June 7 TEXAS: Garza sentenced to life in prison with no parole ---- Judge Terrell hands down sentence; victim's mother spoke to Garza Alejandro Carbajal Garza Jr., who was convicted of capital murder Friday, was in court again Tuesday for a sentencing hearing before District Judge Richard Terrell. Wearing an orange county jail jumpsuit and shackled at his wrists and ankles, Garza was brought into the courtroom under tight security Tuesday afternoon. Judge Terrell read aloud the verdict of the jury, which was announced Friday, and sentenced Garza to life in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison without the possibility of parole. Under state law, defendants who are convicted of capital murder in cases in which the prosecution did not seek the death penalty must be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Following Judge Terrell's announcement of the sentence, Noemi Silva, the mother of Javier "Jammer" Sanchez, the victim in the case, read a prepared statement from the witness stand. "I would like for you to know the pain and suffering that you have caused my family," Silva said. "You took someone who can never be replaced. "I pray that one day God will give me the strength in my heart to forgive you." At the close of the hearing, Garza was returned to the county jail. Following a 4-day trial, a Jim Wells County jury found Garza guilty of capital murder charges on Friday, in connection with the shooting death of Sanchez on Jan. 2, 2006. 2 other men, Alonzo "Lowrider" Gonzalez and Alfred "Casper" Gonzales, have also been indicted on capital murder charges related to Sanchez's death, but have not yet gone to trial. (source: Alice Echo-News Journal) ************************* Bail set for teen charged with newborn's murder In Raymondville, a Willacy County justice of the peace on Wednesday set bail at $1 million for a 17-year-old Lyford girl charged with capital murder in the death of her newborn baby. Wendy Gill could face the death penalty if convicted. She is accused of smothering the baby boy to death after she gave birth to him Sunday in her familys bathroom. [my note----federal law prohibits persons being sentenced to death who were under 18 at the time of the crime.] As deputies led her into jail Wednesday, Gill wiped tears from her eyes after she refused to answer questions from reporters. Sheriff Larry Spence said Gill gave a confession in which she told investigators she killed the baby to hide his birth after her mother threatened to kick her out of the house if she got pregnant again. Gill has an 18-month-old daughter. Spence said he believed the daughter had been placed in the custody of the babys grandmother, Enriqueta Gill. At the familys old frame home in Lyford, Enriqueta Gill said she would have stood by her daughter if she had known the teen was pregnant. If she would have told me, I would have given her my hand, Enriqueta Gill said in Spanish from behind her screen door. We let her know that if she got pregnant, the one who got her pregnant was going to take care of her. Its not that she was going to get kicked out of the house. Enriqueta Gill said her daughter would argue an insanity defense. "She was not in her right mind when she did that," she said. "Only a psychotic would do that, and that's what we're going to argue." "She also didn't have the support of the boy," she said of the baby's father. Enriqueta Gill said she was "destroyed inside." "It's the death of my grandson and the jailing of my daughter," she said as she fought back tears. Wednesday in Raymondville, Hernandez Funeral Home was preparing to bury the baby, Spence said. The circumstances surrounding the infant's death stunned the small farm town. "It is shocking," said Marco Cantu, a neighbor who works as a sandblaster. "They're quiet people. They don't go out, they don't party. They just mind their own business like everyone else. It's a small town and nothing like that happens around here" (source: The Monitor) ********************** Death penalty for child rapists I'm a mom of a 10-year-old son. I'm also opposed to the death penalty. That's why Texas' version of "Jessica's Law," recently passed by the legislature, which would make twice-convicted child rapists eligible for the death penalty, is a conundrum for me. If Republican Gov. Rick Perry signs the bill, Texas would become the 6th state to add the death penalty for child rape cases. Under it, the accused rapist need not kill the victim to be considered for execution. The "mom" in me agrees unequivocally with Jessica Marie Lunsfords dad, who told John Evander Couey, the suspect accused of raping and murdering Lunsfords daughter, "I hope you rot in hell." Couey, previously convicted of a sex crime against a minor, abducted 9-year-old Jessica in 2005 from her Florida