Special Announcement

We want to continue to build the list of people receiving this bi-weekly Death Penalty Update, an excellent overview of death penalty news stories, scheduled executions, and new resources.  Please take a minute to let your colleagues, friends, family and members know that they can now subscribe simply by sending an email to Josh Noble, at jnoble@dcaclu.org, and typing ""Death Penalty Update"" in the subject line.  

Correction

In the March 19, 2004 edition's article, 'Houston Crime Lab Secretly Closes Down,' the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) lab which was secretly closed was located in McAllen, not Houston, Texas.  The Houston Police Department's crime lab was shut down in December 2002.  

News

Oklahoma Executes Huang Thanh Le

(March 23, 2004) 

Huang Thanh Le was executed in Oklahoma by lethal injection despite pleas that his death sentence be commuted to life from organizations including the Vietnamese-American Community, the ACLU, and many others.  Huang Le was charged and convicted of murdering Hai Nguyen, a friend, in the heat of passion after his friend betrayed him and withheld $10,000 from him.  While the murder of Nguyen was certainly a tragedy, by no means did Huang Le's crime qualify as ""the worst of the worst.""  Hung Le suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the violence he suffered while in Vietnam and during his harrowing escape to the United States.  At his trial, Huang Le's attorney failed to obtain a proper psychological evaluation for his client.  Had he done so, he would have learned that Huang suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which contributed to his reaction.  Although Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board unanimously recommended the commutation of Le's sentence to life, Governor Brad Henry rejected the recommendation. Huang Le's was the third Pardon and Parole Board recommendation Henry rejected despite his pre-election promise to support a moratorium on executions.  Huang Thanh Le is the forth person executed in Oklahoma in 2004.  

Learn More About the Death Penalty In Oklahoma

See Pictures from Rallies Against Hung Le's Execution

Supreme Court To Hear Texas Death Row Case

(March 22, 2004) 

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Robert Tennard, a Texas death row inmate with an exceptionally low IQ, whose jury did not get the opportunity to hear about his mental retardation claim during the sentencing phase of trial.  Among the factors pointing to Tennard's mental retardation was his IQ of 67, which is three points below the mental retardation threshold. At the trial stage Tennard's jury was asked to consider only two questions: 1. Whether the crime was deliberate and 2. Whether he would pose a danger in the future if he were released.  Tennard's attorneys argued that limiting the jury to considering only these two questions prevented them from considering Tennard's mental retardation as a mitigating factor, which violated a prior Supreme Court ruling requiring judges to tell juries to take mental impairments into consideration at the sentencing phase of trial.  A Texas court and the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals said that this alone was not sufficient; that Tennard must show a nexus between his mental retardation and the murder and that Tennard failed to introduce any evidence indicating the murder was a result of his mental condition.  In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Atkins v. Virginia banning the execution of those with mental retardation. The Court held that the execution of mentally retarded violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.  The Supreme Court must now decide whether Atkins applies if a crime cannot be attributed directly to mental retardation. (Tennard v. Dretke).   

Read the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals' Decision 

Learn More About Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty 

Juries In Death Penalty Cases Racially Biased

(March 21, 2004) 

According to Sociology Professor Robert Young of the University of Texas at Arlington, racially biased people are more likely to serve as jurors in death penalty cases.  By analyzing polling data from the 1990 and 1996 General Social Survey, a leading barometer of national social trends, Young found that death penalty supporters were approximately a third more likely to have prejudiced views of African Americans.  Young's evaluation also revealed that those who support capital punishment are more likely to convict a defendant due to the fact that prosecutors typically strike jurors who are opposed to capital punishment.  He also found that death penalty supporters were nearly twice as likely to say it was worse to let the guilty go than to convict an innocent defendant.  According to Young, ""By allowing juries in capital cases to be stacked in favor of conviction, the courts have created a system in which certain defendants - especially those of African American descent - in essence must prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.""  Young contends that possible solutions to these racially biased juries include leaving sentencing decisions to judges, creating more balanced juries by excluding those who strongly support or oppose the death penalty, or allowing those who oppose the death penalty to serve along with supporters. 

