Decemer 2002
- Mentally
ill Inmate receives Stay of Execution
- Death
row inmate dies
- British
citizen set to be executed February 2003
- Supreme
Court refuses to Ban Execution of Juvenile Offenders
- Italian
City of Reggio Emilia expresses dismay at Texas death penalty
- C.C.A.
denies another DNA request
- Texas
loses Millions and Pan-American Games overviews on the death penalty
- Activists
Return to the Supreme Court Steps
Mentally
ill Inmate receives Stay of Execution
On
November 6, 2002, Texas death row inmate James Colburn received a stay of
execution “one minute” before his execution was to take place.
His
lawyers asserted a motion to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr Colburn did not
receive adequate due process in the State Courts because they did not consider
his competency to be executed.
Mr
Colburn, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic has a very long history of mental
illness. During his trial, he was
turned into a zombie that sat still and stared into space because he vas heavily
sedated. This is a common practice
and morally it is very wrong to do this to these people because they are taken
from the reality of the situation through psychotropic drugs.
When the medication wears off, they are usually on death row…. and the
reality can be more traumatic for them than anything imaginable.
The
difference between mental illness and mental retardation, is that an individual
is born with one and the other happens to develop somewhere in that
individual’s life. At any rate,
the state should ban the execution of those with severe mental illnesses just as
they did with those who are mentally retarded.
To execute someone who is mentally out of touch with reality is morally,
principally and ethically wrong…but then too, to execute “any” human being
is morally, principally and ethically wrong.
Peace,
Farley
Death
row inmate dies
A
death row inmate who had been on Texas death row for 25 years died of pneumonia
at the prison hospital in Galveston on October 17th, 2002.
Jim
Vanderbilt, 49 years old, was first convicted in 1976 and sentenced to death.
In 1979, his case was reversed and an order for new trial handed down.
The case was moved to Beaumont Texas because of the extensive media
coverage. He was once again
sentenced to death because his victim happened to be an important politician’s
daughter.
The
5th Circuit of Appeals Court in New Orleans Louisiana, vacated
Vanderbilt’s death sentence and ordered a new punishment phase only, in June
1993. The State of Texas appealed
religiously, but of to no avail. For
“nine years” they fought to prevent this punishment phase from taking place
and that in all its entirely is obstruction of justice by the State prosecutors.
Mr
Vanderbilt’s trial judge had set a trial date for the punishment trial to
begin on July 21, 2002, but Mr Vanderbilt collapsed at the Beaumont (Jefferson
County Jail) on July 8th at the facility’s recreational yard.
He laided on the yard unconscious for 15 minutes before the authorities
went and gave him medical attention. He
suffered a “severe” brain stroke and stayed in a coma for 3 months.
He was transferred back to Polunsky Unit where inadequate medical
attention exists for death row inmates and the medical staff allowed this man
who was on respirator, to develop the pneumonia that killed him.
When his condition worsened he was taken back to the Galveston hospital,
where he died. The medical staff
charges us $ 3.00 for each doctor’s visit or visit to the nurse.
To receive 10 aspirins will cost you $ 3.00.
We pay top dollar, but receive for below average health care.
Mr Vanderbilt is proof and two years ago Mr Rowlett died of a heart
attack minutes after a nurse told him he only had indigestion when he complained
of chest pains.
British
citizen set to be executed February 2003
Another
foreign born national is set to be executed in Texas on February 4th
2003 for killing a 19 years old woman back in the mid 1980’s.
John
Elliot was born is Suffolk England and if his execution proceeds, he will be the
second British Citizen executed in the United States.
The first was Tracy Housel who was executed in Georgia last year in March
2001.
Mr
Elliot and his lawyers contend that «police informants» who were trying to
cover their own guilt convicted him. They
testified against Mr Elliot in exchange for 15 years in prison.
The
focal point of this man’s appeal is that he has constantly been denied funding
for forensic tests that could prove his innocence.
Supreme
Court refuses to Ban Execution of Juvenile Offenders
The
United States Supreme Court, which recently banned the execution of mentally
retarded, divided in a bitter vote regarding the execution of death row inmates
who were under the age of 18 years old when they committed their crimes.
By
way of a 5-4 vote, the majority refused to consider banning what is already
declared by International Law and the International Treaty.
The U.S. refuses to acknowledge the treaties until a U.S. citizen is
taken into custody in a foreign country. Example….a
17 years old boy vandalised some cars just for the …”fun of it”….
He was an American citizen living abroad in Singapore with his parents.
He was caught red handed and his punishment assessed at… coming on the
bottom of his feet. The U.S. pulled
out every treaty known to man and condemned the Singapore government, but they
punished the kid anyway….and their statement was “the U.S. doesn’t hear
the pleas when other foreign nationals are arrested, so we will not hear the
U.S.; you see, when it applies to them they want to honour the treaty, but if
it’s a foreign national, or a juvenile offender, any and all pleas fall on
deaf ears.
