[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., TENN., MO., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 29



FLORIDA----execution

Jerry Correll, Orlando man who killed family, executed


After multiple delays, an Orlando man convicted in the 4 fatal stabbings of his 
family members was executed Thursday night.

Jerry Correll was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m., but it appears the state 
waited on a last appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court denied Correll's stay of execution around 6:40 p.m. without comment. 
He was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 7:36 p.m.

Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying Correll's 
execution should be delayed while the court decides whether Florida's capital 
punishment system is constitutional. The system says the jury's vote on whether 
to impose a death sentence is only advisory with the judge making the final 
decision.

Breyer also said keeping a prisoner on death row for 30 years constitutes cruel 
and unusual punishment.

Correll was executed for fatally stabbing his 5-year-old daughter, his ex-wife, 
her mother and her sister 30 years ago at a home along Tampico Drive in 
Orlando.

The Florida Dept. of Corrections said Correll had his last meal around 10 a.m. 
He had no visitors today, though he did speak to his daughter on the phone and 
met with a Catholic spiritual advisor.

Correll is the 1st death row inmate in Florida to be executed since January.

Correll's execution was scheduled for February, but it was delayed as attorneys 
litigated whether a sedative used in the executions was constitutional. He has 
been on death row since 1986 after he was found guilty on 4 counts of 
1st-degree murder.

Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Scott signed Correll's death warrant.

The sedative, midazolam, had been used in executions in Oklahoma and other 
states where inmates gasped and made noises before dying. It has been tied to 
several botched executions that made national headlines, including one in 
Arizona that took about 2 hours.

In June, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the use of midazolam 
with a 5-4 decision that the sedative can be used in executions.

Correll becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in 
Florida and the 91st overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 
1979. Only Texas (530), Oklahoma (110 and Virginia (111) have executed more 
inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2, 1976.

Correll becomes the 25th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the 
USA and the 1419th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 
1977.

(sources: mynews13.com, Associated Press & Rick Halperin)






TENNESSEE:

Man who spent 27 years on death row and his attorney speak at Vanderbilt Law 
School ----Ndume Olatushani, a man who spent nearly 27 years in prison for a 
crime he did not commit, spoke at Vanderbilt Law School with Anne-Marie Moyes, 
who was his attorney and a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.


On Oct. 28, "Law Students for Innocence and Prisoner Rights" sponsored an event 
featuring Ndume Olatushani, a man who spent nearly 27 years in prison, 19 of 
which were on death row, for a crime he did not commit. The other speaker at 
the event was Anne-Marie Moyes, who was one of his attorneys and who graduated 
from Vanderbilt Law School in 2002.

Moyes began their talk by discussing the details of the crime, trial and the 
appeals process. Despite having an alibi and never having been to the state of 
Tennessee, Olatushani was accused of murdering a store owner in an attempted 
robbery in Memphis, Tennessee in 1983. The conviction was overturned in 2011 
(he was released in 2012), after the 2 witnesses were discredited and the 
presentation of multiple pieces of evidence implicated 5 others in the robbery 
and murder. Unlike many other death penalty appeals today, no DNA evidence 
existed to clear this case.

Olatushani spoke next, first expressing how happy he was to be here, and how it 
was a miracle for him to be standing here today. He continued on to discuss the 
time he spent in prison, where on some days he spent 23 hours alone in his 
cell. He also answered questions from the audience.

"Over the period that I was sitting in prison, I mean ... a whole lot was 
taking from me, it really was, as you guys can imagine, sitting in that cell," 
Olatushani said.

Olatushani did not ask for a TV, and spent a large portion of his time in 
prison reading.

"One of the first things I began to read was law books because I wanted to 
understand this process. I knew I had to understand this process," said 
Olatushani.

Olatushani also took the time to become an artist, with some of his artwork 
being displayed in the Nashville area.

"I think anyone could do what I do, I just had a whole lot of time," said 
Olatushani.

Olatushani says he has been able to move on from what happened to him, though 
he wouldn't want to use the word forgiveness to describe what he feels. Moyes 
stated that Olatushani's wrongful prosecution is very similar to other wrongful 
prosecution cases where evidence is withheld that could help prove innocence.

"They are very rarely sanctioned for it, and if they are, the sanction tends to 
be extremely mild," Moyes said. "On some policy level it is troubling that they 
are not held accountable, like I don't think they have ever had to wrestle with 
the enormity of what they did."

Olatushani has been home for about 3.5 years now. He left prison on what is 
known as an Alford plea, which is a guilty plea where the defendant does not 
admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence while conceding that sufficient 
evidence exists for a conviction. Olatushani did this so he would not have to 
sit in prison for another 2 or 3 years on principle. He had, however, refused 
an earlier plea deal.

