Executed January 29, 2002

The Honorable Gray Davis
Governor, State of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Stephen Anderson

Dear Governor Davis:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, we urge you to grant clemency to Stephen Anderson, who is currently scheduled to be executed on January 29, 2002. For the reasons demonstrated below, his case presents a myriad of reasons for clemency including ineffective assistance of counsel and the failure of the jury to hear necessary and compelling mitigating evidence.

First, the victims' family members oppose Stephen Anderson's execution. As you stated in your clemency decision of April 30, 1999 for Mr. Manuel Babbit, "[i]n a capital case . . . the views of the victims and their families are a key concern, since they are the ones who continue to suffer most for the loss of their loved one." The victims' families do not need or want Stephen Anderson to be put to death.

Additionally, Stephen Anderson clearly suffered from ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney, Mr. Ames, failed to present any compelling evidence to the jury at the penalty phase. In two prior cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals found Mr. Ames incompetent in his representation for similarly failing to offer mitigating evidence in addition to other errors and omissions.

There are several factors relating to Stephen Anderson's life that could have convinced a jury to impose life in prison rather than the death penalty. For example, Mr. Ames failed to present any relevant and compelling evidence regarding Stephen's deprived and abused childhood and young adult life. Both of Stephen Anderson's parents were significantly mentally impaired and they were incapable of providing appropriate attention or concern for their children's welfare. Furthermore, the fact that Stephen Anderson has expressed remorse for his crime and promptly confessed to the police is strong mitigating evidence against the imposition of the most serious penalty, the death penalty, and the jury should have heard of Stephen Anderson's cooperation.

Jurors have stated that if they had known about Stephen Anderson's mitigating circumstances and that the victims' families did not want the death penalty, then they would not have voted for the death penalty. Two jurors specifically recognized that Mr. Ames failed to humanize Stephen Anderson or even offer family members, friends, or other evidence about his life, with the unjust result that the jurors did not understand or know the man they sentenced to death. Stephen Anderson is an immensely creative person and has won awards for his poetry and art. His play, Lament from Death Row, was performed Off Broadway.

The ACLU opposes capital punishment in all cases as a barbarous anachronism and a violation of the Constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Our country is almost alone among advanced nations in continuing to use the death penalty. The American Bar Association has urged a moratorium on executions. In this case, the extraordinary relief of clemency is particularly warranted.

In your public statements you have consistently expressed your confidence in the fairness of the death penalty system in California. This case should greatly undermine that confidence. We are greatly concerned about a death sentence being carried out under these circumstances.

We respectfully urge you to grant clemency in this unjust case.

Sincerely,

Diann Rust-Tierney
ACLU Capital Punishment Project

Dorothy Ehrlich
ACLU of N. California

Brooke S. Horiuchi*
Pro Bono Counsel
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP

*Admittance to District of Columbia Bar pending