Urgent Action Appeal Amnesty International

The following information is from Amnesty International research headquarters in London, England. A.I is an independent worldwide movement working for the international protection of human rights. It seeks the release of people detained because of their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religious creed, provided they have not used nor advocated violence. These are termed prisoners of conscience. It works for fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners and works on behalf of such people detained without charge or trial. It opposes the death penalty, extra-judicial executions (political killings), "disappearances" and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of all prisoners without reservation. Please do not repost the information below to any part of the Internet without prior permission from Amnesty International. Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Please read the monthly Urgent Action Network Newsletter posted on the web at:

http://www.amnesty-USA.org/urgact/newslett.html

Urgent Action Network

Amnesty International USA

PO Box 1270

Nederland CO 80466-1270

E-mail: sharriso@aiusa.org

http://www.amnesty-usa.org/urgact/

Phone: 303 440 0913

Fax: 303 258 7881

E X T R A 14/98

USA (OHIO) Wilfred Berry, white

Wilfred Berry, 33, is scheduled to be executed in Ohio on 3 March 1998. He was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Charles Mitroff. Berry has withdrawn his legal appeals and consented to his execution.

Berry’s execution would be the first in Ohio since 1963. The state reintroduced the death penalty in 1981 after the US Supreme Court invalidated its previous death penalty laws of 1972.

Berry’s co-defendant received a life sentence. However, Berry requested that he be sentenced to death and refused to cooperate with his lawyers during the trial.

Previous prison records show that Berry had an extremely abusive childhood during which he was severely beaten by his mother and was sexually assaulted. Both his parents suffered from mental problems – his father was diagnosed as schizophrenic. Berry has mad 11 suicide attempts, the first when he was only 11-years old. At 14 he was committed to an institution for the severely emotionally disturbed where he was diagnosed as suffering from severe schizophrenia but received no further treatment upon release. At the age of 19 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for car theft in Texas. While in prison, he was raped by another inmate and attempted suicide. Prison doctors diagnosed Berry as suffering from chronic undifferentiated delusional schizophrenia.

While on death row, Berry has conducted a letter-writing ot campaign to be executed.

In December 1997, following numerous mental health evaluations, the Ohio Supreme Court found that Berry was mentally competent to waive his legal appeals, stating: "We find that he is capable of making a voluntary, knowing and intelligent decision." When asked about the mental evaluations, Berry indicated his desire to be found competent, stating: "I’ve been studying up. I know I can pass. I know what they look for. All I’m going to say is I did it and I should die."

Ohio’s Attorney General, Betty Montgomery, has supported legislation that would make assisted suicide illegal in the state. However, she has aggressively defended Berry’s right to waive his appeals and be executed, stating: "If a volunteer wishes to have the death penalty, we will concur in that."

Amnesty International is extremely concerned at the precedent Berry’s execution would set in Ohio. Berry’s case has not been adjudicated by the judicial system as warranting a death sentence. It would appear that his sentence is a result of the state of Ohio complying with his long-term wish to die, thereby making it a case of state-assisted suicide.

Amnesty International believes that the execution of a prisoner who has chosen to abandon their appeals and allow the state to execute them is no less a gross human rights violation than any other execution. The fact that the individual makes such a choice does not relieve the state of its responsibility in taking the life of one of its own citizens.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

As of 1 January 1998, there were 179 prisoners under sentence of death in Ohio. Prisoners have a choice of methods of execution; lethal injection or electrocution.

Power to grant clemency rests with the state Governor. The Adult Parole Board makes a non-binding recommendation to the Governor.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send:

Telegrams/faxes/express/airmail letters or telephone:

• urging that Governor Voenovich grant clemency to Wilfred Berry by commuting his death sentence, even though Berry is not requesting clemency;
• expressing concern that the execution of Wilfred Berry would constitute a case of state-assisted suicide and not an adjudication by the courts that a death sentence was appropriate in this case;
• expressing concern that the Federal Courts have not examined Wilfred Berry’s case to ensure that his conviction and sentence are within the United State’s Constitution;
• expressing sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their families;
• stating that resumption of executions in Ohio would be a retrograde step running against international trends.

APPEALS TO:

The Honorable George V. Voenovich

Governor of Ohio

Riffe Center

77 S. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

Dear Governor:

Telegrams: Governor of Ohio, Columbus, Ohio

Faxes: 1 614 466 9354

Telephone: 1 614 466 3555

COPIES TO:

Ms. Margarette Ghee

Adult Parole Board

1050 Freeway Dr. North

Columbus, OH 43229

Dear Ms Ghee:

Faxes: 1 614 752 1251

Telephone: 1 614 752 1207

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the Colorado office between 9:00 a.m and 6:00 p.m, Mountain Standard Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after March 3, 1998.