Anti-Death Penalty Activists Found Guilty for Protest - Four to Collectively Serve 75 days in DC Jail

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, 13 death penalty abolition activists went on trial in DC Superior Court to face a charge stemming from a January 17 arrest this year at the U.S. Supreme Court. On that date, 14 protestors unfurled a 30 foot banner, which read "STOP EXECUTIONS!" on the steps of the Court. Such displays of banners are prohibited under U.S. law.

At trial, the pro-se defendants made a case against the death penalty, and also in support of the first amendment. They challenged the constitutionality of the statue prohibiting people from displaying at the Supreme Court "a flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization, or movement."

After six hours of testimony, review of the evidence and presentation of oral arguments, Judge Juliet McKenna found all 13 defendants guilty and imposed a range of sentences, varying from time served and a $100 fine (plus $50 mandatory contribution to the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund), up through suspended sentences of 5 to 60 days. Additionally, in various cases, 50 hours of community service was imposed, and/or 1-3 years of probation with a stay-away order from the Supreme Court grounds during probation.

Four of the defendants declared in court that they would not pay any fines or participate in community service for an arrest that they believed to be unlawful and unjust. The judge then imposed a 60 day jail sentence on 80-year old DC resident Eve Tetaz, and a 5 day jail sentence on Jack Payden-Travers (a Lynchburg, Virginia resident) and Amber and Kevin Mason (both DC residents).

Immediately following court, Tetaz said, "Of course I don't want to go to jail for 60 days. But 60 days or 24 hours... it doesn't matter. What is important is that I spoke truth to power, which was the only morally responsible thing to do."

Payden-Travers, Amber Mason and Kevin Mason began serving their sentences immediately Wednesday afternoon, and Tetaz will self report to DC jail on Monday, July 2.

All 13 defendants represented themselves, with DC attorney Mark Goldstone acting as attorney advisor to the group.

The "defendants spoke eloquently and passionately" stated Judge McKenna at the conclusion of the trial. "What a marvelous example of teamwork." The judge then commended defendant Randy Gardner for "channeling your experiences...in productive ways giving back to the community." Gardner, whose brother was executed by a Utah firing squad in June 2010 said on the stand, "I can't imagine teaching [my son] that it is okay to kill someone for killing someone else." Gardner's 14-year old son sat in the courtroom watching as his dad took the stand as one of the three defense witnesses.

At the time of the January arrest, five of the defendants did not carry any identification, and when asked for their names by the police, each responded, "I am Troy Davis." Troy Davis was executed last September in Georgia under serious doubt about his guilt. Although this act of solidarity did not result in any increased penalties at trial for the involved defendants, Troy Davis's name and memory were brought into the courtroom.

Daniel Flynn, one of the defense witnesses who took the name of Troy Davis upon arrest, testified on the stand, "Troy Davis represents what is wrong with the system. Troy Davis is any one of us in this court here today." Flynn said that because of Mr. Davis's execution, "I had to do something more. Something different."

The January 17 protest that resulted in the arrest of 14 activists took place on the 35th anniversary of the execution of Gary Gilmore, the first execution under contemporary laws. The protestors included Amber Mason, Kevin Mason, Eve Tetaz, Daniel Flynn, Anne Feczko, Scott Langley, Jack Payden-Travers, Ron Kaz, Anna Shockley, Randy Gardner, Charity Lee, Rachel Lawler, Jon Dunn and Tom Muther.
This every-five-year protest is organized by The Abolitionist Action Committee, an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action.

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A graphic on Policy Bruality and your Rights

Created by: Criminology.com

Rick Perry Could Reach 250 Executions by End of 2012

250 executions under one Governor. It is an almost unbelievable number, but it could happen by the end of 2012. As of today, 243 people have been executed since Texas Governor Rick Perry took office in 2000. More people have been executed under Perry than under any other governor in U.S. history. One of the people executed under Perry was Todd Willingham in 2004, who was innocent. Rick Perry did not even consider pausing executions after it became apparent that an innocent person had been executed.
Currently, there are seven more executions scheduled in Texas this year, which would bring Perry’s total to 250. More executions could still be scheduled and some of the executions will probably be stayed.

