Freed from death row, speaker decries capital punishment

Of all the horrors on Florida’s Death Row, one stood out: The terrifying noise of the electric chair firing up, twice a day like clockwork.

“You got to sit there and listen to that chair being tested, knowing that it was being tested in your honor,” said Shabaka WaQlimi, 62, who came within 15 hours of being executed at a state prison in Starke, Fla.

Today, WaQlimi is a free man.

After nearly 15 years on Death Row, WaQlimi’s convictions on rape and murder were set aside in 1987, after a judge determined that prosecutors blocked testimony that undercut the evidence against him.

At one point, his trip to the electric chair was postponed with less than a day to spare because a different judge found that his appeals hadn’t been exhausted in the Florida state courts, he said.

WaQlimi — or Joseph Green Brown, as he was known when he was convicted — recounted his experiences Saturday at a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People conference in Colorado Springs.

With a business suit and close-cropped, salt-and-pepper hair, he could have been confused with any other speaker at a weekend hotel convention. Instead, an audience of 30 listened in rapt attention while he spoke of the torture of knowing his death was planned “down to the second.”

When he was close to execution, he told the crowd, a tailor came to take his measurements, so that his burial suit could be prepared.

In 1979, when it looked like his protests of innocence would follow him to the grave, his brother died in a Florida hospital near the state prison, after prison officials refused his attempts to donate a kidney.

And when his long fight to prove his innocence began to gain ground, he focused on reclaiming family members who had shunned him: “It took 10 years for me and my daughter to connect,” he said.

Saturday’s talk was sponsored by Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CADP), as part of an effort to put a human face on the 138 Death Row inmates who have been exonerated after wrongful convictions.

WaQlimi, of Charlotte, N.C., will be making four presentations in Colorado this week, some of them with Juan Melendez, a fellow Florida Death Row inmate who was also cleared of wrongdoing.

Three people are awaiting the death penalty in Colorado.

“We need to continue to educate the public until it’s looking like we’re at the point where we can actually get a repeal through the Colorado Legislature,” said CADP Executive Director Lisa Cisneros.

Source: The Gazette, Lance Benzel, April 16, 2011

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Pennsylvania House Votes to Expand Death Penalty as International Controversy Mounts

Pennsylvania's moves in the opposite direction of the prevailing winds of reform.

On April 6, Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book "Dead Man Walking" and the inspiration for the 1995 film of the same name starring Susan Sarandon as a Catholic nun counseling a condemned prisoner, stood before a packed crowd at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia to tell her story and urge attendees -- especially young people -- to join efforts to end capital punishment in Pennsylvania.

"As long as we are not active, as long as we don't raise our voice, as long as we don't resist, we too are responsible," said the fiery, 71 year-old abolitionist.

Her talk couldn't have come at a more dubious time for the death penalty in America.

Since Governor Pat Quinn formally abolished capital punishment in Illinois in March, legislators in no less than half-a-dozen states have introduced bills to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life without parole. States where abolitionist legislation is being considered include three of the death penalty's "big four" -- Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, which together account for nearly a third of the nation's condemned inmates. (California, which leads the nation with 711 prisoners awaiting execution, has no such legislation pending).

Separately, an international scandal involving a key ingredient used to execute inmates has focused world attention on a U.S. practice that remains out of step with much of the developed world.

Earlier this year Illinois-based Hospira, the only American-based manufacturer of the barbiturate sodium thiopental, chose to stop making it rather than promise authorities in Italy - the site of its new manufacturing facility - that its drug wouldn't be used for capital punishment. Until recently sodium thiopental, sold under the brand name Pentothal, was a primary ingredient in the lethal injection cocktails of 34 states.

Hospira was already facing a shortage of key components used in the manufacture of the drug. The decision to cease production sparked a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental and forced some states to seek the drug from less reputable overseas suppliers, sparking controversy and in some cases legal intervention.

On March 15 the Drug Enforcement Agency seized Georgia's entire stock of sodium thiopental less than a month after attorneys for inmate Andrew Grant DeYoung notified Attorney General Eric Holder that the Georgia Department of Corrections had imported a quantity of the drug without proper registration from the United Kingdom last July. Since December 2011 Britain has enforced export controls on sodium thiopental.

According to records obtained by attorney John Bentivoglio, the drug came from a small, mom-and-pop wholesaler called Dream Pharma, which ran its operations out of a rented space in the back of a driving school in Acton.

Georgia had already executed two men using the drug, both of whom kept their eyes open during the process. An analysis by the UK-based death penalty abolitionist group Reprieve suggests the quality of the sodium thiopental may have been compromised by poor storage, and both inmates were likely partially conscious throughout the execution process -- a grueling experience according to anesthesiologists .

