BY FAX: 615-532-9711

The Honorable Don Sundquist
Governor, State of Tennessee
State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243-0001

Re:      Abu-Ali Abdur Rahman

Dear Governor Sundquist:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, we strongly urge you to grant clemency to Abu-Ali Abdur Rahman, who is currently scheduled for execution on April 10, 2002.  Mr. Abdur Rahman s case presents very compelling reasons for clemency, including gross prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and mental illness.

First, the Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted this case has a documented history of prosecutorial misconduct.  The federal district court judge reviewing the case noted that the prosecutor presented a theory regarding Mr. Abdur Rahman s alleged motive that he knew to be false.[1]  The prosecutor s presentation of this false theory constituted an improper jury argument.

According to Mr. Abdur Rahman s current defense counsel, the prosecutor s misconduct also included:

§         Withholding exculpatory material and evidence from the defense counsel;

§         Misleading statements to the defense counsel regarding crucial blood evidence that raises doubts that Mr. Abdur Rahman was the actual assailant; and

§         Improper coaching of witnesses.

The prosecutor failed to turn over the statements of Mr. Abdur Rahman s co-defendant regarding motive to the defense, which he was required legally to do, and he withheld forensic reports and mental evaluations from the defense.  Those sources contained information vital to Mr. Abdur Rahman s defense, which could have been used by the defense counsel to refute the prosecutor s theories at trial.  

Second, Mr. Abdur Rahman clearly suffered from ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to request either the crime lab reports or the psychiatric evaluations, both of which contained exculpatory evidence.  The crime lab reports stated conclusively that the clothes Mr. Abdur Rahman wore that night did not have blood on them and never had blood on them, and that his fingerprints were not found on the murder weapon, facts that would have strongly supported Mr. Abdur Rahman s version of events.

The defense counsel also failed to present mitigating evidence during the sentencing phase regarding Mr. Abdur Rahman s extensively documented history of extreme sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, or his history of mental illness.  Eight jurors, in signed affidavits, expressed outrage at the failure of the defense counsel to present Mr. Abdur Rahman s case and stated that they would have voted for life if they had heard the mitigating evidence about the lack of physical evidence and his mental illness at the sentencing phase.  

Third, Mr. Abdur Rahman s well-documented history of mental illness by itself justifies clemency.  His mental illness likely stems from his parents physical abuse when a child.  In addition to regularly beating him, Mr. Abdur Rahman s father, on at least one occasion, forced him to strip naked,  hog-tied him and tethered him to a hook with his genitals tied up in a dark closet.  His father would also beat his genitals with a baseball bat.  Mr. Abdur Rahman s mother was also physically abusive.  

Finally, Mr. Abdur Rahman has been a model prisoner with an exceptional record since his trial in 1987.  Guards and a former warden at the prison have written stating that Mr. Abdur Rahman is a positive and stabilizing influence of death row.  For several years, his fellow inmates elected him to represent their views in discussions with the warden and prison administration.  In addition, the warden selected Mr. Abdur Rahman as the only inmate on death row to represent other inmates in disciplinary proceedings, which is a position of trust.  He has received awards for his work on death row, and Mr. Abdur Rahman earned his G.E.D. and paralegal degree while on death row.

Due to the glaring problems in Mr. Abdur Rahman s case including gross prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and mental illness, and because of the exemplary life he is now living, we respectfully urge you to grant clemency in this compelling case.

Sincerely,

Diann Rust-Tierney
ACLU Capital Punishment Project

Hedy Weinberg
ACLU of Tennessee

Brooke S. Horiuchi*
Pro Bono Counsel\
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.

*Admittance to the District of Columbia Bar pending; supervision by James V. Dick, a member of the District of Columbia Bar.