Holiday card signing

On Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 22-23, members and friends met to sign holiday cards for the 388 prisoners on death row in Florida. For some of the inmates these cards wil be the only communication they will have this holiday.

The Wayne Tompkins Case and Why It is Important

November 18, 2008 

Friends,

As of tonight, Wayne Tompkins is not scheduled for execution. 

Mr. Tompkins’ case is particularly important because of what Florida Supreme Court Justice Harry Anstead referred to in his dissent as the “…unrefuted claim that the State unlawfully manufactured critical evidence against him.”

Read the comments below carefully. They should trouble you. Remember that the other members of the Florida Supreme Court were willing to look away and voted to permit the execution of Mr. Tompkins.

Justice Anstead wrote, in part: “No one disputes that the most critical evidence of defendant’s guilt was presented by a witness commonly referred to as a jailhouse snitch…we now find out from the State itself that this crucial witness‘s evidence was unlawfully tampered with by the State‘s prosecutor.”

“But now, if we are to accept the State‘s most recent interview with this crucial witness, the snitch‘s evidence about the purse was a fabrication, a lie supplied by the State‘s prosecutor. Indeed, if the claim is true we have a state prosecutor who committed a criminal act in tampering with a witness.”

“Surely, at the very least, there is a reasonable possibility this dramatic disclosure would affect the jury‘s evaluation of the State‘s case. For all these reasons, I cannot join in the majority‘s summary rejection of this claim of prosecutorial misconduct, especially under the circumstances of this case where the defendant is under a pending warrant of execution.”

To read the full opinion click on this link: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/08/08-2000/Filed_11-07-2008_Opinion.pdf

Sheila Meehan
Chair, TCADP

Wayne Tompkins update …. court orders stay.

The Governor signed a warrant and set the execution date for Wayne Tompkins for October 28.   The Florida Supreme Court entered a stay of execution until November 18.  Since then, the Governor has not acted to reschedule the execution.

There is an excellent possibility that Wayne Tompkins will not be executed on November 18.   There is nothing that I am aware of that could prevent him from scheduling it again, but so far he has not and so there is good reason to be hopeful.

Mr. Tompkins case is another great example of why there should be no death penalty.  His attorney, Marty McClain, was quoted in the newspaper recently:  “This is one of the most troubling cases that I have,” he said. “The evidence against Mr. Tompkins is just absurd.”

Shelia Meehan

Update

Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty

Dear Friends,

November is an important month for many reasons. I’m sure that most of you have voted already.

Here in Florida we continue to have to deal with the death penalty. Consequently Wayne Tompkins is scheduled to be killed on Tuesday, November 18th. Mr. Tompkins has excellent attorneys so I remain the optimist that I am and I’m hopeful that something may happen to save his life.

Nancy and Robert Fichter have once again graciously offered to host the holiday card signing. Each year we send every death row prisoner a holiday card along with a calendar. For many of them, this will be the only mail they receive. It takes awhile to sign all 388 cards, but it means a great deal to those who get them. Please drop by and sign as many as you can.

The Fichters live at 710 Waverly. Waverly runs between Thomasville and Meridian.

Saturday – November 22 — 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Sunday – November 23 — 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Thank you.

Sheila Meehan
Chair, TCADP