[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----N.C., USA, US MIL., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

July 23



NORTH CAROLINA:

Video Footage Released of Execution Facility in North Carolina


Captured on film, the warden of North Carolina's Central Prison (Marvin
Polk) narrates the preparation and final hours before an execution in
Raleigh, where the state execution facilities are located.

Warden Polk takes members of the press through the prison, detailing
hour-by-hour the preparation, and carrying out, of a 2:00 am execution.
Footage includes the deathwatch area, the table where the last meal is
taken, the final holding cell, the IV preparation room, the witness room,
and footage of Warden Polk and Captain Marshall Hudson wheeling the gurney
into the execution chamber.

The short film includes candid discussion by the warden about the role of
doctors in lethal injections as well as his own feelings on overseeing the
executions.

Before each North Carolina execution (Fridays at 2:00 am, when scheduled),
Central Prison offers a media tour on the preceding Monday morning to
explain the execution protocol and answer questions from the press.

The film was shot during a media tour in November 2005, between the
executions of Steven McHone (11/11/05) and Elias Syriani (11/18/05) by
Scott Langley, a Boston-based photojournalist who has been documenting the
death penalty for nearly 10 years.

Watch the full 10-minute video at:
http://www.langleycreations.com/photo/deathpenalty/video.html

(a shorter edited 3-minute video focusing on the role of doctors is also
available for viewing at the above link)

(source: Contact: Scott Langley, Langley Creations Documentaries
www.langleycreations.com/photo-------------------photo at langleycreations.com)






USA:

DNA exonerations highlight flaws in U.S. justice system


In April, Jerry Miller, an Illinois man who served 24 years for a rape he
did not commit, became the 200th American prisoner cleared by DNA
evidence. His case, like the 199 others, represented a catastrophic
failure of the criminal justice system.

When an airplane crashes, investigators pore over the wreckage to discover
what went wrong and to learn from the experience. The justice system has
not done anything similar.

But a new study does. Brandon Garrett, a law professor at the University
of Virginia, has, for the first time, systematically examined the 200
cases, in which innocent people served an average of 12 years in prison.
In each case, of course, the evidence used to convict them turned out to
be at least flawed and was often false - yet juries, trial judges and
appellate courts failed to notice.

"A few types of unreliable trial evidence predictably supported wrongful
convictions," Garrett concluded in his study, "Judging Innocence," which
will be published in the Columbia Law Review in January.

The leading cause of the wrongful convictions was erroneous identification
by eyewitnesses, which occurred 79 % of the time. In a quarter of the
cases, such testimony was the only direct evidence against the defendant.

Faulty forensic evidence was next, present in 55 % of the cases. In some
of those cases, courts put undue weight on evidence with limited value, as
when a defendant's blood type matched evidence from the crime scene. In
others, prosecution experts exaggerated, made honest mistakes or committed
outright fraud.

Most of the forensic evidence involved problems with the analysis of blood
or semen. Forty-two cases featured expert testimony about hair, an area
that is, Garrett wrote, "notoriously unreliable." Informants testified
against the defendants in 18 % of the cases.

In three cases, it turned out they had an unusually powerful motive for
their false testimony, as DNA evidence later proved that the informants
were in fact guilty of the crime they had pinned on the defendant. There
were false confessions in 16 percent of the cases, with 2/3 of those
involving defendants who were juveniles, mentally retarded or both.

The 200 cases examined in the study are a distinctive subset of criminal
cases. More than 90 % of those exonerated by DNA were convicted of rape,
or of both rape and murder, rape being the classic crime in which DNA can
categorically prove innocence. For other crimes, there is often no
biological evidence or, if there is, it can give only circumstantial hints
about guilt or innocence.

Only 14 of those exonerated had been sentenced to death, 13 in
rape-murders. There is a widespread misconception that DNA evidence has
freed many inmates from death row. But it is actually a rare murder not
involving rape in which biological evidence can provide categorical proof
of innocence.

"DNA testing is available in fewer than 10 % of violent crimes," said
Peter Neufeld, a founder of the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School in
New York, which was instrumental in securing many of the exonerations.
"But the same causes of wrongful convictions exist in cases with DNA
evidence as in those cases that don't."

Garrett's study strongly suggests, then, that there are thousands of
people serving long sentences for crimes they did not commit but who have
no hope that DNA can clear them.

In a second forthcoming study of false convictions, this one focused on
capital cases, two law professors - Samuel Gross of the University of
Michigan and Barbara O'Brien of Michigan State - cautioned that
"exonerations are highly unrepresentative of wrongful convictions in
general."

"The main thing we can safely conclude from exonerations is that there are
many other false convictions that we have not discovered," the Michigan
study said.

"In addition, a couple of strong demographic patterns appear to be
reliable," the study continued. "Black men accused of raping white women
face a greater risk of false conviction than other rape defendants; and
young suspects, those under 18, are at greater risk of false confession
than other suspects."

Garrett also found that exonerated convicts were more apt to be members of
minority groups. For instance, 73 % of the convicts cleared of rape
charges were black or Hispanic, as compared with 37 % of all rape
convicts.

