• WHAT'S NEW
• NEWS UPDATE
• TEXAS BISHOPS STATEMENT
• RECENT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
• CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENTS
• NEW RESOURCES
• UPCOMING EXECUTIONS
• RECENT EXECUTIONS
• ABA RESOLUTION TEXT

News Update

Florida's Electric Chair

Florida courts have concluded that the state's electric chair which occassionally catches fire during an execution does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment. Foot-long flames erupted around the head of Pedro Medina, an immigrant from Cuba, when he was excuted earlier this year. On October 20, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that executions may go forward. All executions had been stopped while this issue was under consideration. The Florida legislature will debate changing to lethal injection, probably in 1998.

Meanwhile, the person who was to be executed after Medina, Leo Jones, may actually be innocent. The only eyewitness to the murder in Jones's case was recently found and he maintains that another man committed the crime. The Judge who originally sentenced Jones to death, Circuit Judge A.C. Soud, reportedly represented Jones in an earlier matter and allegedly bribed another judge in the earlier case. In the recent case, Judge Soud had ruled that Florida's electric chair was in "good working order." Jones's lawyers have asked that Judge Soud be recused from the case.

More innocent defendants released:

70th Person Released from Death Row Due to Evidence of Innocence

Charles Smith (Indiana - Conviction 1983 - Released 1991)
Smith was sentenced to death for a street robbery and murder of a woman. The man who claimed to be the getaway driver had his charges dropped in exchange for testifying against Smith. The Indiana Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1989 because of ineffective assistance of counsel. He was acquitted at his re-trial and released in 1991 after presenting evidence that witnesses against him had lied under oath.
(information not available at time of Innocence Report)

71st Person Released from Death Row

72nd Person Released from Death Row

73rd Person Released from Death Row

Another innocent man was released from death row, this time in Alabama. According to The Gadsen Times (10/7/97), Randall Padgett was acquitted at a retrial for the murder of his wife in 1990. Padgett had been sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder. This marks the 73rd innocent inmate released from death row since 1973 and the fourth such case this year. For information about additional cases of innocence even since the release of DPIC's report on Innocence, see new cases.

Innocent Woman Released Where Prosecutors Sought the Death Penatly
On April 21, 1997, a federal District Court in Pennsylvania threw out the conviction of Lisa Lambert for the murder of a high school student. The Court ordered that she be immediately released and it forbid the prosecution from retrying Lambert. The Court found 25 separate instances of prosecutorial misconduct and expressed its view that the police committed perjury, fabricated and destroyed crucial evidence; that witnesses were intimidated, and that the prosecutor knowingly used perjured testimony in this case in which the death penalty was sought. (Lambert had received a life sentence and was raped while in prison.) The judge said he would refer the prosecutor's behavior to the state Disciplinary Board and the matters of perjury and witness intimidation to the U.S. Attorney's office. (Lambert v. Blackwell, No. 96-6244, Dist. Ct., E.D.Pa. 1997). The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed this decision, saying that state court  should have the first chance to reconsider the innocence issue.

Innocence: In California, Shasta County prosecutors dropped their death penalty case against Thomas Brewster in mid-trial when the defense presented DNA evidence which excluded the defendant. Brewster was on trial for a 1985 murder and sexual assault. A piece of clothing from one of the victims had never been tested for DNA, despite having been sent to the State's lab on two occasions. The prosecution dropped all charges because they became convinced that Brewster was innocent. He had been in jail for 2 years awaiting trial. (S.F. Daily Law Journal, 11/14/97).

For more information on Illinois innocence cases and efforts there to halt executions, see the MacArthur Justice Center website.

