July 2 TEXAS: Convict in Prosper killings spared death----Decision cites Supreme Court ruling against executing retarded A federal court ruled Friday that the state cannot execute a Collin County man now on death row, citing a 2002 Supreme Court ruling forbidding executions of mentally retarded inmates. The Texas attorney general has 30 days to file a notice of appeal. An attorney general's office spokesman said Friday that no decision has been made and that the office is reviewing the ruling. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas also said it will direct the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to either permanently stay Eric Lynn Moore's execution or change his sentence to life in prison. Mr. Moore's attorney, Scott Smith of Sherman, said Friday that he felt confident after a hearing before the judge in December that his client would be spared. The victims' family could not be reached for comment. Helen Elizabeth Ayers, 54, was shot and killed in a December 1990 robbery at her Prosper home. Her husband, Richard, also was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. The couple let 2 men into their home on a cold night after they told the Ayerses that their car needed a jump start. Moments later, 2 more men came in with guns and forced the Ayerses to lie face down on a mattress in their bedroom, then shot them both at close range. One of Mr. Moore's accomplices was executed in January 2004. Court records show that Mr. Moore, 38, had an IQ of 74 at age 7. Testing later showed his IQ to be 76. Borderline mental retardation is defined as an IQ of 71 to 84. Mild retardation is defined as an IQ of 50 to 70. A psychologist who examined Mr. Moore said the defendant might have suffered brain damage from being hit on the head with a baseball bat at age 20 and from a car accident about 10 years earlier. Mr. Moore had not been told about the court ruling Friday. Mr. Smith said he mailed him a letter. "It's the best I can do for now," Mr. Smith said. "He's been battling with some depression issues. I hope this helps with that." Mr. Moore came within 7 days of being executed in 2003, Mr. Smith said, but was given a stay so the court could examine his mental capacity. Without the U.S. Supreme Court ruling forbidding the execution of the mentally retarded, Mr. Moore would have been executed, Mr. Smith said. "No doubt." (source: Dallas Morning News) ******************************* Here On Death Row----by Eric "Mpaka" Cathey #999228 A dear and beloved friend asked of me to write an article that elucidated how one felt being on death row and to be honest, I didn't think I would be up to par to write on that particular subject. However, as I meditated on my friend's request, I came to understand that we the death row captives, have an obligation (our duty if you will) to not only express truthfully our experiences, but to also combat the falsehood, that each and everyone of us here are a future threat and menace to society. For I know without a doubt that I am not a future threat to anyone. Besides each of us, as human beings, are individually unique with a distinctive capability that enables us to offer something special through our life experiences. Now for one who has been wrongfully convicted of a crime, by those in power whose duty was to seek justice, I found it to be one of the worse form of mental molestation that a person can experience. Each of us in society, regardless of our class or creed, harbored some form of faith (one time or another) that our judicial system functions in a way to insure, that only the guilty would be prosecuted. Thus the reason why many of us have heard the familiar expression - Well you must have done something wrong, for them to have arrested you -- But the truth of the matter is one has no need to commit a wrongful act to be found 'guilty.' Sometimes race, financial insufficiency, greed, or even a bad reputation is all the motivation that is needed for a person in the law enforcement community to become blinded or blatantly ignore the reality they are pursuing the wrong individual. Therefore, an action of that nature will only cause whatever faith we may have had in the system to crumble. And I for one wasnt immune.. True I have not lived a life that anyone would consider perfect. I have done my share of things that were good as well as bad. But I never murdered anyone. So naturally I became resentful . I was a person filled with anger, frustration and despair, as I now faced the psychological and emotional torment that prison environment produced. I have been on my own taking care of personal responsibilities since I was 15 years old. So the sense of helplessness that one felt not being able to simply provide for ones own needs, was something that threatened to strip me of my dignity as a man, not to mention the fact that malevolent attitudes that some prison