[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CALIF., TENN., ILL.

[Rick Halperin]

May 3



CALIFORNIA:

An Interview with Kevin Cooper----Talking Sports from Death Row


Kevin Cooper is a sports fan. Kevin Cooper loves the Steelers. Kevin
Cooper makes his home on death row at the notorious San Quentin
Penitentiary in California. Cooper awaits execution for a crime many
observers are convinced he did not commit. He was to be injected with
poison until his heart stopped on February 10th, 2004 but received a stay
after massive public pressure was brought to bear. The holes in his murder
conviction were that egregious, that shocking. As one federal judge put it
days before the execution, "When the stakes are so high, when the evidence
against Cooper is so weak, and when the newly discovered evidence of the
state's malfeasance and misfeasance is so compelling, there is no reason
to hurry and every reason to find out the truth."

Here I interview Kevin Cooper about his love of sports. There are 2
reasons why I wanted to hear Cooper's thoughts. The first quite simply is
that I oppose the death penalty. Kevin Cooper's case exemplifies
everything that makes my stomach turn about capital punishment: it's
racially biased. It punishes the innocent. And every last person is on
death row  innocent or not  because they couldn't afford the
representation that would have saved their lives. As the saying goes,
"Those without the capital get the punishment." When we actually read and
hear the voices of those on the row, it makes it that much harder for
executioners like Schwarzenegger to sell the idea that they are somehow
less than human and should be put down like dogs.

The 2nd reason is that Kevin Cooper through his writings and public
statements has proven himself to be a sharp and thoughtful observer of
society. Often with writing, vantage point is everything. Cooper takes his
status as "Dead Man Walking" and refuses to let his mind die. Spike Lee
said, "If you want to learn about the world, start with the sports page."
Here we learn about the world of sports by talking with a man who refuses
to be defined by death.

DZ: How able are you to keep up with sports? Are there particular teams or
players that you follow?

KC: I am able to keep up with sports by way of radio, TV, and newspapers.
I follow the Pittsburgh Steelers football team because Pittsburgh, PA. is
my hometown.

DZ: What are your earliest sports memories? Are they positive?

KC: All of my earliest sports memories are positive, and that's because
during the 60s when I was growing up the only positive Black people who
were seen in the media were sports stars. I looked up to black athletes,
and not just black athletes; my earliest memories are trying to play
baseball like Roberto Clemente.

DZ: How have you seen the world of sports change over the course of your
life?

KC: The inclusion of women in just about all sports has changed the world
of sports in my lifetime, as has the fact that Black men are no longer
seen as "unintelligent" and therefore "unable" to be quarterbacks, head
coaches, baseball managers, or front office people or any other job that
requires them to think. AND that people have, for the most part, stopped
calling Blacks "natural athletes."

DZ: What are your earliest memories of some of the most political
athletes, like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, or Billie Jean King?

KC: Some of my earliest thoughts about Jackie Robinson changed after I
found out that he spoke out against Paul Robeson and others who were doing
their part in their own way to fight for Black people. Doing their part in
their own way just as he did in 1947 by not just going in to play pro
baseball but signing an agreement saying that he wouldn't fight back or
speak out when he was disrespected by white ball players. He signed that
pledge in order to do his part to help Black people.

Concerning Muhammad Ali: he's simply the best and the greatest, and my
thoughts and earliest memories of him have only gotten stronger after all
of these years. In fact, I honestly use him to help keep myself strong and
focused as I fight for my life and try to end the death penalty here from
this cage on death row. Billie Jean King is someone I didn't really know
about growing up, but I do know about her now. Her contribution to women's
equality in tennis is truly a great thing. Because of her doing what she
did back then, standing up for her rights, women today in tennis get paid
a hell of a lot more respect than they did when she played. And of course
they make more money, too.

DZ: Can sports be a site of resistance today, given how commercialized the
culture has become?

KC: If the athletes of today had the same mindset that people like Ali
had, or John Carlos and Timmy Smith had during the 1968 Olympics, then,
yes, today's athletes could make sports a site of resistance. The only
athlete that I know who is of the mindset of Ali, Carlos, and Smith is
Etan Thomas, though there may be others. Sometimes it seems to me that
today's athletes are too worried about getting paid for the most part, and
in getting that they're losing out on what's really important. Especially
since sports provides a platform for them to make positive change that not
many other professions do.

DZ: Why has sports, in your mind, become such a central part of the Black
experience in the United States?

KC: Throughout the history of America, white people have always loved to
be entertained by Black people, especially Black men. The masters of
certain slaves would put their slaves up against other slaves from another
plantation and they would fight, sometimes to the death. Just as dogs or
roosters did. This evolved into sports such as boxing and wrestling. As
new sports were invented, and more white people wanted to be entertained,
more Blacks were either forced to participate against their will, or they
joined in because they found some type of respect if they were good at it.
The master's prize fighter got good food, access to women, and was
respected and treated pretty goodThat is until he lost

As time went on, and the white man refused to give jobs-at least
good-paying jobs-to Blacks because of racism, a Black man found that,
through sports, he could make a decent living. Just look at Jack Johnson
and the opportunities the Blacks had in society when he was alive. These
same conditions exist today, in so much as that a Black person, male or
female, knows that in this country if you can make it in sports, you can
make it big, and can become rich. That is our collective experience in
this country.

DZ: What do you think of NBA commish David Stern's efforts to impose a
dress code on players?

KC: Imposing a dress code on NBA players is stupid to me. It's not the
outside of the players that matters, it's the inside. If anything needs to
be changed, it's their mentality. The deadliest person of all is a police
officer in a suit.