Paris Carriger was granted a new trial by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals almost 20 years after his murder conviction. Another man, Robert Dunbar, confessed to the crime, though that confession was later withdrawn. Carriger came very close to being executed on December 6, 1995 in Arizona.
Four Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court wrote on October 20, 1997 that they were "troubled" by Texas's death penalty law. In Arthur Brown, Jr. v. Texas, No. 96-9187, Justice Stevens wrote, with three other Justices, that Texas law currently forbids the judge in a death penalty case from explaining to the jury the meaning of a life sentence. Currently, if a person does not receive the death penalty, he would serve a life sentence in which he would not be eligible for parole for 40 years. This situation created an "obvious tension" between Texas's rule and earlier holdings of the Supreme Court which require a jury to be told when a person faces life without parole if not sentenced to death. Justice Stevens also cited recent opinion polls which show public support for alternatives to the death penalty. See Public Opinion for poll results.

On October14, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Ramon Martinez-Villareal. The prosecutor in this case has admitted that he would not have sought the death penalty if he knew of Martinez-Villareal's mental retardation. The trial judge has stated that he would not have sentenced him to death if evidence of mental retardation had been presented. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Martinez-Villareal's execution should be stayed because under the new federal law limiting appeals, there may be no chance for the federal courts to review an inmate's claim that he is mentally incompetent to be executed.

Catholic Church Expresses Strong Opposition to Capital Punishment in Catechism

The Vatican issued the definitive Latin laguage version of its Universal Catechism on September 9th. The primary change in the catechism focuses on legitimate defense and the death penalty . The new version reads: "The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude . . . recourse to the death penalty when it is the only practical way to efficiently defend the lives of human beings from the unjust aggressor." It continues, "Today, in fact, because the means states have to repress crime efficiently and render [criminals] inoffensive . . the cases where it is absolutely necessary to suppress the guilty are today very rare, if not practically non-existent."

For more views on the Catholic Church and the death penalty, see Archbishop Chaput's article on "The Church and the Death Penalty."

TEXAS: October 20, 1997

STATEMENT BY CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF TEXAS ON CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT:

As spiritual leaders in the community we Catholic Bishops of Texas are acutely
aware of the violence in our state. Despite a growing reliance on longer sentences,
more prisons, and more executions, our state's crime rate has escalated.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, the
Catholic Bishops of the United States have repeatedly condemned its use as a
violation of the sanctity of human life. Capital punishment, along with abortion and
euthanasia, is inconsis- tent with the belief of millions of Texans that all life is
sacred.

It is important that we address this issue at this time. Since 1976 Texas has
executed more than 100 men, some of whom were mentally retarded or mentally ill.
We currently have more than 400 men and women on death row.

We sympathize with the profound pain of the victims of brutal crimes; nevertheless,
we believe that the compassionate example of Christ calls us to respect the
God-given image found even in hardened criminals.

We must now take bolder steps to change the attitude of the American people
regarding capital punishment as a means of dealing with a complex issue. It is
unfortunate that a large majority of Americans, including Catholics, support capital
punishment as a means of dealing with crime, even in light of strong evidence of its
ineffectiveness, its racially-biased application, and its staggering costs, both
materially and emotionally.

Capital punishment has not proved to be a deterrent to crime. States which have the
death penalty do not have lower rates of violent crime than states without the death
penalty. All other western democracies have abolished capital punishment and have
lower rates of violent crime.

The imposition of the death penalty has resulted in racial bias. In fact, the race of
the victim has been proven to be the determining factor in deciding whether to
prosecute capital cases. Of those executed, nearly 90% were convicted of killing
whites, although people of color are more than half of all homicide victims in the
United States. More than 60% of the persons on death rows in Califor- nia and
Texas are either Black, Latino, Asian, or Native American.

In the State of Texas, it costs $2.3 million on an average to prosecute and execute
each capital case as compared to $400,000 for life imprisonment.

Tragically, innocent people are sometimes put to death by the state. It has been
proven in 350 capital convictions over the past 20 years that the convicted person
had not committed the crime. Of these cases, 25 people were executed before their
innocence was discovered.

Capital punishment does nothing for the families of victims of violent crime other
than prolonging their suffering through many wasted years of criminal proceedings.
Rather than fueling their cry for vengeance, the state could better serve them by
helping them come to terms with their grief. We applaud the work of support
groups of victims' families who have joined together to work toward reconciliation
and rehabilitation of the people who caused tragic loss in their families.