Read An Article From 'The Washington Post' 

Learn More About Race and the Death Penalty 

Death Penalty Reinstatement Measures Fail In Michigan and Minnesota

(March 19, 2004) 

Michigan lawmakers refused to support a measure that would allow voters to decide whether or not to restore the State's capital punishment system.  In order to go before voters in November, the proposed Constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate; however, the House was only able to gather 55 of the 73 votes needed.  The amendment would have allowed for a death sentence to be handed down in cases where guilt was established to ""a moral certainty.""  Michigan has not had the death penalty for 158 years.  March 1, better known as International Death Penalty Abolition Day, marked the anniversary of the day in 1847 when the state of Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment.  As one of the first acts following conferral of statehood on Michigan, the state legislature abolished the death penalty for all crimes except treason.  Since Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1847, 11 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have followed its lead.  

Read An Article From the 'Detroit Free Press' 

Death Penalty Reinstatement Proposal Fails in Minnesota Senate Committee

(March 24, 2004)

On Wednesday, March 24, 2004, the Minnesota Senate Crime and Public Safety Committee voted 8-2 against a bill that would place death penalty reinstatement as a referendum on the November 04 ballot.  The committee's decision means that the bill's sponsor, Sen. Mady Reiter cannot introduce the bill before the entire Senate, effectively killing the bill.  Reiter sponsored this proposal after Gov. Tim Pawlenty called for the reinstatement of the death penalty after the disappearance of Dru Sjodin from  Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.  Opponents of the legislation included Archbishop Harry Flynn, family members of victims, and prosecutors.  Washington County Attorney Doug Johnson said, ""I've never heard one prosecutor say, 'I wish we had the death penalty', but I 've heard a lot say, 'I'm glad we don't'.""

Read an Article from the Minnesota Star Tribune

Upcoming Executions 

MARCH

03/26/04          NV      Lawrence Colwell - Abandoned Appeals

03/30/04          OH      William Wickline

03/30/04          TX       Edward Capetillo - Juvenile - Stayed 

03/31/04          VA       Dennis Orbe

APRIL

04/13/04          TX       Michael Rosales

04/16/04          SC       Jerry Bidwell McWee

04/27/04          TX       James Clark

04/29/04          TX       Anzel Jones - Juvenile - Stayed 

MAY

05/13/04          PA       Francis Bauer Harris - Stay Likely 

05/18/04          OK      Osvaldo Torres (Foreign National)

05/18/04          TX       Kelsey Patterson (Mentally Ill)

05/21/04          LA       Cedric Howard - Juvenile - Stayed 

NCADP Execution Alerts 

Action Alerts

The State of Texas is scheduled to execute Kelsey Patterson, a mentally ill man, on May 18.  Patterson has a long history of mental illness and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1981.  While acknowledging that Patterson committed the crime for which he was sentenced to die, a federal judge noted the substantial role that his mental illness played in his crime. ""Patterson had no motive for the killings?he claims he commits acts involuntarily and outside forces control him through implants in his brain and body?Patterson has consistently maintained he is a victim of an elaborate conspiracy, and his lawyers and doctors are part of that conspiracy?and he refuses to acknowledge that his lawyers represent him.""  Despite Patterson's pronounced mental illness, a jury found him competent to stand trial and he was ultimately sentenced to death.  Patterson's case raises important considerations about society's treatment of the mentally ill.  Mentally incompetent individuals are unable to grasp the consequences of their actions, and executing the mentally ill does little to serve the administration of justice.  

Amnesty International has released a new report on the case of Kelsey Patterson.  The report, ""Another Texas Injustice: The case of Kelsey Patterson, mentally ill man facing execution,"" details Patterson's case and his endless struggle with mental illness.  

Read 'The Case Of Kelsey Patterson' From Amnesty International 

Action Alerts From the ACLU 

Legislative Update

Federal Legislation

Urge Congress To Oppose Overreaching and Punitive Crime Laws

Less than 18 months after the Senate passed rational and balanced federal juvenile justice legislation, two Senators have introduced a new punitive bill that would expand the use of the death penalty and create new ill-defined crimes.

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have introduced the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003 (S. 1735), a measure that includes dangerous provisions that would expand the use of the death penalty to additional crimes and create additional federal ""gang"" crimes that lack clear definition. 

This dangerous bill would use a very broad definition of gang membership to make a person eligible for the death penalty, even if they themselves, did not commit the murder.

Take Action!  Let your Senator know that expanding the death penalty and creating new ill-defined crimes is neither rational nor fair. 

