Oct. 4
TEXAS:
Goodbye to Marge Meakin
Marge Meakins was one of the closest pen pal friends of Mark Ströman, who was
executed on July 20th, 2011 in Texas for hate crimes he committed in the wake
of 9/11. Marge was 78 years old and couldn't cope with the shock: soon after
the loss of her friend, she died of a massive heart attack, leaving a
distraught family behind.
Like the many pen pals around the world who were persuaded that Mark Ströman
was a worthy individual, she had fought all the way to try to save her friend's
life.
Her sudden death, occurring almost symbolically just after the tenth
anniversary of 9/11 and a day before world peace day, may be a new opportunity
to question the philosophical meaning behind Mark Ströman's execution.
During my time at Reprieve, I have been blessed to meet and interview a lot of
extraordinary people with many extraordinary stories.
I have seen the tears in the eyes of the forgiving mother whose daughter had
been murdered as I have seen the tears alike in the eyes of a begging mother
whose son had killed two people. I have seen exonerated prisoners, who had been
through various execution dates. Or lawyers who were blessed enough to have
made the decisions to help save the lives of many people. I have met with
unusual individuals who had gone through situations most of us would not
survive. These extraordinary people include, Rais Bhuyian, the surviving Muslim
victim of Mark Ströman, who asked the State of Texas to grant clemency to his
attacker, his religion and his education both made him believe more in the
power of compassion, forgiveness and healing – to no avail. Definitely, the
list also includes Marge Meakins and her daughter Linda.
I will never forget the experience of filming Margaret Meakins, who had been
writing to Mark Ströman since 2004. Back at the time, she was deeply depressed,
as she had lost her husband, been moved into an old people's home, and had
effectively given up the will to live. Her daughter Linda had tried everything
she could to cheer her up, without success, when she was advised by her social
carer (another of Mark's pen pal friends) to write to Mark Ströman. Without
ever asking for anything in return, Mark corresponded with her for the next
seven years, often writing twice a week, encouraging her and teasing her kindly
in every letter, calling her "his little rose". Finally, Mark had managed to
help her overcome her depression and she just had finally moved back into her
own little home, when Mark was finally executed. As she was talking to me on
the day I went to see her, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes. The idea
that she was given the opportunity to express herself in favor of her friend
seemed to brighten her day. Mark's letters were putting a smile on her face
every time she talked about them. . "I do not know what I will do if you
execute him," she wrote later in a clemency letter, "you may as well take my
life from me!". Sadly, this is exactly what happened: Within only a few weeks
of Mark's execution, Marge Meakins died of a sudden massive heart attack.
Marge Meakin's touching friendship with Mark Ströman was not an isolated one. I
will never forget all the other friends of Mark Ströman whether journalist,
mother at home, devoted Christian, or religious Muslim. Some had suffered from
racism, others were simply compassionate individuals. None of them were alike,
yet all of them have been saying the same thing: How Mark Ströman had been
making a difference in their lives, helping in some cases to relieve some acute
pain, or simply changing their outlook on it. How Mark was "only caring about
others, not himself." They also all said how truly and sincerely regretful of
the hate crimes he had committed in the wake of 9/11. More important than
everything, many expressed how much a difference he could make in the world by
advocating on behalf of more unity and peace.
There is no certainty today that the State of Texas is any safer now that Mark
Ströman has been executed, than it would have been if he had been kept alive.
In fact, the opposite could be very well true: it is very possible, even
probable that Mark Ströman could have positively contributed to more peace in
the world by advocating on its behalf, and helping to change the mind of
negatively-minded individuals (as he was himself back at the time that he
committed his crimes). The power that some death row prisoners have to help
heal people of their negative state of mind is largely ignored. No one, amongst
those who didn't know Mark, seemed to have given much credit to the notion that
he could be genuinely repented. Or that he could be of any help to anyone. Some
have even alleged that his repentance was insincere, that he was only trying to
save his own skin.
"I don't want to be like hate, I want to be like myself," he declared in a TV
interview shortly before his execution. The truth is: Mark Ströman was no
longer the hateful boasting individual he had once been . His story stands to
show that people can change. His pen pals are there to prove it, and so is the
apology letter he wrote to Rais, his victim.
The debate over Mark Ströman should not be over, nor should we stop questioning
the reasons as to why a society choose to put the life of an individual to an
end, when it seemed that he had so much more to give - if only given a chance.
