Death Penalty Update

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News

World Court Orders U.S. To Review Mexican Cases

(April 1, 2004)

The International Court of Justice, the highest United Nations court, has ruled that United States violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row. Mexico argued that the defendants were entitled to retrials because they were not informed of their right to receive diplomatic help after being arrested. Under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), local authorities must notify all detained foreigners "without delay" of their right to have their consulate informed of their detention. At the request of the national, the authorities must then notify the consulate without delay, facilitate unfettered consular communication and grant consular access to the detainee. The Court's decision could mean reprieve or another chance of appeal for the death row inmates, including Osvaldo Torres, who is scheduled for execution in Texas on May 18. The decision may also have implications for other foreign citizens in U.S. prisons who were not told they could receive diplomatic assistance. Despite the ruling, there are no assurances that the eight states holding the inmates will address the Court's concerns. Arizona ignored a 2001 court order to stay the execution of a German citizen. If the United States ignores the ruling, Mexico intends to take further legal steps to ensure the Court's concerns are adequately addressed. The United States could ultimately be referred to the U.N. Security Counsel for ""appropriate action"" if it refuses to comply with Court rulings. Currently, there are 121 foreign nationals on U.S. death row, 55 whom are Mexican.

Learn More About Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty

Study Finds Unreliable Predictions of Future Dangerousness In Texas

(March 31, 2004)

Texas is one of only two states that allow evidence of the possibility of future bad acts, commonly known as ""future dangerousness"" to be used to justify a death sentence. Texas juries can recommend a death sentence if they find that the defendant will ""pose a continuing threat to society"". A new study by the Texas Defender Service and Professor John Edens of Sam Houston State University found that expert witnesses called to provide proof of future dangerousness to juries were wrong 95% of the time.

The study examined the case of 155 prisoners who were sentenced to death based in whole or in part on expert testimony that they would pose in fact pose a future danger. Sixty-seven of the 155 prisoners have already been executed. Forty of those prisoners remain on death row. Another twenty have had their death sentenced overturned or reduced. Included among those whose sentences were overturned was death row exoneree Randal Dale Adams. The expert witness testified in his case that he was 100% certain that Randal Dale Adams was a future danger to society. But Adams was later found to be innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced to die ?

The study found that despite predictions that these prisoners would in fact pose a future danger, none killed again while in prison. Twenty-percent of the prisoners had no disciplinary violations while in prison. Seventy-five percent had minor disciplinary infractions, such as possessing lottery tickets, food in their cells, or too many sheets. Only eight later engaged in behavior that resulted in serious injury

According to Dr. Edens, ""There are strong reasons to question the accuracy of predictions of violence made by prosecution experts in capital murder trials. It seems impossible to reconcile the glaring inaccuracy of the predictions made by these experts with the requirement that death sentences be meted out in a non-capricious manner."" Texas is one of only two states that allows ""future dangerousness"" to play a decisive role in determining who receives a death sentence.

Read 'Deadly Speculation'

Supreme Court Hears Execution Arguments

(March 29, 2004)

The Supreme Court heard arguments on March 29 on the question of whether a death row prisoner can use the federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. section 1983 to challenge the procedures that will be used to execute him. David Larry Nelson was sentenced to death in 1994, when Alabama conducted executions by electric chair. In 2002, the Alabama legislature changed the method of execution from electric chair to lethal injection. Because Mr. Nelson has severely compromised veins, the State of Alabama is proposing a number of procedures, including a surgical ""cut down"" procedure, to administer the lethal drugs. Nelson is challenging these procedures and the circumstances under which they will be done in his petition to the Court. The case, Nelson v. Campbell, will be ruled on later this year.

