Restoring fairness to the death penalty

Daniel Ruth St Petersburg Times Correspondent
Restoring fairness to the death penalty,
In Print: Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Imagine lying on a gurney, a needle inserted in your arm. The clock ticks toward the appointed hour. In minutes you’ll be — dead.
The only thing standing between your last breath and a reprieve is the U.S. Supreme Court. Maybe you are guilty of your crimes. Then again, maybe you’re not. And maybe nobody cares.
At a moment like this, that person facing society’s ultimate sanction should have at the very least an expectation he will get a fair shake from the judicial system. After all, once the switch gets thrown, there are no mulligans on death row. Read More

State must act to fix flaws in the death penalty

ABA Forum in Tallahassee with the Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights.

My View essay in October 30th, 2010 edition Tallahassee, Democrat

Raoul G. Cantero III and Mark R. Schlakman

Four years ago, the American Bar Association released a comprehen­sive Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team report that raised serious concerns about the state’s death penalty process. Since then, with few exceptions, state government has done little to remedy problems identified in the report.

To conduct the assessment, the ABA assembled a diverse and highly qualified eight member team to work in collaboration with its Washington, D.C. based staff.

The objective was to ensure that prosecutorial, defense, judicial, academic and other relevant perspectives were adequately represented when assessing Florida’s death penalty process.

The team resolved at the outset that its findings and recommendations had to be unanimous to be included in the report. Put simply, the report’s findings and recommendations were intended to improve the administration of justice in Florida and promote fairness and accuracy in our criminal-justice system without regard to ones views on capital punishment.

Among the key findings was that death penalty defen­dants often receive abysmal legal representation.

The report makes sever­al related recommendations, including reinstating the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel office in the north­ern region of Florida (it was disbanded within the context of a still ongoing pilot project that relies on private registry counsel). These private law­yers generally don’t specialize in capital defense work nor do they benefit from the supervision and support available to CCRC lawyers in central and south Florida, and they typically receive only nominal compensation for their efforts. Read More

Reception & Movie — Thursday, November 4th — Innocence Project of Florida

Friends,
Please plan to attend the viewing of the very likely award winning movie, Conviction.  The movie is based on the true story of a young woman who got her GED, went to college and then law school — all with the goal of freeing her wrongfully imprisoned brother.

Attend the reception on Thursday, November 4, at the Hotel Duval. The event is sponsored by the Innocence Project, where another person who was wrongfully accused and was ultimately freed will share his story.  See the details below.

You will also find a link that will take you to the Innocence Project’s site where you can purchase tickets for the reception and movie – all for only $25.  The money will go a long way towards investigating and freeing others who have been wrongfully convicted.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU PURCHASE TICKETS ON LINE OR RSVP to the Innocence Project so they know how many movie tickets to purchase in advance.

Please support this worthwhile cause.  Perhaps more than anything else, the freeing of the wrongfully convicted has helped to convince so many that the death penalty is bad public policy.

Sheila Meehan
TCADP Board

Conviction – The Movie

Starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, Conviction is a movie based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters, who dedicated her life to overturning the wrongful conviction of her older brother, Kenny.

We very excited to have a feature film tell the story of wrongful conviction and its impact on people’s lives, thus bringing a spotlight to the work that Innocence Projects do. Conviction opens in Tallahassee at the Regal Cinemas Miracle 5 on October 29th. Please wait until November 4th to see the movie as we are hosting a reception with at least one Florida exoneree from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Mahogany Room on the 7th floor of the Hotel Duval before the 7:30 p.m. showing of the movie. Multiple sponsorship opportunities are available for the reception and movie showing on November 4th, all of which will enable IPF find and free innocent people in Florida prisons. Become a Sponsor.

Tickets for the reception and movie are $25 per person.

Use this link to go directly to the IP site and purchase your ticket:  http://floridainnocence.org/content/?page_id=2154

Anti death penalty play “The Exonerated”, By Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

FAMU will present the anti death penalty play “The Exonerated” in Oct.
Charles Winter Wood Theatre
This play about real people exonerated from death row — including Florida’s — will be in Charles Winter Wood theater, which is on the first floor of Tucker Hall, the building next to FAMU’s library.

Parking tends to be hard to find evenings at FAMU. However, FAMU police will NOT ticket people without FAMU decals on evenings and weekends as long as you do NOT park in handicap or reserve parking. There is a parking lot on Orr Drive,which abuts Tucker Hall may have spaces available. There also is a parking garage about 2 blocks away on the extension of Railroad Ave. which is on FAMU’s campus.

The Exonerated
By Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Told in their own words, six Americans with vastly different ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds share stories of their sentences on death row for crimes they did not commit. As an evening of theater that has the potential to change lives, the politics is exemplary, the stories harrowing and uplifting.

Fri., Oct. 22 – 8 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 23 – 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 24 – 3 p.m.

Admission: $12 Adults, $9 Senior Citizens and $7 Students/Child
Free for FAMU Students with valid I.D.

Preview Performaces: Oct. 20 & 21. $5 General Admission, Free for FAMU Students witth valid I.D. A post show discussion will follow the Sat. 2 p.m. matinee performance.

All shows are performed in the newly renovated Charles Winter Wood Theatre located in Tucker Hall (on Orr Drive next to FAMU’s library) on the campus of Florida A&M University unless otherwise indicated. Group rates are available. For more information call 561.2425.

Florida Innocence Commission Article

FSUNews.com has an article on Nancy Daniel’s presentation about the Florida Innocence Commission.
Click here for FSU News

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

PAX CHRISTI TALLAHASSEE*

INVITES YOU TO HEAR

MAYOR JOHN MARKS

speak on  

BLACK HISTORY MONTH & THE INFLUENCE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ON HIS LIFE