"At last someone is paying attention to the shenanigans that have been going on with the fly-by-night company exporting large quantities of execution drugs from Britain," said Reprieve's Director Clive Stafford Smith, commenting on the DEA's action.

Kentucky and Tennessee responded to the seizure by turning over their entire stocks of sodium thiopental to federal authorities, but at least 5 other states are reported to have acquired the drug overseas. Last week The Times of India revealed that at least 2 states, Nebraska and South Dakota, were using a Mumbai-based company as their supplier; on April 6, the company, Kayem Pharmaceutical, said it would no longer ship the drug to the U.S.

Pennsylvania - where more than 200 condemned inmates sit on death row -- has so far refrained from entering the debate, and no published reports exist outlining its plans as sodium thiopental becomes less available.

Susan McNaughton, communications director at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, declined to comment on the supplier of the state's sodium thiopental, or if it maintained a stock of the drug, but said the DOC is "reviewing its options" as to how the issue surrounding the availability of the drug will affect the execution process in Pennsylvania, if at all.

"We have no reason to think that we are not prepared to carry out executions," she said.

A request under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law for information on who supplies Pennsylvania's execution drugs, whether or not they are stockpiled and how often the stocks are rotated was pending at press time.

The fact that the state hasn't hosted an execution in more than a decade certainly makes the situation seem less than urgent. However, according to the drug's guidelines, the average shelf life for sodium thiopental is 4 years, meaning the state would need to rotate stocks at least that frequently, or would need to order it before an execution proceeds.

Seeking to circumvent the controversy, some prisons have decided to abandon sodium thiopental altogether. Last month Ohio became the first state to execute an inmate with a single dose of pentobarbital - a short-acting barbiturate commonly used to euthanize animals -- while several others states have said they will begin using pentobarbital in place of sodium thiopental as 1 of 3 execution drugs. That decision is already raising challenges from defense attorneys who say the new drug is unproven and that some states, Texas for instance, have not followed the correct protocol for making such a change.

Meanwhile, many European governments have stepped up efforts to ensure they are not complicit in a practice they oppose. On April 1, Germany petitioned the European Union to consider banning sodium thiopental for exportation to countries where it could be used for execution, and legislators in the UK are lobbying the government to add the other 2 drugs commonly used in lethal injections -- potassium chloride and pancuronium bromide -- to the country's list of banned exports. Given European sentiment concerning capital punishment, pentobarbital may one day face the same fate. With as much as 40 % of pharmaceuticals now being made outside the United States, the implications could be reaching.

Death penalty opponents say the international outcry underscores just how isolated the U.S. is from its allies on the issue of capital punishment.

"This is a sign that it's difficult to do the business of killing people when there are others out there who don't want to participate," said Andy Hoover, Legislative Director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union.

PA Legislators push alternate death penalty bills

The day before Sister Prejean visited Chestnut Hill, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously voted to approve a bill that -- if it passes the GOP-controlled Senate -- could see more inmates sent to death row in the Keystone State.

The legislation -- House Bill 317 -- adds two new aggravating factors to the 18 already considered when determining if the death penalty applies to defendants in murder cases, making capital punishment applicable for defendants that commit sexually violent murder while they are registered sex offenders, as well as those who target the elderly and infirm.

"The House is just completely out of step with reality," said Hoover, commenting on the bill. "They are refusing to accept that this is a broken program. The death penalty was made to be used in limited circumstances, but by adding a category for people that are infirm, which lacks definition, the House is expanding it to where it can be applied to most homicides."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican representing parts of Centre and Mifflin Counties, didn't respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment, but in a statement he said the bill is about "justice, protecting law-abiding citizens and keeping dangerous people off the streets."

Two Democratic senators -- Allegheny County progressive Jim Ferlo, and Daylin Leach -- who represents parts of Delaware and Montgomery Counties -- are seeking to end capital punishment in the Commonwealth.

According to Leach, who in February introduced a bill to place a statewide moratorium on executions, the cost of putting people on Death Row where they'll sit for years through endless appeals just doesn't make any sense given the budget crisis currently facing the state. Studies show it costs more than twice as much in appeals, administration and housing to put an inmate to death than to house him or her for the rest of their lives, while polls show waning support across the nation for the death penalty. The most recent numbers in Pennsylvania show that less than half of respondents favor the death penalty when given the alternative option if life without parole.

"The Death Penalty is just another government program that is too expensive and just not working," said Leach, in an appeal to his conservative colleagues.

Since Pennsylvania reinstated the death penalty in 1977, only three executions have been carried out (the last a dozen years ago), and in all three cases the defendants waved their appeals. It's been nearly half a century since the state executed someone who didn't ask to be. Since then at least 20 condemned inmates have died of natural causes.