guards and ranking officials display, can easily plant seeds of insecurity, worthlessness, as well as hate within the minds of a prisoner. And when you have families (whom have become victims themselves ) that possess no knowledge or material means of facilitating their loved ones then they too will suffer mental and emotional anguish. There are many families in this situation who can not handle seeing their loved ones in a predicament like this. So many prisoners experience abandonment and are left to face this dreadful adversity alone. Now by no means can I sum up the totality of the death row experience through one article.. Nor will I ever be able to make an individual who have not experienced an ordeal like this, comprehend the full spectrum of it. But I hope to reveal that each of us, within the death row community, are suffering or have suffered some form of mental, emotional, (and in some instances) physical trauma.. For when the threat of death looms over a persons head like a gigantic guillotine, while they are being bombarded with distress, uncertainty, loneliness, and grief, is there no wonder some prisoners have committed suicide, became vindictive or simply have lost all evidence of hope ? Therefore, my question to the reader is this: What would you do if you found yourself in a situation like this? Indeed our answers may vary. Yet, I'm sure if we contemplate deep enough we will come to a common ground of understanding. That regardless if one is innocent or guilty, the best interest of that person toward the betterment of their inner-selves should be performed. Because despite ones status in lief we all should remember this-- Our world is not a play ground but a school room. And the experience of life is not a holiday but an education. But most importantly we should all endeavor to learn to better love ourselves as well as each other. Perhaps then we a a society can move beyond the racism, injustice, and all the other attributes of evil that exist. And this victory I am certain can be achieved if we endeavor valiantly to make it a reality.. Peace.. Eric Cathey # 999228 FLORIDA: Murderer Is Sent to Death Row -- Again----Thomas Woodel's sentence had been overturned in 2001. Thomas Davis Woodel was sent back to Florida's death row Friday for fatally stabbing an elderly couple in their mobile home more than 8 years ago. Woodel shuffled, leg irons clanging, in the otherwise silent courtroom. The vacant expression on his face betrayed nothing about how -- or whether -- the death sentence had registered. Following a jury's recommendation, Circuit Judge Susan Robert sentenced Woodel, 35, to die for murdering Bernice and Clifford Moody on Dec. 31, 1996. The Moodys, winter residents from Kankakee, Ill., lived at Outdoor Resorts of America in the Four Corners area. Friday, Scott Richard, 37, described his grandparents as generous and caring people who enjoyed arranging family vacations at places such as Disney's Magic Kingdom and Epcot theme parks. "My grandmother was the tour guide," he said. At the time, Woodel was working as a dishwasher at Pizza Hut and lived in the Outdoor Resorts mobile home park with his pregnant girlfriend. In an 11-page ruling, pulling from Woodel's confession and the medical examiner's testimony, Roberts described the couple's gruesome deaths: The Moodys rose early that morning to get a nearby rental unit ready for a new tenant. Woodel walked home after his shift at the restaurant and a night of drinking. Woodel testified that he asked 74-year-old Bernice Moody for the time while walking past the couple's home. She became frightened and grabbed a knife, he said. According to Roberts' ruling, Woodel pushed Bernice Moody down, stabbed her with the knife, cut off her clothes and laid her onto a bed. He stabbed her 56 times and hit her in the head twice with a ceramic toilet tank lid -- so hard that the lid shattered. As Woodel was leaving, Clifford Moody, 79, tried to block his way, and Woodel stabbed him 8 times. A jury originally convicted Woodel of first-degree murder Dec. 4, 1998. Circuit Judge Robert Pyle sentenced him to death. In 2001, the Florida Supreme Court overturned Woodel's sentence but upheld his first-degree murder conviction. The court ruled that Pyle hadn't properly considered mitigating circumstances. In July 2004, a new jury recommended that Woodel die for Bernice Moody's murder and receive a life sentence for her husband's murder. Woodel's lawyer, Gil Colon Jr., noted Friday that the jury came back with a 7-5 recommendation for death -- the narrowest of margins. While juries must reach unanimous decisions in rendering a verdict, a death penalty recommendation requires only a majority vote. Colon said the Moodys' "bizarre murder" has no apparent motive and was out of character for Woodel, who had no significant prior criminal history. "I think this was a perfect case