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.  

• American University Professor, Robert Johnson, has just received the L.I.F.E Award, which is given out periodically for works that enhance the understanding of social problems though the Arts.  Many of you probably recall that Rob has recently published a book of poetry, Poetic Justice: Reflections on the Big House, the Death House, and the American Way of Justice http://www.americanletters.org/catalogu.htm and also has written the highly informative book: Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process.  Rob has also just one first place in the First Annual Wild Violet Writing Contest for a fictional story on the death penalty: http://www.wildviolet.net/contest_winners.html Congratulations Rob on your great work and recent awards. Rob can be reached at: rjohnso@american.edu 

News

South Dakota Passes Ban On Juvenile Executions

(February 24, 2004) 

The South Dakota Legislature has voted to ban death sentences for juvenile offenders.  While South Dakota has the juvenile death penalty on its books, it has never executed a juvenile offender and there are no juvenile offenders on its death row.  The bill now awaits Governor Michael Round's approval.  Similar efforts to ban the juvenile death penalty (See Legislative Section) are underway in Hew Hampshire and Wyoming.  In Wyoming, the House has already voted in support of the bill banning the death penalty for juvenile offenders and the Senate is expected to vote very soon.  The juvenile death penalty has become increasingly unpopular in the United States. According to a December 2003 Harris Poll 69 percent of the people polled opposed the death penalty for juveniles; only 26 percent supported the execution of juvenile offenders, and 5 percent offered no opinion.  Twenty-nine states (including 12 that do not impose the death penalty) and the federal government prohibit the execution of persons who committed crimes as juveniles. Of the 21 states that execute juvenile offenders, 16 states allow 16 year olds to receive death sentence, and the remaining 5 permit the execution of 17 year olds.

Learn More About The Juvenile Death Penalty 

Supreme Court Overturns Delma Banks' Death Sentence

(February 24, 2004)

In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Delma Banks, Jr., one of the country's longest-serving death row inmates, because prosecutors withheld evidence at his trial.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wrote for the majority ""[w]hen police or prosecutors conceal significant exculpatory or impeaching material, we hold, it is ordinarily incumbent on the state of set the record straight.""  Banks was charged in the 1980 murder of Richard Whitehead of Texas. The only evidence against Banks was the testimony of two informants, both of whom received incentives from the state to testify against him.  Those incentives included money, and the dismissal of serious criminal charger.  The state did not provide this information to Bank's lawyers.  The latter did not vigorously cross-examine the informants, nor did they investigate the case. Banks received such poor representation that former FBI director and United States District Court Judge William Sessions intervened and asked the Supreme Court to temporarily stay his execution; the stay came minutes before Banks' scheduled execution.  The court's ruling means Banks can continue to press his appeals in lower courts.  

Read An Article From the New York Times 

New Jersey Suspends Executions

(February 21, 2004)

The Appellate Division of New Jersey's Superior Court has ordered a halt to executions until the state examines its lethal injection procedures, which the Court ruled ""arbitrary and unreasonable.""  In its ruling, the three-judge panel stated that it would not address the constitutionality of capital punishment, but rather review lethal injection execution procedures before it carries out any future executions.  There are currently no executions scheduled in New Jersey.  The New Jersey death penalty was reinstated in 1982, but there has not been an execution in the state since 1963.  Many legal scholars hailed the decision as landmark since it is the first time a court has placed a moratorium on executions to mandate a review of lethal injection.  This decision is the second major ruling on the New Jersey capital punishment law this year.  Last month, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors seeking the death penalty must first obtain grand-jury approval.   

Read The Court's Opinion 

Learn More About The Death Penalty In New Jersey 

North Carolina Death Row Inmate Exonerated

(February 18, 2004) 

Alan Gell of North Carolina is the 113^th death row inmate exonerated since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and the second death row inmate exonerated in 2004.  Gell was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Alan Ray Jenkins and imprisoned for nine years, five of which he spent on death row, and has always maintained his innocence.  Gell was awarded a new trial in December of 2002 because the state attorney general's office withheld crucial evidence that clearly pointed to his innocence.  Despite evidence proving that Gell could not have committed the murder and despite the lack of any new scientific evidence after the state conducted another investigation, the Attorney General's office decided to retry Gell for first degree, non-capital murder. At his retrial Gell was acquitted of all charges after the jury deliberated for 2 and a half hours.  Gell's exoneration comes just weeks before the North Carolina House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill that could put a halt to executions while the problems of the state's death penalty system are examined.       