Click Here To Send A Free Fax 

Innocence Protection Act

On October 1, bipartisan members of both the House and Senate introduced an Omnibus Bill called ""the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act"".  Title III of the bill contains a revised version of the Innocence Protection Act that was introduced in the 107^th Congress. This version of the IPA would, among other things, set up a process for federal prisoners who meet the standards in the bill to obtain access to DNA testing and obtain relief if exonerated by the DNA results. Title III would also encourage states to set up similar mechanisms and provide funding to local prosecutors and defense lawyers to improve the quality of representation in death penalty cases. 

Other provisions of the Omnibus bill would, however, greatly expand the categories of individuals at the federal and state level whose DNA information could be stored in the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Current law permits DNA information for those convicted of violent federal crimes and those convicted of state felonies to be stored. This new measure would extend the reach of CODIS to those convicted of additional federal crimes, those convicted of any state offense and any other offense for which DNA information has been collected under state law or practice-going well beyond those who have been convicted of committing a crime.

Another provision would indefinitely toll the statute of limitations for federal felonies so that it does not begin to run until the government implicates the individual by means of DNA testing. This provision raises a number of serious due process concerns stemming from the possibility of indictments being handed down decades after a crime occurred.   

The House of Representatives has already passed the Advancing Justice Through DNA Testing Act.  IPA supporters are working toward Senate action.  

Support the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act

On June 24, 2003, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced H.R. 2574, the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003. This legislation, which is a companion bill to Senate legislation introduced by Senator Feingold (D-WI), will put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law. Please contact your U.S. Representative today to urge him/her to co-sponsor and support this important legislation! Note: If your Congressional Representative is an original co-sponsor, please thank him or her instead.

State Legislation 

FL & NH Juvenile Death Penalty Repeals Effort Gaining Momentum 

New Hampshire is one of a handful of states that has the juvenile death penalty on its books, but has no juvenile offenders on its death row nor has ever executed a juvenile offender.  The NH Senate has already passed SB 513 (a bill to ban the execution of 17 year old offenders).  A Hearing was held in the NH House on Wednesday, March 24^th.

New Hampshire residents/constituents of your organizations from New Hampshire should contact their legislator and urge them to support SB 513: 

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/bills/?bill=5032741  

MD:  

This week the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee passed SB 744 by a vote of 7-4.   The bill would establish the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.  

Urge your Senator or Delegate to vote for SB 744. 

 SB 744 will likely come up for a vote this week!  Maryland Residents, please Take Action.

 General Assembly switchboard: 
410-946-5000 or

301-970-5000

 To find your Senator (with your home address): 
http://mlis.state.md.us/

Reasons to Support the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment

Supporting the Death Penalty Commission bill is not an up-or-down vote on the death penalty.  It is an up-or-down vote on basic fairness.

113 innocent people have been sentenced to death and later exonerated, including Kirk Bloodsworth in Maryland. Also, the Maryland death penalty is applied in a racially discriminatory manner.  Everyone currently on Maryland's death row is there for killing a white person.  Yet African Americans are the victims of around 80% of all state homicides annually.  

The Ehrlich Administration has not made good on its 2003 pledge to have Lt. Governor Steele study Maryland's death penalty system.  It is up to the General Assembly to take action.  

Last June a large group of legislators wrote to Lt. Governor Steele to urge that the Administration empanel a commission like that in SB 744 and to offer their support and collaboration.  The Administration has not taken any steps to conduct a serious review.  Instead, the Administration has introduced a bill in 2004 that would expand the death penalty.  Governor Erhlich has publicly stated that he does not believe there is racial bias in death sentencing in Maryland.  It is up to the General Assembly to act.

Urge your Delegate or Senator to vote for SB 744, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.  This commission will undertake a comprehensive study of Maryland's death penalty system and by making recommendations, its work will lead to a more fair and just application of the death penalty.  

Urge Your Senator To Vote For SB 744 

PA:  

Pennsylvania Residents: Support a Moratorium on Executions in Pennsylvania

Citizens in Pennsylvania showed their support for a statewide moratorium on executions during Moratorium Week 2004, which ended on March 4th. The governor received hundreds of phone calls and demonstrations, debates and other events were held throughout the state in protest of the state's capital punishment policy. 

During his campaign for governor, Ed Rendell -- a former district attorney and death penalty proponent -- stated that he would support a temporary freeze on ex