EXTRA 21/98 DEATH PENALTY MARCH 5^TH 1998.03.09

USA (FLORIDA) LEO JONES

Leo Jones, black, is scheduled to be executed in Florida on March 24^th 1998. He was sentenced to death for the murder of police officer Thomas Szafranski in 1981.

Jones testified at his trial that, after his arrest, he had been coerced into making the confession. He testified that he had been beaten at the scene and later at the police station. This was denied by the police and the trial court and subsequent appeals have ruled the confession to be valid.

Since his conviction new evidence has been produced by his defense attorneys which casts doubt on the validity of Jones’s conviction. As a result, al full evidentiary hearing and indefinite stay of execution was ordered by The Florida Supreme Court on November 14^th 1991.

Evidence heard included affidavits from several fellow inmates of prisoner Glen Shofield that he had confessed to the crime. There were also confessions from Schofield’s former girlfriend stating that she had provided him with a false alibi on the night of the murder and witnesses who claimed they had seen Schofield run away from the scene of the crime carrying a rifle.

Jones’s appeal was denied by the Florida Supreme Court on November 14^th 1991. The court held that only a small portion of the mew evidence were admissible and that it would probably not have resulted in an acquittal at a retrial. Inadmissible evidence included Shofield’s alleged confessions.

In 1997 a juror from the original trial wrote to Governor Chiles to inform him that, on the basis of evidence shown to him in 1994, he would have acquitted Jones. The juror asked him to rescind the death warrant.

In November 1997, A.C Soud, the Duval County Circuit Judge who has presided over the case since the original trial, was disqualified by the Florida Supreme Court. This followed allegations from Jones’ defense attorneys that he had bribed the judge in a separate case in 1969.

The Florida Supreme Court stayed Jones’s execution pending hearings on the constitutional validity of the electric chair after flames erupted from behind the face mask of Pedro Medina during his execution on March 25^th 1997. Jones’ lawyers argued that use of the electric chair would "violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment", in October 1997, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the electric chair constitutional.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Amnesty International is concerned that the execution of Leo Jones, if carried out, may violate United Nations safeguard. The UN Economic and Social Council (SCOSOC) Resolution 1984/50, safeguard 4, states: "Capital Punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no doubt for an alternative explanation of the facts."

It is not unusual for death row inmates to be found innocent. Earlier this year, the convictions of two defendants in the states of Louisiana and Oklahoma were reversed and their death sentences rescinded after evidence of their innocence emerged.

On January 1^st 1998, there were 389 prisoners under sentence of death in Florida. The most recent prisoner to be executed was Pedro Medina on March 25^th 1997. The method of execution is electrocution. In Florida, the governor may decide to grant clemency, but his decision to commute a death sentence must have the approval of three members of the Executive Clemency Board – made up of seven members, including the Governor.

The state of Florida is shortly to resume executions after a hiatus of more than a year caused by concern following the death of Pedro Medina, that the method of execution may be deemed unconstitutional.

The decision by Governor Chiles to postpone executions until the end of March 1998 has given members of Florida legislature time to take up the issue of the chair in their regular March session. In the highly politicized atmosphere surrounding the use of the death penalty in Florida, legislation currently being debated on Florida’s execution method has been interpreted as a means to preserve the use of the death penalty. The legislation aims to ensure the continuation of the chair as Florida’s method of execution and to designate lethal injection as an alternative execution method, should a court ever rule that death in the electric chair is unconstitutional, "I don’t care if it’s firing squad, public hanging, lethal injections or whatever, so long as the legislation we pass doesn’t diminish the carrying out the death penalty", said House Republican Leader Jim King. It is thought likely that the legislation will pass.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send

Telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters:

-expressing concern and sympathy for the family and friends of the victim;

-urging Governor Chiles to grant clemency to Leo Jones by commuting his death sentence;

-expressing deep concern that the state of Florida is actively seeking to execute Leo Jones on March 24^th 1998 in the face of doubts concerning his guilt,

-expressing concern that this execution may violate United Nations ECOSOC safeguards.

APPEALS TO: (salutations)

The Honorable Lawton Chiles (Dear Governor)

Governor of Florida

The Capitol

Tallahassee, FL, 32399-0001

Telephone: 1 850 488 2272 (main desk) / 488 4441 (direct line to Governor’s office)

Faxes: 18504870801

EMAIL

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY!