[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., VER., PENN., FLA., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

June 1




TEXAS----inmate removed from death row

Former death row killer who targeted gay men in 1980s gets life sentences



A former Charles Manson follower linked to a string of gay hate crimes in the 
1980s won an appeal and has been let off death row, but under a new plea deal 
will still spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Marlin Enos Nelson, a 50-year-old Harris County man who once professed a hatred 
of gay people, was originally sentenced to die for the 1987 murder of a 
telephone switchman who picked him up for sex, according to court records.

But in 2013, an appeals court decided that flawed jury instructions at his 1988 
trial could have unfairly netted him a death sentence, so the judges overturned 
his punishment while leaving in place the guilty verdict.

(source: Houston Chronicle)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Ayotte, Prosecutor in Capital Murder Case, Angered by Death Penalty Repeal



Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte says she is disappointed and angry that New 
Hampshire has abolished its death penalty.

As the state's attorney general, Ayotte was the lead prosecutor in the case of 
Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Officer Michael Briggs in 2006 and is 
the state's only inmate on death row.

While the bill ending capital punishment is not retroactive, its opponents 
argue Addison eventually will see his sentence converted to life on prison.

The state Senate voted to overturn Gov. Chris Sununu's veto of the bill on 
Thursday, a week after the House did the same. In a series of tweets, Ayotte 
says law enforcement officers and their families deserve better than what they 
got from lawmakers, and that Addison was the happiest about the vote.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Ignore the pope on death penalty



Can a murderer or kidnapper, that kills his victim, or a traitor, be put to 
death by the state?

Yes.

The state has an obligation to protect the commonweal of society, even to the 
point of imposing the death penalty and deprive the killer of his/her own life.

Contrary to what the current pope of the Catholic Church has said, and his 
attempt to change church teaching on the subject of the death penalty, the 
church has always taught that the death penalty can be used as a last resort — 
after due process — in order for the killer to pay with his own life for his 
crimes against society.

There are far too many Catholics that do not know their faith, and think that 
whatever the pope says or writes is binding on the conscience of the faithful. 
This is not so! There are strict requirements that have to be met in order for 
a teaching to be binding. Suffice to say, that the pope is human, and like you 
and I, is entitled to his opinion. If he says that the death penalty is null 
and void from this point on, he is not to be obeyed! Remember, he cannot change 
any teachings on faith and morals, period!

When Christ was standing before Pilate, He told Pilate that if His kingdom was 
of this world, His legions would come and protect and save Him. In addition, He 
said that he (Pilate) would have no authority over Him if it were not given him 
by His Father, and consequently, through the state, to him!

Today, we have “legal” murder in the form of abortion, and now infanticide in 
the form of letting a poor baby girl that survived an attempt to kill her 
through the “procedure” of abortion, left to die a cold and lonely death or 
thrown into the trash can!

Murder is still murder, and these killers should also be subject to the death 
penalty, period!

Pray for the restoration of the death penalty in all 50 states, and pray for an 
end to the “legal” murder of the pre-born. And while you’re at it, pray for our 
country!!

EUGENE R. DeLALLA

P.O. Box 653

(source: Keene Sentinel)








VERMONT:

‘Ladies in Waiting’: A window into the souls of death row



If the eyes are the window into the soul, what might you see in a photo of a 
woman on death row?

Artist Rita Fuchsberg saw her next project.

After reading a 1998 article in The New York Times that printed the photos of 
women on death row, Fuchsberg was inspired to create a series of portraits of 
them. “Ladies in Waiting” is the installation exhibit that resulted, and it 
will open in tandem with the member show at the Carving Studio and Sculpture 
Center in West Rutland Saturday, June 8, with a 5 to 7 p.m. reception.

Insanity shines through in one face, fear in another. Next, rage.

“I felt I had caught the spirit of the person, what I thought I saw in the 
photograph,” Fuchsberg said by phone recently. “It’s not something I can really 
describe: Was it something in the mood? The eyes? That indescribable either 
sadness, anger, (or) complete lack of interest; (some) are absolutely crazy.