Scheduled Executions

Scheduled Execution	Link	Last Name	First Name	TDCJ Number	Date of Birth	Race	Date Received	County
07/18/2012	Offender Information	Hearn	Yokamon	999292	11/06/1978	B	12/31/1998	Dallas
08/01/2012	Offender Information	Druery	Marcus	999464	11/20/1979	B	12/05/2003	Brazos
08/07/2012	Offender Information	Wilson	Marvin	999098	01/05/1958	B	05/09/1994	Jefferson
08/22/2012	Offender Information	Balentine	John	999315	01/30/1969	B	06/11/1999	Potter
09/20/2012	Offender Information	Harris	Robert	999364	02/28/1972	B	10/06/2000	Dallas
11/08/2012	Offender Information	Swain	Mario	999475	02/28/1979	B	04/08/2004	Gregg
11/14/2012	Offender Information	Hernandez	Ramon	999431	11/8/1971	H	10/21/2002	Bexar

From Death Row to Exoneration: Former Texas Prisoner Anthony Graves on Surviving Solitary Confinement

In a rare interview, former Texas death row prisoner Anthony Graves joins us to recount his experience in solitary confinement and how he was fully exonerated and released from prison in 2010. Graves was convicted in 1994 of assisting Robert Carter, a man he barely knew, in the brutal murders of six people. There was no physical evidence linking Graves to the crime, and his conviction relied primarily on Carter’s testimony. Before he was executed, Carter twice admitted he had lied about Graves’s involvement in the crime. In 2006, an appeals court overturned Graves’s conviction and ordered a new trial, saying prosecutors had elicited false statements and withheld testimony. After 18 years in prison, most of them on death row, Graves was exonerated and reunited with his family after a special prosecutor concluded he was an innocent man. Graves is now an active member of the movement to abolish the death penalty. "My experience was hell," Graves says. "I always liken it to something that you would consider to be your worst nightmare. I had to go through that experience every day for 18-and-a-half years. And it was just no way to live." Urging an end to the death penalty, Graves says: "They’re killing in your name. And I say to you, stand up and tell these people, 'Not in my name anymore.'"

DEMOCRACY NOW LINK:
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/22/from_death_row_to_exoneration_fmr

Execution Watch: Anthony Bartee

Anthony Bartee

By Execution Watch

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Texas plans to put to death Anthony Bartee Wednesday at 6 p.m. despite lingering questions about tests of crime-scene evidence. 

Unless Bartee receives a stay, Execution Watch will broadcast live coverage and commentary designed to show the reality, versus the rhetoric, of the Texas death penalty. Tune in. And spread the word.

RADIO SHOW PREVIEW
EXECUTION WATCH
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast on ...
Wed., May 2, 2012, 6-7 PM Central Time
KPFT FM Houston 90.1 or
Online: www.executionwatch.org > Listen

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
ANTHONY BARTEE, 55, convicted in the August 1996 robbery murder of a friend,. He was given a stay before his scheduled execution in February so additional DNA testing could be done. When an execution date of May 2 was announced, Bartee attorney David Dow sent the court a letter saying the new date should not have been set because DNA testing hadn’t been done. Dow protested that no notice of a hearing for a new execution date was sent to him or Bartee. Background at www.executionwatch.org > Backpage on Beunka.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she has also held leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution and defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: BILL HABERN, a founding partner of Habern, O’Neil, Buckley & Lang, the oldest full-time corrections law firm in Texas. Last year, he received the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. His media appearances have included Oprah Winfrey, 20-20, Good Morning America, and other national TV and radio programs. This is his Execution Watch debut. www.paroletexas.com.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC, founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Huntsvile: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, ww.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On May 16, Texas plans to kill the severely mentally ill STEVEN STALEY.. We’ll broadcast;

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

 

Execution Watch: Beunka Adams

Beunka Adams' case has been on a roller coaster over the past few days, with a stay of execution issued Monday, the stay lifted Wednesday, and the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule Thursday on whether his execution will take place as scheduled that evening. If the execution is carried out, we will do a live broadcast designed to lay out the realities, versus the rhetoric, of the Texas death penalty. Spread the word.

