Florida Innocence Commission Article

FSUNews.com has an article on Nancy Daniel’s presentation about the Florida Innocence Commission.
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Nancy Daniels, Public Defender of the 2nd Judicial Circuit

Member of Newly Created Florida Innocence Commission
Speaks at Annual Meeting of the Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty

Public Defender, 2nd Judicial Circuit – Nancy Daniels
Tuesday, August 10 — 7:00 p.m.
Westminster Room — First Presbyterian — 110 North Adams – Park and Adams

There have been 255 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.

In Florida, 11 people have been exonerated through DNA testing.  Twenty-three men on death row in Florida were found to be innocent either through DNA testing or through some other evidence.

Among those named to the Commission is Nancy Daniels, Public Defender of the 2nd Judicial Circuit.  Nancy Daniels was first elected as Public Defender in 1990 and was Florida’s first female public defender.

Ms. Daniels will speak about the purpose and work of this historic Commission at the Annual Meeting of the Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty.

Vote for our new officers:
Mary Anne Hoffman – Chair
Juvais Harrington – Chair Elect
Walter Moore – Secretary
Terry Farley Walsh – Treasurer

Nancy Daniels to speak.

255 FOUND INNOCENT – SO FAR!

Member of Newly Created Florida Innocence Commission

Speaks at Annual Meeting of the Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty

Ø Public Defender, 2^nd Judicial Circuit – Nancy Daniels

Ø Tuesday, August 10 — 7:00 p.m.

Ø Westminster Room of First Presbyterian Church

Ø 110 North Adams – corner of Park and Adams

·      255 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.  The average length of time served by the innocent is 13 years. The total number of years served is about 3,245.

·      In Florida, 11 people have been exonerated through DNA testing.  Twenty-three men on death row in Florida were found to be innocent either through DNA testing or through some other evidence. 

·      On July 2, 2010 Chief Justice Charles Canady issued an Administrative Order establishing a Florida Innocence Commission and naming 23 members.  

·      Among those named to the Commission is Nancy Daniels, Public Defender of the 2^nd Judicial Circuit.  Nancy Daniels was first elected as Public Defender in 1990 and was Florida’s first female public defender.  

·      Ms. Daniels will speak about the purpose and work of this historic Commission at the Annual Meeting of the Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty.

Sponsored by Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty

Annual Meeting on Tuesday, August 10 at 7 p.m.

Dear Friends,

This is a report from the TCADP Nominating Committee and an announcement of our Annual Meeting which includes a very important speaker on the newly created Florida Innocence Commission.

Walter Moore and Sheila Meehan comprise the Nominating Committee and ask you to consider the following nominations:

Chair — Mary Anne Hoffman
Chair-elect — Juvais Harrington
Secretary – Walter Moore
Treasurer – Terry Farley Walsh

Voting will take place at the Annual Meeting on Tuesday, August 10 at 7 p.m. at the Westminster Hall of First Presbyterian Church on the corner of Adams and Park.

We are honored to have Nancy Daniels, Public Defender of the 2nd Judicial Circuit as our featured speaker.  Nancy Daniels was first elected as Public Defender in 1990 and was Florida’s first female public defender.  Ms. Daniels was recently appointed to the newly created Florida Innocence Commission.

On July 2, 2010, as a result of a petition filed by several Florida attorneys, Chief Justice Charles Canady issued an Administrative Order establishing an Innocence Commission and naming 23 members.  Former Monroe County judge, Lester A. Garringer, Jr. was named as the Commission’s Executive Director. For the past 7 years Garringer served as staff attorney to the Supreme Court Criminal Court Steering Committee and the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases.

Please join us on Tuesday, August 10 to vote on our slate of candidates, listen to a brief wrap-up of the past year of activities, and hear our distinguished speaker, Nancy Daniels, tell us about the work of this historic Commission.

Sheila Meehan
Walter Moore
TCADP Nominating Committee

Membership meeting notice

Dear TCADP Members:

I am inviting you to a meeting this Thursday, at noon,  March 25 in the First Presbyterian Church annex (the white building next to the church, 110 North Adams St). We’ll be meeting in the second room on the right on the first floor.

At this all membership meeting, we’ll be following-up on our workshop of a few weeks ago, including writing letters to legislators, planning a morning to talk to legislators, and planning some activities to continue informing the public about why it’s important to abolish the death penalty. This will include our participation at the upcoming Peace Festival in Railroad Sq. Art Park, and discussing ways we can take advantage of FAMU’s Essential Theater’s  upcoming Oct. production of “The Exonerated” — a play based on the experiences of 6 people who were exonerated from death row .

Please come with your ideas. If you can’t come, please e-mail your suggestions to me.

Best,

Louise Ritchie,
Chair, Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty
LouiseRitchie@aol.com

Some good news about the death penalty

There has been some good news about the death penalty. Please use this as encouragement to write your state legislators to inform them of your concerns about the death penalty. As many of us learned at the recent TCADP workshop, legislators pay attention to letters from constituents and even a few letters on any issue can make a difference.

The execution of David Eugene Johnston that was scheduled for today in was stayed last week by the Florida Supreme Court: Read More

Orlando sentinel reports stay of execution

The Florida Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for David Johnston, a convicted killer who was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday.

The delay announced Thursday will allow a circuit judge in Orlando to hold a hearing on whether “newly discovered evidence” shows Johnston is mentally retarded.

Florida prohibits the execution of mentally retarded people.

To be considered legally retarded, a defendant must have an IQ of 70 or below and can’t perform “adaptive functions,” such as holding a job, cooking a meal and balancing a check book. Both conditions must have existed before the person was 18.

Johnston’s attorney, Todd Doss, told the high court Thursday in Tallahassee that a more recent, “more accurate” IQ test scored Johnston at 61 — lower than a previous test — and qualifies him to be spared the state’s death penalty.

Johnston, 49, was convicted in the 1983 murder of Mary Hammond. The 84-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in her Orlando home.

Johnston had been working at a demolition site near Hammond’s home and had spoken to Hammond before her death.

Read more online ….
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-death-penalty-florida-supreme-court-20100304,0,5367932.story

From The Ledger.com

[ TALLAHASSEE ] Death Row Inmate Files New Appeal With Florida Supreme
Court

A death row inmate set for execution March 9 has filed a new appeal with
the Florida Supreme Court.

David Johnston on Friday asked the justices to review a lower court’s
denial of his sixth post-conviction appeal.

Appeal

College students fill Tallahassee journalism void …

Two articles about the TCADP workshop Sat.

The FAMU and FSU student journalists provided excellent coverage of Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty’s Saturday workshop, “Don’t Kill in My Name.”

Please share these articles with others.

From The Famuan
“Floridians fight against death penalty

By Antonio Rosado
Correspondent

Published: Sunday, February 28, 2010
Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010
Outsized by the lectern, Tallahassee resident Agnes Furey smiled as she stepped aside the platform in the Leroy Collins Public Library. Furey, 73, gripped her small hands on a chair back as she recounted circumstances surrounding a double-murder that brought her speak at the “Don’t Kill in My Name” workshop.
Read More

Important update!

The situation regarding the death penalty’s imposition in Florida is
even more dire than my message yesterday indicated. David Lee Johnston
is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, not in May as I
had written yesterday. He originally had been scheduled to be executed
last May, but the Florida Supreme Court had stayed that execution.

Johnston’s execution will be the second Florida execution within just a
few weeks as Feb. 16, Martin Grossman was executed. Read More