While human logic alone seems to support the abolition of the death penalty, as
moral leaders we call for alternatives because of its moral incongruity in today's
world. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "If...non-lethal means are
sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will
limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions
of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human
person."

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for
effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense
incapable of doing harm--without definitively taking away from him the possibility
of redeeming himself--the cases in which the execution of the offender is an
absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.

In our modern society, we have means of keeping an offender from harming
others. Although in previous times people of faith have employed capital
punishment, today we have the ability to realize better the principles of mercy,
forgiveness and unconditional love for alI people, as evoked in the Hebrew
Scriptures by the Prophet Ezekiel: "As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear I take no
pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man's conversion,
that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!"

We believe that capital punishment contributes to a climate of violence in our state.
This cycle of violence can be diminished by life imprisonment without parole, when
necessary. The words of Ezekiel are a powerful reminder that repentance not
revenge, conversion not death are better guides for public policy on the death
penalty than the current policy of violence for violence, death for death.

As religious leaders, we are deeply concerned that the State of Texas is usurping the
sovereign dominion of God over human life by employing capital punishment for
heinous crimes. We implore all citizens to call on our elected officials to reject the
violence of the death penalty and replace it with non-lethal means of punishment
which are sufficient to protect society from violent offenders of human life and
public order.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopts resolution on the abolition of the death penalty (Geneva, 3 April 1997)

At the initiative of the Italian Government, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights has adopted a resolution on the abolition of the death penalty by a vote of 27 in favor, 11 against (including the United States) and 14 abstensions.

As a result of this resolution:

• the question of the death penalty is now considered a rights concern
• the U.N. Secretary General has been asked to compile a yearly report on the use of the death penalty worldwide
• Member States are asked to consider instituting a moratorium on executions

Recent Supreme Court Decisions

• In Lindh v. Murphy, No. 96-6298, the Court ruled that portions of a 1996 law which placed sharp new restrictions on the ability of state prison inmates, including those on death row, to receive hearings in Federal court did not apply retroactively to the petitions for writs of habeas corpus that were already pending in Federal court when the law took effect. This decision overturned a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit . The law, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, greatly circumscribes the traditional role of the Federal courts in reviewing prisoners' arguments, through habeas corpus petitions. This decision, however, did not rule on the substance of the law, only on the question of retroactivity.

• The Supreme Court ruled in the case of McMillian v. Monroe County, No. 96-542, that the Sheriff in Alabama does not constitute a final policy maker and thus the state is not responsible for paying damages for his actions. The Sheriff in this case wrongly arrested and held Mr. McMillian, leading to six years on death row before his innocence was proven.

• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of William Bracy on June 9, 1997. The decision overturned a Federal appeals court in Chicago. Judge Maloney, who heard Bracy's death penalty case, was among 18 Cook County judges convicted on Federal corruption charges. There was evidence that Judge Maloney had retaliated against a defendant for failing to offer a bribe. The legal question in Bracy v. Gramley, No. 96-6133, was whether Mr. Bracy had shown the "good cause" needed under Federal rules to get permission to conduct discovery in a habeas corpus case. Unlike most other litigants, an inmate seeking a Federal writ of habeas corpus is not automatically entitled to discovery.

• In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld Joseph O'Dell's death sentence. The Court declined to offer a new sentencing hearing for O'Dell after the sentencing procedure used in his trial was later ruled unconstitutional. The Virginia jury in O'Dell's case was not aware that if he was not sentenced to death, he would instead be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court ruled that the ruling would not be applied retroactively

Note: Joseph O'Dell was executed on July 23, 1997.

• In another 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld Cary Michael Lambrix's death sentence (Lambrix v. Singletary, 117 S.Ct. 1517 (1997)). One of the factors that the judge and jury had considered in sentencing Lambrix to death was whether his crime was "heinous, atrocious, or cruel." This factor was later determined to be too vague. The Supreme Court held in an earlier case that if the judge or jury considered such an improper factor, then the death sentence was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court in Lambrix held that this holding was a "new rule" and hence did not apply to him retroactively in his habeas corpus petition. Justices Ginsburg, Stevens, Breyer and O'Connor dissented.