RADIO PROGRAM PREVIEW
EXECUTION WATCH
Unless a stay is issued, we'll broadcast on ...
Thurs, Apr 26, 2012, 6-7 PM Central Time
KPFT FM Houston 90.1 - HD3 or
Online: www.executionwatch.org > Listen Live to HD3

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
BEUNKA ADAMS, 29, and his fall partner, Richard Cobb, were convicted of abducting and killing a man during the robbery of a convenience store in East Texas. Cobb remains on death row. Adams was 19 at the time of the offense; Cobb was 18. On Monday, a federal judge in Texarkana granted Adams a stay of execution. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed the stay, which was lifted Wednesday by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Background at www.executionwatch.org > Backpage on Beunka.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she also has leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution and defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: CHARITY LEE, Executive director of the ELLA Foundation. Lee’s father was murdered when she was a girl. Her mother was tried and acquitted in his death. Lee established the ELLA foundation after her 13-year-old son sexually assaulted and murdered her 4-year-old daughter in 2007.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, he’ll be escorting a group of high school students in Huntsville  www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On May 2, Texas plans to kill ANTHONY BARTEE. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

Bob Ray Sanders: Time to end death penalty in Texas

That's the title of Bob Ray Sander's column at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Two events last week -- one in the Connecticut Senate chamber, the other in a Dallas courtroom -- helped once again to focus attention on two of the nation's most glaring flaws: wrongful convictions and capital punishment.

In Dallas, three more men were exonerated for crimes they did not commit, bringing to 30 the total number of exonerations in Dallas County since 2001. One of the men had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for a 1994 violent purse snatching involving a 79-year-old woman.
About 1,600 miles away in Hartford, the Connecticut Senate voted 20-16 to repeal the death penalty based partly on the growing evidence of wrongful convictions and the possibility that an innocent person could be executed. The state's House of Representatives is likely to approve the measure soon, and the governor has vowed to sign it into law.
If the measure is enacted, Connecticut will join a growing number of states (the fifth in five years) to abolish capital punishment. California voters will weigh in on the subject in a ballot initiative in November.

After the Dallas defendants were officially cleared in court, both District Attorney Craig Watkins and District Judge Lena Levario declared that it was time to have a discussion about race and justice, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Actually we need a discussion about much more than that in America.

The latest Dallas case again revealed that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and that police, during their initial investigation, subjected the suspects to prejudicial identification tactics. These kinds of injustices cry out for discussion.

How many innocent people are behind bars based on overzealous police work, unethical prosecution or just honest mistakes? How many might be on Death Row?
When it comes to executions, there are signs that the nation's thirst for blood is waning, bringing some hope to those of us who have been fighting against capital punishment for so long.
Even in Texas, which has the busiest death chamber in the country, the numbers are decreasing. Texas juries are sentencing fewer people to death, and the population on Death Row is declining.

Texas executed 13 people last year, the lowest number since 1996 when three people were killed by lethal injection. In 2000, a record 40 executions occurred in the state.
Four people have been put to death this year in Huntsville, bringing the total to 481 since 1982, when Texas resumed executions after the Supreme Court had declared capital punishment "cruel and unusual" in 1972.

Today 298 people are on Texas' Death Row, including nine women. The ethnic breakdown is 29.2 percent Anglo, 40.6 percent black, 28.5 percent Hispanic and 1.7 percent other. At the end of fiscal 2001, the Death Row population was 446.
Those are all good signs, but not good enough.

If more states continue to lead the way, maybe the Lone Star State will eventually follow. New York, New Jersey, Illinois and New Mexico recently repealed capital punishment, and The Associated Press reports that Kansas and Kentucky are considering it.
Many people acknowledge that we have a flawed justice system, and that's understandable with any structure that depends on human judgment and actions.

But it is because of the fallibility of humans that we mortals should not be charged with deciding to take a life -- the one thing we can never give back in case of a mistake -- in the name of the state.

