Reminder

Please join us at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28th in front of Rick Scott’s mansion in Tallahassee. Join us again on Thursday at 12 noon at the Rotunda in the Capitol for a Service of Remembrance for Manuel Valle and victim, Louis Pena.

Thank you.

Sheila Meehan
TCADP

Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, files a bill to abolish the death penalty in Florida.

Less than a week before the state is scheduled to execute Manuel Valle, a Democratic House member has filed a bill to abolish the death penalty in Florida.

The measure (HB 4051), filed Thursday, would do away with the death penalty and instead sentence the state’s worst offenders to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Read More

Up date on TCADP upcoming actions

Dear Friends,

The killing of Troy Davis in Georgia last night after 7 so-called eye witnesses recanted their testimony is further evidence that the U.S. death penalty “system” is terribly broken. Thank you to everyone who helped to bring attention to his case and signed petitions on his behalf.

We want to correct an error in the email earlier in the week concerning Manuel Valle who is scheduled to be killed in Florida at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28th. Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on September 28 and we were told that Mr. Valle is Jewish. However, it turns out that Manuel Valle is, in fact, Catholic with a devoted Catholic family in Cuba. We apologize for the mistake, but it certainly doesn’t change the fact that his execution will occur on a day that is important and a high holiday for many.

Please join us at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28th in front of Rick Scott’s mansion in Tallahassee. Join us again on Thursday at 12 noon at the Rotunda in the Capitol for a Service of Remembrance for Manuel Valle and victim, Louis Pena.

Thank you.

Sheila Meehan
TCADP

Manuel Valle’s petition -Broward Palm Beach New Times Blog

South Florida-  Manuel Valle’s petition asking for a stay of execution was denied today by the Florida Supreme Court.

His scheduled date with death remains September 28, 2011, at 4 p.m. Read More

Davis executed

The New York Times sums it up.

Troy Davis Is Executed in Georgia for Murder of Police Officer

Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection late Wednesday night at the state prison here, two decades after his conviction for the murder of a Savannah police officer.

The execution of Mr. Davis, 42, by lethal injection, came after the United States Supreme Court refused to step in, issuing a one-sentence decision four hours after the execution was scheduled to begin.
Mr. Davis’s lawyers had asked the court to examine what they said were “substantial constitutional errors” in the murder trial.

Valle execution back on

by John Kennedy | September 13th, 2011

Gov. Rick Scott scheduled Sept. 28 as the date for the execution of convicted Miami-Dade cop killer Manuel Valle.
Valle’s execution has been put off twice this summer, first by the Florida Supreme Court and later by federal judges in Atlanta. Those stays, however, have been lifted as courts have effectively endorsed the state’s use of the compound pentobarbital for the lethal injection needed, a change forced by a manufacturer’s discontinuing the three-drug round of chemicals formerly used.
Valle’s execution has been set for 4 p.m. that day, a Wednesday. Valle is the first death warrant signed by Florida’s new governor.
Since his conviction for the 1978 killing of Coral Gables police officer Louis Pena, Valle has been sentenced to death and re-sentenced three times in legal wrangling that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his death penalty in 1987. Courts later reaffirmed his death penalty conviction.

Palm Beach Post.com

Perry Draws applause with his defense of the Death Penalty

Dale Recinella to speak

In his recently published book, “Now I Walk on Death Row,” Recinella writes about the spiritual journey that led him from a lucrative job as a finance lawyer to his ministry with death row inmates. On Sunday, he’ll discuss the highlights of his book at 2 p.m. at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More. His talk is sponsored by Pax Christi, the Florida Catholic Conference and Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty.

Good and Bad news …. 5 items

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the board of Tallahassee Citizens Against the Death Penalty, I have some bad news and some good announcements – all for early September – 6, 7, and 11.

The Governor has set a new date for the killing of Manuel Valle. It is now scheduled for Tuesday, September 6 at 6 p.m.

Please attend the Vigil in front of the Governor’s mansion on September 6th at 6 p.m. This will be the first in the Scott administration.

On the following day, Wednesday, September 7th, we will gather at the Capitol Rotunda at 12 noon for a Memorial Service for Mr. Valle and for victim, Louis Pena.
Read More

Florida’s Catholic bishops repeated their plea for Gov. Rick Scott ….

Travis Pillow writes in the Florida Independent that Florida’s Catholic bishops repeated their plea for Gov. Rick Scott to call off the execution of Manuel Valle, the subject of Scott’s first death warrant.

Valle was convicted of the 1978 killing of a Coral Gables police officer, and first sentenced in 1981. He then waged a decades-long series of appeals, including most recently a challenge to Florida’s lethal injection drug mixture and procedures, which allowed him to delay his scheduled execution.

The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday allowing the execution to proceed. It is scheduled for Sept. 1. Read More