News:
1. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Ring v. Arizona Retroactive
2. Missouri Supreme Court Overturns Juvenile Death Sentence
3. Tennessee Execution Imminent Despite Compelling Evidence
4. 2002 Crime Rate Lowest Since 1973
5. DNA Evidence Exonerates Two In Illinois
August/September Executions:
Action Alerts:
1. Take action to stop the Florida execution of Paul Hill on September 3.
2. Take action to stop the Tennessee execution of Philip Workman on September 24.
New Resources:
1. Law Review Examines use of Colorado's Death Penalty
2. Newsletter Highlights International Approach to the Death Penalty
3. An Analysis of Death Penalty Cases in Georgia
4. Extensive Excerpts from Judge Wolf's Opinion in United States v. Sampson
Featured Events:
1. September 26-August 12 - Journey of Hope: Ohio
2. October 9-11 - Human Rights at Home: International Law in U.S. Courts
3. October 10-12 - Amnesty International USA's National Weekend of Faith in Action
4. October 11 - Student Death Penalty Conference and Rally in Harrisburg, PA.
5. October 13-17 - Death Penalty Awareness Week: Nationwide
6. October 16-19 - National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Annual Meeting: Nashville, TN
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Special Announcement:
We want to continue to build the list of people receiving this bi-weekly Death Penalty Update, an excellent overview of death penalty news stories, scheduled executions, and new resources. Please take a minute to let your colleagues, friends, and members know that they can now subscribe simply by sending an email to Josh Noble, at jnoble@dcaclu.org and typing ""Death Penalty Update"" in the subject line.
News:
9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Ring v. Arizona Retroactive (September 2, 2003)
In ruling that prisoners' constitutional rights were violated by the practice of having a judge, rather than a jury, decide the critical sentencing decisions in death penalty cases, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the sentences of more than a hundred death row inmates in three states. The case stems from the 2002 Ring v. Arizona decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that juries, not judges, must render death sentences. The Supreme Court left unclear whether the decision should apply retroactively to inmates awaiting execution. In Arizona, only 30 of the 124 people on death row received new sentencing hearings because they were still in the early appeal stage. However, the 8-3 vote issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all inmates sentenced to death by a judge should have their sentences commuted to life in prison. The ruling applies only to three states, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, in the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction that have allowed judges to make critical decisions when determining death sentences. Two other states that were affected by the Ring decision, Colorado and Nebraska, await the federal appeals court in their jurisdiction to rule on the issue. If upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, this decision would bring about the largest reduction in the U.S. death row population since former Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life imprisonment in January 2003.
To read an article from the Washington Post, please visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16323-2003Sep2.html.
The decision, Summerlin v. Stewart, can be viewed at:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov.
Missouri Supreme Court Overturns Juvenile Death Sentence (August 26, 2003)
The Missouri Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a juvenile offender, Christopher Simmons, who was only 17 years old when he committed a murder. The Court commuted Simmons' sentence to life without parole. In its ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court stated that, ""a national consensus has developed against the execution of juvenile offenders,"" citing a number of states that have banned the practice of executing juveniles, and condemned the practice as unconstitutional. Currently, 28 states and the federal government prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders. Of the 22 states that continue to execute juveniles, 17 states, including Missouri, allow those who commit a capital crime at the age of 16 to receive a death sentence, and the remaining 5 permits executions for crimes committed at the age of 17. The U.S. Supreme Court prohibits the executions for crimes committed at the age of 15 and younger. Since 1973, 21 juvenile offenders have been executed in the United States. A total of total of 228 juvenile death sentences have been imposed, and 80 of these remain on death row. The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling marks a productive step forward in the abolition of the juvenile death penalty.
To read an article from CNN, please visit:
http://www8.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/26/juvenile.death.penalty.ap/.
Learn more about the juvenile death penalty:
http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/juvdp.html
http://www.ncadp.org/html/juvenile_campaign.html
Tennessee Execution Imminent Despite Compelling Evidence (August 25, 2003)
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has made no effort to stop the execution of Philip Workman despite new evidence that could undermine his conviction. Workman was convicted of the 1981 murder of Lieutenant Ronald Oliver during a Memphis robbery. Although Workman does not deny participating in the robbery, he does deny shooting the officer while fleeing the scene. At trial, an alleged eyewitness, Harold Davis, claimed to have seen Workman shoot the officer from ten feet away. However, since the trial, Davis has recanted his statement, admitting he lied. With Davis' testimony recanted, there is no one that witnessed Davis at the scene when Lt. Oliver was shot. One eyewitness has come forward to say that at least one police officer fired shots as the suspects were fleeing the scene. This claim is corroborated by initial police reports that indicated police officers did fire. In addition, forensic experts have stated that Lt. Oliver's wound could not have been caused by Workman's bullet, which further supports the theory that Lt. Oliver was killed by a one of the other officers' gunfire. Five jurors from Workman's trial have signed affidavits stating that they would not have voted for conviction if they had been presented with this compelling evidence. In addition, two state Supreme Court justices have recommended clemency for Workman. Philip Workman is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on September 24.
