is based on a political program of
reliance on the capitalist class, its politicians and courts to afford
justice to fighters for the oppressed. Nobody ever called for a "new
trial" for Angela Davis, Huey Newton or Nelson Mandela. Had the political
counterposition between our call to "Free Mumia" and those advocating a
"new trial" been openly debated over the past decade, the movement for
Mumia today would have been stronger and firmly based on the need to
mobilize to free this innocent man.

Our exposure of how the liberals and reformists have undermined the fight
for Mumias freedom with their calls for a "new, fair trial" has earned us
the wrath of those who are hostile to the perspective of a class-struggle
movement for Mumia's freedom. The rejection of our urgent call for
united-front action by the Mobe and the New York Coalition is political
cowardice. At this urgent hour, they are subordinating the fight for
Mumias freedom to their fear of political debate.

The call for a "new trial" was consciously tailored to appeal to liberals
whose concern lies with preserving the fraud of American "democracy," not
with Mumia's freedom. A prime example is journalist David Lindorff, who
openly stated in his book, Killing Time, that "I'm not convinced that
Mumia Abu-Jamal was simply an innocent bystander" and that Mumia may have
shot officer Faulkner. Lindorff is welcomed with open arms by the
reformists while the PDC, which has fought for 20 years to prove Mumia's
innocence and win his freedom, is excluded.

When Mumia was faced with imminent death at the hands of the state's
executioner in 1995, mass protests, including by unions and other
organizations representing millions, were mobilized around the world and
stayed the executioner's hand. Before this, Socialist Action and others
had little to say about Mumia's case. Court hearings that summer to
overturn his frame-up conviction revealed more and more evidence of
Mumia's innocence, much of it uncovered by PDC counsel Rachel Wolkenstein
and Jonathan Piper, who served on Mumia's legal defense from 1995 to 1999.
But rather than using this evidence to arm Mumia's supporters and win new
activists to the fight for his freedom, the reformist left adopted the
call for a "new trial." As each new witness gave further proof of Mumias
innocenceWilliam Singletary, Veronica Jones, Pamela Jenkinsthe reformists
deepened their commitment to promoting illusions in American "justice."
This demobilized a movement of millionsthe clear message was: Why mobilize
on the streets and in the unions if Mumia can get justice in the courts?

By 2001, the reformists were actively burying evidence of Mumia's
innocence. In March of that year, Dan Williams, then co-counsel to Leonard
Weinglass on Mumia's legal team, published Executing Justice, which
denigrated evidence of Mumia's innocence, denouncing the confession of
Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, killed officer Faulkner, before that
evidence was filed in court. For this betrayal, Mumia fired Weinglass and
Williams. In May 2001, Mumia's new legal team filed the Beverly evidence
in state and federal courts along with sworn declarations by Mumia and his
brother, Billy Cook, that Mumia had nothing to do with Faulkner's
shooting. These statements only amplified the mountains of evidence of
Mumia's innocence. But they were too hot for the reformists and liberals
to handle. Speaking to them, Mumia wrote in May 2001: "Many of you have
said that you don't believe in the system, yet, in your hearts you refuse
to let it go."

Four months later, in the face of the September 11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon, the liberals and reformists recoiled under the
pressure of increased repression and "national unity" patriotism. In
December 2001, federal district court judge William Yohn overturned the
death sentence while affirming Mumia's frame-up conviction. This was a
demoralizing blow to the advocates of a "new trial," who had long preached
that Mumia would find justice in the federal courts. But rather than
mobilizing on the call to free Mumia, they told activists to look to the
next federal appeals court. Protests that once drew tens of thousands were
reduced to a few hundred at best.

Time is short. Mumia has nearly reached the end of the legal road, and
there is no reason to believe he can receive a better outcome before the
full Third Circuit Court or from the neo-segregationist U.S. Supreme
Court. Mumia's struggle embodies the struggle against this system of
capitalist exploitation and racist oppression. This underlines the urgent
need to mobilize the social power of labor in his defense. There can be no
flinching on Mumias innocence, on the need to fight for his freedom and to
abolish the racist death penalty. We call on all fighters for Mumia's
freedom to mobilize now and join in genuine mass united-front protests.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent! Free Mumia now! Abolish the racist death
penalty!

* * *

We print below in full the letter, signed by PDC counsel Rachel
Wolkenstein, that was distributed at the April 6 New York Free Mumia
Coalition meeting.