"We have got to build alliances with one another. So many lives have been
ruined in so many ways — the teasing, the bullying, the name-calling. Every
single time you mention Muslims in a newspaper article, some of the comments
are genocidal. Many of them flagrantly say ban all Muslims or kill all
Muslims." stated recently (in the Washington Post) Anya Cordell, a Jewish
American who received the Spirit of Anne Frank Outstanding Citizen Award. Anya
Cordell says the negativity is not subsiding. "If anything, it's increased and
become more a part of the air we breathe," she declared recently in a talk in
Washington.
Could Rais Bhuiyan, the devoted and highly spiritual Muslim and Mark Ströman
the repented hate crime attacker have been reunited, and fought together for
more peace in the world?
We will never know for sure, as the opportunity is now gone. Mark Ströman is
gone, and so is his pen pal Margaret Meakins. Rais is left alone to pursue his
"world without hate" journey. They never had a chance to be properly reunited.
This is all so very desperately sad.
As someone blessed enough to see so many fantastic people fight for Mark
Ströman's life, whether his lawyers, his pen pals, his victims or their
families, as well as many people around him, my only hope that Mark Ströman's
last wish comes true: "Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop" he
said in his final moments."Hate causes a lifetime of pain".
May Mark Ströman achieve in his death what he wasn't able to during his life
time. Long lives his final plea for a more peaceful world.
(source: Emmanuelle Purdon, Reprieve)
**********************
DNA helps free Texas man convicted in wife's death
Texas prosecutors agreed Monday to release an Austin man who spent nearly 25
years in prison for beating his wife to death — but always maintained his
innocence — after DNA tests showed another man was responsible.
District Judge Sid Harle recommended Michael Morton go free to the state Court
of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final determination on overturning his
conviction. Morton is set for release Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning,
following a final hearing before Harle.
The case will likely raise more questions about John Bradley, district attorney
for Williamson County north of Austin and once a Gov. Rick Perry appointee to
head the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Bradley criticized the commission's
investigation of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004
after being convicted of arson in the deaths of his 3 children. Experts have
since concluded that case's forensic science was faulty.
The Innocence Project, a New York-based organization that specializes in using
DNA testing to overturn wrongful convictions, has accused Bradley of
suppressing evidence that would have helped clear Morton, who was convicted on
circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life in prison for his wife's August
1986 beating death.
Bradley said in court Monday that he wasn't involved in the original trial, and
urged the public to "recall that prosecutors are called upon to do justice . .
. that we are searching for the fair solution."
Prosecutors had alleged Morton became enraged after his wife refused to have
sex with him following a dinner celebrating his 32nd birthday.
But tests performed this summer on a blood-stained, blue bandana found shortly
after the crime near Morton's home revealed DNA from his wife and an
unidentified man convicted in multiple states, including California.
Authorities have withheld his identity amid ongoing investigations.
Nina Morrison, an attorney for the Innocence Project, told Harle's court Monday
that Morton testified during his 1987 trial and said an intruder must have
bludgeoned his wife to death after he left her and the couple's 3-year-old son
at 5 a.m. for his job at a grocery store. Morrison said the bandana was
discovered 100 yards from the Morton home, along a route consistent with the
one Morton said the intruder used to break in.
Morrison said DNA testing techniques that weren't yet available during the
original trial proved the bandana contained blood from another man — and that
DNA evidence also linked that man to a similar 1988 slaying in Austin committed
after Morton was already behind bars.
Authorities are now investigating whether that man was responsible for the
slaying of Debra Jan Baker, who was beaten to death in her bed. According to
local media reports, cold case investigators are examining the possibility that
the man may have been a serial killer who operated in the Austin area in the
1980s.
Morrison also said there were 6 instances where prosecutors and investigators
hid non-DNA evidence that could have exonerated Morton from his defense
attorney during the original trial.
Morton said the intruder stole his wife's purse, and Barry Sheck, co-founder of
the Innocence Project, said the evidence not turned over to Morton's original
lawyer included information that one of his wife's credit cards was used 2 days
after her slaying and one of her checks was cashed 9 days later.
"I want to know how a dead woman uses a credit card and cashes a check," he
said.
Morton's attorney, Houston-based John Raley, said he told his client Saturday
that he would soon be released and "he was thrilled."
"He's kind of going to be Rip Van Winkle," Raley said. "He's never held a cell
phone. Reagan was president when he went in, so there's going to be a long
adjustment."
