death penalty news September 24, 2005
INDIANA: Matheney execution becoming a circus The circus is coming to town Tuesday. In the center ring this time is death row inmate Alan Matheney, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection just after midnight on Wednesday. Anyone who's been around this area for the past 15 years remembers Matheney's case. He's the man who was given an eight-hour furlough to go to Indianapolis from Pendleton Reformatory. Instead, he drove to Mishawaka and clubbed Lisa Bianco, his ex-wife, to death with a shotgun. He hit her in the head so hard that the gun's stock broke in two. Matheney started the circus on Monday when he refused to show up at his clemency hearing. Under state law, if an inmate doesn't show at his clemency hearing, he forfeits the right to ask for clemency. Matheney claims (or at least his lawyers claim) he is mentally ill and doesn't understand what is going on. By the way, Matheney is represented by Alan Friedman and Carol Heise, who represented D.H. Fleenor six years ago and made the same argument, which apparently fell on deaf ears because Fleenor was executed in 1999. To his credit, Gov. Mitch Daniels has announced he will conduct a full clemency review of Matheney's case, even though he doesn't have to. "The governor will conduct his customary, independent review of the case where he takes into account all the particular facts and circumstances and the reasons that in this case Mr. Matheney provided to support his request for clemency," said a spokeswoman for the governor. Anyone who follows the death penalty in Indiana shouldn't be surprised at what is happening. It was to be expected since Daniels granted clemency to Arthur Baird on Aug. 29. Everyone on Death Row will now play the mentally ill card, hoping to be spared. At least Baird showed up for his hearing. He told the Parole Board he didn't understand what was going on when he murdered his wife, unborn child and parents. A mountain of testimony was presented that Baird had a mental problem and couldn't control his actions, but none of it kept a jury from sentencing him to die. "I didn't know I was mentally ill," said Baird. "I can't really say what should be done. My first choice would be to be released from prison. The first thing I would do is go to a mental health clinic and get in a mental health program and get the help I obviously need." Luckily for Hoosiers, he isn't getting his wish. Instead, Daniels reduced Baird's sentence to life without parole, an option that wasn't available to juries when Baird committed his crimes in 1985. It's because of guys like Baird and Matheney that I remain convinced the death penalty is not a deterrent to homicide. I'm also convinced chances are good Matheney will become the fifth person to be put to death in Indiana this year. If that happens it will be the most executions conducted by the Indiana Department of Correction since 1938, when nine men were put to death. It's impossible to defend people like Alan Matheney. He stalked his ex-wife, terrorized her and then brutally beat her to death. The state-sanctioned killing of Matheney may not be as brutal, but it's every bit as wrong. After all, Indiana has been putting people to death since 1897 and not one of those executions has stopped a single murder. (source: The (Michigan City, IN) News-Dispatch) NORTH CAROLINA: Play to examine death penalty issues Theatre-on-a-Stick opens its production of "The Exonerated," by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, this weekend. "The Exonerated" tells the true story of six people wrongly convicted of murder who were freed after spending from two to 22 years on death row. The play won the 2003 Drama Desk Award and was nominated for three NAACP awards. Three discussions and talk-backs pertinent to death penalty issues will be held. After the performance Sunday at the Brown-Penn Center, Darryl Hunt and Jennifer Cannino will lead the discussion. Hunt was released after serving 18 years of a life sentence for a 1984 rape and murder he didn't commit. Cannino was a rape victim who mistakenly identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Cotton served 10 years for the crime before a DNA test exonerated him. Mark Kleinschmidt, staff attorney, Center for Death Penalty Litigation, will lead a discussion after the performance at the Belk Centrum Sept. 30. On Oct. 2, a panel of religious and community leaders will be led by the Rev. Robert MacDicken of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley. Theatre-on-a-Stick is a group of individuals and organizations who have joined together to present theater not usually performed by the local established theaters. For this performance, the League of Women Voters of Catawba Valley and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley have teamed with other citizens interested in the death penalty issue. (source: The Charlotte Observer)