Nonetheless, Pennsylvania governors from both parties continue to sign dozens of death warrants, making Pennsylvania's Death Row the fourth largest in the nation. Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, signed 119 death warrants during his tenure; and newly minted Republican Governor Tom Corbett has already signed four since taking office in January. There are currently 222 inmates awaiting their execution date, more than half of them Black men from Philadelphia County.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams supports the death penalty but has said he will use it more conservatively than his predecessor Lynn Abraham, who gained a reputation for aggressively pursuing capital murder charges.

According to Tasha Jamerson, a spokesperson for Williams, the DA's office has filed 11 capital cases since Williams took office, and Jamerson reports a "steady decrease in capital prosecutions since 2003."

The American Bar Association has a theory as to why the Keystone State carries out so few executions despite having so many condemned: Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that provides no post-conviction financial support for defense appeals, meaning defendants are often required to turn to county services and the aid of less-than-able court-appointed attorneys. As a result, cases are often wildly mismanaged, and regularly overturned on appeal at the expense of taxpayers.

Since 1980, more than 200 death sentences in Pennsylvania have been overturned by federal and state courts, and nearly as many death convictions are vacated in Pennsylvania each year as are handed down.

As states across the country rethink their stance on capital punishment, it's fallen to a handful of "true believers" -like Florida, Texas and Ohio to conduct the majority of America's executions. How long Pennsylvania will continue to count itself among this group remains to be seen, but advocates are confident it's not a matter of if, but when the state will abolish capital punishment.

"It might not be on the first try, it might not be on the second try, but if people keep the pressure on eventually we can change this," said Prejean. "Politicians do eventually listen to the people."

A coalition of 15 statewide abolitionist groups, including Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (PADP), The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, and the ACLU of Pennsylvania is working hard to see that that they do.

"I think with many changes, it's a question of chipping away, little by little and day by day," said Kathleen Lucas, executive director for PADP. "We will get there. Once our legislators see how broken the system is, I believe that they'll do the right thing. The evidence is on our side."

Source: alternet.org, April 16, 2011

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Company urged Florida not to use its drug in execution 'cocktail'

For years, Illinois-based Hospira Inc. worried about its drugs being used across the country for lethal injections. So, a company spokesman says, Hospira sent letters to all the states annually — including Florida — stating its opposition to the drugs' use to carry out death sentences.

But the states, including Florida, continued using at least one Hospira product in the three-drug "cocktail" approved for executions.

There was nothing illegal about that, but their continued use of Hospira products to execute inmates ultimately compelled the company last month to announce its decision to stop all production of its trademarked anesthetic, Pentothal. The supplies that states already have on hand are set to expire this year.

"Hospira provides these products because they improve or save lives and markets them solely for use as indicated on the product labeling," wrote Kees Gioenhout, Hospira's vice president of Clinical Research and Development, in a letter sent to Ohio in March. "As such, we do not support the use of any of our products in capital punishment procedures."

The Florida Department of Corrections has no record of any such letters sent to its headquarters in Tallahassee.

"I have not been able to find the letter or anyone who remembers getting the letter," said corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. In an earlier e-mail, Plessinger wrote, "I can't find that letter. They didn't send it to the Secretary or legal or Institutions."

But Hospira spokesman Daniel Rosenberg said, "We sent letters to all the states. It was sent to Florida."

Hospira sent letters each year during the past decade, Rosenberg said, sharing concerns about the use of Hospira drugs in executions. Hospira was the sole manufacturer of sodium thiopental, or Pentothal, which was specifically listed in Florida's lethal-injection procedures spelled out by the Department of Corrections secretary in an April 2008 document.

In announcing its decision to cease making the drug, Hospira said it could not ensure that third-party suppliers would never sell the drug to state departments of corrections for use in executions. Authorities in Italy, where the drug was made, were also concerned about — and opposed to — the drug's use in executions in the United States.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 22, 2011

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U.S.: 13 states including Alabama ask Justice Department aid in obtaining scarce execution drug

The Justice Department says it's reviewing a request by 13 states looking for the government's help obtaining supplies of a scarce execution drug.

States are scrambling to find enough sodium thiopental after its sole U.S. manufacturer ceased production and some overseas supplies dried up.

The states asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jan. 25 for help identifying sources for the drug or making federal supplies available to states. The states that signed the letter are: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia and Tennessee have sought supplies in England, while Nebraska purchased a batch from India.

Justice Department spokeswoman Alisa Finelli says the agency will review the letter.

Source: Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2011

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Drug shortage could delay executions in Florida

Florida's electric chair

The decision by an Illinois drug company to stop producing a drug used in Florida executions could lead to delays.

The nearly 400 men and women sitting on Florida's death row may have received a stay of execution -- at least temporarily -- from an unexpected source.

