Dec. 2
GEORGIA:
NAACP: Troy Davis' sister has died
Martina Davis-Correia, the sister of late cause celebre death row inmate Troy
Davis, has died, NAACP senior communications associate Derek Turner confirmed.
Davis-Correia battled cancer, but helped take her brother's case around the
globe, maintaining there was too much doubt in the details of his murder
conviction to allow for his execution. Davis died by lethal injection on Sept.
21 at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga. Between
hospitalizations as she fought her disease, Davis-Correia addressed groups and
took part in rallies globally to draw attention to the case.
Davis, 42 when he died, had been convicted in 1991 of the 1989 shooting death
of Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail. But Davis-Correia and another
sister of Davis', Kimberly Davis, worked with the NAACP and Amnesty
International in maintaining to people worldwide that several witnesses in
Davis' murder trial had recanted testimony.
The Davises' mother, Virginia Davis, died a few months before the execution.
Davis-Correia was 42 and had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000,
according to WSAV television.
Robert Nave, a death penalty opponent who long worked with the Davis family in
attempting to stay Troy Davis' execution, wrote on Kimberly Davis' Facebook
page that Davis-Correia died earlier in the evening, and in an e-mail said she
passed away at 5:45 p.m. ET. Nave, state and regional death penalty abolition
coordinator for Amnesty International in Connecticut and the northeastern USA,
said it was all right for On Deadline to publish his note.
"Although cancer took her body, her beautiful spirit has touched me and the
world in ways I never knew possible. I will celebrate her life, although
through my tears, as we all will miss her so dearly," Nave wrote.
Troy Davis supporter Jessica Peifer, left, is comforted by Davis' older sister
Martina Davis-Correia, right, during an Amnesty International rally at the
Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta on Sept. 11. CAPTIONBy Jenni Girtman,
APAmnesty International issued a statement Thursday night hailing
Martina-Correia as a "Hero of the Human Rights Movement."
"Our hearts are breaking over the loss of this extraordinary woman," Amnesty
International CEO Curt Goering wrote. "She fought to save her brother's life
with courage, strength and determination, every step of the way. She was a
powerful example of how one person can make a difference as she led the fight
for justice for Troy Davis, even as she endured her own decade-long battle with
cancer. And despite the terrible blow of his execution, she remained brave and
defiant to the core of her being, stating her conviction that one day his death
would be the catalyst for ending the death penalty."
MacPhail's family members maintained that the dragging out of the case for so
many years forced them to continually relive their relative's death. They have
said that they stand by Davis' original conviction.
(source: USA Today)
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Troy Davis' Sister Speaks About Her Fight for Justice - YouTube
http://youtu.be/x2Vo02RwfA8
*****************
Amnesty International Hails Martina Davis Correia as “Hero of the Human Rights
Movement”
Following the announcement that Martina Davis Correia, the longtime activist
against the death penalty and sister of Troy Anthony Davis, had succumbed to
cancer, Curt Goering, chief operating officer, Amnesty International USA
(AIUSA), released the following statement:
“Our hearts are breaking over the loss of this extraordinary woman. She fought
to save her brother’s life with courage, strength and determination, every step
of the way. She was a powerful example of how one person can make a difference
as she led the fight for justice for Troy Davis, even as she endured her own
decade-long battle with cancer. And despite the terrible blow of his execution,
she remained brave and defiant to the core of her being, stating her conviction
that one day his death would be the catalyst for ending the death penalty. Even
as Martina’s health failed, she was making plans to continue her work against
the death penalty in her brother’s memory, as he urged his supporters to do
just before he was put to death. She was a tenacious fighter, a graceful
inspiration to activists everywhere, and a true hero of the movement for human
rights. At this sorrowful time, we at Amnesty International offer our profound
sympathy to her family.”
Correia received many honors for her death penalty abolition activism as well
as her work to raise awareness to prevent breast cancer. She was chair of the
Steering Committee for AIUSA’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty and, for 11
years, served as Amnesty International’s coordinator in Georgia for the death
penalty program. In 2010, Amnesty International’s Irish section awarded her the
Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contributions to Human Rights.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist
organization with 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, truth and dignity are denied.