The progress toward abolishment of the death penalty has been steady, but slow. It's now time to pick up the momentum.

I'm ready to see the movement gather steam, wage an all-out legal assault and awareness campaign to change these barbaric laws one state legislature at a time.
We are a nation that should be better than this. Let's vow to end capital punishment in this country, now and forever.

Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.             817-390-7775      
Twitter: @BobRaySanders

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873758/time-to-end-death-penalty-in-texas.html#storylink=cpy

Read 

 

more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873758/time-to-end-death-penalty-in-texas.html#storylink=cpy

Execution Watch: Jesse Hernandez, Wednesday

Jesse Hernandez

The state that carries out more executions than any other plans to put to death Jessie Hernandez Wednesday. The state killing will be covered live on Execution Watch, KPFT FM 90.1 Houston.

Unless a stay is issued, the show will broadcast from 6 to 7 p.m., Central Time, streaming at: www.executionwatch.org > Listen. The events will also be discussed on Facebook > Execution Watch.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE:
JESSE HERNANDEZ, 47, convicted in the 2001 beating death of a 10-month-old boy he was babysitting in West Dallas. Police linked Hernandez to the slaying through traces of his DNA mixed with the boy's blood on a pillowcase and an article of clothing.

SHOW LINEUP
Host: MARLO BLUE, anchor of the afternoon news at KPFT, where she has also held leadership roles behind the scenes..

Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney who has seen capital trials from both the prosecution defense tables. Joining him will be criminal defense attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.

Featured Interview: DAVID GARDNER, author most recently of Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition, he is professor of law and sociology at New York University. The UK native was a founding editor of Edinburgh Law Review and was founding editor-in-chief of Punishment and Society: The International Journal of Penology.

Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.

Reporter, Vigil, Huntsvile: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, he’ll be escorting a group of high school students in Huntsville  www.tcadp.org.

NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On April 26, Texas plans to kill BEUNKA ADAMS. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.

PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

(END)

EXECUTION WATCH: KEITH THURMOND MARCH 7

Keith Thurmond

By Execution Watch
KPFT FM 90.1 Houston

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- The busiest death chamber in the industrialized West is preparing to put the 480th notch in its belt since the U.S. Supreme Court reopened the gates to the death penalty in 1976.

Keith Thurmond's attorney missed a filing deadline, causing Thurmond to lose his federal appeal, the last constitutionally required review before a death sentence may be carried out. Execution Watch will provide live coverage and commentary Wednesday on his execution.

Execution Watch's live coverage and commentary will include reports from outside the death house, a vigil report, a legal analysis of the case, and an interview with attorney and author John Bessler about his new book offering an historical perspective on the Eighth Amendment.

The broadcast may be heard starting at 6 p.m. Central Time Wednesday on KPFT FM 90.1 Houston, a flagship station of the nonprofit Pacifica Network, or online at http://executionwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE

KEITH THURMOND, 52, a former master mechanic who was convicted of shooting and killing his estranged wife and her boyfriend in Magnolia in 2001. He lost his federal appeal when his attorney missed a filing deadline, essentially waiving Thurmond’s last constitutionally required review before the death sentence could be carried out. Background at http://executionwatch.org > Keith Thurmond > Backpage.


SHOW LINEUP
Host: OTIS MACLAY, a broadcast veteran and former program director of KPFT, he co-hosts The Monitor on Monday nights. He is also technical director of Execution Watch.


Legal Analyst: JIM SKELTON, a legal educator and retired attorney, the native Texan has seen capital trials from both the prosecution defense tables. Joining him will be attorneys SUSAN ASHLEY and LARRY DOUGLAS.


Featured Interview: JOHN BESSLER, author of Cruel & Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders’ Eighth Amendment, exploring the Constitutional protection in light of the founders' ambivalent views on capital punishment. Bessler is associate professor at University of Baltimore School of Law and adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.


Reporter, Death House, Huntsville: GLORIA RUBAC founder and leader, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, abolitionmovement.org.


Reporter, Vigil, Houston: DAVE ATWOOD, a founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, will report from the vigil the group sponsors in Houston,  www.tcadp.org.


