Nov. 16
USA:
New statement calls for rejection of 'illusion' of death penalty
A new statement on the death penalty that calls on society to "reject the
tragic illusion that we can demonstrate respect for life by taking life,
was approved by the U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 15 in a nearly unanimous
vote.
The statement, "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death," builds upon
the 1980 statement by the bishops that called for the abolition of capital
punishment.
As Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., chairman of the Committee
on Domestic Policy, explained as he presented it for a vote, "While this
statement represents a major step forward for us as a body of bishops, it
does not represent new teaching."
Instead, it uses recent teaching included in the "Catechism of the
Catholic Church," the Social Doctrine Compendium and Pope John Paul II's
encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae" ("The Gospel of Life"), to express the
bishops' commitment to "restrict, restrain and bring an end to the use of
this ultimate penalty because it is deeply flawed and often unfair, and
because we have other, better ways to protect society which are more
respectful of human life and dignity," he said.
Bishop DiMarzio said the death penalty "arouses deep passions and diverse
views," and that the church's teachings on it "can be oversimplified,
misused or ignored." He noted that the new statement is the product of
three different committees and staff offices and incorporates the
perspectives of the bishops' pro-life, doctrine and domestic policy
committees.
He noted that during a workshop two days before, bishops heard from people
with personal experience of the death penalty -- the survivor of murder
victims, the brother of a convicted killer and someone wrongfully
sentenced to death. Those people "turned their loss and suffering into a
compelling witness for life, all life," Bishop DiMarzio said.
Similar stories can be heard around the country, in families "for whom
violent crime and the death penalty are not issues or causes, but sources
of deep pain and heartbreak," he continued. "We must reach out to them, to
support and comfort, to care and stand with them. The death penalty offers
a false path to healing and wholeness."
The statement opens by referencing the bishops' 1980 statement and saying
they are renewing their call to end the death penalty now "to seize a new
moment and new momentum."
The United States should stop using the death penalty for four reasons, it
says:
-- Other ways exist to punish criminals and protect society.
-- The application of capital punishment is "deeply flawed and can be
irreversibly wrong, is prone to errors and is biased by factors such as
race, the quality of legal representation and where the crime was
committed."<> -- State-sanctioned killing diminishes all people.
-- The penalty of execution undermines respect for human life and dignity.
"We renew our common conviction that it is time for our nation to abandon
the illusion that we can protect life by taking life," it says. "We
encourage reflection and call for common action in the Catholic community
and among all men and women of good will to end the use of the death
penalty in our land. Ending the death penalty would be one important step
away from a culture of death toward building a culture of life."
"While we do not equate the situation of (people) convicted of terrible
crimes with the moral claims of innocent unborn children or the vulnerable
elderly and the disabled, we are convinced that working together to end
the use of the death penalty is an integral and important part of
resisting the culture of death and building a true culture of life," it
says.
The statement makes note of a shift over the last 25 years to growing
public distrust for how the death penalty is applied and decreasing
support for its use. It also said the goal of the statement is "not just
to proclaim a position, but to persuade Catholics and others to join us in
working to end the use of the death penalty."
(source: Catholic News Service)
**********************
Tentative accord reached on Patriot Act renewal - without death penalty
provisions
U.S. congressional leaders have reached a tentative agreement that would
impose limits on the FBI's authority to compel businesses to hand over
information about customers and suppliers in terrorism probes, a House
official said.
"We have a tentative agreement," said Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for House
Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner. "We don't expect anything to be
changed."
Under the agreement reached by Sensenbrenner and Senate Judiciary Chairman
Arlen Specter, businesses and organizations that receive Federal Bureau of
Investigation requests for information on customers or suppliers through
National Security Letters would have for the 1st time a right to appeal
the demand to a judge, Lungren said. Some FBI requests would require a
"statement of facts" showing how the information is relevant to an
investigation.
The accord will be circulated today among other House and Senate lawmakers
who are negotiating the renewal of the Patriot Act before it expires at
the end of this year. If a majority of them sign the agreement, it will be
voted on by the full House and Senate.
Civil liberties groups, business lobbyists and some lawmakers banded
together to press Congress to require more judicial review and
explanations of the reason information is being requested, charging that
the current law violates constitutional rights.
Under the compromise, some provisions that allow so-called multiple
"roving" wiretaps and special treatment of "lone wolf" terrorists would
expire in 7 years.
Specific Target
The FBI would need to state a specific target for a "roving" wiretap and
update a special court about its use. The Justice Department has said
terrorists often will switch phones, requiring the capability of changing
the wiretap.
A court could decide to deny a request made by a National Security Letter
if complying would be "unreasonable or oppressive," the same standard used
to quash a subpoena.
The accord would require the Justice Department to report the annual
number of information requests made with National Security Letters.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported the government is sending
out 30,000 such letters a year.
The agreement excludes controversial provisions unrelated to the Patriot
Act such as changes to death-penalty procedures that had drawn criticism
from Democrats and civil-rights groups.