for life," he said. Members of the Moody family said they were pleased with Woodel's sentence but fear they will have to wait through years of appeals before seeing him executed. Richard said he is convinced Woodel went into the mobile home to sexually assault his grandmother. Going through a 2nd sentencing process has been like having a wound that's trying to heal be ripped "wide open again," he said. Richard said he hopes another appellate court ruling would not stop or delay Woodel's execution. "What it's going to do is waste taxpayer dollars," he said. With Woodel, Polk County has 11 people on death row. (source: The Ledger) USA: The death penalty: A reversal in trends The death penalty is a hotly debated topic. It raises ethical issues about a prisoner's right to life. There also are very complex issues related to the cost of executing someone, the racial and class characteristics of people who are sentenced to death, the extent to which the death penalty serves as a deterrent, errors in the judicial process leading to the execution of people who might be innocent, the execution of minors and people who are mentally impaired, and the amount of time that transpires between sentencing and execution. Let us put this debate in historical and statistical context. The number of death penalty cases in the United States peaked in 1930s, when about 176 Americans were put to death each year. That number dropped to about 128 in the 1940s and 72 in the 1950s. There were only 7 executions in 1965, one in 1966, and 2 in 1967, when executions were suspended while the courts considered their constitutionality. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that existing death penalty laws were unconstitutional. States responded by revising their laws to satisfy the Court. In 1976, the Supreme Court reviewed these changes and reinstated the death penalty. Since then, the number of people sentenced to death has climbed from a low of 137 in 1977 to a high of 320 in 1996, before declining rather steadily to an estimated 130 in 2004 (7 fewer than in 1977). A decade-by-decade analysis shows that in the 1970s, about 158 people were sentenced to death each year. That figure rose to an annual average of 260 during the 1980s and 290 for the 1990s. Since 2000, the yearly average has been 168 (only slightly more than the average for the 1970s). The yearly average has declined from 232 in 2000, to 164 in 2001, 168 in 2002, 144 in 2003, and about 130 in 2004. The total number of people on death row rose from 423 in 1977 to a high of 3,601 in 2000, before declining slightly to 3,503 in 2004. Overall, the yearly average rose from 499 in the 1970s to 1,495 in the 1980s, 2,966 in the 1990s, and 3,523 in the 2000s. Although the overall average for the last five years is higher, the yearly figures have dipped somewhat, from 3,601 in 2000 to 3,577 in 2001, 3,562 in 2002, 3,374 in 2003, and 3,503 in 2004. The 1st execution since the moratorium occurred in 1977, when Gary Gilmore was put to death in Utah. There were no executions in 1978, and only 2 in 1979. The number increased rather steadily to a high of 98 in 1999. Since then, it has declined to 59 in 2004. There were 117 in the 1980s (an average of 12 per year) and 478 in the 1990s (a yearly average of 48). There have been 346 in the 2000s (an average of 69 per year). Although the yearly average is higher than in the 1990s, the trend line is downward, from 85 in 2000, to 66 in 2001, 71 in 2002, 65 in 2003, and 59 in 2004. Americans' attitudes about death penalty also are changing. Support for the death penalty declined in the 1950s and '60s, hitting a low of 42 % in 1966. It rose during the 1980s and 1990s. By the mid-1990s, 75-80 % of Americans supported it. In the last 5 years or so, support for the death penalty has declined. Most polls show the support has fallen to about 65 % in the 2004 and 2005. As support for the death penalty has fallen, support for life without parole has increased. For example, Gallup reports that, when Americans have been asked to choose between the death penalty and life without parole for convicted murderers, support for the death penalty fell from 61 % in 1997 to 53 % in 2003, while support for life without parole rose from 29 % to 44 %. Thus, from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, death sentences, the number of death row inmates, executions, and Americans' support for the death penalty all increased. Since the late 1990s, all of these trends have been reversed. For the 1st time in over 20 years, America seems to be searching for an alternative to the death penalty. One of the leading options seems to be life without parole. (source: James D. Davidson is professor of sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; The Tidings) ***************************** CAPITAL PUNISHMENT -- Entire society mimics its worst offender Ever since I