home, repeatedly raped, and buried her alive in a shallow grave, where she suffocated. A jury later found him guilty of 1st-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery and sentenced Couey to death. Couey is now appealing his case to the Florida Supreme Court. Hell, eternal damnation, would be insufficient, if, heaven forbid, the victim were my son. I can envision of all sorts of vile and despicable torments and tortures I would want inflicted, repeatedly, on any person who raped and murdered my only child. Honestly, I wonder if I would be able to restrain myself from the grief, the anguish. Sentencing a child rapist and murderer to death would be an unworthy exchange for my son's, or any child's, innocence and future. I would not extend forgiveness to or offer pleas for leniency on behalf of the convicted. As my sons mother, I say eviscerate such people from the earth. As a mother, I would want, demand, vengeance for his suffering. After all, I am a mother, above all else that I am in this life. But the quieter, less emotionally wrought side of my soul asks, "Does it do good to execute child rapists and child murderers?" Retribution satisfies, in a primal, base way. It just would feel so damn good. It's an emotional quid pro quo our humanity can comprehend and a legal one we can justify. It doesn't, however, restore these most precious of victims. Stick a needle in the offender's arm, send him off to oblivion or immortality, and Ill leave the viewing area of the death chamber. But where are the child victims when their families return home? Still violated. Still dead. My analytical mind thinks there are too many people on death row in the state, currently 383. That would comprise a small town in East Texas. Death sentences are so common, so expected in Texas. Executions are so "every day." Texas has executed 14 prisoners so far this year, on-target to match or exceed 2006's total of 24 executed, as if more state-sanctioned deaths is a desirable goal. Not to worry those of you eager for bloodyou "eye for an eye" literalists though, 5 prisoners are on the hit list for June alone, and another 7 scheduled for execution during the rest of the year. So do we really need more people on death row in Texas? By making twice-convicted child rapists death-penalty-eligible, the legislature created the possibility, and likely, ensured the probability that more people will end up on death row in Texas. Death row wont be limited to murderers when child rapists join that exclusive but notorious club. By expanding the use of the death penalty, we're eliminating any legal deterrent that may prevent child rapists from killing their victims. Either way, they will be eligible for the death penalty, so add murder to the mix, the warped criminal mind may insanely reason. The unintended consequence of this, and similar, legislation is that the accused may kill the one person, the rape victim, who could testify against him. Sometimes our philosophies dont represent the entirety of our personalities. Mommy me is fighting political me on this one, hard. I intuitively feel, though, if night fell on a personal tragedy, I would be able to say, "Fry the SOB," and sleep, my struggle reconciled. (source: Opinion, East Texas Review) ******************** No joke - death is no laughing matter According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, on August 27, 1991, Patrick Bryan Knight, then 23, and accomplice Robert Timothy Bradfield broke into the home of neighbors Walter and Mary Werner. The Werners, who lived on the Claude Highway east of Pullman Road, were not at home at the time, so the pair waited for them. Only Knight and Bradfield know the exact details of what happened while they held the Werners captive in their own home. According to court documents from the 47th District Court, the Werners, both in their late 50s, were locked in their basement for almost 24 hours. Knight gagged and blindfolded the couple, and then drove them to an isolated location near Masterson Road. Knight then had the couple kneel and shot each in the back of the head, dragging their bodies into a ditch. He then went home to his trailer and slept. After questioning from Randall County deputies and the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit, Knight led authorities to the bodies. According to the TDCJ, relatives said Knight had been harassing the Werners, so there was obviously some history between the individuals. Simple robbery could not have been the motive, since Knight and Bradfield had plenty of time and opportunity to take whatever they wanted from the Werner home. The goal was much more sinister and evil. Because of this heinous crime, Knight is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas June 26. Hilarious, huh? In what is actually a pathetic