Read DPIC's Press Release

Upcoming Executions 

FEBRUARY

02/26/04          OK      Hung Thanh Le (Foreign National)

02/27/04          NC      George Franklin Page -- Stayed

MARCH

03/02/04          PA       Albert Reid - Stayed

03/03/04          TX       Marcus Cotton

03/04/04          PA       Jose Busanet - Stay Likely

03/04/04          TX       Yokamon Hearn

03/09/04          OK      David Jay Brown

03/09/04          PA       Steven Hutchinson - Stay Likely         

03/11/04          PA       Kenneth Miller - Stayed

03/11/04          TN       Olen Hutchison - Stayed

Week of

03/15/04          NV      Lawrence Colwell - Dropped Appeals

03/15/04          KY      Donald Herb Johnson - Stay Likely 

03/18/04          VA       Brian Cherrix

03/19/04          SC       David Clayton Hill

03/30/04          OH      William Wickline

03/30/04          TX       Edward Capetillo - Juvenile 

03/31/04          VA       Dennis Orbe

NCADP Execution Alerts 

Action Alerts

Death penalty opponents, the Vietnamese-American Community and the ACLU all want the February 26 execution of Huang Thanh Le commuted.  In 1995, Le was convicted of the murder of Hai Hong Nguyen.  At his original trial, Le's attorney did not introduce evidence of Le's post-traumatic stress disorder, which might have resulted in a lesser sentence.  In a highly unusual move, Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board unanimously recommended the commutation of Le's sentence to life.  However, Governor Brad Henry rejected that recommendation.  Prior to his election Henry promised the voters he would enact a moratorium on the death penalty upon inauguration, but he has not fulfilled that promise.  Instead, he has already ignored three other recommendations for clemency from the state's parole board.    

Take Action to Stop the Execution of Hung Thanh Le 

Action Alerts From the ACLU

Action Alerts From Amnesty International

Action Alerts From the NCADP Legislative Action Center

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 punitive bill that would expand the use of the death penalty and create new ill-defined crimes.

Senators 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 provisions that would expand the use of the death penalty and create additional ""gang"" crimes that lack clear definition. 

Under this proposed legislation, people could be convicted and sentenced to death for ""participation"" in a ""gang,"" which could be as few as three people.  The law's loose definitions combined with expansion of the death penalty would increase the probability that people are wrongly convicted and possibly even executed.

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 to your Member of Congress

Innocence Projection 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, including information not related to criminal cases.  

 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.  The ACLU is not supporting the legislation in its current form, but is working to change it in the Senate.  

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 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 thank him or her for supporting it.

State Legislation

State Juvenile Death Penalty Repeal Efforts Gaining Momentum (WY and NH)

Wyoming and New Hampshire are two of a handful of states that have the juvenile death penalty on their books, but don't have any juvenile offenders on death row and have never executed a juvenile offender.  In both states there has been significant progress in  the last week on bills that would raise the minimum age for the death penalty from 17 to 18.   

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

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

Wyoming residents/constituents of Wyoming organizations should contact their representative and urge them to support HB 5.  The House already voted 45-12 in support of the bill on February 20, and members of the Wyoming Senate are expected to consider the ban next week. 

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/alert/?alertid=5054441 

PA:  

Pennsylvania Residents: Support a Temporary Freeze on Executions in Pennsylvania

During his campaign for governor, Ed Rendell -- a former district attorney and death penalty proponent -- stated that he would support a temporary freeze on executions if there was compelling evidence of errors and unfairness in the system. 

On March 4, 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System released a report recommending an immediate moratorium on executions, citing evidence of racial bias and the failure of Pennsylvania to ensure competent representation for indigent defendants.  Governor Rendell has since stated repeatedly that he has seen no compelling evidence of problems with Pennsylvania's death penalty system.

The exoneration of death row prisoner Nicholas Yarris on Tuesday, December 9, 2003, is one of the most significant developments in the history of the death penalty in Pennsylvania.  After spending more than two decades on death row for a crime he did not commit, Yarris joins Jay Smith, Neil Ferber, William Nieves, Hank Kimbell, and Fred Thomas (who died on death row after having his conviction dismissed while prosecutors stalled with appeals) - innocent men who spent a combined total of more than 40 years on Pennsylvania's death row before they were finally exonerated.  

Pennsylvania has now exonerated twice as many death row prisoners (6) as it has executed (3) since the reinstatement of the death penalty. 

Take Action! Urge Governor Rendell to declare a temporary freeze on executions in Pennsylvania until these apparent problems with the death penalty are resolved.

Click here to send a fax to Governor Rendell

New Resources 

"Understanding Capital Punishment Law" (DPIC)