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, 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.  

News

Death Row Inmates Award Student Scholarship

(October 23, 2003) 

A college student from Dallas, Texas whose father was killed in a hit and run accident received a $10,000 scholarship raised by death row inmates.  Brandon Biggs' father was killed while walking along a Texas highway in 2001; he was run over by Chante Mallard, who drove home after the accident and left Biggs in the windshield to die after he repeatedly pleaded for her to help him.  During her trial, Mallard apologized to Biggs, and Biggs later forgave her.  Mallard received a fifty-year sentence in June.  She was not eligible to receive the death penalty, and her maximum punishment would have been life in prison.  The money raised for Biggs' scholarship came from donations and subscriptions of ""Compassions,"" a bi-monthly publication written by death row inmates for the purpose of debunking the contention that death row inmates are inhumane creatures that deserve to die.  Upon receiving the scholarship, Biggs said, ""I still want to extend my forgiveness to Chante Mallard and I want the Mallard family to know that they are in my prayers.""  The scholarship is not limited to death penalty cases, but is intended for relatives of any murder victims. 

Read An Article From CNN

Study Finds Hundreds of Thousands of Inmates Mentally Ill

(October 22, 2003) 

According to a new study by Human Rights Watch, as many as one in five of the 2.1 million Americans behind bars suffer from pronounced mental illness, a number far exceeding those in mental hospitals.  In fact, the study finds a rate of mental illness for inmates is three times larger than that of the general population.  There are now fewer than 80,000 people in mental hospitals, and that number continues to fall while the rate of incarceration increases dramatically.  According to the Human Rights Watch, ""The high rate of incarceration of the mentally ill is a consequence of underfunded, disorganized, and fragmented community mental heath services.  State and local governments have shut down mental health hospitals across the United States, but failed to provide adequate alternatives.""  Jails and prisons have ostensibly become the nation's primary mental health facilities.  Since those with mental illness are generally indigent and suffer with substance abuses, they are unable to obtain adequate mental health treatment, and incarceration becomes the only alternative.  In addition to these findings, the report also determined that the level of mental illness for those in jail and prison has increased significantly over the past few years, and that there is a considerably higher percentage of female inmates with mental illness than males.  

Read "Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness"

Learn More About Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty 

Texas Execution Chamber Unusually Quiet

(October 20, 2003) 

The State of Texas is currently in the midst of its longest break in executions in seven years; the last person executed in Texas was Larry Hays on September 10 and there are no scheduled executions until early December, when four inmates will be put to death in a little over a week's time.  The last time Texas had such a long break in executions was from September 1996 to February 1997.  So far this year, Texas has executed 21 inmates, making it the nation's busiest death chamber.  While many experts believe that this two-and-a-half month long break is merely coincidence, many death penalty experts contend legal battles to halt the executions of mentally retarded inmates may have slowed the pace.  In citing mental retardation in appeals, at least six death row inmates have successfully delayed their execution.  Texas, which resumed capital punishment in 1982, has accounted for more than one-third of the 877 executions in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.  If the four inmates scheduled to die in December are executed, Texas will finish with a total of 25 executions for the year, compared with 33 last year and 17 in 2001.  In 2000, Texas executed a record number of 40 inmates.  

Read An Article From CNN  
Learn More About the Death Penalty in Texas  

DC Area Sniper Suspect Trial Underway

(October 20, 2003) 

After pleading not guilty to murder charges, DC area sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad is currently in trial defending himself.  Muhammad faces two counts of capital murder.  The first charge accuses Muhammad of several murders over three years and requires prosecutors to prove his involvement in two fatal shootings.  Muhammad will likely argue that he should not receive the death penalty since he was not the triggerman behind the murders.  However, prosecutors insist that they need only prove Muhammad was the ""instigator and moving spirit"" of the murders.  The other capital charge is under an anti-terrorism law passed after the September 11 attacks, which has never been used.  For this charge, prosecutors do not need to show that Muhammad was the triggerman, but rather that his involvement in the shooting spree intended to influence the government or intimidate the civilian population.  Muhammad's young companion, Lee Boyd Malvo, is scheduled to be tried on identical charges on November 11.  Malvo, however, will likely claim insanity and argue that Muhammad had indoctrinated him in such a way that he could not longer tell the difference between right and wrong.  

