Jan. 21 NEW YORK: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH----New York Should Not Reinstate the Death Penalty Testimony before members of the NY State Assembly Testimony of Dorit Radzin ---- Advocacy Associate, Human Rights Watch before members of the New York State Assembly, January 21, 2005 Thank you members of the Assembly for holding this hearing and for allowing me and so many others this opportunity to share with you our concerns about the death penalty. I represent Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization based in the United States that has been documenting and exposing human rights abuses for over twenty-five years. We monitor human rights in over seventy countries around the world, including the United States, as we believe international standards of human rights apply to all people equally. Despite the freedoms that Americans enjoy and the historical strength of U.S. democracy, the human rights of people in this country are not always respected. We often research and report on abuses that occur within the U.S. criminal justice system and are particularly concerned about laws, policies, and practices that fly in the face of human rights standards. The system of capital punishment in the United States is deeply flawed. Across the country, numerous state and national studies have identified serious problems that undermine the fairness and integrity of capital punishment. In Illinois, a 2002 bi-partisan commission released a report based on an exhaustive two-year study of the administration of the death penalty in that state. The report identifies numerous ways that error, arbitrariness, and prejudice can influence capital punishment decisions. In Texas, several organizations have recently documented the prevalence of prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate representation in the death penalty system. In Maryland in 2003, a study by the University of Maryland, commissioned by the governor, found substantial racial and geographic disparities in the administration of the death penalty. Nationwide, these flaws have contributed to death sentences being imposed on innocent people: since 1973, 117 innocent persons have been released from death row in 25 states, some within hours of their scheduled execution. The capital punishment system in New York has been shown to suffer from the same unfairness and arbitrariness as other states. The Center for Law and Justice, based in Albany, found that defendants convicted of murdering white victims are more than twice as likely to face the death penalty as those convicted of murdering black victims. Furthermore, the Capital Defender Office has documented a clear geographic bias in New York's death penalty: 65 percent of all capital prosecutions are brought upstate, even though only 20 percent of homicides occur upstate. A study at SUNY-Albany's School of Criminal Justice found that many of the serious problems identified in Illinois also were found in New York. This study concluded by reiterating the sober warning of the Illinois commission -- that no capital punishment system, with its inherent human flaws, could ever guarantee that an innocent person would not be sentenced to death. Human Rights Watch believes strongly that if New York reinstates the death penalty in the face of these persistent problems, it will undermine justice and erode public confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system in New York. The American public and state officials are increasingly uneasy with capital punishment. The problems that plague the application of the death penalty illustrate to jurors, as well as voters, that there is no way to be certain that an innocent person is not put to death. These fears are reflected in nationwide trends: in 1998, three hundred people were sentenced to death in the United States; in 2003, there were only 143 death sentences. Among the general public, polls have shown that support for the death penalty has declined by almost fifteen percent over the last 10 years. Yet even as the number of executions decline, the United States does damage to itself by maintaining the death penalty. The continued use of capital punishment in the United States ignores a worldwide trend against it. Since 1990, more than thirty-five countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. An additional 117 countries have either abolished the death penalty or have allowed it to fall out of practice by not carrying out an execution in the last ten years. But, in 2003, the United States, along with Iran, China, and Vietnam, carried out 84 % of the known executions worldwide. The US is even more isolated in the world in carrying out executions of juvenile offenders. In the last 3 years, the United States has executed 4 of the 6 juvenile offenders put to death worldwide. By being one of a dwindling number of countries that continue to carry out state-sponsored executions and defend the practice, the United States undermines its ability to champion democracy and human rights around the world and harms its moral leadership. International human rights law, as codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, favors the abolition of capital punishment, even though it does not prohibit it categorically. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, however, has passed numerous resolutions affirming its opposition to the death penalty. In 2003, one such resolution stated, "[the] abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights." Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. The intrinsic fallibility of all criminal justice systems assures that even when full due process of law is respected, innocent persons are sometimes executed. The death penalty is inherently cruel and executions are inevitably carried out in an arbitrary manner, inflicted primarily on the most vulnerable - the poor, the mentally ill, and persons of color. We urge the Assembly in strongest terms not to reinstate the death penalty in the state of New York. (source: Human Rights Watch) KENTUCKY: Man cleared of murder, guilty on other counts >From the time he was arrested and charged with murder, Gary Hearn Jr. blamed the slaying of an 18-year-old man on his half-brother, Javon Hearn. Last night a Jefferson Circuit Court jury acquitted Gary Hearn of murder. But the jurors found him guilty of three other charges in the August 2002 death of David Kiphart Jr., whose body was found dumped in a cemetery off Cane Run Road. Gary Hearn was convicted of robbery, criminal facilitation to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. Gary Hearn, who would have been eligible for the death penalty had he also been convicted of murder, now faces 10 to 30 years in prison. The jury of 9 women and 3 men, who deliberated about 4 hours before issuing the verdict, will return this morning for the penalty phase of the trial. The trial for Javon Hearn, 24, is set for July. Gary Hearn, 21, who had admitted only that he accepted a $2,600 stereo that he said Javon stripped from Kiphart's car, bowed his head briefly after last night's verdict. Prosecutors, the defense and family members would not comment because of a gag order issued by Judge Martin McDonald. Gary Hearn's trial closed with one of his lawyers telling the jury that prosecutors failed to show that his client was involved in Kiphart's shooting, despite Gary Hearn's acknowledgement that he drove through the cemetery in southwestern Jefferson County just before a worker found the body. Gary Hearn said he didn't see a body. "The proximity to the body does not equate to murder," public defender Jay Lambert said. Prosecutor Rob Bonar countered in his closing argument that the body was so close to the road that it couldn't be missed. Bonar said that and other lies that Gary Hearn told a detective, along with other evidence, proved his guilt in the slaying - even if he wasn't the triggerman. "Lies oftentimes point to the truth," Bonar said. The half-brothers were accused of shooting Kiphart in the head, stealing his car and leaving his body in Green Meadows Memorial Cemetery. The day after Kiphart's body was discovered, his white Monte Carlo was found on Douglas Park Boulevard. Its expensive sound system and chrome spoke wheels were missing. After receiving an anonymous tip that Gary Hearn had the stereo in his car, police visited him for questioning. Gary Hearn tried to pull the stereo out of the dashboard as they approached, according to a citation. After the shooting, Gary Hearn spoke with a detective and said he had driven through the cemetery to make a U-turn, but did not see the body. He also blamed the murder on his half-brother. For jurors to believe Gary Hearn, Bonar said, they would "have to believe a ridiculous set of coincidences." Those included that Gary Hearn just happened to drive through the cemetery where the body had been dumped, then met his brother outside the cemetery and received from his brother the "proceeds" from the shooting. Lambert said the evidence didn't tie Gary Hearn to the shooting. "There is not one drop of blood, not one hair, not one fiber, nothing to ever suggest that Gary Hearn was in David Kiphart's car or that Kiphart was ever in Gary Hearn's car," Lambert said. Lambert said Gary Hearn, when confronted by police, didn't hide the stereo - meaning he may have possessed stolen property but wasn't tampering with evidence. (source: Courier-Journal) USA: television note Wilbert is scheduled to be live on nightline tomorrow night (Friday, January 21, 2005), 10:30 p.m. New Orleans (central) time. Rideau Talks About Prison Release Confessed killer Wilbert Rideau spoke to the media today about his recent release from prison. Rideau served 44 years at Angola for killing bank teller Julia Ferguson during a robbery in February of 1961 in Lake Charles. Two months after the killing, Rideau was convicted for the first time and sentenced to the death for the crime. Rideau sentence was eventually reduced to life, but it wasn't until his 4th trial that a jury convicted the now 63-year-old of manslaughter, which carries a lesser 25-year sentence. That conviction set Rideau free for time served. "I think I'm basically a good guy a decent person. Yes, I did something bad but a lifetime ago," says Rideau. "The jury said I did not murder anybody it was an act of manslaughter and there is a distinct difference between the two." Rideau was at the Baton Rouge Airport, going to New York for a national TV appearance. He says he's had media inquires from all over the world, including China. He had to get an identification card before leaving and he's still wearing clothes he got from Angola. As for the friends Rideau leaves behind in Angola, he offers this message: "Keep the faith! They know I don't have to tell them anything. They know keep the faith -- that's all I can tell them." Rideau answered questions for about 15 minutes. But when he was quizzed about the victims of the crime he committed 44 years ago, his long time legal advisor Linda Labronche cut into the interview. "This is inappropriate. We don't want him talking about the trial you can talk to him about going forward in life, the trial is over," said Labronche. "We're not gonna re-argue the facts and were not gonna talk about victims or anybody else. Ok?" Rideau says he won't say where he is going to live, however, he did say it would not be in Lake Charles. He even said he may not even live in Louisiana.