attempt at publicity before his execution, Knight is accepting jokes from the public to read as his last statement. Only the most ardent bleeding-heart capital-punishment opponents cared about Knight before the announcement of his upcoming gruesome stand-up - or make that lie-down - comedy routine. Try Googling Knight now, though. He is a Cyberspace star, and his story has made international headlines. Condemned criminals have limited opportunities to manipulate justice and influence the public before their punishment is administered. Primarily, last meals and last statements are about it. It appears Knight will use his final words on this Earth in some form of horrible humor. Maybe someone will laugh so hard they cry - cry because 2 innocent people lost their lives while another person threw his away. (source: Opinion; Dave Henry is an editorial writer for the Amarillo Globe-News) ********************* Some lawyers say gender can play role in jury punishments Some in the Midland legal community say the idea that women tend to get lighter sentences than men has some truth to it, but not everyone agrees. Midland County First Assistant District Attorney Teresa Clingman said she's seen some cases where gender did affect the defendant's sentencing. "Not a great deal of the time, but sometimes I do see a disparity," she said. "I tried a case about four or five years ago where a woman egged on her brother to get into a fight with another man who had rejected her,then participated herself in the fight using a knife," Clingman remembered. "She was placed on probation after the victim was stabbed and (the victim) has had continuing psychological problems ever since. I think a male, in that sense, would have received a harsher punishment. I'm not saying that's right, but her having children and having a life with hardship seemed like it counted more for her because she was a woman." Clingman said she never has heard of any women being sentenced to death in Midland and only knows of two men who have been sentenced to execution. "I participated in the case of Clint Young (sentenced to death in 2003), the other I was told about. I think that happened around the turn of the century." Since 1993, a total of 396 criminals have been executed in the state of Texas; only 3 of those criminals were women, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. District Judge John Hyde said he thinks ideas about human nature are what cause some people to view women as being not as lethal as men. "I think it's the nature of our American culture. We expect men to generally be tougher and not cry and not have gentle feelings and we raise our daughters to have those feelings," he said. "It's the nature of the gender that violent crimes are generally committed by men." Hyde said he doesn't represent that justice should be affected by a person's gender, but sometimes a woman is in fact given a lighter sentence than a man for the same offense. Today, 383 men and 10 women are on death row in Texas. Documents show Frances Newton, who was executed in 2005, was the last Texas woman put to death. This month, Cathy Henderson is scheduled to be the 19th woman executed in Texas since 1973. Her execution is set for June 13 for the 1994 death of 3-month-old Brandon Baugh, whom she was baby-sitting. Though Hyde and Clingman agree there have been some instances in which women were given lighter sentences for their crimes, defense lawyer Tom Morgan thinks gender plays a "very little part" in sentencing. "In my 32 years' experience, 10 of which as a prosecutor, gender never played a part in (sentencing)," Morgan said. "Either no part or a very, very slight part." Morgan said he believes the law is even-handed when it comes to men and women. However, Clingman said the disparities between the sentencing of men and women in some cases are blatant. "I've never prosecuted anywhere else other than Midland, but I've seen cases where the punishment was absolutely affected by the person's gender," Clingman said. "I just think as a part of our heritage and a part of us being in what I consider the South, men and women alike, but particularly men, have a hard time believing that women can be cold-blooded sociopathic killers. Especially if the woman has children, if she had a hard life coming up or ailing parents," Clingman explained. "People in West Texas seem to be more apt to accept the excuses of criminal women." Clingman said in her experience, she believes Midland jurors are "not easily tricked" when it comes to the guilt or innocence of a defendant. "But by the same token, they can be extremely sympathetic to women with hard backgrounds," she said. Defense attorney J.K. Rusty Wall said in a lot of situations, it is a person's history that affects a jury's view of a case more so than