The Innocence Project has claimed in court documents that Bradley, the county
district attorney since 2001, suppressed evidence that strengthened Morton's
case during the DNA proceedings. That evidence — including a transcript of a
police interview indicating that Morton's son said the attacker was not his
father — was ultimately obtained by the Innocence Project through a request
under the Texas Public Information Act.
Perry, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination,
appointed Bradley to the forensic science commission in 2009. But the Texas
Senate refused to confirm him after he told reporters that Willingham, executed
for alleged arson, was a "guilty monster."
Bradley succeeded in getting an attorney general's ruling limiting the
commission's scope of the inquiry into the Willingham case. It is due to
release a report Oct. 14, but it will only offer guidance on investigating
arson cases, not a ruling on the evidence in the Willingham case.
That case could become an election issue for Perry because a report indicating
that the science in the Willingham case was faulty was submitted to his office
as part of the appeals Willingham's lawyers filed before his execution.
(soruce: Associated Press)
***************
Perry’s Executions Defy Sense and Conscience
The most indelible moment of the recent Republican debates -- even more
unnerving than the crowd booing a gay soldier or the eruption of scattered
applause in appreciation of the free market ushering a hypothetical patient to
his death for lack of insurance -- was Texas Governor Rick Perry’s execution
answer.
In a debate in September at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, moderator
Brian Williams tried to pose a question to Perry, beginning: “Your state has
executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times.
Have you -- ”
Before he could finish, Williams was drowned out by lusty cheers and piercing
whistles from the audience.
It’s one thing to support the death penalty. It’s quite another to relish it
like fans cheering a winning touchdown. The Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty in 1976 -- although retired Justice John Paul Stevens now says his vote
in favor is the one regret of his 35 years on the bench. Public support for the
death penalty remains broad, but it has waned in recent years. The imposition
of life sentences without parole, the failure of the death penalty to deter
violent crime (Texas has both the highest number of executions and an
above-average murder rate) and publicity about wrongful convictions have all
taken a toll.
According to a CBS-New York Times poll last month, support for the death
penalty for convicted murderers has fallen to 60 %, down 18 % points from when
the question was first asked by CBS in October 1988. That was the autumn when
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was being pummeled for being
soft on crime. Unwilling to replicate Dukakis’s experience, every Democratic
presidential nominee -- and even many Democratic officials in liberal enclaves
like New York City -- have supported capital punishment ever since.
Out of Sight
Our executions take place conveniently out of sight. Firing squads and hangings
have given way to what looks like a patient being given anesthesia in an
operating room, only the prisoner convulses and never wakes up. Curiously, the
gung-ho types who cheer loudest for Perry’s body count -- it’s since grown to
235 -- are often the most likely to contend that government can do nothing
right. When it comes to choosing who should be put to death, however,
government remarkably can do nothing wrong.
Facts have never had much sway in this debate. Since 1993, according to the
Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 138 death-row inmates who’ve
been exonerated and released, some as a result of DNA evidence. There is no way
to rationally evaluate such information without concluding there is a high
likelihood that innocent people have been convicted of murder and executed in
the U.S.
Inmates have been sent to death row due to faulty eyewitness testimony (which
is frighteningly common), poor forensics (most crime labs do not resemble
“CSI”), overworked police and prosecutors (under pressure to solve crimes
quickly), or shoddy defense lawyers. The Senate Judiciary Committee found that
“egregiously incompetent defense lawyering” accounted for about 2/5 of the
errors in capital cases. In an infamous case in Texas, a defense attorney who
slept in court was not sufficient grounds to reverse his client’s conviction.
Poverty and race play their part as well: About 70 % of those exonerated by DNA
testing are black or Hispanic.
“Actually” Innocent
None of this matters. In denying an appeal by Georgia death-row inmate Troy
Davis, who was subsequently executed, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
wrote that the court “has never held that the Constitution forbids the
execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is
later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.” By
Scalia’s reckoning, justice is a process, not a result: A wrongful conviction
is small potatoes, an unfortunate detail, when weighed against a technically
fair trial process.
In Davis’s case, seven witnesses recanted their testimony, and the evidence
linking him to the shooting of an off-duty policeman was largely
circumstantial. Former FBI Director William Sessions, former Republican
Representative Bob Barr, former wardens -- even Pope Benedict XVI -- asked
Georgia to delay Davis’s execution. He died by lethal injection on Sept. 21.
In 2004, Perry similarly refused to delay the execution of Cameron Todd
Willingham despite mounting evidence -- made possible by advances in forensic
science -- that the fire that killed Willingham’s three children had not been
deliberately set. Perry didn’t wait for additional findings in the case from a
special commission; he was in a hurry. Willingham was executed.
