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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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