their gender. "It's not their gender, but more times than not (women) have backgrounds, personalities or life experiences that make it easier for juries to put them in a favorable light," he explained. "But I can take (female defendants) and put them in a more favorable light than I could a man. You'd have to just be a really bad woman to receive the same punishment as a man." Wall said he believes it is more common to find a violent man than it is to find a violent woman. Even in a situation where a male and a female are being tried as partners in a heinous crime, Wall said it would be difficult for a jury to believe the woman coaxed the man into committing the crime. "I just think that it's pretty basic; it's just human nature and I don't think it will ever change," Wall said. (source: Midland Reporter-Telegram) COLORADO: 'Sorry, Joe'----Calls to pardon Joe Arridy, executed in the gas chamber, come amid renewed interest in 68-year-old case Prior to his 1939 death in the gas chamber, Joe Arridy, a man with an IQ of 46, gave his toy train to Angelo Agnes, a fellow inmate. On Jan. 6, 1939, Joe Arridy played with his toy train on Colorado's death row. Having finished his last meal ice cream Arridy, a man with the mind of a child, listened as Warden Roy Best read his death warrant. He gave his toy to an inmate he had befriended and left his cell. Best, who had bought the train for Arridy as his last Christmas present, wept as gas was released into the chamber. He wept for a man convicted of a Pueblo ax murder and rape that sent shockwaves across Colorado. Last Saturday, more than 50 people who don't believe the almost-forgotten Arridy should have been executed cried fresh tears for him, atop Woodpecker Hill in Caon City's Greenwood Cemetery. The old state penitentiary today a state prison where Arridy was put to death sat mute in the background. A gentle breeze blew tall grass and wildflowers amid the cacti. The attendees were there to dedicate a new tombstone that includes a photo of Arridy and his train over the words, "In Loving Memory." Gone is the small, rusted tin plate that for nearly seven decades marked Arridy's grave and misspelled his name. "The warden said, "This was the happiest man who ever lived on death row,'" Robert Perske told the gathering. "This was a soft little man who didn't have a mean bone in his body, and yet they chose because of the politicized way they did things, they snuffed him out." Perske, a Denver native who now lives in Connecticut, began investigating Arridy's death about 15 years ago. In 1995, he published Deadly Innocence?, which re-examined the story. But it had taken until Saturday for Arridy's growing legion of supporters to finally unite around the grave, where song and verse aimed to right an unthinkable wrong. A Trinidad screenwriter came with a major film producer announcing plans to tell Arridy's story in a drama highlighting the tenacious, but vain fight of a Denver lawyer to spare Arridy. And Arridy's advocates say it's time to petition Gov. Bill Ritter to pardon the Pueblo-born son of Syrian-American parents who dropped out of elementary school and then was sent to the state Home and Training School for Mental Defectives in Grand Junction. There, staff measured his IQ at 46. Boxcar man Arridy, who had run away from the institute and then took to hopping boxcars and riding the tracks, fell into the hands of authorities on Aug. 26, 1936. His crime was vagrancy in a Wyoming railyard, and he was taken to Cheyenne Sheriff George Carroll for questioning. Carroll was aiding in a massive dragnet for suspects in the death of Dorothy Drain, 15, of Pueblo, and was curious about Arridy. Drain had been sexually assaulted and then killed, less than two weeks prior to Arridy's arrest. Her younger sister, Barbara Drain, 12, was also brutalized but somehow survived. Arridy confessed to the murder, according to Carroll, who informed Pueblo's police chief, Arthur Grady, of the catch. Yet Pueblo police had already arrested Frank Aguilar, of Mexico, a man fired from a job by the Drain girls' father. An ax head was recovered from Aguilar's home. But Carroll, who repeatedly questioned Arridy, insisted Arridy admitted he was with a "man named Frank" at the murder scene in Pueblo. Arridy faced a sanity trial, and psychiatrists testified that he had the mind of a child of about 6 years old. Yet he was found sane. During his trial the defense failed attempts to argue Arridy was insane. Arridy, like Aguilar, was sent to death row. While Aguilar was put to death within 1 year of the crime (his grave is just steps away from Arridy's), Arridy's case dragged on. Supporters like Best, a man known for his tough edge, but who softened to Arridy, battled to save him. Warden Roy Best reads Joe Arridys death warrant before execution. The Arc of the Pikes Peak Region Arridy's biggest champion became Denver lawyer Gail Ireland, later Colorado's attorney general. Ireland pushed to have Arridy spared, arguing that Arridy wasn't able to understand what execution was. "Believe me when I say that if he is gassed, it will take a long time for the state of Colorado to live down the disgrace," Ireland argued to the state Supreme Court. 