He left the audience, which was mostly law students, with these words:

"When you go out there with your law degree," said Olatushani, "I know you guys 
are going to have bills to pay, but get in the good fight."

(source: vanderbilthustler.com)






MISSOURI:

Sister Helen Prejean: A Catholic nun against the death penalty


One wouldn't expect to hear a Catholic nun talking about abolishing the death 
penalty at a Pentecostal college, but that is what happened Thursday morning 
when Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking" and an outspoken critic 
of capital punishment, spoke to students at Evangel University, part of the 
Assemblies of God.

Prejean stood before a full house in the Barnett Recital Hall to share the 
story of her own "personal journey" from living a life of privilege and 
unconcern to one of devotion to justice, especially for the poor, and an 
advocate for ending the death penalty. She was also scheduled to speak at a 
public event Thursday evening at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. Both 
talks were arranged by Missourians for Alternative to the Death Penalty.

Katherine Crank, an Evangel junior from Bowie, Maryland, was ready to hear what 
the sister had to say. She became involved in the pro-life movement while in 
high school and was influenced by other Catholics in the movement who opposed 
both abortion and capital punishment. Yet, she remains conflicted about the 
issue, having heard many in her family support it both biblically and on an 
economic basis.

"If there is such a long tradition of Pentecostals for the death penalty, am I 
missing something?" she wondered before the talk began.

She still had questions when it was over, but Prejean struck home on several 
points for the 21-year-old woman. "A few things really got to me," she said. 
"Her quote about the death penalty being like concentrated hatred of human 
beings, that was really intense. It made me think that it's continuing a cycle 
of violence. Christians are called to end violence."

Crank said Prejean helped her to make connections she had never thought of 
before. "It was very moving," she said after the talk. "I still feel emotional, 
actually."

In light of a statement (http://nae.net/capital-punishment-2/) released earlier 
this week by the National Association of Evangelicals, of which the Assemblies 
of God is a member, Prejean's visit to Evangel is providential. While the 
statement does not call for an end to the death penalty, it acknowledges that 
studies have "identified systemic problems in the United States" regarding the 
death penalty.

"Because of the fallibility of human systems, documented wrongful convictions 
and our desire that God's grace, Christian hope, and life in Christ be 
advanced, a growing number of evangelicals now call for government entities to 
shift their resources away from pursuing the death penalty and to opt for life 
in prison without parole as the ultimate sanction," the statement reads.

Grace was also the central theme of Prejean's talk Thursday. "Grace wakes us 
up," she said.

It was a talk by a fellow nun who spoke about Jesus' love of the poor that 
"changed the spiritual trajectory" of Prejean's life by sending her out of her 
comfortable suburbs into the projects of New Orleans. She witnessed the impact 
of being black and poor on individuals and families.

Then she got a simple invitation to be a pen pal with a person on death row. 
That led her to her life's work and to the best-selling book and award-winning 
movie, "Dead Man Walking."

"I don't know if you learned this at Evangel, but Jesus is sneaky," Prejean 
quipped, getting appreciative laughter from the room full of students, 
including several from Springfield Catholic High School.

She explained that she did not realize that the man, Patrick Sonnier, would 
actually be put to death two years later and that she would be there when it 
happened. She thought she would just write some letters, but while meditating 
on Matthew 25 and the line, "I was in prison and you came to me," she decided 
to visit the convicted murderer. Then, when filling out the form to allow that, 
she called herself his spiritual adviser, the only person who can accompany a 
prisoner to the death chamber.

"The thing about grace, I didn't know that ahead of time," she said. "Grace 
comes with the call."

It was not until just before the execution that Prejean met Lloyd LaBlanc, the 
father of David LaBlanc, one of Sonnier's victims. "He's the hero of the story, 
not me," she said. LaBlanc helped her understand the need to also be there for 
the families, as well as the prison employees who participate in executions, 
because they are all victims of the justice system's ultimate penalty.

"Jesus calls us all to be a community of love and of wholeness," she said, 
encouraging the students to take action. "86 times Missouri killed people in 
your name. If you don't do anything, you're supporting the status quo in 
Missouri. ... If we don't do anything, we're complicit."

She talked about the more than 3,000 people currently on death row, all of whom 
are poor and most of whom were abused as children, and the 156 wrongfully 
convicted people who came off death row through the work of the Innocence 
Project.

She acknowledged that the Old Testament has plenty of references to the death 
penalty. "You could get the death penalty for sassing your parents," she said. 
"That ain't Jesus. How come so many people quote that eye for an eye stuff, but 
nobody quotes Jesus?"

"That's right," came a response from the audience.

Prejean received a prolonged round of applause when she finished, and several 
people purchased signed copies of her books, "Dead Man Walking" and "The Death 
of Innocents."