We were pleased to see a leaflet calling for the 19 April demonstration in
Philadelphia under the slogan "We Say Free Mumia Now!" The fight for
Mumias freedom is at an urgent juncture. The recent court decision
illuminates for any who continued to have such illusions that there is no
justice in the capitalist courts. As Pam Africa stated in her "Call for 19
April Mobilization" that was published in Workers World on 3 April: "We
have absolutely no faith in the judicial system, but if Mumia does have a
court proceeding, we will continue to mobilize to pack the courtroom and
the streets in support of Mumia, just like we have always done whenever
there was a courtroom proceeding for Mumia, whether he was present or not.
However, we know that if Mumia gets justice, it will not come from the
courts, but only from the pressure generated by the people."

We need to bring out all the forces who agree to fight for Mumia's freedom
in a mass united-front action in Philadelphia on 19 April. We are already
working to that end and are building a contingent for that demonstration.
This is an urgent situation since the racist rulers are still committed to
putting Mumia to death or entombing him for lifewhich we cannot allow. The
March 27 decision by the Third Circuit Court is a wake up call to any
activist who thought that the federal courts could be equitable and fair
to Mumia. 25 years of legal proceedings starkly show that there is no
middle groundit'ss either fight for Mumia's freedom or accede to his legal
lynching or life in prison.

As the Partisan Defense Committee argued in Philadelphia at the 31 March
planning meeting, we are renewing our appeal that the 19 April
demonstration be built on the basis of a united front: unity in action
while having freedom of criticism. That means all participating
organizations agreeing with the slogan "Free Mumia Now!" should be
encouraged to put forward their own views in their leaflets, placards and
chants to build for the 19 April rally under their own names. Every
endorser should be encouraged to put out their own statement for the rally
with which other endorsers would not necessarily agree. Endorsers would
only agree with the united front sloganFree Mumia Now!and the time, date
and place of the rally. No endorser would be affiliated with the content
of the leaflets of any other endorsing organization. All endorsing
organizations would be able to have a speaker at the podium as well. This
way, the maximum number of organizations representing the most diverse
opinions can be united against this racist frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal and
fight for Mumias freedom!

(source: IndyBay)






WASHINGTON:

Death penalty decision delayed in Carnation murders


The deadline for prosecutors to decide whether to seek the death penalty
in the Carnation murder case has been extended three months to Aug. 4.

Attorneys for Joseph McEnroe and Michele Anderson requested the additional
time to prepare assessments of the defendants for review by King County
Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

McEnroe and Anderson are each charged with 6 counts of aggravated murder.
They are accused of killing 6 members of Anderson's family last Christmas
Eve in Carnation.

(source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer)






ARKANSAS:

Prosecutor seeking death penalty in triple homicide case


First Judicial District Prosecutor Fletcher Long said he intends to seek
the death penalty in the case of a Marianna man accused of murdering 3
people last year.

Long said this morning that he is in the process of reviewing information
from deputy prosecutor Blake Spears of Marianna on the approaching trial
of Gordon Randall Gwathney, 47.

Gwathney is accused of killing his mother-in-law, Sylvia Reeves, 51, at
her home on Arkansas Highway 261 just inside of Lee County, and her
parents J.O. Mitchell, 81, and Evelyn Mitchell, 79, on Feb. 13, 2006.
Gwathney also stands accused of the attempted murder of his brother-in-law
Travis Reeves and St. Francis County Deputy Tracy Jackson, who was
responding to the shooting.

Gwathney has undergone mental evaluations and has been deemed competent to
stand trial, according to court records.

Circuit Judge L.T. Simes will hear a series of pre-trial motions in the
case on Monday in Lee County.

Long said that he did not expect any surprises during Monday's hearing.
"We've got the trial beginning on May 5, and I received a packet with all
of the motions yesterday. I will start reviewing all of that today, but
I'm not expecting anything surprising when we go to court Monday. I'm
expecting this to be a standard pre-trial hearing since the trial is set
for early next month, but we'll find that out Monday afternoon," said
Long.

In October, Simes set the trial dates for May 5 through May 8, and Long
said that the prosecution is making its final preparations. Long said he
did not intend to ask for a continuance.

"We're making our final preparations for the trial, but were ready at this
point to move forward with this and won't be requesting a continuance. Any
motions to move the trial date will come from the defense, and not us," he
said.

"That's where it is right now," said Long. "At this point nothing with our
plans has changed, and we are going to seek the death penalty," he said.