'The Clinic' Perske, who sifted through countless magazines, news clippings, documents and photos even a governor's telegraphs uncovered Arridy's story. A critical record was the 1st he encountered a 1944 poem called "The Clinic" that made him want to know more. It was contained in an out-of-print book that Richard Voorhees, a community college sociologist in Minnesota, stumbled upon in 1992 while perusing prose in New York City. The short poem was read graveside Saturday by Colorado Springs poet Joseph Forbeck. One verse recalls a warden's "sorry letter." "The man you kill tonight is 6 years old, He has no idea why he dies,' Yet he must die in the room the state has walled Transparent to its glassy eyes. The poem didn't name anyone. Voorhees sent it to Perske, thinking of Perske's efforts to help crime suspects with mental disabilities. "Bob and I have been buds for 50 years," Voorhees simply explained Saturday after the dedication on the hill. Perske then reached the poem's author, Marguerite Young, perhaps best known for her 1965 novel Miss Macintosh, My Darling. Young, who passed away in 1995, told Perske she didn't remember for whom the poem was written, Perske said. So he forwarded it to friend Watt Espy, a prominent death-penalty researcher who has files on thousands of ill-fated inmates, going back to colonial times. "What he sent back to me was a bunch of dime-store detective magazines and news articles," Perske, 79, said in an interview Saturday. "The magazines portrayed Joe as the monster and the police as the pure types." But Perske now had the name of the poem's subject Arridy, death row inmate No. 19845. Perske was soon mired in research, aided by archivists and librarians, and fascinated as he uncovered details about the convict with the toy train. "The book wrote itself," he said. It tells the story of an apparently confused Arridy facing authorities that pinned him in a confession despite his obvious mental disability. Craig Severa of The Arc of the Pikes Peak Region, an organization that helps the developmentally disabled, said as he drove to Woodpecker Hill Saturday morning that the case couldn't have gone forward today. He cited a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which justices, by a 6-3 vote, found that employing the death penalty against people with mental disabilities is "cruel and unusual" under the Constitution. "People like Joe are the ones who often misinterpret social situations," said Severa, who advocates in courtrooms for mentally challenged people accused of committing crimes. "They are the people who are most vulnerable to exploitation." The bad ol' days But the 1930s were a time for fearing people with lower IQs, Perske said, rather than integrating them into society, as many communities do today. Eugenics, the idea that there are bad traits to be bred out of the human race, collided with public policies and bias in the criminal-justice system, leaving the Joe Arridys of the world labeled feebleminded, even loathed. "Scholars in those days were writing stuff saying the country is being dragged down by the not-so-good people," said Perske. "There was awful, awful prejudice against people with mental disabilities and their parents." Even if Arridy had been involved in the murder, it is difficult to imagine him responsible for his actions. A newspaper article stated that on Nov. 19, 1937, when Arridy was on the brink of execution and received a last-minute reprieve, a "toy automobile provided more joy and amusement Friday for Joe Arridy than notification that a last-minute order of the Colorado Supreme Court had saved him from the state's lethal gas chamber, at least temporarily." The state Supreme Court ultimately ruled Arridy should die. Gov. Teller Ammons then demanded justice through a quick completion of Arridy's sentence. Story recovered Sixty-eight years later, advocates will ask Ritter to grant a posthumous pardon of Arridy. A Denver lawyer is assembling the paperwork. As that push emerges, Daniel Leonetti, a former Trinidad journalist inspired by Perske's book, is poised to see his screenplay about Arridy, The Woodpecker Waltz, turned into a multimillion-dollar film. "I promised Joe on his grave that I'd tell his story to the world," Leonetti said with tears Saturday. The script portrays Ireland as the hero. "The story just made me weep," said Micheline Keller of the California-based