NEXT SCHEDULED EXECUTION
On March 28 Texas plans to kill JESSE HERNANDEZ. We’ll broadcast; see executionwatch.org.


PRODUCER: Elizabeth, eliza.tx.usa @gmail.com.
STUDIO ENGINEER: Doyle.
THEME:  By Victoria Panetti, SheMonster International, myspace.com/shemonster.

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Join the discussion on Facebook: Execution Watch.

A very moving description of a recent visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal who is now in general population

By Johanna Fernandez.


Comrades, Brothers and Sisters:

Heidi Boghosian and I just returned from a very moving visit with Mumia. We visited yesterday, Thursday, February 2. This was Mumia's second contact visit in over 30 years, since his transfer to General Population last Friday, Jan 27. His first contact visit was with his wife, Wadiya, on Monday, January 30.
Unlike our previous visits to Death Row at SCI Greene and to solitary confinement at SCI Mahanoy, our visit yesterday took place in a large visitor's area, amidst numerous circles of families and spouses who were visiting other inmates.  Compared to the intense and focused conversations we had had with Mumia in a small, isolated visiting cell on Death Row, behind sterile plexiglass, this exchange was more relaxed and informal and more unpredictably interactive with the people around us...it was more human.  There were so many scenes of affection around us, of children jumping on top of and pulling at their fathers, of entire families talking intimately around small tables, of couples sitting and quietly holding each other, and of girlfriends and wives stealing a forbidden kiss from the men they were there to visit (kisses are only allowed at the start and at the end of visits). These scenes were touching and beautiful, and markedly different from the images of prisoners presented to us by those in power. Our collective work could benefit greatly from these humane, intimate images.
When we entered, we immediately saw Mumia standing across the room. We walked toward each other and he hugged both of us simultaneously. We were both stunned that he would embrace us so warmly and share his personal space so generously after so many years in isolation.
He looked young, and we told him as much. He responded, "Black don't crack!"  We laughed.
He talked to us about the newness of every step he has taken since his release to general population a week ago. So much of what we take for granted daily is new to him, from the microwave in the visiting room to the tremor he felt when, for the first time in 30 years, he kissed his wife.  As he said in his own words, "the only thing more drastically different than what I'm experiencing now would be freedom." He also noted that everyone in the room was watching him.
The experience of breaking bread with our friend and comrade was emotional. It was wonderful to be able to talk and share grilled cheese sandwiches, apple danishes, cookies and hot chocolate from the visiting room vending machines.
One of the highlights of the visit came with the opportunity to take a photo. This was one of the first such opportunities for Mumia in decades, and we had a ball! Primping the hair, making sure that we didn't have food in our teeth, and nervously getting ready for the big photo moment was such a laugh! And Mumia was openly tickled by every second of it.
When the time came to leave, we all hugged and were promptly instructed to line up against the wall and walk out with the other visitors. As we were exiting the prison, one sister pulled us aside and told us that she couldn't stop singing Kelly Clarkson's line "some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this." She shared that she and her parents had followed Mumia's case since 1981 and that she was overjoyed that Mumia was alive and in general population despite Pennsylvania's bloodthirsty pursuit of his execution.  We told her that on April 24 we were going to launch the fight that would win Mumia's release: that on that day we were going to Occupy the Justice Department in Washington DC. She told us that because she recently survived cancer she now believed in possibility, and that since Mumia was now in general population she could see how we could win. She sent us off with the line from Laverne and Shirley's theme song - "never heard the word impossible!"- gave us her number, and asked us to sign her up for the fight.
We're still taking it all in. The journey has been humbling and humanizing, and we are re-energized and re-inspired!!
In the words of City Lights editor, Greg Ruggiero:"
"Long Term Goal: End Mass Incarceration.
Short Term Goal: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!"
--Johanna Fernandez
      

Beccaria - A Poetry project in Philadelphia, PA

About this project

Beccaria is a chapbook of poetry which brings awareness to the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The chapbook is a compilation of the art and poetry of murder victims' family members, current death row inmates and exonerated death row prisoners. The first printing of the chapbook was funded through a Leeway Art and Change Grant. This project is to fund the second printing and will be available for purchase and available for the first time to prison inmates by May 2012.