An Illinois pharmaceutical company announced Friday it will discontinue the production of a drug used in Florida lethal injections, creating far-reaching obstacles -- and delays -- for the state's backed-up execution system, experts say.

With a four-paragraph statement on its website Friday announcing it would "exit the sodium thiopental market,'' Hospira Inc. changed how convicted felons would be put to death across the nation, including here in Florida.

Sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, is 1 of the 3 drugs used by the state during lethal injections. Hospira was the only U.S. maker of the anesthetic.

When reserves of the drug are exhausted, Florida will need to find an alternative method, and opponents of capital punishment are already sensing an opening.

"The state could change the procedure tomorrow, but it would likely be challenged,'' said Mark Elliott, Executive Director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "That's the reason they haven't changed the [3-drug] procedure yet.''

Efforts to reach representatives from Gov. Rick Scott's office for comment were unsuccessful Saturday.

While it is not clear what step the state will take next, it has several options. Florida could find alternatives to sodium thiopental in the international market. It could scrap the 3-drug cocktail altogether for a 1-drug method.

And one other, long-shot option exists: Florida could return to the primary use of the electric chair, which is still a possibility left open to condemned inmates.

"It will affect different states differently,'' said Richard Dieter, an anti-death penalty advocate based out of Washington. "I don't think anybody's going back to hangings. They're going to have to recalculate things.''

Lethal injection has been the state's preferred method since 2000, when the Florida Legislature changed the law.

But issues remain. The state's lethal injection practices have been scrutinized since Angel Diaz's botched execution in December 2006, a procedure that took 34 minutes when the needles went straight through his veins.

That prompted a death-penalty moratorium in Florida; then-Gov. Jeb Bush called for an investigation. Changes in the state's lethal injection protocol were made, and former Gov. Charlie Crist began signing death warrants again in July 2007.

The next spring, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection, the nation's leading method of execution, in a 7-2 ruling.

Still, executions in the state have been few and far between. The state has put to death just 5 convicts in the last 5 years, most recently Martin Grossman last February. Grossman, convicted of murdering Wildlife Officer Margaret "Peggy'' Park in 1984, was the 69th person executed in Florida since the death penalty was reinstated here in 1979. He was the 25th killed by lethal injection.

According to the Department of Corrections website, just 1 of the 392 men and women now on death row have an active warrant death: Robert Trease, and his sentence is under appeal.

Source: Miami Herald, January 24, 2011

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Executions decline by 12 percent in US

Washington D.C. - The number of executions carried out in the United States dropped by 12 percent in 2010. Commentators attributed the decline to changing attitudes on the practice but also cited problems with the availability of lethal injection chemicals and lengthy appeals processes.

The anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center has issued a report counting 46 executions in Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, Utah and Washington in 2010.

In 2009 there were 52 executions in 16 states.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the organization, told the Associated Press that the nation “continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010.” He noted concerns about the high financial costs of the death penalty at a time of budget cuts, concerns about executing the innocent and concerns about unfairness in application.

Scott Burns, executive director of the National Association of District Attorneys, said that appeals have added so much time between sentence and execution that some families are asking prosecutors to accept life in prison without parole. The certainty of that sentence is “sometimes more palpable to them,” he told the AP.

Lengthy sentences for violent criminals and programs to reduce recidivism could also have contributed to a decline in death sentences.

Thirty-five U.S. states have the death penalty. Texas had 17 executions in 2010, the most of any state. However, this figure was a drop from the state’s 24 executions in 2009. The Death Penalty Information Center attributed this drop to the state’s adoption of a sentence of life without parole in 2005, new district attorneys in prominent jurisdictions like Houston and Dallas, and “the ongoing residue of past mistakes.”

Twelve death row inmates in Texas have been exonerated since 1978.

About 114 new inmates will be added to death row in 2010, slightly above last year’s post-1976 record low of 112.

More than 3,000 criminals are on death row in the U.S.

Source: CNA, December 22, 2010

Poll: Americans Ready to Deep Six the Death Penalty?

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A recent poll by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) suggests voters prefer that murderers serve a life sentence rather than idle on death row. The nationwide survey of 1,500 registered voters found most prefer life without parole over the death penalty for murderers.

DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter says concerns about fairness, executing the innocent and cost are changing minds.

"About 60 percent of the public is ready. They may still support the death penalty, but they are willing to replace it because of the problems that exist with capital punishment."

Dieter says voters ranked capital punishment the lowest among budget priorities. And, a majority of those polled favor replacing the death penalty with life without parole, if the money saved were used to fund crime-prevention programs.

"What we are finding is that people may support the death penalty in theory, but they are willing to support their legislator if he or she votes against the death penalty. They have high concerns about the cost, which is a particular concern in states facing budget crises this year."

A global movement against the death penalty is growing, according to Dieter. And, as capital punishment is exercised less and less in the U.S., Dieter sees a repeal of the practice looming.