Keller Entertainment Group. "Forget the mental disability. Joe Arridy was just innocent." Actor Dennis Quaid, Keller said, has read the script and is interested in playing Ireland. She favors the idea of an unknown actor portraying Arridy. Keller and Leonetti joined hands Saturday with Perske on the hill where Michael Radelet, a University of Colorado at Boulder professor and expert in the death penalty, was among those to speak. Radelet pointed at some of the other rusted tin plates surrounding Arridy's grave and said other Colorado executions were questionable, too. For example, John Sullivan, put to death in 1943 after confessing to the murder of Carrie Winona Culbertson, faced mental challenges, an inspection of his El Paso County case revealed. Antonio Sanchez, Leonetti's cousin, spied a lone hawk circling above the gathering, calling it a blessing in his Apache heritage. "That was Joe's spirit giving us approval," Sanchez said, smiling. Arridy's headstone is humble compared to many others in the regular cemetery downhill. Yet his headstone is now the largest and most inviting on Woodpecker Hill. Severa, who previously had visited the cemetery with Perske and led the effort to raise $929 to pay for the gravestone, also spoke to the somber crowd Saturday. He summed up what many came to say. "Sorry, Joe." (source: iNews) FLORIDA----federal death penalty trial Slain deputy's family asks for killer's death----Wilk juror booted for joining online debate Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta, slain in the line of duty 3 years ago, was a loving son, uncle and brother, his sister, Linda Kirtley, told federal jurors Thursday. ''I miss him every day, every day,'' Kirtley said on the first day of testimony in the death penalty phase of the trial. Kenneth Wilk, 45, convicted Tuesday of Fatta's murder, faces the possibility of death by lethal injection for the Aug. 19, 2004, ambush-slaying of Fatta. Because it is a federal case, all 12 jurors must reach a unanimous decision. Fatta's parents -- who are Catholic -- have expressed misgivings about sentencing Wilk to death, and while they said they will abide by the jury's decision, experts have said winning a capital case will nevertheless be difficult. There have been many capital cases successfully prosecuted by the state, but there has never been a successful federal capital murder case in South Florida. Fatta's father, however, said he would like his son's killer to be the 1st so that his son will never be forgotten. ''My son will always be remembered,'' he explained outside the courtroom Thursday. It's not clear how long the penalty phase will last. At one point during trial deliberations, the jury indicated to the judge that it was deadlocked -- a sign that not all of them were able to reach a consensus on all counts. They continued to deliberate, however, and finally reached a decision late Tuesday afternoon. But experts say that their earlier indecision could be a sign that one or more of them have doubts. Fatta, 33, was part of a multiagency federal task force that raided Wilk's upscale Fort Lauderdale home to serve a search warrant for child pornography. In court Thursday, the federal jury heard testimony from Fatta's sister and brother, Joe Fatta Jr., who described their brother's childhood as a computer screen flashed photographs for the jury: a smiling Fatta swimming with dolphins, a proud Fatta standing next to his BSO patrol unit with his parents outside his Pompano Beach home. ''I can talk forever about the positive choices my brother made all his life and how he never chose to work the dark side of life,'' Fatta Jr. said. "His loss was a tragic loss for me and for my family and the community. He dedicated his life to the community.'' The burly firefighter broke down on the stand and was unable to continue speaking. Kirtley broke down crying as she read a poem her 15-year-old daughter Kyleigh wrote about her uncle and his early death: ''Why did you have to die?'' Kyleigh wrote. "I think of you and me swimming in the pool. You were the best uncle.'' After hearing more testimony Thursday afternoon, the jury was excused until Tuesday, but not before being cautioned by U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who on Wednesday dismissed an alternate juror for posting comments about the case on a newspaper Internet site. ''Do not discuss this case on the Internet,'' Cohn told the jury. "Don't even go on the Internet or visit any sites.'' The juror, who sat in on all of the testimony and deemed herself an expert, didn't like what readers were saying about the case. So she chimed in, admonishing others that only the police and Wilk know what actually happened. The juror was an alternate, meaning she wasn't one of the 12 who convicted Wilk on all counts Tuesday. But