Calendar Announcements

A Rally for Clemency for Karla Faye Tucker is scheduled for Saturday, January 17, 1998 at Noon in Austin, Texas in front of the capitol. The rally is sponsored by civil rights and human rights organizations as well as religious groups hoping to persuade Texas Governor George W. Bush to spare the life of Karla Faye Tucker.

Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) will sponsor a
"Death Penalty Awareness Day" on Tuesday February 10 with a rally at
11:30 AM in front of the General Assembly Building/ Capitol Grounds at
9th and Grace Streets in Richmond. They also plan to draw attention to
the execution of Tony Mackall who is scheduled for execution that
night.  In the afternoon, those who would like to call on their
legislators should schedule a meeting with them. For more
information, please call Henry Heller at 804-263-8148.

Wisconsin Coalition Against the Death Penalty Fund Annual Statewide Conference:March 6&7 in Madison, Keynote address by Sam Reese Sheppard.
Contact Joy Bertrand at 608-286-8475 or 800-797-8475 or by e-mail at joyous@mailbag.com .

Walk Across Iowa to stop the reintroduction of the death penalty: April 5 to 10, 1998 (Holy Week). Contact Iowans Against the Death Penalty: Patti Brown:515-277-8096 or Charles Packer: 319-339-1963.

Texas-Journey of Hope...from violence to healing: Two weeks of action and education against the death penalty in Texas, led by murder victims' family members & joined by family members of death row inmates, activists and others.
May 29 to June 14, 1998 in Texas.
Contact CUADP for details: cuadp@cuadp.org or contact journey@abolition.org .

5th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty: June 29th to July 2nd, 1998 at the U.S. Supreme Court; Sponsored by the Abolitionist Action Committee(AAC).
Contact the AAC c/o CUADPcuadp@cuadp.org or aac@abolition.org

New Resources

For an excellent theological and historical discussion of the death penalty, see James J. Megivern's The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey (Paulist Press 1997). Seeing the development and sweeping changes that the churches have made on this issue is an eye-opener.

A new book about the injustices in the trial and likely innocence of Roger Keith Coleman has just been released. Coleman was executed in Virginia in 1992.The book is May God Have Mercy:A True Story of Crime and Punishment, by John C. Tucker, Norton Press, which was reviewed in the New York Times on Sunday, Dec. 14.

Dead Wrong: A Death Row Lawyer Speaks Out Against Capital Punishment by Michael Mello, Wisconsin Press (1997). Professor Mello has been Joseph Spaziano's lawyer for many years. (Spaziano recently won a new trial after 20 years on Florida's death row.) Mello eloquently writes about what's wrong with this system.

Frontiers of Justice, Vol. 1: The Death Penalty, Claudia Whitman and Julie Zimmerman, eds., Biddle Publishing Co. (1997). Sr. Helen Prejean writes that this book is a way "to encounter the real inside stories from people who have had a lived experience of the death penalty."

Against the Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments Against the Death Penalty by Gardner C. Hanks, Herald Press, 1997. A fine and very readable overview of the case for abolishing the death penalty.

Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History, Bryan Vila and Cynthia Morris, eds., Greenwood Publishing Group (1997) - 112 primary documents related to the history of the death penalty arranged by historical period.

Society's Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty, edited by Laura Randa, Univ. Press of America, 1997, contains many interesting essays on capital punishment suitable for use in schools. A number of the authors reflect on the experience of Delaware with the death penalty.

Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process, by Prof. Robert Johnson of American University, Wadsworth Publishing (1998) (2d edition). This superb book takes the reader inside the execution process and accurately conveys the significance of state killing. The chapters on the history of the death penalty are among the most-detailed sources available and help crystallize the motivations behind the use of the death penalty.

