by Ben Jones, Exec. Dir. Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP)

On March 10, the Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on a bill that proposed reforms to Connecticut’s death penalty. A long list of reforms are included in the bill: limiting habeas petitions, establishing a death penalty authorization committee, allowing discrimination as a basis for challenging death sentences, increasing training and resources for capital cases, re-establishing proportionality review of death sentences, and instituting new measures to limit wrongful convictions in capital cases.

Few testifying at the hearing favored the bill, at least as a whole. The Public Defender’s Office opposed the provision to limit appeals and questioned them as unconstitutional. Although Chief State Attorney Kevin Kane favored the habeas reforms, he opposed the other reforms in the bill on the grounds that they would further prolong the legal process. Dr. William Petit testified against the provision in the bill that a victim’s impact statement be read after, rather than before, a jury has reached a verdict.

Both an exoneree and a victim’s family member testified against the bill, both arguing that the way to reform the death penalty is to do away with it. Jeffrey Deskovic spent 16 years in jail for a rape and murder he did not commit. He said in his testimony that “There is no ‘fixing’ the death penalty, other than abolishing it altogether, because no matter how many reforms are passed aimed at preventing wrongful convictions, in the end the system is operated by human beings, and human beings make mistakes.” Pamela Joiner, whose son Jumar was murdered in 2008, said that the bill to reform the death penalty “will not help me…. I don’t want more money going toward a death penalty we don’t use… I want those resources to go toward investigating my son’s murder.”

By Ben Jones, Director, CNADP

The CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) is partnering with the national organization Witness to Innocence to organize a statewide speaking tour in Connecticut featuring individuals who spent time on death row before being found innocent. The May 2-7 tour, entitled From Death Row to Freedom, highlights one of the most troubling aspects of capital punishment: its history of deadly errors and inability to protect the innocent from risk of execution.

One of the speakers in the tour will be Randy Steidl. His story illustrates the tragic mistakes that occur too often in death penalty cases. His story can be found at Witness to Innocence’s website, part of which appears below:

When questioned about the 1986 murders of newlyweds Dyke and Karen Rhoads, Randy assumed the police were questioning many people in the area. He did not know either of the victims but cooperated with the police and gave a corroborated alibi for the night of the murders. It was a shock when he and a friend were arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

An investigation by Illinois State police proved that local law enforcement and prosecutors had framed Randy and co-defendant Herbert Whitlock. The real person responsible was Karen Rhoads’ employer, a man whose major campaign contributions to the governor’s office made this case “too politically sensitive.” The governor ordered the investigation against him to cease. In 2003, federal judge Michael McCuskey overturned Randy’s conviction and ordered a new trial…. The state reinvestigated the case, tested DNA evidence, and found no link to Randy. State Attorney General Lisa Madigan did not appeal the ruling and Edgar County prosecutors did not retry the case.

Lastly, I am pleased to report that the CNADP has received a challenge grant from the Unitarian-Universalist Fund for a Just Society to fund a speaking tour in the fall of 2011 featuring victims’ families and exonerees. Because of this grant, any contributions made now to the CNADP will be DOUBLED! To support our grassroots organizing efforts please visit http://www.cnadp.org/join.php today.

Thank you!

from the CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty newsletter

Do you want to make your voice heard? Do you enjoy writing? If so, you would be a great addition to the CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty’s Writers’ Bureau. This committee has the responsibility of writing letters to the editor and op-ed pieces. Committee members are asked once or twice a month to write a small piece for a newspaper when issues related to the death penalty make the news.

This committee plays a vital role in communicating to the public the grim realities of capital punishment and advancing discussion of the subject in the state. Those interested in joining the Writers’ Bureau should contact Robert Nave at robertnave@cnadp.org.

Join Us in West Hartford – The CNADP holds regional monthly meetings in West Hartford, on the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings start at 7 p.m. at the West Hartford Universalist Church, 433 Fern St.