(source: Amnesty International USA)
ARKANSAS:
Supreme Court speeds consideration of death-penalty challenge
The Arkansas Supreme Court said today it will give expedited consideration to
the state’s appeal of a circuit judge’s ruling that struck down a portion of
the state’s lethal injection law.
The court granted the state’s motion to speed up the appeal of Pulaski County
Circuit Judge Tim Fox’s August ruling that part of the law is unconstitutional.
Fox made the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Jack Harold Jones and several other
death-row inmates challenging the way the state puts condemned prisoners to
death. Fox said the law gave the director of the state Department of Correction
too much discretion in deciding what drugs to use in executions.
The law lists three types of chemicals that may be used in executions and says
the director may also use “any other chemical or chemicals.” The inmates allege
that the law violates the separation-of-powers clause of the state constitution
by taking too much authority over execution policies away from the Legislature
and giving it to the Department of Correction.
The lawsuit also alleges that the use of drugs not approved by the federal
government, such as sodium thiopental which the Department of Correction
obtained from a British company, could expose inmates to unnecessary pain and
suffering during executions.
The Department of Correction handed over its supply of sodium thiopental to the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration in July, after questions were raised
about how the drug was imported.
Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005. Because of stays imposed by the
state Supreme Court, no executions are pending in the state.
(source: Arkansas News Bureau)
***************
Ark. Supreme Court will not review decision allowing prosecutors to seek death
penalty for man
The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected a request to reconsider its decision to
allow prosecutors to again seek the death penalty for a man convicted of
killing of a Pine Bluff teenager.
Kenneth Osburn was convicted of capital murder in the 2006 death of 17-year-old
Casey Crowder — but the jury could not unanimously agree on the death penalty
and he was sentenced to life in prison.
His conviction was overturned because investigators continued questioning him
after he requested a lawyer.
Prosecutors plan to again seek the death penalty during Osburn's retrial.
Defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully that the state could not again seek
death because the first jury rejected it.
Defense attorney Patrick Benca told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
(http://bit.ly/ubFSBL ) that he likely will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(source: Associated Press)
OREGON:
Oregon's 'broken' death penalty----Faced with a prisoner, Gary Haugen, waiving
appeals and willing his own death, Governor Kitzhaber declared a brave
moratorium
At our Thanksgiving table last week, we gave thanks to Oregon Governor John
Kitzhaber for stopping the upcoming execution of death row inmate Gary Haugen,
and promising to prevent any executions from taking place in our state while
he, Kitzhaber, a former ER doctor, remains governor. Just 2 days before
Thanksgiving, Kitzhaber told reporters that he thinks Oregon's capital
punishment process is "broken", and should be abandoned.
His evidence: the only people the state of Oregon has executed in the last 49
years were two individuals who had willingly dropped their appeals in order to
hasten their own deaths. This happened in 1996 and 1997, the last time
Kitzhaber was governor, and it was about to happen again with Haugen. This
time, though, Kitzhaber said he'd had enough.
"I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer,"
he told reporters. "And I will not allow further executions while I am
governor." He called on the 2013 legislature to evaluate and debate the death
penalty. His goal is that they refer a measure to the voters to repeal the law
in favor of a sentence of "true life".
The following day, Gary Haugen, who had been scheduled to die on 6 December,
said he was pleased with Kitzhaber's decision. Many were surprised by this
initial reaction: after all, Haugen had eagerly stopped his appeals, saying he
would rather die than continue to live on death row, and he had expressed
outrage at previous attempts by lawyers and abolition groups to stop his
execution. Why did he regard Kitzhaber's move differently?
The answer is because Haugen's underlying motivation for stopping his appeals
was to protest the very thing he was asking the state to do – execution. Haugen
considers the death penalty to be arbitrary in its application: people who
commit very similar crimes often end up with very different sentences depending
upon where, in the state, the crime was committed or what type of defense they
had. Haugen was serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a woman
named Mary Archer, when he killed a fellow prisoner. It was for the latter
murder that he received the death penalty.