At the Reagan library debate, Perry confidently told Williams that he had never
lost sleep over any of the 234 people executed during his tenure as governor.
It’s an alarming statement if false, a contemptible one if true. Perry will
soon face another test -- the convoluted case of Henry Watkins Skinner, who is
scheduled to be executed by Texas on Nov. 9. As Perry travels the country
seeking to convince Americans that he’s worthy of the presidency, he would do
well to struggle a bit over Skinner’s fate, even if it slows the death machine
that Texas has embraced. It’s worth losing sleep over life-and-death decisions.
It’s what presidents, and other moral beings, do.
(source: Opinion; Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own--Bloomberg Businessweek)
USA:
Ban the death penalty, hideous example of nation's violence
The Sept. 21 execution of Troy Davis affected me the way it did many who saw
his picture and read the details. It made me feel sick, and it made me grow
even more determined to end the death penalty.
When I say "it made me feel sick," I mean horror at the ritual killing, and
sadness about the tragic death Georgia's courts were trying to address. But it
also put me in touch with the widespread sickness in which our country's
history of violence makes many Americans comfortable with our public
executions.
Of our nation's regional histories of violence, I am most familiar with the
Deep South where I've lived most of my life. Georgia, where Troy Davis was
killed, has one of the worst histories of lynching for example. A Mississippi
woman has quilted listings of each lynching victim by state.
Viewing her work at a Louisville museum, my god-daughter asked, "Where's
Georgia?" Then we saw an entire separate quilt displayed on the next wall, just
to make room for Georgia's list.
Perhaps this history of violence blinds our Bible-believing region to the fact
that biblical standards for just executions have never been, and cannot be, met
in this country. Instead, the Bible calls us to participate in God's endless
mercy.
This recent execution also made me grow more determined to end executions. Over
the years I've sent thousands of emails against the death penalty, written to
governors and visited one in person, signed petitions and more.
What I needed now, emotionally and spiritually, was a way to express the deep
groaning prayer of the Holy Spirit in many of us, a prayer for repentance and a
turning toward God's new creation.
Do you remember the Bible story in which God sent a reluctant prophet, Jonah,
to give the Ninevites another chance to repent?
When they repented they covered both themselves and their animals with
"sackcloth."
Just imagine all the U.S. tools of execution being draped with sackcloth as our
society repents and turns to God. To take one prayerful step in that direction,
I draped my mailbox with sackcloth and will keep it there 40 days and explain
the unsightly drape to my neighbors.
Another action has been to promote the training sessions for pastoral leaders
that will take place in Louisville on Nov. 16 and Berea on Nov. 17. We
opponents of the death penalty need to support each other and become more
effective. Please read about it at the Kentucky Council of Churches web site,
sign up and spread the word.
I spoke at a church-related college just before Davis was killed. An
undergraduate from Norway said that people in many countries were trying to
prevent this execution. Frederick's anguished questions about the death
penalty, a practice repudiated in most of the world, kept my audience riveted.
Frederick, if you're reading this, please forgive us for failing to stop it —
and pray for us.
(source: Opinion; The Rev. Marian McClure Taylor is executive director of the
Kentucky Council of Churches, www.kycouncilofchurches.org-- Lexington herald
Leader)
******************
Death penalty is a barberous anachronism
Death penalty opponents passionately believe capital punishment is nothing more
than state-sponsored murder, the moral equivalent of two wrongs making a right.
And they have plenty of good reasons to hold that opinion.
Numerous published studies show that capital punishment not only fails to deter
crime, it can actually have the opposite effect. There are also troubling
statistics indicating the death penalty isn’t applied evenly; that those in
lower socioeconomic classes, particularly if they’re members of a racial or
ethnic minority, are far more likely to be sentenced to die for committing
violent crimes than wealthier, lighter-skinned people who’ve been convicted of
similar offenses.
Then there’s the added problem of innocent people being put to death. Unlike
miscarriages of justice, which can be overturned on appeal, unfairly convicted
individuals cannot be un-executed after they’ve been exonerated. Recently,
those aiming to eliminate capital punishment got plenty of grist for their
arguments thanks to some events that took place in the State of Georgia.