DZ: In New Orleans, when Katrina hit, the only place available for
emergency shelter was the stadium, the Superdome. What does that tell us
about our world today?

After Hurricane Katrina hit and the poor people of New Orleans found
themselves in the Superdome, it showed the world that, in this country, if
you are poor then you are shit out of luck. Nobody will help you when and
how you need help, and if you can't make it on your own you are in
trouble.

DZ: The last one is all you, Kevin. Is there anything you want to share
about sports and life?

KC: Sports and life are both full of contradictions because both have
rules and sometimes the rules are broken and ignored. Mistakes are made
but not admitted to. Certain people make calls in both, and for the most
part it is the ordinary people who suffer because of the calls made by the
leaders or owners. It's the people at the bottom who pay for the mistakes
made by the people at the top. It's a dog eat dog world, the winner takes
all, and too many people are set up to lose from the get-go.

For More Information on Kevin's case, visit savekevincooper.org

(source: Dave Zirin, CounterPunch)






TENNESSEE:

Legislation Approved for Full Study of TN Death Penalty-----HOUSE
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES FULL STUDY OF DEATH PENALTY


Study Bill Moves As the Governor Allows Moratorium to Expire

The House Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved legislation,
introduced by Representative Rob Briley (D- Nashville) and Senator Doug
Jackson (D-Dickson) and co-sponsored by members of both parties, to create
a commission to conduct a thorough study of the states death penalty
system. The commission would include representatives appointed by the
Governor, the Senate, and the House, as well as lawyers for both the
defense and prosecution, mental health advocates, and victims advocates.
The commission would make recommendations to the legislature as to how the
identified problems should be addressed.

"The members of the committee affirmed today that Tennessees capital
punishment system is a mess," said Reverend Stacy Rector, Executive
Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing. "The death
penalty in Tennessee is dangerously broken and our state representatives
need to take steps to address all its problems."

According to an assessment released last week by the American Bar
Association, which has no position on the death penalty, the Tennessee
capital punishment system suffers from serious flaws. Tennessee does not
have protocols mandating the preservation of DNA evidence throughout a
death row inmates incarceration. Moreover, inmates are not provided with
proper avenues to address claims of factual innocence, leading to the
serious and deadly risk that Tennessee could execute an innocent person.
Moreover, the assessment found, Tennessees death penalty system continues
to be applied unfairly along racial, economic, and geographic lines, and
people with severe mental illness continue to face death sentences.

"At the very least, Tennesseans deserve to know that the capital
punishment system is functioning properly," said Rector. "The only way to
begin to address it flaws and ensure that an innocent person is not
executed is to conduct a full study examining every aspect of the system
to ensure its reliability."

The legislation passed on the same day as Governor Phil Bredesen allowed
his 90-day moratorium on executions, put in place to study Tennessees
execution protocols, to expire. The Governor ignored the findings of the
ABA which called for a continuation of the current moratorium and a
complete study of the death penalty, as well as a letter from nearly 200
faith leaders from across Tennessee calling on him to act to ensure that
fairness and equity prevail in Tennessees death penalty system. A poll
conducted by the Global Strategies group found that 66% of Tennesseans
would have approved of an extension of the moratorium.

"It is disappointing that the Governor is allowing executions to resume
even after hes heard from legal experts, faith leaders, and the people of
Tennessee that we should act to fix a broken system," said Rector. "But it
is encouraging that the General Assembly is taking steps to address the
serious flaws in Tennessees capital punishment system."

(source: My Eyewitness News)






ILLINOIS:

Ramsey can face death penalty: jury

Fulton County jurors found Daniel Ramsey eligible for the death penalty
Monday.

Jurors took just over an hour to decide that the state had proved its case
for eligibility. To be eligible for the death penalty in Illinois, a
defendant must have been convicted of 1st degree murder, and also must
meet one or more of 20 possible aggravating factors.

The Fulton County jury determined that 3 of the factors had been met,
including the defendant murdered 2 or more people; the defendant murdered
them while committing another felony (aggravated criminal sexual assault);
and the murder was committed in a "cold, calculated, and premeditated"
manner.

Ramsey pled guilty on April 25, to 4 counts of 1st-degree murder, 3 counts
of attempted murder, and 1 count each of aggravated criminal sexual
assault and home invasion. In exchange, prosecutors dropped 5 other murder
counts stemming from the same killings, along with 2 counts of home
invasion and 1 count of residential burglary.

The plea did not stipulate that the death penalty be taken off the
penalty.

The charges stem from a 1996 shooting spree in which Ramsey shot and
killed Laura Marson, 16, and Lonna Sloop, 12, then shot and injured
17-year-old Rachel Sloop, 3-year-old Cody Hamelton and 2-1/2-year-old
Courtney Hamelton.

The 3rd and last phase of the trial is the sentencing phase. Jurors have
to decide whether Ramsey should be sentenced to death or sentenced to life
in prison.

2 Illinois State Troopers testified Monday about Ramsey's videotaped
confession the day following the murders. Rachel Sloop, who was shot in
the head, testified about finding Ramsey in her house the evening of the
murders. She did not testify about the shooting.

Other family members who testified in the eligibility phase last week were
Susan Marson and Barb Sloop.

Ramsey, formerly of Keokuk, Iowa, was sentenced to death in 1997 in Knox
County before the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling
the defendant had been required to present an insanity defense based on an
inappropriately narrow legal definition of insanity passed by the Illinois
legislature.

The case was ordered to be retried.

(source: Hancock County Journal-Pilot)