Keep Informed on the Trial Proceedings

Students Assemble in Pennsylvania for Death Penalty Conference
(October 13, 2003) 

On October 11, two hundred students from all over the mid-Atlantic region gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the second-ever Student Death Penalty Conference.  The conference, organized by the ACLU's Students Against the Death Penalty (SADP), featured notable speakers, such as former Illinois Governor George Ryan and the 100^th person exonerated from death row, Arizona's Ray Krone.  Hammering his fist into the podium, Governor Ryan told students, ""You must convince [proponents of capital punishment] that the death penalty is wrong, and if they don't listen, try again, and if they still don't listen, try again, and keep trying until you succeed.""  The conference also featured three workshops, which promoted education, awareness, and organization and advocacy, and concluded with a statewide rally and march.  SADP considered the student conference as an integral part of their mission: to mobilize youth through education and advocacy to reform and ultimately abolish the death penalty.  The conference fulfilled SADP's mission by providing students with a better understanding of the capital punishment system in the United States, along with an understanding of the need for students to take action, which is leading to a student movement in Pennsylvania. 

Learn More About 'Students Against the Death Penalty' (SADP)

Upcoming Executions

Visit NCADP For Information About Upcoming Executions

Action Alerts

Take Action to Stop the Execution of John Clayton Smith

John Clayton Smith is scheduled to be executed in Missouri on October 29 for the 1999 murder of his former girlfriend and her stepfather.  Smith's trial was plagued by a clear conflict of interest.  The prosecutor in his case was his defense attorney in two prior criminal cases.  Moreover, the prosecutor used one of those convictions to persuade the jury to convict Smith.  This blatant conflict of interest alone should warrant a new trial.  However, in addition, Smith suffers from pronounced mental illness, specifically a severe bipolar disorder with psychotic features.  Smith is currently taking medication, but has attempted suicide several times while incarcerated.  In December 2000, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld John Smith's death sentence by a vote of 5-2.  

Learn More About the Case of John Clayton Smith

Action Alerts From the ACLU
Action Alerts From Amnesty International
Action Alerts From the NCADP Legislative Action Center 

Legislative Update

Federal Legislation

Innocence Projection Act

On Wednesday, 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 other additional federal crimes, those convicted of any state offense and any others whose 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 (excluding crimes of sexual assault) 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 since a crime occurred.   

The Advancing Justice Through DNA Testing Act is likely to be considered by the full House of Representatives within the next few weeks. The Senate is expected to consider the measure shortly thereafter.

Support the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act

On June 24, 2003, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced HR 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, you may not take this action.

State Legislation

NJ:

The future of New Jersey's death penalty may well be decided in the next month.  The death penalty study bill, which would launch one of the most comprehensive studies of capital punishment in our nation's history, is stuck in the Senate.  If it doesn't pass in the next few weeks, it will die for good, paving the way for executions to resume in New Jersey for the first time in 40 years.     

The Assembly passed the death penalty study bill overwhelmingly in January.  Now its time for one last push in the Senate.  If the study bill passes in 2003, we will change the course of history in New Jersey forever.

Contact: The Senate Co-Presidents

Tell them: "The Death Penalty study bill, A-1913, passed the Assembly by a vote of 56-10.  I understand that Senate bill S-1112 will be revised in committee to match that version.  Please support S-1112 and move it to action in the Senate." Reach them at: Senator John O. Bennett: (732) 863-1644 or SenBennett@njleg.org or Senator Richard J. Codey: (973) 731-6770 or SenCodey@njleg.org

Contact: Your State Senator

Tell them: "The Death Penalty study bill, A-1913, passed the Assembly by a vote of 56-10.  I understand that Senate bill S-1112 will be revised in committee to match that version.  I reside in your district and ask that you vote for the death penalty study bill."

Find your Senator at:

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp

PA:

Many new developments have impacted the death penalty in Pennsylvania.  In March, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed committee released a report calling for an immediate moratorium on executions, citing "strong indications that Pennsylvania's capital justice system does not operate in an even-handed manner."  The Committee made a total of 23 recommendations, including a halt on all executions until policies and procedures are implemented to ensure that the death penalty is administered fairly and impartially; comprehensive data collection and proportionality review; and passage of a Racial Justice Act.  The Committee's recommendations come just days after Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a death penalty supporter, signed the second death warrant of his term. 

