Richard Henyard death warrent signed.

Friends,

Governor Crist signed another death warrant today. Richard Henyard is now scheduled to be killed on Tuesday, September 23rd at 6:00 p.m.

The Commission on Capital Cases has compiled a list of 19 “warrant ready” prisoners. A news report today stated that earlier this year, Crist asked for a list of “about five death row inmates who have served the longest or committed the most heinous crimes so he could sign warrants ordering those executions.”

We will keep the website updated as things develop.

Sheila Meehan
Chair, TCADP

Justice system fails on many fronts

By Gerald Kogan, Special to the Times

Published Monday, June 30, 2008

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the method of lethal injection utilized by Florida, among other states, does not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

That should not be the end of the conversation.

Reasonable men and women of all political affiliations, faiths, and professional backgrounds have disagreed for decades about the morality of executing those who commit heinous crimes. As a former prosecutor, defense attorney, trial judge and chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, I have been involved in 1,200 capital cases and can personally attest to the complexity and uncertainty of that debate. Remarkably, the same individuals who agree on little else are beginning to find one piece of common ground: the belief that Florida’s system of capital punishment is broken. Read More

More frequent executions

Originally published July 3, 2008
Schwab’s legacy may be more frequent executions
By Paul Flemming
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU
Mark Dean Schwab’s execution, Florida’s first in more than 18 months, is the start of more lethal injections for the 386 prisoners on the state’s death row. Read More

Executions – Now & in the Future

Governor Charlie Crist’s administration carried out their first execution on July 1st. Thank you to all who turned out for our Vigil for Mark Schwab and for the Service of Remembrance for Mark and his victim, Junny Rios-Martinez. Because the execution appears to have been carried out without being “botched,” as was Angel Diaz’s, this may pave the way for the signing of several more death warrants. In preparation for the killing of Mark Schwab, the Department of Corrections completed several “tests” on their so-called new lethal injection methods. It was reported that the tests failed 30% of the time. Consequently, it would seem that 1 out of 3 executions will be “problematic.” If two more warrants are signed then one of them will likely be “botched.”

We continue to be hopeful and will keep you apprised as things develop.

Sheila Meehan
Chair, TCADP