Some students came away ready to take her challenge. Daniel Eschman, a 
sophomore from Cleveland, Ohio, said he is not convinced that capital 
punishment doesn't have its uses, but does not believe that our culture can 
make that decision. "We don't value life right now as a culture," he said. "We 
need to make that change before we can make that decision if someone lives or 
dies."

Eschman, 19, said he plans to make his opinion heard. He will sign petitions to 
eliminate the death penalty. Crank won't go that far, but she will talk with 
family and friends about it and will continue working in the pro-life movement.

Laura Prosapio, a senior from the Chicago area, bought some books from Prejean 
but admitted she was "still processing" the nun's message. "God's grace really 
resonated with me," she said.

Those responses are fine with Prejean, who ended her talk with a simple 
invitation - "Welcome to the conversation."

(source: Springfield News-Leader)






CALIFORNIA:

Death Penalty Proposals Compete For 2016 Ballot


California voters could see two competing proposals about the death penalty on 
next year's ballot, in a sequel to a fight that played out in 2012.

Both sides agree on the problem.

"The state is spending upwards of $150 million a year to maintain a death 
system that has killed 13 people out of the 900 that have been sentenced to 
death," says Mike Farrell of Death Penalty Focus.

Farrell is the proponent of a ballot measure to abolish the punishment.

This week, it won $300,000 in backing from Silicon Valley investors, but 
Farrell says the campaign will need 4 times that much.

"My hope, my intention is to go forward with it, but we're not yet ready to say 
finally that we have pulled the trigger," he says.

In 2012, Farrell supported Proposition 34, another measure to abolish the death 
penalty, which lost by 4 %.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne-Marie Schubert was part of the \"No on 
34" effort.

"When Prop 34 was defeated, we made a commitment to the citizens of this state 
that we're going to fix it," says Schubert. "That's what we're here to do."

Schubert is a member of Californians for Death Penalty Reform and Savings, 
which has its own initiative. Schubert says the goal is to streamline the 
process. The new initiative would expedite appeals and make it easier to 
administer lethal injections.

"There's those of us that have worked in the trenches for years, if not 
decades, that recognize that, while it's broken, it can be fixed and it should 
be fixed," Schubert says.

(source: Capital PUblic Radio News)

*************

Lawyering for the People: Kevin Cooper, the Death Penalty & Mass Incarceration


A panel presented by the San Francisco Law School & UC Hastings Chapters of the 
National Lawyers Guild

When: Friday, November 6, 2015

Where: UC Hastings College of Law

Room A, 198 McAllister Street

San Francisco, CA

Time: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Please join our esteemed panel for a discussion of the legal issues surrounding 
the wrongful conviction of Kevin Cooper, the death penalty and mass 
incarceration of People of Color.

In 1983, Kevin Cooper was convicted and sentenced to death row for the killing 
of a family of 4 in Chino Hills, San Bernardino County. He has maintained his 
innocence since his arrest. Mr. Cooper was scheduled to be executed in 2004, 
but was granted a stay of execution by the 9th Circuit. On May 11, 2009, his 
petition for habeas corpus was denied en banc, upon which 5 judges of the 9th 
Circuit dissented, stating that they believed he was innocent based on evidence 
tampering by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

PANELISTS

KEVIN COOPER

Mr. Cooper will be participating on the panel from San Quentin.

AMIR VARICK AMMA, Organizer, All of Us or None

Mr. Amma is a survivor of New York State's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, and 
was wrongfully sentenced to 25 years to life. After serving over 19 years, Mr. 
Amma was released from prison and earned his BA in Social Work from Lehman 
College. Mr. Amma has over 20 years of experience as a community activist for 
such organizations as ComAlert, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Samaritan Village 
out of NY.

BICKA BARLOW, Law Office of Bicka Barlow

Prior to establishing her private law practice specializing in forensic DNA 
evidence, Ms. Barlow was the San Francisco Public Defender's Office sole DNA 
Attorney for 8 years, and Research Attorney for the San Francisco Superior 
Court. She received her BS in Genetics from UC Berkeley, MS in Genetics and 
Developmental Biology from Cornell University, and JD from the University of 
San Francisco School of Law.

NORMAN C. HILE, Senior Counsel, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

Mr. Hile has represented Mr. Cooper since 2003. Mr. Hile served on the Ninth 
Circuit Advisory Board from 2007 to 2011, and as Chair of the Judicial Advisory 
Board, Eastern District of California from 1998 to 2000. He received his BA 
from Yale University and JD from Columbia University.

CAROLE SELIGMAN, Kevin Cooper Defense Committee

Ms. Seligman is a retired elementary school teacher, parent and grandparent, is 
a member of the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the co-editor 
of Socialist Viewpoint magazine, and the office manager at Prison Radio.

(source: indybay.org)