she was to come back Thursday for the penalty phase. Alternates stick around through the penalty phase, in case one of the primary jurors gets sick. (source: Miami Herald) KANSAS: Kline says death penalty "is on the table" in teen's slaying Johnson County District Attorney Phil Kline says he is consideriing seeking the death penalty for a man charged with killing 18-year-old Kelsey Smith. Kline says the death penalty is "on the table" if the case is tried in state or federal courts. Edwin Hall is charged in Smith's death. Hall, who is 26, appeared in Johnson County Court via video feed today from a jail in Gardner. If convicted, Hall faces a minimum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the murder charge and more than 12 years for aggravated kidnapping. Hall was arrested last night, hours after Smith's body was found near a lake in Grandview, Missouri. Some of Smith's family attended the brief hearing but had no comment afterward. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Mother's wait for justice nearing an end Bessye Middleton has waited 23 years to see justice for her daughter, Tryna. The 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered by Romell Broom. He grabbed her while she walked home with friends from a Shaw High School football game in September of 1984. "Today, when she said we have a date, I just figured time is running out for Romell," Bessye says of a call her received Wednesday. The state has set the execution date for October 18th. Broom has sat on death row since 1985, the second longest stretch waiting for execution for an Ohio inmate. "I'll probably feel, 'He's finally gone, he finally got what he deserved,'" Bessye says of receiving the date. "He's fighting to stay alive but look what he did to Tryna. At least he's 50-something. She was only 14." Broom is now 51-years-old. Tryna would be 37. Her mother says she thinks every day of her happy, fun-loving little girl. Now, she waits for October 18th. "I will be thinking of her and I will say that justice has finally come for him." (source: WKYC News) TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE CALLS FOR STUDY OF DEATH PENALTY Bi-partisan Legislation Passes Overwhelminly In Nashville, today the House of Representatives passed legislation creating a study commission to examine Tennessee's death penalty system, which opponents have long held to be deeply flawed. The legislation, which unanimously passed the Senate on May 24th, was approved in the House by a vote of 79-14 with 2 members present but not voting. The legislation was introduced by Senator Doug Jackson (D-Dickson) and Representative Rob Briley (D-Nashville) in the House. The House version of the bill was co-sponsored by members of both parties from across the state. "Today, the Tennessee General Assembly took a stand on the side of justice and fairness," said Stacy Rector, Executive Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, one of the organizations supporting the legislation. "Tennessee's death penalty system is dangerously broken, and the legislature should be commended for acknowledging these flaws and taking steps to fix them." Several months ago, the American Bar Association released an assessment of Tennessee's capital punishment system which found that the state was in full compliance with only 7 of the 93 benchmarks put forward to guarantee a fair functioning of the death penalty. Tennessee was found to sentence people to death in a biased manner along racial, economic, and geographic lines, and to sentence people with severe mental illness to death. Even more frighteningly, the state was found to have inadequate avenues for addressing questions of factual innocence of death row inmates. "Tennessee has a death row of over 100 individuals," said Rector, "and the largest legal organization in the country has said that we do not even have the proper mechanisms in place to guarantee that we do not execute an innocent person. Tennesseans deserve a system we can trust, and our current system doesn't meet that standard." The study commission will consist of representatives of the House, Senate, Governor, attorneys on both sides of the process, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and victims' advocates. The study will last one year from the appointment of the commission. "Tennessee's death penalty is riddled with flaws, from economic, racial, and geographic disparities in death sentencing to the real threat of executing an innocent person" said Rector. "This study is an essential step in ensuring that true justice prevails in our justice system." (source: TCASK)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, COLO., FLA., KAN., OHIO, TENN.
Rick Halperin Thu, 7 Jun 2007 17:04:06 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