“20 years ago I painted it,” Fuchsberg explained, and submitted it as one of 
1,500 artists who applied to an international exhibit with the Texas 
Moratorium. She was one of 50 accepted.

There are 40 portraits total. Fuchsberg never met the subjects in person, she 
painted strictly from photos and her own research on what they were accused of, 
and what the circumstances were.

“I used acrylic paints,” she said. “I only worked with red, grey, green, black 
and white, I kept the color scheme very controlled. I cut all the photographs 
out and drew them first with chalk and then I did my regular process of drawing 
it and darkening the canvas and bringing out the lights and the darks.”

Back then she was interested in the crimes committed, but later the exhibit 
revealed additional meaning: how the system works.

“How inconsistent it is and how unfairly the death penalty is carried out,” 
Fuchsberg said. “I don’t love (these women, but) across the board these are 
poor people who couldn’t afford a good lawyer. It’s an unfair system and that’s 
one of the points of the show.

“One of them supposedly killed her children, but her throat was slit,” 
Fuchsberg explained. “She claims she’s innocent and a jury member (said) if 
they had a picture of her slashed throat (they) never would have voted for the 
death penalty. That is a typical appeals situation. She’s been on death row 
since the painting.”

At least 10 of the women killed their husbands or boyfriends, many of whom were 
battering them. 10 killed children. 6 have been executed since the painting was 
done. The rest are still waiting.

(source: Rutland Herald)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Death penalty repeal movement surfaces in PA Legislature



The death penalty has been abolished or overturned in 20 states, and there are 
growing conversations to do the same in other places across the nation.

Republican lawmakers this year have signed on to repeal efforts in Colorado, 
Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Montana as well as in New Hampshire, 
Pennsylvania, Washington and Wyoming as part of a growing conservative movement 
questioning the efficacy of the death penalty.

New Hampshire lawmakers passed death penalty repeals in 2018 and 2019, only to 
see the governor veto the bills.

Governors in California, Colorado, Oregon and Pennsylvania — states with 
capital punishment statutes — have declared moratoria on executions.

----

In a turnabout that few could have predicted, Pennsylvania appears poised to 
join at least a half dozen other states where Republicans and Democrats 
together are pushing to repeal capital punishment.

4 Keystone State lawmakers — 3 Democrats and a Republican — have launched a 
drive seeking support to repeal the moribund death penalty in Pennsylvania, 1 
of 29 states that allows capital punishment. The U.S. government and military 
also sanction death sentences.

5 of the 6 states that border Pennsylvania — Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, 
New York and West Virginia — prohibit the death penalty.

State Rep. Frank Ryan, a second-term Republican from Lebanon County, is among a 
growing cadre of conservatives across the country — many affiliated with a 
group called Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty — looking to 
strike a law that once was a given for many state Republicans.

In Pennsylvania, 408 men and women have been sentenced to death since 1978, 
when capital punishment was reinstated here. Only 3 people have been executed 
over those 41 years.

More than 1/2 of those sentenced to death — 230 to date — have had their 
sentences vacated or overturned. Most were re-sentenced to life in prison. 6 
were exonerated.

Another 33 inmates died of natural causes while on death row, and 3 committed 
suicide.

The 139 inmates currently serving death sentences have a friend in Gov. Tom 
Wolf, who declared a moratorium on executions a month after taking office in 
2015.

Ryan’s measure is sponsored along with state Rep. Chriss Rabb, D- Philadelphia, 
and Democrat state senators Sharif Street, of Philadelphia, and Katie Muth, 
Montgomery County. The lawmakers said they plan to bring bills to the floor 
this year.

Ryan, a certified public accountant, said his firm pro-life beliefs led him to 
question capital punishment. The answers he found led him to conclude the death 
penalty is bad public policy.

“I empathize with victims. But from a public policy standpoint, it’s better to 
do life in prison without parole than for the state to start picking who is 
going to die. And from a public policy perspective, I’ve found that the justice 
system is not as responsive to those with less economic clout,” Ryan said.