"For some people this is a moral issue. But the majority of people have other concerns, like innocence and fairness, and even that it doesn't serve victims very well."

Dieter says of the 35 states with the death penalty, 12 carried out executions in 2010, and 82 percent of those executions were in the South. Dieter says a death penalty case carries a $3 million price tag, compared to imposing a life sentence, which costs $1 million.

The entire DPIC poll results are available at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.

Source: Public News Service, December 22, 2010

Only 2% of Texas Counties Imposed Death Sentences This Year, According to New Report from TCADP

Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, where
executions by lethal injection
are carried out in Texas.

Death sentences, executions drop in 2010 as concerns about reliability and fairness continue to plague Texas death penalty system.

Death sentences in Texas have dropped more than 70% since 2003, reaching a historic low in 2010 according to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's (TCADP) new report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2010: The Year in Review. TCADP, an Austin-based statewide, grassroots advocacy organization, releases this annual report each December in conjunction with the anniversary of the resumption of executions in Texas in 1982.

Juries condemned eight new individuals to death in Texas in 2010, which is the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas' revised death penalty statute in 1976. These new sentences occurred in 6 counties: Brazos; Dallas; Harris; Nueces; Rusk; and Travis.

Recent sentencing trends illustrate the arbitrary and biased imposition of the death penalty. An analysis of data from 2007 to 2010 reveals that only 21 counties – 8% of the 254 counties – meted out death sentences over the last 4 years.

Out of a total 43 death sentences imposed statewide between 2007 and 2010, Dallas County leads with 7, followed closely by Harris County, with 6 new sentences. Bexar and Travis Counties each accounted for 3 new death sentences since 2007. Nearly 3/4 of all death sentences in Texas over the last 4 years have been imposed on people of color – 40% African American, 30% Hispanic/Latino, and 2% other.

As part of the report, TCADP has produced 2 interactive maps highlighting new death sentences by county from 2007 to 2010 and from 1976 to 2010. Clicking on each county reveals the total number of sentences, the number executed, the number awaiting execution, and the number exonerated. See below for links to each map.

The number of executions also dropped in 2010. The State of Texas executed17 people, the lowest number since 2001. The state remains the nation's leading executioner, accounting for approximately 37% of U.S. executions in 2010. The number of executions in Texas this year represents a smaller percentage of the national total than it has in recent years, however.

"Texas – along with the rest of the nation – is moving away from the death penalty," said Kristin Houlé, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "The system is broken beyond repair, and the continued decline in new death sentences shows that jurors and prosecutors in Texas are seeking other ways to address violent crime."

Concerns about wrongful convictions and emerging evidence of wrongful executions dominated headlines this year. On October 27, 2010 Anthony Graves walked out of the Burleson County Jail after spending 18 years in prison – including 12 years on death row – for a crime he did not commit. Prosecutors dropped all charges against Graves and declared him innocent after conducting their own investigation of the case. His conviction was based on the testimony of Robert Carter, who was convicted and executed for the same crime in 2000 and who recanted several times, including from the gurney. Anthony Graves is the 12th person in Texas to be wrongfully convicted and removed from death row and the 138th nationwide.

The ongoing inquiry into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham also underscored the fallibility of the system. Willingham was executed in 2004 for setting a fire to his Corsicana home in 1991 that killed his 3 young daughters. The Texas Forensic Science Commission admitted "flaws" in the science used to convict him. In January it will hold a special meeting with some of the fire experts who have examined the case since the time of conviction and concluded that there was no evidence to support the finding of arson.

In another case of "flawed" science, recent DNA testing of evidence that was used to convict and execute Claude Jones ten years ago this month revealed that the strand of hair belonged to the victim, not to Jones, as a forensic expert testified during his 1990 trial. While the DNA results do not exonerate Jones, they raise serious questions about the reliability of his conviction.

Other highlights of Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2010: The Year in Review include the following:

* In 3 capital murder trials, juries rejected the death penalty and opted for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Over the last 3 years, juries have rejected the death penalty in a dozen cases (2 each in Travis and Bexar Counties).

* 3 inmates scheduled for execution in 2010 received last-minute stays; the execution date of another inmate was withdrawn. On March 24, Henry “Hank” Skinner received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court shortly after eating his "last meal." In October, the Court heard arguments to determine whether Skinner can seek access to post-conviction DNA testing through the federal Civil Rights Act. Texas officials have refused to release key pieces of evidence gathered at the crime scene in 1993 for testing.

* At least 6 inmates received reduced sentences in 2010 and were removed from the death row population, including several inmates whose death sentences were overturned because jurors did not hear mitigating evidence during their original trials. 3 other inmates died in custody, including Ronald Chambers, who spent 35 years on death row and was awaiting a 4th sentencing hearing related to the 1975 murder of Mike McMahan.