The Leeway Foundation site states the intention of the chapbook "is to make a powerful artistic statement that could potentially encourage those that read it to consider whether the death penalty truly serves the needs of victims or the community at large."
Read a review of Beccaria here

Beccaria contributers:
Delbert Tibbs, David Keaton, Mary DeWitt, Reginald Lewis, Jan Williams, Devon Williams, Elizabeth Johnson, Hasan Shakur, Aja Beech

Help Stop the Execution of Hart Turner

For more information, please contact: Jim Craig, Louisiana Capital Assistance Center  636 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA 70113 (504) 558-9867       jimc@thejusticecenter.org

Contact the Governor: The Hon. Phil Bryant Governor of Mississippi  Phone: 601.359.3150 Camp.Murphy@governor.ms.gov

               At the request of Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, the MS Supreme Court has set the execution of Edwin Hart Turner for 6 pm on February 8.  Hart is on death row for killing two men at a Mississippi gas station in 1995.  He had no prior criminal history.

            Just six weeks before the crime, Hart was released from a three-month stay at a mental institution after his second suicide attempt in five years.  Upon release Hart felt “upbeat” and those around him were hopeful that he was finally recovering from the mental disturbances which had plagued him since childhood.

           He wasn’t.  Hart’s behavior grew increasingly bizarre and manic.  He attributed his new energy to the Prozac prescribed by the hospital but said that he “could not sleep because his mind was going too fast” and that he “couldn’t think right” or “make a complete sentence in his head.”  A few days before the crimes, Hart broke down and sobbed uncontrollably for hours – “shift[ing] back and forth many times from ‘I am not a bad person’ to ‘I am a bad person,’” before eventually falling asleep fully clothed, awaking the next morning with no memory of what happened.

           Hart’s mental disturbance wasn’t surprising given his background. Though Hart was a “considerate and affectionate boy” who would “hug you when he saw you,” he was raised in an environment of abuse and trauma.  His family tree was littered with mental illness – his grandmother and great-grandmother were each committed to the State Hospital at Whitfield on numerous occasions.  Hart was raised by alcoholics who fought in his presence and threw furniture at each other constantly.  Hart’s mother attempted suicide twice, and when Hart was twelve his father was killed in a dynamite explosion that his family has come to believe was actually suicide.

           Hart’s own struggles with mental illness began early – his mother took Hart to the hospital on two occasions when Hart was fifteen, reporting that he was “acting funny,” and Hart told doctors he was having trouble sleeping and his generally good grades were falling. Throughout adolescence, Hart was repeatedly hospitalized for what was called “agitated depression.”  At 18 Hart attempted to kill himself with a rifle.  The barrel of the gun slipped enough to spare his life, but the bullet blasted through his face leaving him permanently disfigured.  From then on, Hart wore a towel wrapped around his face to hide the scars, which he never removed, choosing even to leave the room to eat or drink rather than expose his face to his family.

           Five years, and several unsuccessful treatments, later, Hart slit his wrists.  He was hospitalized and treated for an impulse disorder.  Hart was discharged then readmitted pursuant to court order, diagnosed as having a major depressive disorder and personality disorder, and prescribed Prozac.  Hart’s Prozac dosage was quickly doubled.  Then Hart was again released, reported “feeling so good,” and defied orders to attend outpatient appoint­ments.  His mania deepened.  Hart acted erratic and impulsive, and even stripped off all his clothes (and his face-shrouding towel) and danced in a local bar.  Six weeks after his release, Hart, who had no prior criminal history, shot and killed Everett Curry and Eddie Brooks, in an irrational and impulsive crime.  Hart, dressed in his tell-tale face towel and thus immedi­ately recognizable to the residents of his small Mississippi town, was well-off financially after his father’s death and had no particular reason to commit the robberies and homicides.
           Hart was immediately arrested and tried for capital murder.  The jury deciding Hart’s fate heard simply that he was depressed, that his depression was “well-controlled” at the time of the murders, so the killings could only be explained by the fact that Hart simply “lacked moral brakes.”