To take action and help stop the execution of Philip Workman, please visit NCADP at: http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/alert/?alertid=3172501.
2002 Crime Rate Lowest Since 1973 (August 24, 2003)
According to the Justice Department, violent and property crime have dropped to their lowest levels since records started being compiled 30 years ago, and have dropped more than 50 percent in the last decade. The annual survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics identified about 23 million crime victims last year, a slight decrease from the year before, and dramatically lower than the 44 million recorded when studies began in 1973. The rate of violent crimes, which includes rapes, robberies, and assaults, was about 23 victims for every 1,000 U.S. residents 12 or older last year. That compares with 25 victims per 1,000 in 2001 and 50 in 1993. Despite the significant decrease in the crime rate, the U.S. prison and jail population increased dramatically in 2002 to 2,033,331 people at the end of last year, holding one out of every 143 residents. This phenomenon can be unquestionably attributed to anachronistic ""get-tough"" crime control policies, many of which were adopted at a time when crime rates and the fear of crime were greater.
To read an article by CNN, please visit: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/24/crime.rate.ap/.
For more information on criminal justice issues: www.aclu.org/crimanljustice
DNA Evidence Exonerates Two In Illinois (August 22, 2003)
After spending 26 years in prison, Michael Evans and Paul Terry have been released from prison and cleared of all charges. Evans and Terry were convicted of the 1976 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Cook County. The men were 17 at the time of the crime and no physical evidence linked them to the murder. In 1994, prosecutors informed Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions that they had doubts about the convictions. The Center petitioned to have DNA tests conducted, which ultimately determined that the two men were not responsible for the crime. While Evans and Terry were not facing the death penalty, their release clearly demonstrates that our criminal justice system is critically flawed and broken when innocent people are convicted of serious crimes and forced to endure decades of imprisonment before mistakes are caught.
To read an article by DPIC, please visit: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=699&scid=64.
For more information on Innocence and the death penalty, see the Death Penalty Information Center: http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6
For more info on Innocence/wrongful convictions in all cases: http://innocenceproject.org/
August/September Executions:
For execution updates and alerts, please visit www.ncadp.org.
Action Alerts:
Stop the Execution of Paul Hill. Paul Hill is scheduled to be executed in Florida on September 3. Hill, an anti-abortion activist, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Dr. John Britton and James Barrett outside a women's center in Pensacola. Hill dropped his appeals and has said he believes his execution will encourage more people to kill abortion providers and will therefore save lives in the long run. Hill's execution undoubtedly perpetuates a vicious cycle of violence. It also stands to make a martyr out of him. To learn more about the case of Paul Hill and for information on how to take action, please visit http://www.ncadp.org/html/paul_hill_8_27.html.
Stop the Execution of Philip Workman. Philip Workman is scheduled
to be executed in Tennessee on September 24 despite new evidence
that undermines his conviction. To learn more about the case of
Philip Workman and for information on how to take action, please
visit http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/action.html.
Action Alerts from the ACLU:
http://www.aclu.org/Focus.cfm?ContentStyle=2&num=5
Action Alerts from Amnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/exe.do?action=dp.actions.
New Resources:
Law Review Examines use of Colorado's Death Penalty. In "Capital Punishment in Colorado: 1859-1972," University of Colorado professor and death penalty expert Michael Radelet reviews the history of capital punishment in Colorado. In the article, Radelet reviews each of the state's executions during that time period and uses the data to show general patterns regarding the average time between conviction and execution, types of crimes and number of victims, and the logistics of carrying out the executions. 74 University of Colorado Law Review 885 (2003).
For the basic facts/findings of this study, please visit: http://www.bannister.dk/news4.html.