* A nationwide shortage of the 1st drug used in the lethal injection protocol, sodium thiopental, led some states to postpone executions as their supplies dwindle or expire. In November, officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice revealed that they had enough drugs on hand to execute 39 people, but that doses of sodium thiopental will expire in March 2011.

* There currently are 317 people (307 men and 10 women) on death row in Texas. Texas holds the 3rd-largest death row population in the nation, after California (713) and Florida (393).

"2010 may go down in history as the 'Year of Doubt,' when case after case exposed the flaws and failures of the Texas death penalty and shook public faith in the criminal justice system to its core," said Houlé. "During this time of fiscal crisis, TCADP urges all elected officials to take a good hard look at the death penalty system and ask whether this is a good use of tax payers' dollars when there are alternative ways to protect society and punish those who are truly guilty."

Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2010: The Year in Review is available online at www.tcadp.org/TexasDeathPenaltyDevelopments2010.pdf . Contact Kristin Houlé at khoule@tcadp.org to receive a copy directly via email.

See http://tcadp.org/2007-2010-new-death-sentences/ for a map of new death sentences by county from 2007 to 2010.

See http://tcadp.org/death-sentences-by-county1976-2010/ for a map of death sentences by county from 1976 to 2010.

Download a pdf version of this press release. Obtener una copia de este anuncio.

Source: Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, December 13, 2010

Death penalty use drops in Texas to record low

Only 8 people were condemned to die in Texas this year, the lowest number since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to a new report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Despite Texas' bloodthirsty international image, only two percent of Texas counties used the death sentence this year: Brazos, Dallas, Harris, Nueces, Rusk and Travis. Dallas sent two of the eight to death row this year.

Source: Dallas Morning News, December 13, 2010

10 Infamous Cases of Wrongful Execution

There’s no doubt about it – the U.S. criminal justice system is not perfect. And those imperfections become apparent when someone is the innocent victim of the death penalty. Wrongful executions have been happening for hundreds of years, but until the advent of DNA evidence and improved forensics technology, these individuals have remained guilty as charged.


Today, DNA evidence has exonerated and released 15 death row inmates since 1992, but only eight inmates have been acknowledged of their possible innocence after execution by the Death Penalty Information Center.


Here are 10 infamous cases of wrongful execution that deserve a second look:

1. Claude Jones: Claude Jones was executed in 2000 for the murder of liquor store owner Allen Hilzendager, in San Jacinto County in 1989. On Nov. 14, 1989, Jones and another man were seen pulling into a liquor store in Point Blank, Texas. One stayed in the car while the other went inside and shot the owner. Witnesses who were standing across the road couldn’t see the killer, but Jones and two other men, Kerry Dixon and Timothy Jordan, were all linked to the murder. Although Jones said he never entered the store, Dixon and Jordan testified that Jones was in fact the shooter and they were both spared the death penalty. The deciding factor and only admissible evidence in Jones’ conviction came down to a strand of hair that was found at the scene of the crime. A forensic expert testified that the hair appeared to have come from Jones, and he was sentenced to death. Forensic technology was underdeveloped during the 1990 trial and it wasn’t able to match Jones’ DNA with the hair sample. Therefore, before his 2000 execution, Jones’ attorneys filed petitions for a stay of execution with a district court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and requested that the hair be submitted for DNA testing that was now possible, but all courts and former Texas Governor George W. Bush denied Jones and he was executed. In an attempt to prove that Texas executed an innocent man, the Innocence Project and the Texas Observer filed a lawsuit in 2007 to obtain the strand of hair and submitted it for DNA testing, which was determined to be the hair of the victim.

2. Jesse Tafero: Jesse Tafero was executed by electric chair in 1990 for murdering two Florida police officers, Phillip Black and Donald Irwin. The murders occurred on Feb. 20, 1976, when Black and Irwin approached a parked car at a rest stop and found Tafero, his partner Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, her two children and Walter Rhodes asleep inside. They were ordered to get out of the car when the officers saw a gun lying on the floor inside the car and, according to Rhodes, Tafero proceeded to shoot both officers and took off in their police car. They disposed of the police car and stole a man’s car, but were arrested after being caught in a roadblock. The gun was found in Tafero’s waistband, although it was legally registered to Jacobs. Tafero had been convicted of robbery and had served seven years of a 25-year sentence before being convicted for murder. Tafero and Jacobs claimed that Rhodes was the lone shooter, but Rhodes testified against them in exchange for a lighter sentence. Rhodes later admitted that he was responsible for the killings, but Tafero was still sentenced to death.

