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

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

Upcoming action

1. A coalition of a variety of organizations is holding a phone media conference this Friday morning in an attempt to stop Florida’s execution of Martin Grossman, which is scheduled for next Tues. The participants include some public figures, representatives of peace organizations and religious institutions, and our member, Agnes Furey, a survivor of homicide, is also scheduled to be part of this.

2.  Despite 10,000 people signing petitions requesting that Martin Grossman not be executed, Gov. Crist says he still plans to execute Grossman Tues. Feb. 16. If it goes as scheduled, at 6 p.m. Tues. please come stand outside the governor’s mansion at 6 p.m. Tues. Feb. 16 as we hold a vigil to reflect our opposition to the death penalty, and come to the memorial service we’ll hold Weds. at noon in the courtyard between the old and new capitols.

3.  Sat. Feb. 27 free public workshop to train death penalty opponents about advocating for ending the death penalty. This is the beginning of our campaign to add Florida to the 15 states and D.C. that don’t impose the death penalty. It will be 12:45-4:30 in Program Room B of the Leroy Collins Public Library.

Please come to the workshop and also invite others. We’re particularly interested in involving students in this movement, so please share this information with professors and college and high school students and their organizations.

The workshop will include: experts’ presentations on legal, ethical, religious, racial, and financial problems with the death penalty; presentations by a homicide survivor and by a former journalist who witnessed an execution; instruction from an experienced legislative lobbyist;  and it will conclude with a documentary about an innocent man who spent almost 18 years on Florida’s death row.

We will give free TCADP T-shirts to the first 15 attendees.

Thank you for reading this.

Louise Ritchie
Chair, TCADP

Subject: Important message about pending execution of Martin Grossman

Dear TCADP Members,

This updates the message that I sent last week about how Florida Alternatives to the Death Penalty is requesting our help in attempting to prevent the execution of Martin Grossman, which is scheduled for Feb. 16. The letter that is being organized by Rabbi Zvi Boyarski at the Aleph Institute. Individuals and organizations who can sign on should do so by e-mailing their

Name

Title

Organization

City

State

To   zvi@aleph-http://www.facebook.com/l/7bff7;institute.org as soon as possible. Read More

Fla. High Court Vacates Paul Johnson’s Death Sentences

New penalty phases to be held for murderer Paul Beasley Johnson.

The original report by Suzie Schottelkotte & Jason Geary appeared in the Lakeland Ledger.

Shelia Meehan provided this abstract:

Paul Beasley Johnson’s death sentence was vacated by the Florida Supreme Court and he will now get a new Penalty Phase hearing.  In murder cases there are two phases — 1) guilt or innocence, and 2) penalty.  Governor Crist signed Johnson’s death warrant just a couple of months ago following an on-line petition effort by the local sheriff.  Mr. Johnson will now get a new penalty phase hearing because the Florida Supreme Court found that there was serious misconduct by the prosecutors during his original trial almost 30 years ago.

Death Warrant Signed/TCADP Meeting noon today

Gov. Crist signed the warrant Jan. 12 for 44-year-old Martin Grossman. Florida State Prison warden Steven Singer then set the execution by lethal injection for Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.

This makes it even more urgent that you take the time to attend today our planning meeting for the training session we’ll conduct Sat. Feb. 27 to educate advocates for ending the death penalty.

We’re meeting today from noon-1:30 on the first floor of the annex of First Presbyterian Church, 110 N. Adams St. This is the two story building across from the courthouse.

Even if you can’t stay the whole time, please come and share your ideas about the content of the workshop and what we can do to attract many supporters to the training.

Thank you for your interest in this important human rights issue.

Louise Ritchie

Chair, TCADP

Crist signs death warrant for park ranger killer

FLORIDA—-new execution date

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a death warrant for Martin Grossman, convicted
of murdering a Pinellas County wildlife officer in 1984. Grossman is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. Read More

The Florida Supreme Court denies a death-sentence appeal Thursday

Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital Bureau

The Florida Supreme Court denied a death-sentence appeal Thursday in the case of a Fort Myers man who refused to let lawyers show mitigating facts that might have kept him off of Death Row.

After being found guilty of murder, the court said, Mark Twilegar waived a jury in the penalty phase of his trial. The ruling said he stated, “I would rather do the death penalty and just get it over with.” He filed an affidavit saying presentation of mitigating factors would violate his right to privacy, amount to an admission of guilt and violate his religious rights.

Twilegar was convicted of fatally shooting David Thomas in Fort Myers on Aug. 7, 2002.