Read the Sixth District Court of Appeals Decision

* Visit the Resource Section for materials relevant to these news briefs

Upcoming Executions

APRIL

04/13/04 TX Michael Rosales

04/16/04 NC Kenneth Bernard Rouse - Stayed

04/16/04 SC Jerry Bidwell McWee

04/23/04 SC Jason Scott Byram

04/27/04 TX James Clark

04/27/04 OH Gregory Lott

04/29/04 TX Anzel Jones - Juvenile - Stayed

MAY

05/13/04 PA Francis Bauer Harris - Stay Likely

05/18/04 OK Osvaldo Torres - Foreign National

05/18/04 TX Kelsey Patterson - Mentally Ill

05/21/04 LA Cedric Howard - Juvenile - Stayed

NCADP Execution Alerts

Action Alerts

Take Action to Stop the Execution of Kenneth Rouse

North Carolina has scheduled Kenneth Rouse's execution date for April 16 despite evidence that he suffers from serious mental retardation. Rouse has had his IQ tested as low as 59, eleven points below the mental retardation threshold. However, he scored 70 on a subsequent IQ test and the jury did not believe that his mental retardation was a reason to spare his life. Mr. Rouse has also been diagnosed as having an organic personality disorder by several mental health experts, which is marked by impaired brain functioning, rapid and severe mood changes, poor impulse control, and suspiciousness and paranoia. Racial bias also permeated Mr. Rouse's trial. He was tried by an all-white jury in a jurisdiction where black defendants with white victims are three times as likely to receive a death sentence. One jury member admitted in an affidavit that he lied about his racist views so he could sit on the jury and convict Rouse. Rouse's case exemplifies the ultimate injustice of the death penalty.

Take Action To Stop the Execution of Kenneth Rouse

Take Action to Stop the Execution of Kelsey Patterson

The State of Texas is scheduled to execute Kelsey Patterson, a mentally ill man, on May 18. Patterson has a long history of mental illness and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1981. While acknowledging that Patterson committed the crime for which he was sentenced to die, a federal judge noted the substantial role that his mental illness played in his crime. ""Patterson had no motive for the killings?he claims he commits acts involuntarily and outside forces control him through implants in his brain and body?Patterson has consistently maintained he is a victim of an elaborate conspiracy, and his lawyers and doctors are part of that conspiracy?and he refuses to acknowledge that his lawyers represent him."" Despite Patterson's pronounced mental illness, a jury found him competent to stand trial and he was ultimately sentenced to death. Patterson's case raises important considerations about society's treatment of the mentally ill. Mentally incompetent individuals are unable to grasp the consequences of their actions, and executing the mentally ill does little to serve the administration of justice.

Amnesty International has released a new report on the case of Kelsey Patterson. The report, ""Another Texas Injustice: The case of Kelsey Patterson, mentally ill man facing execution,"" details Patterson's case and his endless struggle with mental illness.

Read 'The Case Of Kelsey Patterson' From Amnesty International

Action Alerts From the ACLU

Legislative Update

Federal Legislation

Urge Congress To Oppose Overreaching and Punitive Crime Laws

Less than 18 months after the Senate passed rational and balanced federal juvenile justice legislation, two Senators have introduced a new punitive bill that would expand the use of the death penalty and create new ill-defined crimes.

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have introduced the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003 (S. 1735), a measure that includes dangerous provisions that would expand the use of the death penalty to additional crimes and create additional federal ""gang"" crimes that lack clear definition.

This dangerous bill would use a very broad definition of gang membership to make a person eligible for the death penalty, even if they themselves, did not commit the murder.

Take Action! Let your Senator know that expanding the death penalty and creating new ill-defined crimes is neither rational nor fair.

Click Here To Send A Free Fax

Innocence Protection Act

On October 1, bipartisan members of both the House and Senate introduced an Omnibus Bill called ""the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act"". Title III of the bill contains a revised version of the Innocence Protection Act that was introduced in the 107th Congress. This version of the IPA would, among other things, set up a process for federal prisoners who meet the standards in the bill to obtain access to DNA testing and obtain relief if exonerated by the DNA results. Title III would also encourage states to set up similar mechanisms and provide funding to local prosecutors and defense lawyers to improve the quality of representation in death penalty cases.

Other provisions of the Omnibus bill would, however, greatly expand the categories of individuals at the federal and state level whose DNA information could be stored in the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Current law permits DNA information for those convicted of violent federal crimes and those convicted of state felonies to be stored. This new measure would extend the reach of CODIS to those convicted of additional federal crimes, those convicted of any state offense and any other offense for which DNA information has been collected under state law or practice-going well beyond those who have been convicted of committing a crime.

Another provision would indefinitely toll the statute of limitations for federal felonies so that it does not begin to run until the government implicates the individual by means of DNA testing. This provision raises a number of serious due process concerns stemming from the possibility of indictments being handed down decades after a crime occurred.

The House of Representatives has already passed the Advancing Justice Through DNA Testing Act. IPA supporters are working toward Senate action.