3. Cameron Todd Willingham: Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for murdering his three young daughters by intentionally setting fire to the family home in Corsicana, Texas. The arson-murder case fueled much controversy about Willingham’s guilt, which was determined by the case’s primary evidence – the arson investigators’ findings. They determined that the fire was deliberately set with the help of a liquid accelerant due to specific burn patterns, laboratory tests and points of origin. Willingham maintained his innocence and appealed his conviction for years, but was executed at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville on Feb. 16, 2004. In 2009, the Texas Forensic Science Commission panel reevaluated the case and determined that state and local arson investigators used "flawed science" when they labeled the fire as arson. Although advances in fire science and arson investigations have improved since 1991, the year of the fire, experts now believe the Corsicana Fire Department was negligent in their findings. The science commission is still investigating the arson ruling, and if the judge clears Willingham, it would be the first time an official has formally declared a wrongful execution in Texas.

4. Larry Griffin: Larry Griffin was executed in 1995 for a drive-by shooting that killed 19-year-old drug dealer Quintin Moss in St. Louis. Griffin immediately became a suspect because his older brother Dennis Griffin, another well-known drug dealer, was murdered just six months earlier. Moss was believed to have killed Dennis Griffin. Although there were a number of possible suspects in the murder of Moss, a witness account by a white man named Robert Fitzgerald, who claimed to have seen the shooting, knew the license plate number of the vehicle and could identify the gunman was all it took to have Griffin arrested. Fitzgerald was a convicted felon who had a long history of run-ins with the law, which raised concerns about the legitimacy of his story. During the 1993 hearing, Fitzgerald admitted to being unsure if Griffin was the man in the car after all. There were two key witnesses who wavered and a third person whose testimony could have helped Griffin, but was never contacted by either the defense or prosecution. Griffin continued to proclaim his innocence until his execution. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund investigated the case after Griffin’s execution and wanted to uncover more witness accounts that could support their claim that Missouri executed an innocent man.

5. Ruben Cantu: Ruben Cantu was executed in 1993 for the murder-robbery of a San Antonio man at the age of 17. Cantu had no previous convictions, but was pinpointed as a violent murderer who shot one victim nine times, as well as shot the only eyewitness nine times with a rifle, but he lived to testify. Juan Moreno offered his testimony to police and identified Cantu as the shooter, but later recanted, admitting that he said Cantu out of influence and fear of authorities. Although the case had a compelling witness testimony, there was no physical evidence that linked Cantu to the crime. In addition, his co-defendant David Garza, who allegedly committed the murder-robbery with Cantu, remained silent and signed a sworn affidavit allowing his accomplice to be falsely accused. Cantu maintained his innocence until his execution and claimed that he had been framed in this capital murder case.

6. David Spence: David Spence was executed in 1997 for murdering three teenagers in 1982 in Waco. Spence was convicted of raping, torturing and murdering two 17-year-old girls and murdering an 18-year-old boy. As the original allegations go, Spence was hired by convenience store owner Muneer Deeb to kill one girl and he ended up killing these three teens by mistake. Deeb was charged and sentenced to death, but later received a re-trial and was acquitted. Authoritative sources even had serious doubt about Spence’s guilt. Although there was no clear physical evidence to link Spence to the crime, prosecutors used bite marks that were found on one of the girl’s body and matched it to Spence’s teeth. Even jailhouse witnesses were bribed into snitching on Spence. Despite weak evidential support and jail mate testimonies, Spence was executed.

7. Carlos De Luna: Carlos De Luna was executed in 1989 for the 1983 stabbing of Wanda Lopez, a Texas convenience store clerk. There were two eyewitnesses who played a key role in the conviction of De Luna. Before the murder-robbery, George Aguirre was filling up at the gas station where the crime occurred, when he saw a man standing outside the store slide a knife with the blade exposed into his pocket and enter. The man asked Aguirre for a ride to a nightclub, but he refused and went inside the store to warn Lopez about the suspicious man. Aguirre left and Lopez called the police to describe the man. As she was on the phone with a dispatcher, the man came back into the store and robbed her. The second witness, Kevan Baker, pulled into the station and heard bangs on the station’s window and saw a man struggling with a woman. As Baker approached the gas station, the murderer threatened him and took off. When police searched the area, they found De Luna not far from the station. He was shirtless and shoeless in a puddle of water and screamed, "Don’t shoot! You got me!" Both Aguirre and Baker confirmed De Luna was the man at the station. Little to no physical evidence was collected at the crime scene, including blood samples and fingerprints that could have helped De Luna. De Luna maintained his innocence and repeated that Carlos Hernandez was the actual killer. Despite Hernandez’s trouble with the law and repeated confessions to the murder, De Luna was executed.