In September, Haugen invited me to visit him. There, inside the walls of
Oregon's most secure prison, he told me he was ready to die and looked forward
to being free of his confines – 23 hours a day in a 6x9ft cell that stank of
human waste and reverberated with every sound in the windowless building. His
two regrets were that he would hurt his family, and that he would create more
victims – the people who have to do the job of killing him. But, he went on to
say, as long as we have capital punishment, we should have to deal with its
consequence: more victims, more cost, all for a system bent on one thing –
vengeance.
Governor Kitzhaber apparently found the costs of the death penalty
unacceptable, and thus stopped the execution.
This made me wonder: what if every death row inmate in the United States did
what Haugen did, and stopped their appeals? Imagine 3,271 inmates, around the
country, saying, "The heck with it. Go ahead, make our day." How would
lawmakers react? How would courts fit all the new cases into their dockets? How
could we rationalise that death is a punishment if the condemned themselves
sought it out? If Kitzhaber's decision of Haugen is any indication, lawmakers
would say, "Hold on a minute – something's not working here. It's time to
re-examine our policy."
Death penalty advocates say we don't need to examine capital punishment. I
disagree. The death penalty is riddled with problems; inequity being just one.
Another is the likelihood that mistakes have been made and innocent people
executed. None of the suppositions about capital punishment – it keeps us
safer, it is fair, just, provides closure for victims, etc – play out in
reality. And as a matter of fiscal policy, it simply makes no sense: death
penalty cases cost several times more than the cost of lifetime incarceration.
And not only should we ask ourselves if killing killers is a wise policy; we
should also ask ourselves if it is a moral policy. Is killing a killer a job
you would be willing to do yourself. If not, how can it be OK to give the job
to someone else?
These are all serious questions, and these questions are exactly what will be
discussed in Oregon in the coming two years: two important years which will
determine whether my state will become one more in a growing list of states and
countries that says no to state-run homicide.
(source: The Guardian)
**************
Debating capital punishment: We can be tough on crime without the death penalty
Last week Gov. John Kitzhaber made a controversial decision to issue a reprieve
for condemned inmate Gary Haugen and charged the Legislature with taking up
capital punishment in 2013. As a staunch supporter of Measure 11 and other
tough-on-crime legislation, I surprised many in my Republican caucus by
supporting the governor's decision.
Until recently, I was 51 percent to 49 percent in favor of the death penalty. A
shrug of the shoulders often reflected my indifference and disdain for someone
who committed the most heinous atrocities in our society; whether they lived or
died was of no consequence to me. Truth be told, I would rather not share a
planet with someone like Gary Haugen.
This February, less than a month after being sworn in, I toured the Oregon
State Penitentiary to research a handful of bills intended to save money in
prison health care delivery. What I saw in the penitentiary infirmary that day
tipped my opinion on Oregon's death penalty and compelled me to take a stand.
In a small prison hospice room, three nameless inmates agonized on gurneys. The
one nearest me made eye contact briefly before rotating uncomfortably in place,
his dirty stocking feet poking out from underneath a sheet. Outside a prison,
the appropriate feeling is sympathy. Inside, I was overcome by an overwhelming
feeling that this is how it should end for a child molester, rapist or
murderer.
At that moment, I knew it was OK to be tough on crime and still be against the
death penalty. The 2 principles are not contradictory.
The death penalty rewards antisocial, criminal behavior with attention -- the
front page of the newspaper or the leading story on the 5 o'clock news. In
Haugen's case, we almost acquiesced to his request to die rather than face a
dreary lifetime without purpose behind bars. We wouldn't give an inmate a
flat-screen TV if he asked, so why would we give Haugen the comfort of escaping
his obligation to pay for his crimes? <>P> I find it uncomfortable to strap a
prisoner to a board and kill him in front of an audience. I would much rather
he die quietly in obscurity, rather than with fanfare and notoriety.
I'm asking my fellow conservatives to keep an open mind and actively
participate in the discussion in the coming months. The financial cost of
capital punishment is staggering, and the inconsistency with which it is
applied is deserving of a conversation.