Troy Anthony Davis, a black high school dropout, had been found guilty of the
1989 slaying of Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. From the time he was
arrested, Davis maintained his innocence. That in itself isn’t unusual; few
accused cop killers facing a death sentence voluntarily confess. But given that
seven of the nine original witnesses who testified against Davis later recanted
or changed their testimony (several claimed they had been coerced into making
their statements by police eager to solve the case) and that the prosecution
never did produce a murder weapon, it wasn’t entirely surprising the case
became a cause célèbre.
Pleas for a new trial and/or clemency came from such diverse individuals as
former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr, Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI
Director William Sessions, entertainer Harry Belafonte, and former President
Jimmy Carter. Amnesty International also got involved with the case, citing its
many irregularities as a compelling argument to outlaw capital punishment once
and for all. But after an 11th hour appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected
without comment, Davis was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 21, just over
20 years after he had been convicted. He was the 1,269th person to be executed
in the United States since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on the practice 35
years ago.
The 1,268th prisoner to be legally put to death since 1976 was killed by lethal
injection in Huntsville, Texas just hours before Davis was, but the reaction of
capital punishment foes to that particular execution was muted at best. In
fact, some death penalty proponents were eager to make the public more aware of
that one.
Lawrence Russell Brewer was convicted of a heinous 1998 crime that shocked the
nation. He and two other individuals adorned with racist tattoos were found
guilty of beating James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old disabled black man, then
chaining his ankles to the back of their pickup truck and dragging him behind
it for more than two miles. When Byrd’s bloody, dismembered and decapitated
remains were found the next morning, the police officer who discovered them
initially thought they were road kill.
All three alleged perpetrators, each of whom was an avowed white supremacist
and member of a Ku Klux Klan splinter group, had prior criminal records. Even
death penalty foes likely had little sympathy for Brewer, who in an interview
with a TV station in Beaumont, Texas stated he had no regrets, adding, “I’d do
it all over again, to tell you the truth.”
Officer MacPhail’s relatives, several of whom were on hand to witness Troy
Davis’ execution, expressed satisfaction that the sentence was carried out, as
did Byrd’s survivors regarding the state-mandated killing of Brewer. But were
the two bereaved families registering their approval of justice being done, or
of vengeance? And will they feel the same fulfillment in five years, when their
loved ones are still just as dead as they were when they were dispatched by
their respective killers? Will the death of another human being ever help fill
the void caused by the tragic murder of a loved one?
The death penalty is a ghoulish, vulgar anachronism; there are a multitude of
reasons why it’s wrong. But no matter how noble their cause, the reality is
that opponents of legalized killing, like any other group trying to bring about
positive change to America, have to selectively and prudently pick their
battles. Politics has been and will continue to be a major factor in the
ongoing fight to end the odious and demonstrably ineffective institution that
is capital punishment. The contrast in reaction to two identical and equally
barbaric acts – worldwide outrage over the execution of Troy Davis and the
virtual ignoring of Lawrence Russell Brewer’s demise on the same night – is
merely the latest evidence of that.
(soource: Opinion; Andy Young teaches in Kennebunk and lives in
Cumberland----Journal Tribune)
************************
An innocent man is killed
Globally, 31 countries have abolished capital punishment, among them a number
of European democracies. Nations still imposing lethal punishment are Iran,
China, North Korea, Yemen and the United States.
This is the company we Americans keep. Doesn’t that make you proud?
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan used to tell me: “We will not be a
civilized country until we end capital punishment.” And in this nation, 3
states, since 2007 — New Mexico, New Jersey and Illinois — appear to agree with
Justice Brennan by abolishing the death penalty. Explains Amnesty International
(www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/georgia-sets-execution-date-for-troy-davis):
“The 3 state governors all pointed to the risk of irrevocable error as a reason
to support abolition.” The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Amnesty International has
more than 3 million supporters in more than 150 countries, a good many recently
demonstrating and petitioning to save the life of Troy Davis.
For years, I have thoroughly researched and reported on this, the longest
official execution in our history. I entirely agree with this thundering Sept.
21 editorial in The New York Times (“A Grievous Wrong”):
“This case has attracted worldwide attention, but it is, in essence, no
different from other capital cases (in this nation). Across the country, the
legal process for the death penalty has shown itself to be discriminatory (on
racial grounds), unjust and incapable of being fixed.”
Anthony Romero, head of the American Civil Liberties Union, starkly shows what
we as a self-governing nation have to answer for in this official murder (I
avoid euphemisms) of Troy Davis. He told me:
“His conviction was based solely on the testimony of witnesses, and there was
no other evidence against him. And, since the trial, 7 of those witnesses
(saying they were coerced by police interrogators) have recanted, changing the
story they told in court.”