Support the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act

On June 24, 2003, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced H.R. 2574, the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003. This legislation, which is a companion bill to Senate legislation introduced by Senator Feingold (D-WI), will put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law. Please contact your U.S. Representative today to urge him/her to co-sponsor and support this important legislation! Note: If your Congressional Representative is an original co-sponsor, please thank him or her instead.

State Legislation

NH Juvenile Death Penalty Repeal Effort

New Hampshire is one of a handful of states that has the juvenile death penalty on its books, but has no juvenile offenders on its death row nor has ever executed a juvenile offender. The NH Senate has already passed SB 513 (a bill to ban the execution of 17 year old offenders). A Hearing was held in the NH House on Wednesday, March 24th.

New Hampshire residents/constituents of your organizations from New Hampshire should contact their legislator and urge them to support SB 513:

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/bills/?bill=5032741

MD:

Last week the Maryland Senate passed SB 744 by an overwhelming vote of 30-16. The bill would establish the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment and study Maryland's death penalty system which has already proven to be horribly racially and geographically biased through a recent report by the University of Maryland

Urge your Delegate to vote for SB 744. SB 744 will have a hearing in the MD House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, April 8th and a floor vote is likely soon thereafter. Maryland Residents, please Take Action.

Click here to send a free fax to your delegate or you can call your delegate by calling the MD Legislative Switchboard and asking for your Representative:

410-946-5000 or 301-970-5000
To find your delegate with your home address: http://mlis.state.md.us

PA:

Pennsylvania Residents: Support a Moratorium on Executions in Pennsylvania

Citizens in Pennsylvania showed their support for a statewide moratorium on executions during Moratorium Week 2004, which ended on March 4th. The governor received hundreds of phone calls and demonstrations, debates and other events were held throughout the state in protest of the state's capital punishment policy.

During his campaign for governor, Ed Rendell -- a former district attorney and death penalty proponent -- stated that he would support a temporary freeze on executions if there was compelling evidence of errors and unfairness in the system.

On March 4, 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System released a report recommending an immediate moratorium on executions, citing evidence of racial bias and the failure of Pennsylvania to ensure competent representation for indigent defendants. Gov. Rendell has since stated repeatedly that he has seen no compelling evidence of problems with Pennsylvania's death penalty system.

The exoneration of death row prisoner Nicholas Yarris on December 9, 2003, is one of the most significant developments in the history of the death penalty in Pennsylvania. After spending more than two decades on death row for a crime he did not commit, Yarris joins Jay Smith, Neil Ferber, William Nieves, Hank Kimbell, and Fred Thomas (who died on death row after having his conviction dismissed while prosecutors stalled with appeals) - innocent men who spent a combined total of nearly 50 years on Pennsylvania's death row before they were finally exonerated.

Pennsylvania has now exonerated twice as many death row prisoners (6) as it has executed (3) since the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Take Action! Urge Governor Rendell to declare a temporary freeze on executions in Pennsylvania until these apparent problems with the death penalty are resolved.

Click here to send a fax to Governor Rendell

Resources

Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) offers a wide spectrum of information on foreign nationals and the death penalty. Topics include: background on consular rights, reported foreign nationals on death row, executions and pending executions for foreign nationals, and current issues and news relating to foreign nationals.

Learn More About Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty

Deadly Speculation - Misleading Texas Capital Juries with False Predictions of Future Dangerousness

'Deadly Speculation' is a new report from the Texas Defender Service about the unreliability of future dangerousness predictions in Texas death penalty cases. Such speculative testimony is the key factor in who receives the death penalty in Texas. Among those predicted to be a future danger was Randall Dale Adams, who was later found innocent and freed from death row.

Read 'Deadly Speculation'

Visit the Texas Defender Service's Website

News From the U.S. Supreme Court

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) has a section of its webpage dedicated to news pertaining to pending and current U.S. Supreme Court cases. Also included are links for additional information on Supreme Court cases.

Visit DPIC's Supreme Court News Page

Visit DPIC For More Resources

Upcoming Events

Ongoing, Nationwide

The Exonerated - New York City shows are temporarily cancelled. They might resume in May. National Tour Stops coming up in:

4/6-4/11 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre

Late April Nashville, TN: contact RandyTatel for more info: 615-329-0048

Read More About 'The Exonerated'

March 18-April 11, Washington, DC