(source: Bloomberg News)
*******************
Bishops say death penalty presents Catholics with "an unavoidable moral
challenge"
Using the death penalty is "unnecessary and unjustified in our time and
circumstances," according to a Nov. 15 statement issued by the U.S.
Catholic bishops during their annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Entitled "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death," the statement
reiterates Catholic teaching on the issue as explained in the "Catechism
of the Catholic Church," the church`s recent "Social Doctrine Compendium,"
and the late Pope John Paul II's encyclical "The Gospel of Life."
"The death penalty presents Catholics with an unavoidable moral
challenge," the bishops say. Church teaching on the issue, they state,
"should not be ignored or dismissed as just one opinion among others.
Rather, Catholics are called to receive this teaching seriously and
faithfully as they shape their consciences, their attitudes, and
ultimately their actions."
The full text of the document is available on the website of the new
Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty (source: CACP)
MISSOURI:
Death penalty to be sought for Melvern woman
In Kansas City, prosecutors announced today that they will seek the death
penalty for a Kansas woman accused of cutting a woman's baby from her womb
and claiming the baby as her own.
The U.S. attorney's office filed a notice with the court saying it will
seek the death penalty for Lisa M. Montgomery, 37, of Melvern, Kan.
Montgomery is charged with kidnapping resulting in death for the Dec. 16
slaying of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett of Skidmore, who was eight
months pregnant with her first child.
Montgomery is accused of cutting Stinnet open with a kitchen knife and
stealing her baby. Prosecutors have said Montgomery showed the baby off as
her own around Melvern before her arrest.
The baby, named Victoria Jo Stinnett, survived and was returned to her
father, Zeb Stinnett, in Skidmore.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
WILLIAMS SUPPORTERS PLAN RALLIES, LAWYERS FILE CHALLENGES
As a Dec. 13 execution date nears for former gang leader Stanley Tookie
Williams, the condemned inmate has challenges pending in 2 branches of
state government, and his supporters are planning a series of rallies and
vigils around the state.
The events include a youth rally led by rap artist Snoop Dogg outside San
Quentin State Prison on Saturday morning.
Stefanie Faucher, program director of San Francisco-based Death Penalty
Focus, a group opposed to capital punishment, said she expects "at least
hundreds" of people to attend the rally Saturday.
Other upcoming events include anti-death penalty rallies at San Francisco
and Santa Cruz city halls on Nov. 30; a screening hosted by actor Danny
Glover of "Redemption," a movie about Williams, in San Francisco on Dec.
4; a continuous vigil at San Quentin beginning Dec. 4; and several rallies
in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento.
Faucher said she thinks death penalty protests are intense in Williams's
case because "he has touched so many lives."
Faucher said, "Stanley Williams led a life soaked with violence, but he
has changed his life and now spends his time working to end the violence.
There is a great deal of value in getting that message out."
Williams, 51, a co-founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, is scheduled
to be executed by lethal injection at San Quentin on Dec. 13 for 4
robbery-related murders committed in 1979.
The victims were a convenience store clerk in Whittier and 2 Los Angeles
motel owners and their daughter.
While in prison, Williams became an advocate of nonviolence and wrote nine
gang-prevention books for children. He has been nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize several times since 2001.
Williams' two bids to challenge his execution are a clemency petition to
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a request to the California Supreme Court
for the right to gather more evidence related to his 1981 trial. Both were
filed last week.
Williams has lost all his previous appeals in the state and federal court
system.
The clemency petition, submitted to the governor on Nov. 8, asks for "an
act of grace" on the grounds of Williams' work in urging an end to gang
violence.
A reply by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office is due on
Thursday.
The last California governor to grant clemency in a death penalty case was
Ronald Reagan in 1967.
The request to the California Supreme Court, in a motion filed on Nov. 10,
says Williams "has maintained his innocence since the day he was
arrested."
The motion asks for permission to retest the firearm evidence from the
motel crime scene and to obtain information from law enforcement files
about the prosecution witnesses, who Williams says may have lied at his
Los Angeles Superior Court trial.
It also asks for the right to gather evidence about jail officials'
alleged forced medication of Williams with powerful tranquilizers during
the two years leading up to his trial.
Williams claims the alleged drugging interfered with his ability to
prepare for the trial.
The state high court has ordered the state attorney general's motion to
respond to the petition by Friday, after which Williams' lawyer will have
until Nov. 23 to reply.
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said
prosecutors will answer the claims in detail in their filing Friday.
But Barankin said, "Stanley Williams has had these claims reviewed by
every available state and federal court over the last quarter of a
century.
"All of them have found no justified legal claims to challenge his
conviction or his penalty," the spokesman said.
Williams' motion was filed in connection with his original death penalty
appeal, which the state high court rejected in 1988.
The motion does not ask for a stay of execution, but a spokeswoman for
Williams' lawyer, Verna Wefald, said that if the high court allows the
evidence gathering, Williams will then be legally able to file a new
habeas corpus petition seeking a stay of execution.
(source: Bay City News)