Hanna Cox, national manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, 
said her group considers the death penalty an ineffective “big government” 
program that wastes public resources and does little to deter crime. She 
credits much of the growing interest in repeal efforts to revelations about the 
criminal justice system.

“As we continue to move forward in the age of information, a lot of people are 
starting to look behind the scenes in the justice system,” she said.

They are finding a lot of problems, she said.

“The overwhelming cost, disparate application of the death penalty compounded 
by human error and its historically arbitrary and racist implementation in our 
country make it unfit for any use in an efficient and truly just system,” said 
Street, a first-term Philadelphia Democrat.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 abolished capital punishment before reinstating 
it 4 years later.

Since that time, there have been 1,483 executions nationwide, according to the 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Of those deaths, 34% of defendants 
were black — while African Americans make about 13% of the U.S. population.

Of the more than 2,700 people on death row in the United States, 41% are black, 
according to the LDF’s most recent “Death Row U.S.A.” report. In Pennsylvania, 
African Americans make up 54% of death row inmates.

Robert Dunham monitors death penalty cases across the country. He serves as 
director of the Death Penalty Information Center and is a former federal 
defender who handled death penalty appeals in Pennsylvania. Studies show 
capital cases cost around $1 million more than prosecutions which seek life 
sentences, he said.

Death penalty cases take longer to get to trial and require more resources when 
they do, Dunham said. Capital cases also have a “disruptive and damaging 
effect” on the criminal justice system by delaying other cases from getting to 
court, he said.

”There are opportunity costs as well as financial costs, and then there are the 
emotional costs,” Dunham said. “All those things go into conservatives moving 
away from the death penalty.”

While more than half of defendants sentenced to death in Pennsylvania have had 
their sentences overturned, many have remained on death row for decades at a 
cost of more than $50,000 a year.

Court costs also add up as inmates press appeals through the state and federal 
courts.

John Lesko was sentenced to death in 1981 in Westmoreland County for the murder 
of Apollo police officer Leonard Miller, 1 of 4 victims in the 8-day “Kill for 
Thrill” murder spree Lesko and Michael Travaglia committed between Dec. 27, 
1979, and Jan. 3, 1980.

Lesko was re-sentenced to death after a 2nd trial in 1995. 3 years ago, he was 
back in Westmoreland County court for another appeal.

A 280-page report on capital punishment in Pennsylvania, issued last summer, 
raised questions about the implementation of the death penalty but stopped 
short of calling for its repeal.

Allegheny County District Attorney Steve Zappala sat on the commission that 
issued the report. He declined to comment on the issue.

The Pennsylvania District Attorneys’ Association, however, blasted the report, 
saying it was biased in favor of repeal.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck has overseen 8 capital cases in 
more than 3 decades as a prosecutor.

“In certain cases, and it’s rare, I think the death penalty is appropriate,” 
Peck said. “When you see the horrific nature of certain crimes, it appears that 
those crimes call out for the death penalty.”

Some local lawmakers still firmly support capital punishment, including state 
Reps. George Dunbar, R-Penn Township, Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, and Mike Reese, 
R-Mt. Pleasant.

State Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, did not respond to a request for comment.

Pat Stefano, a Republican state senator from Fayette County, is among those 
questioning the death penalty.

“I’d prefer that we keep it on the books so prosecutors can use it as a 
bargaining tool, but I am not much in favor of it because it does not deter any 
criminals,” said Stefano, who makes a point of determining if spending public 
money has a positive effect. “We have to analyze every dollar we spend, and 
here we’re spending millions and millions of dollars with no effect.”

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, opposes the death penalty and 
also questions the cost of capital punishment.

“The death penalty is not only immoral but is not effective as a deterrent for 
violent crime,” Costa said. “It’s astronomically expensive in comparison to a 
life sentence, and it’s not equitably applied across demographic groups.”

Alexis Hoag, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 
said such attitudes are showing up at the polls and in the courts, where fewer 
prosecutors are pursuing death penalties.

“We now see prosecutors running on the platform of being progressive,” Hoag 
said.