I think it's fair to say that most who favor capital punishment do so out of a
desire to convey their disgust and indifference toward these vile criminals in
the strongest tone possible. I can convey the same, knowing they will die in
prison after a long and purposeless life.
The closer you get to capital punishment, the uglier it looks. This is an issue
of justice, value and dignity -- not for the condemned, but for us.
(source: Guest Column; Republican Patrick Sheehan represents Clackamas in the
Oregon House of Representatives; The Oregonian)
FLORIDA:
Supreme Court upholds death sentence in Pasco case
The state's highest court upheld the 1st-degree murder conviction and death
sentence of a man who killed a 16-year-old hitchhiker in 2002.
Phillup Alan Partin, 46, picked up Joshan Ashbrook on July 31, 2002, in his
maroon pickup. Ashbrook lived with her family in New Port Richey and was a
habitual drug user and runaway.
Her body was found the next morning in some brush off Shady Hills Road. She had
been stabbed twice in her right arm, 5 times in her left hand and 6 times in
her face. Partin's DNA was found in a cut on her thumb.
He fled Florida and was arrested more than a year later in North Carolina.
After the 2008 trial, Judge William Webb called the crime "especially heinous"
and followed a jury's recommendation to send Partin to death row.
He appealed, saying the judge erred in denying several motions and in admitting
a DNA expert's testimony, as well as in not letting jurors see the indictment
or have it read to them. Partin also alleged the judge failed to give jurors
proper instructions during the penalty phase and that the death sentence didn't
fit the crime.
"None of these claims warrant relief," the state Supreme Court wrote in a
ruling issued Thursday.
(source: St. Petersburg Times)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Group launches bid to repeal N.C. death penalty
A coalition of religious leaders is launching an effort to repeal the death
penalty in North Carolina.
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty will announce the campaign in
Raleigh. The group wants to secure 1,000 resolutions from religious groups,
local governments and community organizations calling for an end to capital
punishment in the state.
They also plan to circulate a petition modeled on their drive for a moratorium
in 1999. At that time, the group gathered more than 50,000 signatures.
The campaign kicks off days after the state Senate voted to repeal the Racial
Justice Act, which allows death row inmates to appeal their sentences using
statistical evidence to argue that racial bias played a role in their cases.
(source: The Virginian-Pilot)
OKLAHOMA:
Federal appeals court upholds Okla. death sentence
A federal appeals court has upheld the death sentence of an Oklahoma death row
inmate convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the decision Thursday in the
case of 37-year-old George Ochoa. Ochoa and co-defendant Osbaldo Torres were
convicted in the July 1993 slayings of Francisco Morales and Maria Yanez in
their Oklahoma City home. The couple's children witnessed the crime.
In May 2004, former Gov. Brad Henry commuted Torres' sentence to life in prison
without the possibility of parole. Mexican officials had raised concerns that
Torres, a Mexican citizen, did not have a chance to speak with consulate
officials, as required by international conventions.
Ochoa's attorney, James Hankins, did not immediately return a message seeking
comment.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Alleged killer of Kathleen Scharbarth pleads not guilty, could get death
penalty
The 43-year-old man accused of strangling to death Carlsbad resident Kathleen
Scharbarth plead not guilty Wednesday in court to charges that may lead him to
death row if convicted.
According to a 10News report, Michael David Robles, who at one time dated
Scharbarth, offered the not guilty plea during the arraignment.
The prosecution alleges that Robles continued to stalk Scharbarth, 34, right up
until the time of her death. The victim had obtained a temporary restraining
order against the suspect just a week prior to her death.
Scharbarth, who was the mother of a 13-year-old girl, was discovered missing on
Thanksgiving Day when her present boyfriend showed up to take her to breakfast.
Upon his arrival, he found the front door of her residence open and the teenage
daughter asleep upstairs.
Prosecutors believe that Robles snuck into Scharbarth's residence late
Wednesday evening, strangled her, then took her body to a remote area of San
Diego County and buried her in a shallow grave. Authorities discovered her body
on the same day that they arrested Robles. According to a neighbor, the suspect
was spotted near the victim's residence earlier in the evening and chased off,
only to return later.
(source: San Diego News Examiner)
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