Police say Gwathney was armed with a .40 caliber pistol and a
semi-automatic rifle when he went to the home just after 1 a.m., looking
for his wife, Lisa Reeves, who suffered some injuries during the attacks.
She ran to the home of her brother and notified police of the shootings.

As police were responding, Travis Reeves reportedly confronted Gwathney
and a gun battle ensued. Reeves was shot several times and was
hospitalized at the Med in Memphis.

According to police reports, Jackson was the first law enforcement officer
on the scene because the 911 call was directed to the St. Francis County
Sheriffs Department, and Gwathney allegedly fired the assault rifle
several times at Jackson's patrol vehicle.

Gwathney was arrested on Feb. 14 in Laredo, Texas, at a fast food
restaurant near the U.S. border with Mexico. Officials with the Laredo
Police Department arrested Gwathney just before 8 p.m. after being
notified by Arkansas State Police that Gwathney had used a credit card at
an ATM in the city. Laredo is more than 800 miles from Palestine.

Telephone calls to Spears, Gwathney's attorney Gerald A. Coleman and Joe
Perry, the attorney representing the Reeves family, were not returned as
of press time.

(source: Times-Herald)

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

Fayetteville Death Penalty Case Set To Go Monday----Suspect accused of
double murder


All indications are the capital murder trial of Gregory Christopher Decay
will go forward Monday morning.

Decay, 22, and Jesse Westeen, 21, are accused of killing Kevin Barkley
Jones and Kendall Rachell Rice, both 24. Jones and Rice were found dead
April 4, 2007, at their apartment on Sycamore Street in Fayetteville. Both
had been shot with a .40-caliber pistol, according to Fayetteville police.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Decay, alleging he was
the shooter, not Westeen, who allegedly drove Decay to the couple's
apartment. Westeen will be tried later.

At a final hearing Friday afternoon, all sides indicated the case will not
end in a plea bargain come Monday. Decay does still have the weekend to
think about it.

Decay denies he killed the couple.

If Decay is convicted of capital murder, the jury will then be asked to
decide whether he lives the remainder of his life in prison or is
executed, the only two choices available.

The state wants the death penalty because more than one person was killed
during the criminal episode and because they say Decay's actions were
premeditated, deliberate and for the purpose of causing the death of Jones
and Rice.

The state is seeking 2 separate death penalties, 1 for each victim.

The defense contends that the state should not be able to use each death
as the aggravating factor in the other. But, Washington County Circuit
Judge William Storey said Friday he's inclined to think they can.

Storey stopped short of ruling on the issue Friday, saying it is premature
until after the jury returns a verdict in the evidentiary portion of the
trial. If Decay is found guilty, the jury will then be asked to decide a
sentence.

Decay was neatly dressed in a crisp white shirt and black pants Friday. A
large tattoo on his neck peeked out of the collar. His ensemble was
completed with matching shackles on his wrists and ankles, a belly chain
and orange, jail-issue flip-flops. He only spoke quietly with his
attorneys.

Friday the sides agreed on several evidentiary issues. The state agreed
not to use a video of the apartment and the defense agreed not to
introduce toxicology reports on the victims or alleged prior "bad acts"
attributed to the victims.

Storey ruled on a couple of issues Friday. He will allow the prosecution
to use the tape of a 911 call and testimony of Jones' mother, Janice, who
discovered the bodies when she arrived at the couple's apartment. The
emotionally charged tape was played in court.

Storey will also allow prosecutors to use a picture of a gun similar to
the one used to kill Jones and Rice, as long as they make clear it is not
the gun used. The gun used has not been recovered.

Prosecutors can also use empty ammunition boxes and marijuana found in
Decay's apartment. Prosecutors say the items corroborate statements that
Decay had 9mm- and .40-caliber guns and marijuana.

Decay allegedly confessed to police during an interview he killed the
couple because he believed they had broken into his apartment and stolen
marijuana and a gun.

Storey earlier ruled that incriminating statements and a confession Decay
made to police can be used at trial.

A police report says that at the couple's apartment, Decay confronted
Jones, who began acting in a threatening manner, so Decay shot him in the
lower part of the face then turned and shot Rice. He picked up a shell
casing and later disposed of it and wiped the doorknob to remove
fingerprints. The gun was given to another man, who allegedly disposed of
it.

Decay later told doctors at the state hospital he didn't kill the couple.

Doctors found he was mentally fit to stand trial.

(source: The Morning News)