Having reported on American capital punishment for many years, including my own
investigations of cases, I can attest to this report in the Sept. 21 Times
editorial: “Studies of the hundreds of felony cases overturned because of DNA
evidence have found that misidentifications accounted for between 75 % and 85 %
of the wrongful convictions. The Davis case offers egregious examples of this
kind of error.”
Among those who were working to save Troy’s life were former FBI Director
William Sessions, Pope Benedict XVI and Stephen Dear, executive director of
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, an interfaith (U.S.) advocacy group.
Says Mr. Dear:
“This has been a teachable moment for America’s religious leadership: that the
death penalty is so awash with bias and errors there’s no morally acceptable
alternative but repealing it,” (“Execution Offers Little Closure in Debate,”
The New York Times, Sept. 23).
A teachable moment not only for religious leaders but also for any American who
has actually read — and is seriously committed to — the Constitution. Declares
the Fifth Amendment:
“Nor shall any person ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law.”
Troy Davis fought for fundamental due process almost literally until his last
breath. He has shown every American who will not avert his or her eyes the
horrifying truth nakedly described by Denny LeBoeuf, director of the ACLU’s
Capital Punishment Project:
“The execution of an innocent man crystallizes in the most sickening way the
vast systemic injustices that plague our death penalty system,” (“Execution
Offers Little Closure in Debate,” The New York Times, Sept. 23).
One of my longtime heroes, lawyer Stephen Bright, president of the Southern
Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, is involved in many death penalty cases,
including that of Troy Davis. He keeps asking:
“Why would any conscientious judge, why would any bar association, why would
any system that is supposed to disperse justice ever allow these kinds of
things to happen?” (My book, “Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic
American,” University of California Press, 1999.)
During more than 20 years and 3 execution stays while Troy Davis was on death
row, not a single court called for an end to his death sentence. The Supreme
Court, at the last minute, dismissed his life in a single sentence. And
President Barack Obama ignored the NAACP’s pleas for a reprieve.
So there was Davis, strapped to a gurney, minutes from death, speaking directly
to 2 of the witnesses, the brother and son of the police officer he was
convicted of shooting to death:
“I am innocent. ... All I can ask is that you look deeper into this case so
that you really can finally see the truth.”
Before, he reminded us “this struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came
before me and all the ones who will come after me,” (dailykos.com, Sept. 20).
Up until he was gone, among the calls for at least clemency from around the
world were pleas from “a group of former death row wardens, who wrote to
Georgia authorities calling on them to halt the death sentence due to doubts
about Davis’ guilt. Among the group was the former warden in charge of the
Georgia death chamber.” No wonder: Officials banned cameras from the execution
grounds. (“Troy Davis Execution Approaches As Calls For Clemency Continue,”
huffingtonpost.com, Sept. 21).
How long — and to what end — will Troy Davis’ truth be remembered and acted
upon? Or will this teaching moment also soon be buried?
Meanwhile, we continue to be in deathly consortium with China, North Korea,
Iran and Yemen as the most active executioners of our citizens in the world.
How ashamed are you?
(source: Nat Hentoff, The Russellville Courier News)
GEORGIA----stay of impending execution
Attorney: Execution delayed for Georgia inmate
An attorney for a Georgia death row inmate says Wednesday's scheduled execution
has been delayed.
Attorney Brian Kammer says a stay has been granted for Marcus Ray Johnson, who
was convicted in the 1994 rape and murder of Angela Sizemore.
Authorities say the Albany woman was stabbed to death 41 times shortly after
the 2 met at an Albany nightclub.
The 2 were seen kissing at the club and left together. Hours later, a man
walking his dog found Sizemore's body in her SUV.
Johnson's attorneys say there are "troubling inconsistencies" in the state's
evidence, which they say hinges on unreliable eyewitness testimony.
(source: Associated Press)
***********
Georgia judge delays execution for man in 1994 killing
A Georgia judge issued a stay of execution on Tuesday for a convicted killer a
day before he was due to be put to death, granting him a hearing over his
lawyers' requests for more DNA testing.
Marcus Ray Johnson, 46, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on
Wednesday for the 1994 rape and murder of Angela Sizemore in Albany, Georgia.
But Dougherty County Superior Court Chief Judge W.E. Lockette delayed the
execution and set a hearing for February to determine the merits of Johnson's
request for more DNA testing. His lawyers also want a new trial.