To contact the CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty: CNADP, 56 Arbor St., Suite 213, Hartford, CT 06106,
(860) 231-1489 or http://www.cnadp.org

By Ben Jones, CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty

Recently, there has been both good news and bad news from the Supreme Court. To start with the good news, the Court threw out a death sentence for George Porter, a Korean War veteran who received two purple hearts. The justices unanimously agreed that Mr. Porter received poor and inadequate representation at trial. And for good reason: his attorneys failed to mention as mitigating factors his military service or the possibility of suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

So the Court stopped that execution. But it allowed the execution of Bobby Wayne Woods to continue. Mr. Woods never won a Purple Heart, but he was severely mentally impaired. Having scored below a 70 on an IQ test, Mr. Woods would qualify as mentally retarded in the eyes of many experts.

In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing the mentally retarded violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. But despite this ruling, arbitrary factors still play a large role in determining who is executed and who avoids it, as the case of Mr. Woods demonstrates. Courts in Texas saw no problem in ruling that someone with IQ scores below 70 is fit to be executed. In California, on the other hand, courts stopped the execution of a death row inmate with an IQ score of 84.

These cases are simply the latest example of our government’s inability to fix the death penalty. It remains arbitrary and biased, as it has been throughout its history. Instead of waiting and hoping for government officials to act, it is clearer than ever that a grassroots movement is needed to make repeal of the death penalty a reality.

Toward this goal, the CNADP currently is stepping up its outreach efforts to different faith and civic groups – especially the Jewish community, Catholic Church, Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and the League of Women voters. If you are involved in any of these groups and would like to work with us to help end Connecticut’s death penalty, please contact me at ben.jones@cnadp.org or 860-231-1489.

– Ben Jones, CNADP

Last month I reported that Texas executed an innocent individual in 2004. Prosecutors succeeded in convicting Cameron Todd Willingham of murdering his three children in an arson fire. Up until his death by lethal injection, Willingham steadfastly claimed that he was innocent. His protests fell on deaf ears, including Texas Governor Rick Perry.

In Texas, the State Forensic Science Commission has been reviewing evidence in the Willingham case to see if critical mistakes were made. Arson specialists now say that there is no evidence of arson in the Willingham case. His conviction, it turns out, was based on junk science.

Unfortunately, Governor Perry does not care. In fact, he is trying to cover up the fact that Texas executed an innocent individual. Just before the commission was set to consider key evidence in the Willingham case, Governor Perry replaced the head of the commission and two other members with close allies of his.

These sorts of abuses of power will continue as long as we have the death penalty in this country. As we have seen during the past three decades, the death penalty is a failed government program that has made mistake after mistake after mistake. Given how prone it is to error, our government should not have the power to carry out executions.

That is why here in Connecticut we are working for repeal. In October, individuals from across Connecticut came to the Capitol to call for an end to the death penalty at the Abolition Day Campaign kickoff rally. This event was the first of many to educate both the public and our officials on the realities of capital punishment. This grassroots campaign will continue until it finally achieves its goal of ending Connecticut’s death penalty.

Be sure to sign up for updates at www.cnadp.org or call 860-231-1489 to receive information on upcoming events in your area and volunteer opportunities.

– Ben Jones, Exec. Dir., CNADP

The New Yorker recently published an article showing conclusively that Texas executed an innocent man in 2004. Prosecutors relied on arson investigators to build a case that Cameron Willingham burned down the family house to kill his children. The arson theories used to convict him had no scientific basis whatsoever. Although there was an attempt to expose the flaws in his case and save his life, these efforts proved to be too little too late.

In Connecticut, we have the opportunity to ensure that we are never too late in stopping an execution. By having the death penalty, our state runs the risk of making a fatal mistake. No case better illustrates this point than the recent exoneration of Kenneth Ireland from Wallingford. After spending over 20 years in prison, DNA evidence showed that Ireland never committed the rape and murder he was convicted of. Given these mistakes, it is irresponsible and dangerous to hold onto our broken system of capital punishment.

To make sure Connecticut never has its own Cameron Willingham, it is important to build our movement to repeal the state’s death penalty. If we wait until an execution is pending, it in all likelihood will be too late.

Please visit the CT Network to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (CNADP’s) new volunteer page at http://www.cnadp.org/volunteer.php and learn more about ways to get involved.

For more information, please visit www.cnadp.org, or call (860) 231-1489.