The courts performed miserably in ferreting out the innocent. The Supreme
Court, for instance, refused to hear appeals from 30 people who turned out
to be innocent. Of course, appeals courts do not typically reconsider a
jury's factual findings, focusing instead on asserted procedural errors.
Only 20 of the 200 even appealed on the ground that they were innocent;
none of those claims were granted.

Perhaps the most troubling finding in Garrett's study was how reluctant
the criminal justice system was to allow DNA testing in the 1st place.
Prosecutors often opposed it, and 16 courts initially denied requests for
testing.

Yet DNA evidence can do more than free the innocent. In many cases, it
also identified the person who actually committed the crime.

"In 40 % of our cases we not only exonerated but also identified the real
perpetrator," Neufeld of the Innocence Project said. "In every single one
of those cases that perpetrator had committed violent crimes in the
intervening years."

The era of DNA exonerations should be a finite one. These days, DNA
testing is common on the front end of prosecutions, meaning that in a few
years, the window that the 200 exonerations has opened on the justice
system will close. We should look carefully through that window while we
can.

(source: International Herald Tribune)





US MILITARY:

Charged with war crimes, U.S. troops get legal help from home


Conservative Christians and military veterans are part an emerging group
of Americans who say they are upset by the recent prosecutions of soldiers
and marines in Iraq on war crimes charges and are coming to their defense
with words, Web sites and money.

In the past year, more than a dozen Web sites have been developed to
solicit donations to hire lawyers for service members who have been
charged with violent crimes for actions taken in the confusion of combat
or counterinsurgency operations. They have raised more than $600,000,
organizers say, from grandparents, business executives and college
students, among others. The average donation is $25 to $50.

Virtually all donations come with handwritten or e-mailed messages full of
encouragement for the troops in Iraq and laced with frustration at the
government and the news media.

"I wonder if you are supposed to check out each enemy to see if they have
a gun or wait for them to shoot first," wrote a 98-year-old woman from
Grand Junction, Colorado, who recently sent $25 to the Military Combat
Defense Fund, a group outside Boston that has provided more than $85,000
for individual marines accused of murder and other crimes in Iraq.

"Bible says that the country will always be fighting," she wrote. "We have
been praying for all you boys and girls."

In interviews, organizers and contributors said they believed that many of
the prosecutions were based on feeble evidence and gauzy recollections of
Iraqis sympathetic to the insurgency and hostile to the U.S. military
mission in Iraq.

They point to the case against Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, who was
charged with killing three unarmed Iraqi men at point-blank range in
Haditha in 2005. This month, a Marine lawyer investigating the charges
recommended dismissing them, for lack of evidence, and warned that
pressing flimsy cases against combat troops "sets a dangerous precedent"
that eroded public support for the war and could cause infantrymen to
hesitate when fighting a determined enemy.

There is no denying that some U.S. troops have committed violent crimes
against Iraqi civilians during more than 4 years of war in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Military prosecutors have won convictions against soldiers
and marines in more than 200 cases of violent crimes, including murder,
rape and assault, military records show.

One the most heinous episodes occurred last year, when a group of soldiers
from Company B of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne
Division raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family,
army prosecutors said.

Two soldiers, Specialist James Barker and Sergeant Paul Cortez, pleaded
guilty to rape and murder; Barker was sentenced to 90 years in prison and
Cortez to 100 years. A 3rd soldier pleaded guilty to being an accessory.
Federal prosecutors announced this month that they would seek the death
penalty against the former soldier described as the ringleader, Steven
Green.

"The insurgency has found a new weapon, besides the bomb, and that's to
accuse these young men of wrongdoing, because we throw the book at them,"
said Maralee Jones, 45, a mortgage loan officer in Utah. Jones maintains a
Web site, www.marinedefensefund.com, to raise money to help several
accused marines pay for civilian lawyers, who are generally regarded as
more experienced and aggressive than military defense lawyers.

"We all feel like the big brass have eaten their young here," said Jones,
whose son is serving with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. "You just can't
put people under a microscope when the lines of combat are so blurred." So
far the fund has raised $78,000, she said.

Outside Boston, a group of Vietnam War veterans - retired police
officials, postal workers, lawyers and others - established the Military
Combat Defense Fund and recently surpassed $152,000 in donations to their
Web site, said Patrick Barnes, a former radio reporter who is the group's
treasurer.

Religious conviction plays a role in much of the giving, Barnes said.

"They believe the military's work is God's work," he said. "That's what's
been indicated in the letters."

The movement to defend accused marines and soldiers generally does not
embrace cases that appear to be premeditated atrocities. The board of
directors for at least one large fund recently voted to stop contributing
to marines who pleaded guilty to violent crimes.

Two widely discussed cases are the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005
- which led to murder charges against three low-ranking marines and
dereliction of duty charges against 4 officers - and the abduction and
killing of an Iraqi in Hamdaniya last year, for which the Marine Corps has
charged seven marines and a navy corpsman.