8. Joseph O’Dell: Joseph O’Dell was executed in 1997 for raping and murdering Helen Schartner. O’Dell was convicted on the basis of blood evidence and a jailhouse snitch. O’Dell represented himself and continued to proclaim his innocence in various unsuccessful appeals to the Virginia Supreme Court, Federal District Court and the Supreme Court. O’Dell requested that the state submit other pieces of evidence for DNA testing, but he was refused. Despite much effort and several appeals, the 4th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and reinstated his death sentence. After his execution, Lori Urs, an anti-death penalty advocate and former wife to O’Dell, sought to further investigate the case and exonerate O’Dell based on mistaken blood matches, court opinions and refusal of DNA testing. However, the last of the DNA evidence from O’Dell’s case was burned in March 2000 and the appeals were laid to rest.

9. Leo Jones: Leo Jones was executed in 1998 for murdering a police officer in Florida. Although Jones confessed 12 hours after the murder, he said that he was forced to say he did it during hours of intimidating police interrogation, where they threatened his life and made him play Russian roulette. One witness believed that the police department was out to get Jones because he had assaulted an officer once. The same two arresting officers were released from the department shortly after for using violence in other cases. Despite repeated appeals, other potential suspects and witness testimonies in support of Jones’ exoneration, the sentencing stood as is. Jones was also denied another method of execution and was killed by the electric chair.

10. Timothy Evans: Timothy Evans was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of his daughter in 1949 at their home in Notting Hill, London. Evans maintained his innocence and repeatedly accused his neighbor, John Christie, of murdering his wife and daughter. The police investigation and physical evidence used to convict Evans was weak. After Evans’ trial and execution, Christie was found to be a serial killer who was responsible for murdering several women at his residence. There were massive campaigns to overturn Evans’ conviction and an official inquiry was conducted 16 years later. It was confirmed that Evans’ daughter had been killed by Christie, and Evans was granted a posthumous pardon. This case of injustice had a strong influence in the UK’s decision to abolish capital punishment.

Source: Criminal Justice Degrees Guide, December 13, 2010

Florida DR inmate Robert Power dies from natural causes after 20 years behind bars

A death row inmate who kidnapped then brutally raped and killed a 12-year-old Orange County girl died in prison Friday.

Robert Power, 50, died at 3:53 a.m. at the Union Correctional Institute in Raiford, a department of corrections spokeswoman said. His death appeared to be from natural causes, but a medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Power was convicted of raping a woman and two girls and killing 12-year-old Angeli Bare in the 1980s.

He is the 5th death row inmate to die this year while waiting for a death warrant. Power's case was still in the appeals process and a death warrant had not been issued, according to the Commission on Capital Cases, an organization that tracks death row cases.

Power was sentenced to death on Nov. 8, 1990, after a jury convicted him of 1st-degree murder in the death of 12-year-old Angeli Bare. He was also serving 8 consecutive life sentences for other crimes.

Power was arrested in October 1987 at his mother's house in Kissimmee. He had been working at an Orlando auto body shop.

Power was one of Florida's 392 death row inmates.

He lived in a solitary cell at the Union Correctional Institute with a television, a radio and headphones, several religious books and three paperback novels. He received 42 visitors -- many who were pen pals -- during his time in prison, records show.

Powers received only one disciplinary write-up, for disorderly conduct, during his 20 years behind bars.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, December 4, 2010

When Muslim Holiday Falls On 9/11

Muslims offering prayer

By ONE Liners Agency

Muslims of America may have been thinking what to do on 9/11 this year. They may have asked themselves whether to celebrate or cancel the end-of-Ramadan festivities, the Islamic equivalent of Thanksgiving, Eid-ul-Fitr.

This year it may also sound to some that Muslims across the world are celebrating for the wrong reason amid the controversy surrounding plans of burning Quran on the 9th anniversary of 9-11.

Florida Pastor Terry Jones said, "Our 9/11 protest is to send a clear message to the radical element of Islam that we will not tolerate that in America."

Terry Jones called of burning the holy book of Muslims on September 11 and it had worried leaders, religious preachers and all across the world. However, the plan has been put on hold for reconsideration. The son of the pastor said Islam's holiest text will not be torched Saturday at the Florida church.

The Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., sacles back Eid al-Fitr plans. He says there will be no food, singing, dancing or henna decorating. It will only have religious services.

Rashid Makhdoom, one of the directors at the Center's board said in comments to The Washington Post, "People are taking care not to do any celebrations on the day of 9/11, because it is a day of tragedy and we have to be sensitive."

The Islamic center in Fresno, Calif., has canceled the traditional pony rides, all the games and carnival attractions because of fear amonng the members of the community, said Imam Seyed Ali Ghazvini to The Los Angeles Times.

The big question...

Why should Muslims not be able to celebrate their festivals even if it coincides with 9/11, though it is known no Muslim in the Islamic world of 1.6 billion people can decide the day. It is based on lunar calendar.