FOCUS on the Death Penalty The American Bar Association - Focus on Law Studies Spring 1997 issue covers various aspects of the death penalty, including edited and unedited versions of a two-week online dialogue on the death penalty among eight prominent scholars and lawyers. Topics include the death penalty and arbitrariness, race, victims, philosophical purposes, and teaching about the death penalty. This issue of Focus also includes other articles and reviews on the death penalty. A publication of the American Bar Association Division for Public Education. Bulk copies available for educational uses at no charge.

A report by the Southern Center for Human Rights entitled "Capital Punishment on the 25th Anniversary of Furman v. Georgia". This report evaluates the current state of the death penalty and demonstrates that the same "constitutional and human rights deficiencies identified by the Supreme Court in 1972" have not been rectified. The report addresses such factors as race, poverty, arbitrariness, innocence, and mental retardation and their relation to the death penalty. This report is available from the Southern Center for Human Rights who can be reached by email at: rights@schr.org, or from the Death Penalty Information Center.

Texas Death Row, is a new book of documentary photography by Ken Light which chronicles the life of Death Row prisoners in Huntsville, Texas where they are awaiting execution. Texas leads the nation in executions with 92 having taken place since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. The 128 page book can be obtained by calling the toll free order number at 1-800-737-7788, by faxing a request to 601-982-6217. Two editions are being published by the University Press of Mississippi; the cloth edition is $50 and the paperback edition is $30. An order can also be placed by email at the address of:press@ihl.state.ms.us.

Report on Alabama's Indigent Defense System - This report, released in April by Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, provides detailed information on the crisis of the state's indigent capital defense system. The report discusses the inadequate funding and compensation allotted to attorneys appointed in capital cases, particularly when contrasted with that provided to the prosecution. The report also provides possible solutions to alleviate the crisis. This report may be obtained for $5.00 by calling EJI at (334) 269-1803.

Against Capital Punishment - The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994, by Herbert H. Haines. A moving account of abolitionist activism in the United States since the end of the 10-year moratorium in the late-1970s. (Oxford University Press, 1996)

The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies, edited by Hugo Adam Bedau, presents an insightful view of the death penalty debate today. The book is a comprehensive compilation of essays, recent Supreme Court decisions, statistical data and reports, pushing its readers to make an informed decision on this critical issue. (Oxford University Press, 1997)

Upcoming Executions

Please note that these dates are only tentative. The schedule is based primarily on information reported by the Supreme Court Clerk's office and is highly subject to change due to stays and appeals.

Recent Executions
 

Lloyd Wayne Hampton was executed in Illinois in the early morning hours of January 21 becoming the first person to be executed in 1998. He died by lethal injection after waiving any further appeals.

Jose Jesus Ceja was executed in Arizona early January 21 by lethal injection. He had been on Arizona's death row for 23 years and was 18 at the time of the crimes.
 

ABA Resolution Text

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association calls upon each jurisdiction that imposes capital punishment not to carry out the death penalty until the jurisdiction implements policies and procedures that are consistent with the following longstanding American Bar Association policies intended to (1) ensure that death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially, in accordance with due process, and (2) minimize the risk that innocent parties may be executed:

(i) Implementing ABA "Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death penalty Cases" (adopted Feb. 1989) and Association policies intended to encourage competency of counsel in capital cases (adopted Feb. 1979, Feb. 1988, Feb. 1990, Aug. 1996);

(ii) Preserving, enhancing, and streamlining state and federal court's authority and responsibility to exercise independent judgment on the merits of constitutional claims in state post-conviction and federal habeas corpus proceedings (adopted Aug. 1982, Feb. 1990);

(iii) Striving to eliminate discrimination in capital sentencing on the basis of the race of either the victim or the defendant (adopted Aug. 1988, Aug. 1991; and

(iv) Preventing execution of mentally retarded persons (adopted Feb. 1989) and persons who were under the age of 18 at the time of their offenses (adopted Aug. 1983).

*Resolution passed by ABA House of Delegates on February 3, 1997 by a majority of 280 to 119. For text of the Report accompanying the Resolution, click on American Bar Association link at the start of the Resolution.