defected 2 weeks ago to the Empire State from the Bay State, Ive spent many, many hours driving through the Constitution State. Some things are easier said than done, and moving happens to be one of those things. During those long, lonely drives from New York to Massachusetts and back again, I found myself scrolling the radio dials, searching for something beyond the ennui-inducing Led Zeppelin-Bon Jovi-Pearl Jam combination. Early morning is best for talk radio, and on my most recent trip south through Hartford, I happened upon 101.3, Connecticuts hit music station, but there was no music. Instead, a man from the Connecticut Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty was airing grievances about Connecticuts most recent act of poor taste. The debate was about Michael Ross, who was executed on May 13 for a series of heinous crimes committed in the 1980s. Ross killed and raped eight young women and when his sentence- issued in 1984 - was finally followed through last month, he became the 1st person executed in New England in the past 45 years. Let it be known that this columnist has never supported capital punishment. Let it be known that this columnist willingly divorces herself from a society that punishes the crime of murder by sanctioning murder. And let it be known that the arguments against capital punishment are plentiful but still invoke rage and, perhaps more importantly, outrage from those who see death as the ultimate punishment. Which is why Michael Ross is such an excellent example of a silly and ineffective judicial system. I mention the Connecticut Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty because they raised some excellent points, points that even the most fervent Capital Punishments opponents cannot dispute. The Michael Ross case cost the state of Connecticut over $600 thousand more than it would have had he been sentenced to life without parole. His appeal process spanned 21 years and, in the end, the man who claimed eight lives during a three year period in the 1980s got what he wanted: death. In truth, the worst and most finite punishment would have been to keep the man in prison for the rest of his life, where he would have been forced to think about his crimes until his own death behind bars. Even the family members whom we believe we are helping through retribution did not have many positive things to say about the execution. Debbie Dupuis, sister of Robin Stravinksy, who was one of the murdered, told reporters that she thought she would feel closure, but instead, "felt anger just watching him lay there and just sleep after what he did to these women." So the real question is: Who, exactly, is the death penalty helping? Surely it isnt helping American taxpayers, who have enough on their plate without the added burden of paying for a criminals appeal. It isnt helping victims families, who never seem to find the closure they require in the brutal act of killing. It isnt helping criminals to think better of their actions before committing a crime, as it has been proven time and time again that capital punishment is not a crime deterrent. And it certainly isnt helping the United States to establish itself as a decent, humane nation, when almost every other country in the world has abolished the humanity-vacant policy of executing human beings. There are more technical problems, too, like the fact that way too many of the men and women sentenced to death have been exonerated, leading to questions regarding the reliability of the justice system and bias in the courtroom. In the end, capital punishment is expensive, ineffective, and, at its worst, a cruel reminder of what human beings are capable of doing to one another. And if we are to discuss the worst kind of punishments for the worst kind of crimes, perhaps we should remember that death, indeed, can be an easy way out. Ross actively petitioned for his own execution. He was the causes greatest defender. What does that say about capital punishment? The representative from the Connecticut Coalition for Abolishing the Death Penalty (I apologize here for not remembering his name, and cursory research on the Internet was no help,) was far more eloquent than I could ever be. He spoke of international sanctions, of national behaviors that are not accepted worldwide. He said that what South Africa faced during apartheid - scorn, sanctions, spite - would be precisely what the United States would face if we continued to engage in stupid and inhumane practices. By mimicking Michael Ross atrocious behavior, we are no better than he was. The rest of the world has already changed the way they deal with criminals. We are a smart, competent, sophisticated nation, but in dealing with this issue we have proven ourselves to possess nothing more than a callous disregard for human life. (source: Hannah Selinger, Editorial, The (Mass.) Raw Story)
