TCASK TCStudent Conference on the Death Penalty

Saturday, February 6, 2010
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
(9:00 a.m. check-in)
Middle Tennessee State University
Business and Aerospace Building

Learn about the death penalty in Tennessee and how you can effect change

High school and college students are invited to attend this free conference which includes national speakers and organizers as well as Tennessee activists. Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, will give the keynote address. As NCADP Executive Director, Ms. Rust-Tierney manages and directs the program for the national organization and 100 affiliates seeking to change public policy on the death penalty.

Lunch is included with coffee, refreshments, and snacks available throughout the conference.

Please register using the online form. If you register and attend, you will receive a free t-shirt!

Conference Agenda

9:00 a.m.	Check-in begins; letter writing available
9:55 a.m.	Check-in ends
10:00 a.m.	Keynote Address: Diann Rust-Tierney
10:50 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m.	Workshop session 1 (choose one): A: Death Penalty 101 B: Mental Illness and the Death Penalty C: Sharing our Stories: Murder Victims Families Speak
11:45 a.m.	Workshop session 2 (choose one): A: Death Penalty 101 B: Mental Illness and the Death Penalty C: Sharing our Stories: Murder Victims Families Speak
12:30 p.m.	Lunch; letter writing available
1:30 p.m.	Amnesty presentation
2:00 p.m.	Break
2:10 p.m.	Lobby training
3:55 p.m.	Closing

Paul House will be released today

This is the great news from Tennessee. According to the Tennessean, Paul House will be released today. TCASK will probably have some more updates soon.

Paul Gregory House will celebrate the Fourth of July at home this Friday thanks to an anonymous donor who sent his mother the $10,000 bail needed for his release from state custody.

House, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, is set for release today at 9:30 a.m. from the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville.

"I was in tears because I couldn't find an appraiser for a property bond," said his mother, Joyce House. "Then I got an anonymous caller who said they were going to put up the money. There are angels out there. One day I hope to meet them."

House, 46, was on death row for 22 years after being convicted in 1986 of murdering Carolyn Muncey in East Tennessee. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded in 2006 that a jury, based upon DNA evidence that emerged years after his trial, could find reasonable doubt in the case. House has maintained his innocence.

U.S. District Court Judge Harry Mattice Jr. ordered the state to release House or retry him within 180 days, and an appeals court upheld Mattice's decision.

Prosecutors said they would retry House, and a state court judge in Union County set a $500,000 bond. Another judge reduced the bond to $100,000. At least 10 percent of that amount was required for House's release.

House's mother planned to use her Crossville home for a property bond to get her son released from jail while awaiting his second trial in October.

Under the bail conditions set by a judge, House can only leave his mother's home for medical appointments and court appearances. He will have a 24-hour electronic monitoring system and has to register as a sex offender. No firearms are allowed in the house.

Groups declare victory

The state does not plan to seek the death penalty during the second trial, and anti-death penalty organizations already have declared victory.

"We are so grateful to all the Tennesseans and people all over the country who have supported our work to free Paul House," said Stacy Rector, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing.

Contact Chris Echegaray at 664-2144 or cechegaray@tennessean.com.

Pizza for the homeless

On Wednesday night Tennessee executed Philip Workman despite his claims of innocence. For his last meal on earth, Philip Workman requested that a vegetable pizza be delivered to Nashville's homeless shelter. The Department of Corrections refused saying they were too focused on the execution procedures. But hundreds of normal people have stepped in and hundreds of pizzas were served last night to Nashville's homeless community in Philip Workman's name. Read news reports on CNN and News Channel 4.

As TCASK's blog mentions, "last night, the regular citizens of Tennessee stepped up and picked up where the state dropped the ball. And they did it in Philip Workman's name." Not only Tennesseans have followed Philip Workman's request, but Texans are also responding. So far TSADP has collected more than $100 to send Veggie Pizzas to the Austin Homeless community in Workman's name. This could generate some local media coverage and also bring attention to the human side of the death-row inmates. If you are interested please pitch in a few dollars by going to our donation page. You can donate money with your credit card and y sending us a check.