Moratorium supporters responded with an intensive campaign to pressure Governor Rendell to halt executions, including a student conference and rally with former Illinois Governor George Ryan.

Meanwhile, in September, Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge William R Toal, Jr. became the first judge to vacate a death penalty conviction in Pennsylvania due to DNA evidence.  Nicholas Yarris has spent 21 years on Pennsylvania's death row and is still waiting to be released, pending a decision from the District Attorney's office on whether they will retry him, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence.  If released, Mr. Yarris will become the 5th death row exoneree in Pennsylvania and the 112^th nationwide.

Pennsylvania is also poised to pass a bill that would ban the execution of the mentally retarded. SB 26, which is supported by advocates for the mentally retarded and includes a definition of mental retardation that is consistent with the strong, objective definition that is used and accepted as the professional standard nationwide, passed the Senate earlier this year.  Its companion, HB 1906, awaits action in the House.  In an effort to limit the number of mentally retarded defendants that would be exempt from capital prosecutions, the District Attorney's Association is backing a weaker, unconstitutional bill.  Pennsylvania residents should call House members now.  

Here's what to do:

Contact: Your State Representative

Tell them: "I reside in your district and I urge you to oppose HB 1073 and wait for a strong bill that would adequately protect mentally retarded defendants and their families from being subjected to a capital trial and save the Commonwealth untold millions in capital trial expenses for defendants that are not eligible for the death penalty.

Find your State Representative at:

http://www2.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/findyourlegislator/find.cfm

New Resources

NCADP's new website: Check out the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's revamped website: www.ncadp.org Since its inception in 1976, NCADP has been the only fully staffed national organization exclusively devoted to abolishing capital punishment. NCADP provides information, advocates for public policy, and mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions that share our unconditional rejection of capital punishment.

Life on Death Row, Robert W. Murray 

"Life on Death Row" is a first-person account of living under a death sentence in Arizona. Written by Arizona death row inmate Robert W. Murray, the book explores how inmates cope with execution warrants, lethal injection, prison politics, and day-to-day life in a supermax prison facility. Find more information about this book. (www.1stbooks.com) (Albert Publishing Co. in association with 1st Books Library, 2003)

Purchase a Copy of 'Life on Death Row'

Kiss of Death:  America's Love Affair With the Death Penalty, John D. Bessler (Book Description) 

In 'Kiss of Death,' John D. Bessler skillfully interweaves the powerful life stories of death row prisoners, his own experiences as a pro bono attorney on death penalty cases in Texas, and historical perspective to persuade the reader that state-sanctioned executions must be abolished in the United States.  Bessler's compelling, well-crafted narrative asks if capital punishment has less to do with crime control and more to do with vengeance and swift retribution-an eye-for-an-eye, a tooth-for-a-tooth. The author argues convincingly that the death penalty is just another form of violence in an already too-violent society. He contends that sentencing capital offenders to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is the best way to meet the needs of public safety while breaking the self-destructive cycle of violence.  Placing the nation's complex, ever-changing relationship with capital punishment within legal, cultural, and historical contexts, Bessler dispels myths about the death penalty and addresses such subjects as racial discrimination in capital cases, wrongful convictions, the prominent role of guns in American life and in homicides, the issue of deterrence versus brutalization, the impact of executions on corrections officers and others in the criminal justice system, and the worldwide movement toward abolition. 

Purchase a Copy of 'Kiss of Death'

Journey of Hope: From Violence to Healing, Bill Pelke (Book Description)

The savage murder of 78-year-old Bible teacher Ruth Pelke by four teen-age girls was the beginning of Bill Pelke's Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing. Initially Bill did not object when 15-year old Paula Cooper was sentenced to death for his grandmother's murder. Through the power of prayer and transformation, he moved from supporting her death sentence, to working to have it overturned, to dedicating his life to the abolition of the death penalty. This is the story of Bill's journey, the obstacles he overcame, and the amazing, loving, forgiving, committed people he met on the way.

Purchase a Copy of 'Journey of Hope' 
Visit DPIC For More Resources 

Upcoming Events

October 30

Please join the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law at 12:30pm for a luncheon and talk by:  Stephen Bright, Execu