And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) >Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1999 22:35:45 +0100 >To: Chris Spotted Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Lulu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Elsie Herten/KOLA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Gary Night Owl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Celine - CSIA/LPSG-France <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Fwd : Randy Reeves, Jan 6th, 1999 update > >The following update was forwarded by Linda Lucasey, Americans Against Death Penalty-AADP. >E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Jan. 6, 1999---- > >NEBRASKA: > >In Lincoln, with fewer than 10 days remaining before his scheduled >execution, Nebraska death-row inmate Randolph Reeves on Tuesday was >denied his latest appeal. > >The Jan. 14 execution still could be delayed, however, depending on what >action is taken next by his attorney and the Nebraska Supreme Court. > >Reeves' lawyer, Paula Hutchinson of Lincoln, could not be reached for >comment. Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey said he expects Tuesday's >ruling from Lancaster County District Judge Earl Witthoff to be >appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. > >Assuming Hutchinson and her client appeal, the high court could delay the >execution to allow time for it to consider Reeves' latest argument - that >Nebraska's newly enacted equal-protection clause is grounds to invalidate >his death sentence. > >The court also could ask lawyers to expedite their arguments or it could >simply let the execution occur without taking further action. > >Meanwhile, Reeves' father, Don, of Central City, Neb., said he still hopes >the Nebraska Board of Pardons will grant his son clemency. If not, he >said he probably will seek to be a witness to his son's death. > >"The basic reason would be our level of commitment to Randy as our son," >Reeves said. Reeves' mother, Barbara, would not witness the execution. >The Reeveses, who are Quakers, adopted their son, an Omaha Indian, when >he was 3 years old. > >Randolph Reeves, now 42, was sentenced to death for the March 29, 1980, >murders of Janet Mesner and Vicki Lamm in a Quaker meeting house in >Lincoln. Mesner was the daughter of family friends and fellow Quakers, >Kenneth and Mildred Mesner of Central City. The Mesners also have urged >clemency for Reeves. > >Hutchinson, before the court ruling, said Reeves recognizes the graveness >of the current status of his case but is "humbled and honored" by the >efforts to save his life. > >The appeal decided by Witthoff hinged on the equal-protection clause that >Nebraska voters added to the State Constitution in November. The clause >guaranteeing that every person be treated equally under the law was >recommended by a special Constitutional Revision Commission. > >Among other arguments, Hutchinson maintained that Reeves' right to equal >protection was violated because Nebraska's death penalty has been applied >in a racially discriminatory manner. Hutchinson argued that black people >and American Indians are more likely than white people to be sentenced to >death in Nebraska. > >In a 9-page ruling released less than 30 hours after lawyers argued >their case to him, Witthoff rejected all of Reeves' arguments. > >He said the same arguments already had been rejected in past court cases. > >"Simply rephrasing the allegations in terms of the newly created Equal >Protection clause of the Nebraska Constitution does not change the >essential underlying nature of the claims," the judge wrote. > >Witthoff said Nebraska voters did not intend the new equal protection >clause to apply to past cases. Otherwise, anybody ever convicted in >Nebraska could challenge a conviction under the equal protection >clause, he said. > >He also said that Hutchinson had not made her case that Nebraska's death >penalty is discriminatory. He said meaningful statistical analysis is >impossible because so few executions have been carried out in Nebraska - >3 since 1959. > >Witthoff also rejected Hutchinson's argument that the electric chair was >cruel and unusual punishment. The judge said that because 11 states still >authorized its use, there was no national consensus that it was cruel or >unusual. > >(source: Omaha World-Herald) > <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