Justice
John Paul Stevens, who was joined in voting to ban the execution of
juveniles, by Justices David Souter; Ruth Bader Grinsburg and Stephen Breyer,
stated that “the practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past
and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilised
society”…”we should put an end to this shameful practice”.
In
the last 13 years, a national consensus has developed that juveniles should not
be executed. Currently, 16 of the
38 states that allow the death penalty, prohibit it for those under the age of
18 years old. The federal
government also prohibits the practice of executing juvenile offenders.
Italian
City of Reggio Emilia expresses dismay at Texas death penalty
Four
City Councilmen fro Reggio Emilia, Italy – sister city with Forth Worth, Texas
for the last 17 years, recently came to Texas and spoke with members of the
Forth Worth City Council on September 17th about their uneasiness
surrounding the death penalty in Texas and other States in America.
The
delegation expressed deep sympathy and friendship to the citizens of Forth Worth
after the anniversary of the September 11th tragedy.
The
four councilmen articulated the formal resolution voted upon by the whole city
council of Reggio Emilia, which declared the “uselessness of the death penalty
from the legal and social point of view since it makes the world less human
adding violence, without allowing rehabilitation within the justice”.
The
city of Reggio Emilia has made commitments to support the efforts for a
moratorium against the death penalty in Texas.
At
one point, relations were very strained because Texas executed Lee Goff, whom
the city of Reggio Emilia adopted, but apparently the relations are okay
now….or so it seems.
C.C.A.
denies another DNA request
The
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a motion for DNA testing made by Walter
Bell Jr, 48 years old, who is Texas
longest serving death row inmate at 27 years and counting.
Walter’s
contentions are that he did not rape and kill Fred and Irene Chisum in 1974.
He stated that if the semen were to be tested it would prove beyond a
shadow of a doubt that he did not commit this crime.
The Appellate Courts asserted that he failed to show “how” DNA
testing of a few hairs, a cigarette butt and bath mat with blood stains would
change the outcome of the trial. Please
note they excluded the “semen”… which he wants tested.
In
my humble opinion, I strongly feel that they “don’t” have the semen
evidence after 27 years….. which has more than likely been discarded.
That’s why the C.C.A. danced around the semen factor and only mentioned
the hair, cigarette butt and blood stains…but it was a cigarette butt that
proved Roy Criners’ innocence in a case almost identical to Walter Bell’s.
In Criners’ case, the C.C.A. denied
him
and Justice Sharon Keller contented that he could have been wearing a
condom…okay. Then if that
“was” true, then why was there semen in the
vaginal
cavity, which did not match Criners DNA make up, nor did the tested cigarette
butt beside his victim match him. My
point is that these people will lie, say stupid things that have no common sense
logic and all to prevent justice.
Walter
Bell’s I.Q. has been evaluated on three different occasions and it ranges from
50-64, which makes him retarded, but to get under the retardation issue is like
an admission of guilt because they ‘ll only commute him to life in prison when
lawmakers set standards in 2003.
He’s
claiming innocence, but like so many others who have requested DNA tests he’s
being denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals, what has been designated as
“law” by Texas lawmakers that say he is entitled to.
My
question is ..”why have a DNA law, if you’re not going to let anyone use
it”.
Answer
: to show the International Community they have one…..but behind Europe’s
back, it is a farce….a fake….nothing more than an item for show.
Texas
loses Millions and Pan-American Games overviews on the death penalty
Delegates
from the 42 nations that make up the Pan American Sport Organization decided on
August 24 to award the 2007 year Pan American Games to Rio de Janeiro instead of
San Antonio Texas. The decision
reflects growing international disgust with the death penalty in Texas.
The
Mexican President, Vincent Fox, demonstrated his contempt for Texas’ death
penalty when he cancelled a scheduled visit with President Bush in protest of
the August 14th execution on Mexican citizen Javier S. Medina.
Governor
Perry made a major blunder by refusing to stay Mr Medina’s execution.
The city of San Antonio had invested $ 2,9 million dollars and had
another $ 6 million ready for staging the games.
It costs thousands of jobs for Texans and an estimated revenue of $ 20
million dollars.
I
have said before, in order to get these egotistical Texans attention, you have
to cut off their revenue. With the
lost revenue, Texans who had their hopes on obtaining the games now must accept
the harsh reality that they lost because of the Texas death penalty.
Hopefully it will initiate a reconsideration of their views of supporting
capital punishment and they’ll denounce the barbaric act.
Activists
Return to the Supreme Court Steps
Activist
once again converged upon the steps of the United States Supreme Court and
unfurled a banner on the top steps that read …..”stop executions !”
Among them was SMU Professor Rick Halperin who along with Dave Atwood and
Bonnie Caraway are probably three of the most dedicated abolitionists in Texas.
The
unfurling of the fanner took place on the 25th anniversary of the
resumption of executions after it was previously ruled unconstitutional.
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