URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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16 July 2004
UA 225/04 Death penalty
USA (Alabama) James Barney Hubbard (m), aged 74
James Hubbard, white, is scheduled to be executed in
Alabama on 5 August 2004. He was sentenced to death in
1977 for the murder of Lillian Montgomery.
According to the court record, Lillian Montgomery was killed
at her home in Tuscaloosa on the morning of 10 January
1977, dying as a result of three gunshot wounds to the head,
face and shoulder. James Hubbard, who had moved in with
Lillian Montgomery following his release from prison after
serving 20 years on a second-degree murder conviction, rang
the police after the shooting. When they arrived he told them
that the victim had shot herself. At the police station, after
the police gave him some whisky when he asked for a drink
"to steady his nerves" (he had already been drinking), James
Hubbard signed a statement, repeating his earlier claim that
Lillian Montgomery had committed suicide.
James Hubbard was tried in September 1977 and sentenced
to death. After Alabama's death penalty statute was found
unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in 1980, Hubbard
was granted a new trial. He was again sentenced to death in
April 1982.
His appeals have been unsuccessful, including on the claim
that his statement to the police had been involuntary on
account of his alcoholism and low intelligence. His IQ has
been assessed at 80, in the borderline mental retardation
range. On 2 July 2004, Indiana Governor Joseph Kernan
commuted Darnell Williams's death sentence shortly before
he was due to be executed. Governor Kernan noted the 2002
US Supreme Court decision, Atkins v Virginia, outlawing the
use of the death penalty for those who have mental
retardation. The Governor wrote: "Williams's IQ has been
measured at 78 and 81, and he attended special education
classes throughout his schooling. The usual 'cut-off' for
mental retardation is IQ of 70-75, and Williams falls above
that level... The courts have set a clear legal standard, but it
remains problematic to confidently place the solemn decision
of life or death on a few percentage points on either side of a
line. Williams's mental status weighs as a factor in the
clemency process."
James Hubbard is reported to have prostate and colon cancer.
He has been on death row for a quarter of a century and is
now 74 years old. If executed, he would be the oldest person
to be put to death in the USA since it resumed executions in
1977.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases,
regardless of the gravity of the crime, the guilt or innocence
of the condemned, or the method used to kill the prisoner.
The death penalty is an affront to human dignity and a
symptom of a culture of violence, and consumes resources
that could otherwise be used towards constructive strategies
to combat violent crime and to offer assistance to its victims
and their families. In addition, the US capital justice system is
marked by arbitrariness, discrimination and error.
Today 117 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. In
contrast, there have been 918 executions in the USA since it
resumed executions in 1977, more than 750 of them since
1990. Alabama accounts for 28 of these executions. There
have been 33 executions in the USA this year.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of Lillian
Montgomery and for the suffering that her death will have
caused;
- opposing the execution of James Hubbard;
- noting his low IQ level, his ill-health and the fact that he is
an elderly man;
- urging the Governor to grant clemency.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Bob Riley
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
USA
Fax: 1 334 353 0004
Email:
http://www.governor.state.al.us/contact/contact_form.aspx
Salutation: Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept
intact, including contact information and stop
action date (if applicable). Thank you for your
help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: u...@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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