American Justice?

[Zeitgeist]

www.ncadp.org

Eight Executions Set for Next 16 Days Raising Issues of Mental Illness

WASHINGTON - December 2 - Eight executions are scheduled to take place in the next 16 days, including the executions of at least three people with severe mental illness and three people whose lawyers performed abysmally at trial. Five are scheduled during a nine-day period in Texas, and two are set for Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.

"The scheduled executions in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia follow a disturbing but familiar pattern," said Brian Roberts, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "At a time when Americans are beginning to take a hard look at who is sentenced to death, these states are failing to meet even the lowest constitutional bar in carrying out executions. Simply put, people with severe mental illness or ineffective lawyers should not be eligible for execution in any humane and civilized society."

Among those scheduled for execution:

***Ivan Murphy, Dec. 4, Texas. Murphy, who is partly Native American, is scheduled to be executed for the death of Lula Mae Denning of Grayson County. Murphy was convicted with the help of coerced testimony from a jailhouse informant who later recanted. At trial, Murphy's lawyer neglected to call significant material witnesses, failed to hire independent experts to challenge the prosecution's theory of forensic evidence and failed to object when the prosecutor made highly prejudicial comments regarding his client.

***Robbie Lyons, Dec. 5, North Carolina. Lyons, who is black, is scheduled to be executed for the death of Stephen Stafford in Forsyth County. Lyons suffers from bipolar disorder and anti-social personality disorder and experienced horrific physical abuse as a child. In addition to enduring frequent, violent beatings, he was regularly given alcohol beginning at age four, marijuana at age seven and crack cocaine at age 10.

***Kevin Zimmerman, Dec. 10, Texas. Zimmerman, who is white, is scheduled for execution on International Human Rights Day for the murder of Leslie Gilbert Hooks, Jr. in Jefferson County. He has a history of severe mental health issues, including paranoid personality disorder, trauma due to a skull fracture, an IQ that is close to mental retardation and a history of child abuse, neglect and abandonment. In addition, he suffered from abysmal legal representation; although diagnostic tests showed he was incompetent to stand trial, his defense counsel never requested his mental health records at trial.

***Eddie Albert Crawford, Dec. 10, Georgia. Crawford, who is white, also is scheduled for execution on International Human Rights Day for the murder of his 29-month-old niece. Crawford, who is a Vietnam veteran, was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. His defense was denied adequate funding by the state of Georgia to hire medical and other experts.

***James Edward Reid, Dec. 18, Virginia. Reid, who is black, is scheduled to be executed for the murder of Annie Lester in Christianburg. Reid suffers from longstanding epileptic seizures that resulted from a severe brain injury sustained as a youth as a result of a car accident. Reid's lawyer entered a plea of "no contest" in his client's behalf before realizing the weakness of the prosecution's case and later failed to aggressively pursue a defense based on the mitigating circumstances of Reid's background.

Also scheduled for execution in December are Richard Duncan, a gay white man, set for Dec. 3 in Texas; Billy Vickers, a white man, set for Dec. 9 in Texas; and Bobby Lee Hines, a white man, set for Dec. 11 in Texas.

Last month, two executions in North Carolina and one in Georgia involved people with severe mental illness. Just over ten percent of the approximately 3,500 people on death rows in the United States suffer from severe mental illness, and one out of every six people incarcerated in the United States is said to be mentally ill, according to leading mental health and human rights organizations.

As of Dec. 2, 62 people have been executed in the United States in 2003. In 2002, a total of 71 people were executed in this country. NCADP is urging its members and supporters to visit its Legislative Action Center at www.ncadp.org to protest the eight executions set between Dec. 3 and Dec. 18.

[el presidente]

Not much info here about the victims these folks are convicted of killing.

Please provide more information.

[el presidente]

Noticed your sig..."Eroding tolerance for armchair philosophy"

Couldn't agree more. Time for a breather, make some cash and take a spin in the AMG. Life is good

[Zeitgeist]

I am sometimes on the fence regarding the death penalty

Should the State be in the 'business' of murdering its citizens?

[Botnst]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
Should the State be in the 'business' of murdering its citizens?

Murder is no different from judicial execution?

[Lebenz]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
Should the State be in the 'business' of murdering its citizens?

Sure, why not?

The death penalty has always been a victory for tax payers. People getting executed used to be intended as a public deterrent to crime. Now it is hidden away, unfortunately.


What point are you trying to make, Z?

[Zeitgeist]

Should the State be in the 'business' of _______* its citizens?

*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

This is a pretty basic question, requiring a simple yes or no. I'd think 'libertarians' would have some er...uh, reservations about State sponsored _________*.

*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

[Lebenz]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
Should the State be in the 'business' of _______* its citizens?

*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

This is a pretty basic question, requiring a simple yes or no. I'd think 'libertarians' would have some er...uh, reservations about State sponsored _________*.

*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

So is your point that the state should not provide governance? Pretty laughable, Z

[Zeitgeist]

The death penalty has always been a victory for tax payers.

...well actually capital cases are quite expensive for the tax payers. Of course we could always streamline the judicial process...just setup an judicial assembly line of death.

[Lebenz]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
...well actually capital cases are quite expensive for the tax payers. Of course we could always streamline the judicial process...just setup an judicial assembly line of death.

'course it's expensive, but not as expensive as keeping these murders in jail the rest of their natural lives. That is, unless you are volunteering to pay for the cost of keeping them in prison?

Plus, perhaps you can also pick up the tab to add some extraordinary medical measures to maintain their life in prison sentence by using the latest of medical treatments once smoking related illness overwhelms them.....

[Zeitgeist]

is your point that the state should not provide governance? Pretty laughable,

...yes, that's pretty laughable...but not in a ha ha funny way.
Governence centers on the killing of citizens then?
The State that kills the most, governs the best? Surely that's not what you intended to say...

[Lebenz]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
...yes, that's pretty laughable...but not in a ha ha funny way.
Governence centers on the killing of citizens then?
The State that kills the most, governs the best? Surely that's not what you intended to say...

Are you jumping from one pole to another today?

Governance is all about crowd control....

[Zeitgeist]

The American judicial system is a 'pay-to-play' operation. Does it not bother you that those who can't afford to 'pay' may have their lives snuffed, while those who can hire expensive counsel rarely face this reality? It's been proven repeatedly that innocent folks (mostly poor and non-white) are placed on death row under suspicious circumstances.

If you believe the State should be in the business of _______*, then at the very least, don't you think that the gross inequities of the system should be addressed before we resume our ______* spree?

*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

[Botnst]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
*insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

In general, I think judicial decisions should be made at the lowest level, not the highest. So I don't think a one-size-fits-all rule for execution is especially useful. Its like gun control--some folks in some places think its a wonderful thing, other people in other places don't. With a wide-ranging diversity of opinion there ought to be sufficient governmental flexibility to allow for intercommunity differences.

That's a general objective, not a rule. So for example, I think some fundamental or basic human rights transcend community standards. Among them are ..."life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The community should find removing or denying any of these rights especially distasteful functions. That's why we elevate the decisions to the judicial system--to remove as much of the personal biases as possible and make the process as objective as practical.

I hate that we have to have a judicial system. I hate that we have to have laws because some people are incapable of proper self-control. There is no perfect system, so injustices will occur.

Execution is one punishment among many. I don't like it, but I think it is useful and sometimes necessary.

Botnst

[Botnst]

Originally posted by Zeitgeist
It's been proven repeatedly that innocent folks (mostly poor and non-white) are placed on death row under suspicious circumstances. *insert your very own non-prejudicial term for extinguishing life.

Its been alledged repeatedly but seldom proven.