Newsletter Highlights International Approach to the Death Penalty. The most recent newsletter produced by the End to Capital Punishment Movement USA (ECPM USA) highlights developments in the organization's aim to strengthen the cross-Atlantic dialogue on the death penalty. Among other items, the newsletter contains articles on state reports on the death penalty, the Council of Europe seminars on capital punishment that were recently held in Illinois and Washington, DC, and information about the Second World Conference on the Death Penalty that is scheduled to take place in 2004. (ECPM USA Newsletter, August 2003). To request a copy of ECPM Newsletters, contact: Ldavid@abolition-ecpm.org
An Analysis of Death Penalty Cases in Georgia. A new report by Michael Mears of the Office of the Multi-County Public Defender provides a detailed examination of every death penalty trial in Georgia since the state passed its current death penalty statute in 1973. This resource contains a listing of death penalty cases by name of the defendant, name of the county, name of the judicial circuit, as well as the disposition of every death penalty case. It also provides a brief overview of the historic role Georgia has played in the Supreme Court's examination of the modern death penalty. (An Analysis of Death Penalty Cases in Georgia by Judicial Circuits 1973-2003, Office of Multi-County Public Defender, August 2003).
For additional reading on Georgia Death Penalty Law, please visit: http://www.law.mercer.edu/lawreview/Articles/52101.htm.
Extensive Excerpts from Judge Wolf's Opinion in United States v. Sampson. The following excerpts are from Judge Mark Wolf's opinion allowing the federal capital prosecution of Gary Lee Sampson to proceed. In his decision, Judge Wolf of the Federal District Court in Boston expressed reservations about the risks of executing the innocent and appeared to criticize the Justice Department's zealous approach to seeking capital convictions.
To view the excepts from Judge Wolf's opinion in U.S. v. Sampson, please visit the Death Penalty Information Center at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=693&scid=64.
For additional resources, please visit Death Penalty Information Center at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/getcat.php?cid=5.
Featured Events:
September 26-August 12
Journey of Hope: Ohio http://www.journeyofhope.org/Ohio/. A 17-day tour of murder victim family members who oppose capital punishment, death row families, innocent persons freed from death row and other supporters who will travel across the state of Ohio to share their incredible messages of love, forgiveness and healing. Tour events include: public speaking, rallies, marches, concerts, tree plantings, media interviews, and other activities.
October 9-11
Human Rights at Home: International Law in U.S. Courts. A national training conference sponsored by the ACLU National Headquarters at the Presidential Center, Atlanta, Georgia. The conference will familiarize lawyers and advocates with international human rights treaties, laws and, organizing strategies.
For additional information, please contact Tanya Coke at 973-509-7443 or email tecoke@comcast.net. To register, please fill out a printable PDF form at /files/gen/13522res20030506.html. The registration fee is $100 if you register before August 29, $150 if you register after.
October 10-12
Amnesty International USA's National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty. This event seeks to bring together two important approaches to social justice -- that of human rights and that of faith-based community action. This national observance weekend invites a diverse range of faith communities throughout the country to devote a weekend to reflect, discuss, and take action on abolishing the death penalty within a faith-based framework. Contact Kristin Houlé at 202-544-0200 ext. 496 or khoule@aiusa.org for more information, or visit: http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/faithinaction.html.
October 11
Student Death Penalty Conference and Rally in Harrisburg, PA. The conference is specifically for students and is being organized by Students Against the Death Penalty of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. We expect youth from across PA and nearby states to attend. The keynote speakers are Former Illinois Governor George Ryan and death row exoneree Ray Krone. Immediately following the conference will be a rally at the steps of the State Capitol, which is open to students and non-students. For more information contact Morgan Macdonald, 410-303-7376, morgangmac@hotmai.com or to register: www.studentsagainstthedeathpenalty.org
October 13-17
Death Penalty Awareness Week, sponsored by Campaign to End the Death Penalty, contact: Noreen@nodeathpenalty.org
Participating CEDP College Chapters: Georgetown, George Washington, University of Maryland, American University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Berkeley, Columbia, Princeton and Yale
October 13: Columbus Day, most college campuses are closed
October 14: Events surrounding issues of morality and innocence
October 15: Inequality: racial, economic, geographic
October 16: Cruel and Unusual Punishment/Methods of Executions/Juvenile Death Penalty
October 17: Cost, Deterrence, Alternatives
October 16-19
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Annual Death Penalty Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. Open to all. NCADP is the only staffed organization solely working full time to abolish the death penalty. For more information, contact Randy Tatel at 615.329.0048 or David Elliot at 202.543.9577, ext. 16.
http://www.ncadp.org/html/conference.html
For more information, comments, help getting involved, etc., please contact Josh Noble: jnoble@dcaclu.og.
To see past editions of Death Penalty Update: http://www.aclu.org/DeathPenalty/DeathPenaltylist.cfm?c=17 and scroll down to ""Newsletters""
Jason Stramaglia, volunteer for the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, writes Death Penalty Update.