The ruling came a day after Amnesty International urged the state to halt the
execution, saying "serious doubts" remained about Johnson's guilt, citing
concerns similar to those raised by death penalty opponents over the case of
Troy Davis.
Georgia executed Davis last month for the murder of a police officer in a case
that drew worldwide attention because of claims by his advocates that he may
have been innocent.
In the Johnson case, his attorneys say evidence including blood, saliva, hair,
clothing and fingernail clippings should be tested and that the test results
will raise a reasonable probability that Johnson would have been acquitted.
Defense attorneys also want time for experts to examine what they said was a
new box of physical evidence that had only recently been supplied by the Albany
Police Department.
Prosecutors said in court filings that Johnson's contentions had already been
rejected by state and federal courts. The state said it presented overwhelming
evidence of his guilt at trial and that the DNA test results, at best, would
prove Johnson was still guilty as a party to the crimes.
The Dougherty County District Attorney's Office appealed the stay to the
Georgia Supreme Court, Dougherty Superior Court Clerk Evonne Mull said.
District Attorney Gregory W. Edwards did not respond to a request for comment.
Johnson is accused of killing Sizemore, 34, who was mutilated and stabbed 41
times with a small knife, according to trial testimony.
The testimony showed that Johnson met Sizemore in a bar in Albany. She had been
drinking so heavily that the bar stopped serving her, a court synopsis of the
case stated.
A bartender handed Johnson the keys to Sizemore's car, and the pair left
together at about 2:30 a.m. A man walking his dog discovered Sizemore's body
the next morning lying across the front seat of her car.
DNA testing matched blood on Johnson's shirt with Sizemore's blood, according
to court records.
Johnson told police that Sizemore became angry because he did not want to
"snuggle" after sex, and he punched her in the face. He said he "hit her hard"
and then walked away.
"I didn't kill her intentionally if I did kill her," he told police.
(source: Reuters)
*******************
Georgia's Death Penalty: Unequal and Unresponsive
The U.S. Supreme Court and the country have grappled with the central question
of how to administer the most severe punishment imaginable in a manner that is
accurate, free from bias and demonstrably fair.
Not coincidentally Georgia has been at the center of this inquiry. First in
1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the Georgia death penalty and statutes like
it failed to provide enough guidance to prevent death sentences from being
imposed as arbitrarily as being struck by lightning.
Then in 1976, Georgia ushered in the modern death penalty when the Supreme
Court approved a series of "guided discretion" statutes which were supposed to
provide assurances that the death penalty would be reserved for the worst
crimes and the worst offenders and that racial bias would not infect the
process.
10 years later, the Georgia system was challenged again when death row prisoner
Warren McCleskey asked the Supreme Court to intervene because defendants
charged with the murder of white victims were more than four times likely to be
sentenced to death. Although the Court did not deny that the pattern of
sentencing existed, it declined to grant relief, suggesting it was not its
place to rule in McCleskey's favor because the punishment enjoyed the support
of the public.
Now, the spectacle of Troy Anthony Davis's execution brings us full circle.
Despite the promise to ensure that the guilty are not punished along with the
innocent -- the question answered by the Board of Pardons and Parole and
Georgia officials was apparently: how much doubt is too much before we can
proceed with an execution?
As the world watched, we saw closely the workings of a system many assumed
operated fairly. As deeply troubling as it was to observe the indifference of
the Georgia justice system to a compelling case of innocence, it was a rude
awakening to feel that the Georgia system was equally indifferent and
unresponsive to concerns expressed by millions of Georgia citizens, people
across the nation and the world. What is democracy if the publics' expressed
intentions about an act being done in our name is patently and blatantly
ignored? Who does the Board of Pardons and Parole represent? Whose fearsome law
is being implemented if not the people's?
It is because little improvement has been seen in the accuracy, reliability and
fairness of the death penalty system in the last 35 years, that we have seen a
decline in support, as reflected in fewer death sentences sought by prosecutors
and returned by juries. Most states that have the death penalty are actively
engaged in efforts to review the practice to determine how and whether to
continue it. In recent years four states, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois and
New York, engaged that assessment have either repealed their death penalty
statute or declined to make it enforceable.
What happened in Georgia was a moment of great sadness and disgrace, a defining
moment for the death penalty in that state and across the nation.
Once before, shock and revulsion at the execution of Jerome Bowden, a man with
mental retardation and a 70 IQ caused Georgia citizens to mobilize to outlaw
executions for people with mental retardation. Decades later the Supreme Court
finally ruled it unlawful in 2002.