On Wednesday, a military jury convicted Corporal Trent Thomas of
kidnapping and conspiracy to murder in the Hamdaniya case. The jury's
sentence, announced Friday, called for a demotion and a bad-conduct
discharge but no prison time. 4 other marines and the corpsman have
pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for reduced sentences.

Terry Pennington, a former air force technician whose son, Lance Corporal
Robert Pennington, was among the Hamdaniya marines who pleaded guilty,
said in an interview: "Many of these people see this country as not having
the guts anymore to fight a war. They're outraged really all the way up to
the White House."

Pennington said the Web site for his son, www.defendrob.com, has collected
about 1,000 contributions, many for $5 and $10. Thomas's wife has raised
$14,000, according to her Web site.

Much of the strongest criticism from many defense funds is directed toward
mainstream news organizations, which they say portray the concerns of
Iraqis more sympathetically than the plight of U.S. troops.

"From the magazines and newspapers that I read, it seems that many of them
are too condemning of our own guys," said Jacqueline Batcha, 44, of
Atlantis, Florida, who sent $100 to the Web site for Staff Sergeant Frank
Wuterich, who is charged with 13 counts of murder in the Haditha case.

(source: International Herald Tribune)






ALABAMA----impending execution

Death penalty foes urge DNA testing for Grayson


A Brewton woman has taken her efforts to convince Gov. Bob Riley to delay
an execution scheduled for Thursday to the road. Lisa Thomas began walking
to Montgomery on Saturday to participate in a rally on the steps of the
Capitol Wednesday and ask Riley to order DNA testing for Darrell Grayson,
scheduled to die in Alabama's electric chair in the 1980 slaying of
86-year-old Annie Laura Orr of Montevallo.

"If 29 million people can call and vote for 'American Idol,' I hope they
will get off their behinds and ask Gov. Riley to do the DNA test," Lisa
Thomas said Sunday while walking along U.S. 80 east of Selma.

Grayson's co-defendant, Victor Kennedy, was executed in 1999.

Selma lawyer Faya Toure, who walked with Thomas part of the way Sunday,
said they want the state to begin administering post-conviction DNA
testing.

"That should be a constitutional right because it's like a denial of due
process and equal protection," said Toure, the wife of state Sen. Hank
Sanders. "Most states in this country have such a law."

Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said evidence against Grayson was
"overwhelming," noting that Orr's wedding rings were found in his wallet
"and her blood was on his shirt."

(source: Associated Press)

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

Woman walks to Capitol to ask Riley to delay execution of prisoner


A woman who is walking to Montgomery to ask Gov. Bob Riley to delay an
execution scheduled for Thursday wants the public to rally to her cause.

"If 29 million people can call and vote for 'American Idol,' I hope they
will get off their behinds and ask Gov. Riley to do the DNA test," Lisa
Thomas said Sunday as she walked along U.S. 80, about 10 miles east of
Selma.

Thomas, who began her walk at noon Saturday, referred to the scheduled
execution of Darrell Grayson, who has been in custody the past 27 years.

He was convicted of murdering 86-year-old Annie Laura Orr of Montevallo. A
co-defendant, Victor Kennedy, was executed in 1999. The elderly victim
also had been raped.

Thomas and other death penalty opponents plan to rally Wednesday on the
steps of the Capitol and then meet with Riley to plead their case.

Thomas and Selma lawyer Faya Toure, who accompanied her part of the way
Sunday, said the issue is not so much their opposition to the death
penalty as it is providing post-conviction DNA testing in Alabama.

"That should be a constitutional right because it's like a denial of due
process and equal protection," said Toure, who is mar-ried to state Sen.
Hank Sanders. "Most states in this country have such a law."

Toure said she and others involved in the march are not trying to stop the
execution "even though we're against capital punishment."

"We're just asking Riley to do the right thing and that is to do the DNA
testing before they execute this man," Toure said. "If it shows (Grayson)
did it, then the sentence should be carried out."

Grayson's appeals have been denied for years. The most recent was a
decision a few weeks ago by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta.

Grayson filed a suit challenging Alabama's use of lethal injection, saying
it was "unconstitutionally cruel."

In its ruling, the federal appeals court noted that Grayson waited 4 years
to file his challenge. Alabama enacted lethal injections to replace the
electric chair in 2003.

Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw, who handles capital cases in
Alabama, said Saturday night that Grayson's appeals have failed "every
time."

"He committed a violent, horrible crime on Christmas Eve 1980," Crenshaw
said, "and hopefully, he'll be held accountable Thursday."

Crenshaw said evidence against Grayson was "overwhelming" and noted that
Orr's wedding rings were found in his wallet "and her blood was on his
shirt."

"His case has been litigated now for 27 years and he's never won in
court," Crenshaw said. "There is substantial evidence that DNA would not
prove his innocence. It's just time for the sentence to be carried out."

Grayson, 46, is to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at
Holman Prison.

Thomas, who lives in Brewton, was accompanied by Zach Carter and Carter's
collie, Chris. She expects to be in Montgomery in time for the scheduled
Capitol rally at noon Wednesday.

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)