           In the 17 years since Hart’s trial, legal technicalities have blocked the courts from  taking evidence and squarely deciding the question of whether Hart suffered from a mental disorder which impacted his capacity for judgment and/or was able to control his conduct at the time of the crime.  At the same time it scheduled Hart Turner for execution, the Supreme Court refused to order an official medical exam to determine his mental condition and report to the Court.

  Numerous mental health experts have reviewed the case and have reached the conclusion that Hart was suffering from a severe mental disorder at the time of the crimes which would have impacted his moral and legal culpability.  These experts agree that at the very minimum, Hart’s history demonstrates the need for a searching mental health review.  They point to a laundry list of facts that merit further inquiry:

           * Hart’s own documented history of mental disturbances, bizarre behavior leading up to the offense, and repeated hospitalizations throughout adolescence for impulsiveness, agitated depression, and suicidal thinking and actions.

           * Hart’s family history of mental illness, including a grandmother and a great-grandmother who were institutionalized with diagnoses of schizophrenia, prevalent addiction in the family, and suicide attempts from both parents.

           * Hart’s documented history indicative of traumatic brain injury, including being unresponsive and potentially anoxic at birth, hospital treatment on at least three occasions for head injuries, battles with substance abuse including gasoline huffing as a young teenager,  a shotgun blast to the face and head, and an 18-point drop in performance IQ (from 108 to 90). At the time of his offense, neither PET scans nor fMRI were in wide use, or used on Hart.

            * Hart’s exposure to traumatic events during childhood, including witnessing intense physical fights between his parents, his father’s horrifying death and his mother’s threats to beat him if he cried about it.  Hart has never been evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

           * Developments in the treatment of mental illness since 1995 which demonstrate the danger that anti-depressants (like Prozac) may actually compound mania when prescribed to individuals with bipolar disorder.

           Without intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court or by the Governor of Mississippi, Hart Turner, a man suffering from a life-long, hereditary and crippling mental illness, will be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  Please help!

Former Death Row prisoner Tim McKinney has a new trial date - April 9, 2012

 

The struggle to stop the execution of Troy Davis last fall showed the brutal reality of innocent, African-American men on death rows across this country. Now we face yet another urgent case: the time is now to stand with Tim McKinney. Tim McKinney is an innocent man who was on Tennessee's death row for over a decade. 

He is going to be re-tried for murder on April 9, 2012.

We are seeking help negotiating this new stage in Tim’s struggle for justice and would appreciate your advice and contribution.  How can we PACK THE COURTS April 9^th?!

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            Mr. McKinney is former prisoner of TN’s Death Row.  This past year Tim was granted a new trial and he is now in the Memphis County jail awaiting an April 9, 2012 hearing.  I have worked with Tim in cooperation with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty since 2002. 

Our efforts include securing pro-bono counsel for his appeals process with the international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell (read more at http://www.davispolk.com/pro-bono/practices/death-penalty/) and being featured at the CEDP annual conference on multiple occasions.  We have put together a substantial website at www.timmckinney.org.  The case is also featured on the Tennesseeans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty’s website at http://www.tennesseedeathpenalty.org/?page_id=156.

At this time we are reaching out to the TN community to get support in anticipation of a challenging process in the courts.  Being granted a new trial is a huge victory but Tim has faced additional challenges in Memphis. 

  

We kindly ask that you take the time to look over Tim’s case and consider how you or other TN activists and professionals might help our cause.  Please let me know what I can do to assist you in joining our campaign.  We know your time is valuable.

How can we PACK THE COURTS April 9^th?!

                                    Thank you for your consideration,

                                    Katharine Bawa Smith

                                    Chairwoman

                                    Timothy McKinney Innocence Committee

                                    smith.katharine@gmail.com

                                                (703) 336 3440      

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I am inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words: "I do not think that God approves the death penalty for any crime, rape and murder included.  Capital punishment is against the better judgment of modern criminology, and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God."