Today, shock at the execution of Troy Davis amid so much doubt about his guilt
has already created a broad, politically and racially diverse surge of new
people ready to work to end the death penalty. Communities are engaged as never
before.
The Georgia that ushered in the modern experiment of capital punishment in 1976
has now crossed a line that people on both sides of the debate thought was a
bright line of protection. It matters whether the person being put to death is
guilty of the crime for which he or she is sentenced to die. And when there is
doubt about guilt, the death penalty is always the wrong decision.
By crossing this threshold the state of Georgia may yet have made its most
important and noble contribution to this nation's 35-year death penalty saga.
September 21, 2011 at 11:08 pm, the moment when Troy Davis was executed, will
likely be remembered as the moment when the catalytic spark for ending the
death penalty once and for all was struck.
(source: Diann Rust-Tierney.Executive Director of the National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty; Huffington Post)
***********************************
Amnesty International Hails Judge’s Decision to Stay Execution of Marcus Ray
Johnson; Case Contained Doubt About Conviction
Following the announcement that Marcus Ray Johnson was granted a stay of
execution, Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign director at Amnesty
International USA (AIUSA), released the following statement:
"Amnesty International welcomes news of the stay of execution for Georgia
prisoner Marcus Ray Johnson ordered today by Albany’s Superior Court Judge
Willie Lockette. In light of the doubts about Johnson’s guilt and the new
availability of evidence that can be tested, Amnesty International praises
Judge Lockette for demonstrating reason and caution. Amnesty International
hopes that this is a sign that there is greater concern in Georgia about the
fallibility of the death penalty, especially on the heels of the outrageous and
unnecessary execution of Troy Davis."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist
organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in
more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The
organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public
and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom and dignity are denied.
For more information, please visit www.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty.
(source: Amnesty International)
****************
Digging Deeper: GA's Death Row
Currently, 96 men and 1 woman sit on Georgia's death row waiting to be
executed. That number could be reduced by 1 this week.
Marcus Ray Johnson is scheduled to die Wednesday night for an Albany murder. In
1994 he brutally raped and murdered 34-year old Angela Sizemore, stabbing her
more than 40 times.
Georgia's death row is located at the Georgia Diagnostic & Classification
Prison in Jackson, about 45 minutes south of Atlanta. Dougherty County Superior
Court Senior Judge Loring Gary who visited as a young prosecutor describes it
as a solemn place.
"It's all very secure and quiet, very solemn. There's no communication between
the prisoners other than by some contrived means, some of them use mirrors, by
virtue of the mirrors are able to play chess with each other."
Right now there are 96 men and one woman on Georgia's Death Row. Digging
deeper, we found six of them are from south Georgia, they are Ray Cromartie of
Thomas County, Warren Hill of Lee County, Marcus Johnson of Dougherty County,
Ashley Jones of Coffee County, Roger Loyd of Crisp and Nelson Earl Mitchell of
Early County.
Nearly all convicted in the 90's, but typically an appeals process can take 15
years.
"You have a line of appeals through the state appellate court system, starting
with the Supreme Court and you have a direct appeal and then you have a
collateral appeals in the nature of habeas corpus rules, then you have the
right to bring the same action on appeal in the federal courts," said Judge
Gray.
Under Georgia law there are three offenses punishable by death, murder, rape,
and kidnapping, but it's the mitigating circumstances that make the biggest
difference.
"The key to the whole thing is, no matter what the charge is against you, that
you have to meet one of the statutory aggravated circumstances. They're set
fourth in the death penalty statute, and there are a number of specifics such
as murder for money, murder during the commission of another capital felony,
murder involving kidnapping."
In Georgia we learned inmates range in age from 20 to 69. There are 28 between
the ages of 30 and 39, 32 inmates between the ages of 40 and 49 and 27 between
the ages of 50 and 59 and they don't get much free time.
Judge Gray said, "The prisoners there are locked down 23 hours a day. They're
allowed into a common area for an hour, and otherwise they're not allowed any
contact with anyone else."
52 men have been executed in Georgia since the U. S. Supreme Court reinstated
the death penalty in 1973. If executed, Johnson will be 30th inmate put to
death by lethal injection.
The Parole Board is the sole agency in Georgia for granting clemency to
inmates. The Board can grant clemency and commute a death sentence to life
without parole or life with the possibility of parole or deny clemency, or
issue a stay to further consider the case.
(source: WALB News)
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