Case in point, Philadelphia — once the epicenter of death penalty prosecutions 
in Pennsylvania — elected Larry Krasner as district attorney in 2017. He ran on 
a pledge not to seek the death penalty.

“Across the country, fewer people are being sentenced to death and more states 
are stepping up to end the use of capital punishment,” Hoag said, noting 24 
states and Washington, D.C., have abolished, overturned or indefinitely banned 
the death penalty. “The truth about capital punishment in this country is 
clear: it is tainted by racial bias and it lacks the deterrent effects its 
proponents claim.”

(source: Tribune-Review)

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

DA permitted to pursue death penalty for Keith Jordan Lambing



The District Attorney's office is permitted to continue to pursue the death 
penalty for 22-year-old Keith Jordan Lambing.

The District Attorney's office will be permitted to continue to pursue the 
death penalty in the case of a 22-year-old Butler man accused of raping a 
4-year-old, who later died.

County Judge Timothy McCune responded to several requests earlier this month 
made by Keith Jordan Lambing's defense team.

In preparation for a criminal trial, public defender Charles Nedz asked McCune 
for several actions, including the removal of Lambing's most serious charge of 
criminal homicide along with the state's desire seek to execute Lambing. 
Lambing maintains his innocence.

If a jury finds Lambing guilty, a separate sentencing phase will begin for the 
death penalty.

Gov. Tom Wolf put a halt to the state's execution of all death row inmates in 
2015. Lambing is facing multiple charges, including 1st-degree homicide, 
involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with serious bodily injury, and rape of 
a child.

The judge's order also denies Nedz's motion to remove an interview police 
conducted with Lambing after Bentley Thomas Miller died from internal injuries 
in March 2017.

(sourcce: Butler Eagle)

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

Pa. Supreme Court upholds Philly man’s death sentences in 2014 Schuylkill 
murders



The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday upheld the December 2016 convictions 
and death sentences imposed on a former Southwest Philadelphia man for the 
beating, stabbing, and torturing of two brothers who were then dumped in the 
Schuylkill.

In a majority opinion, the justices affirmed Tam Minh Le’s sentences in the 
August 2014 deaths of Vu “Kevin” Huynh, 31, and his brother Viet Huynh, 28, who 
were killed because they owed Le and his associates a $100,000 drug debt.

The Philadelphia District Attorney Office’s varying stances on Le’s death 
sentences were a focus of an Inquirer article last week reporting that the 
office under DA Larry Krasner has consistently agreed to or leaned toward a 
possible life-in-prison sentence in appeals by Philadelphia’s current death-row 
inmates.

The justices’ opinion did not weigh in on the DA’s changing position in Le’s 
case.

Justice Debra Todd, who wrote the majority opinion, said in a footnote that 
although prosecutors in August 2018 had filed a brief asking that Le’s death 
sentences be affirmed, the DA’s Office stated during oral arguments Sept. 25 
“it was not prepared to argue for the affirmance of [Le’s] death sentence.”

In a “clarifying position” letter the next day, Todd noted, the DA’s Office 
“contends, contrary to its brief, that it does not now seek any specific 
relief, but simply states … ‘it does not argue for affirmance of the capital 
sentence in this case, at this time.’”

Paul George, assistant supervisor in the DA’s Law Division, had appeared before 
the court for the oral argument and had written the clarifying letter. He and 
Krasner, both former criminal defense attorneys, have expressed opposition to 
the death penalty in other cases.

Cameron Kline, a spokesperson for the DA’s Office, said by email Friday that 
the office had no comment on the court’s opinion.

In his clarifying letter, George wrote that he could not argue for Le, now 47, 
to be executed until the state Supreme Court resolved the appeals of 2 other 
Philadelphia death-row inmates, including Jermont Cox, whose appeal is pending. 
(The high court in October denied the appeal of the other inmate, Lavar Brown.)

Cox’s petition asks the court to end capital punishment, citing last summer’s 
Joint State Government Commission report, and argues that the death penalty 
violates the state Constitution’s ban on cruel punishment. The DA’s Office has 
until June 17 to reply.

Only Justice David Wecht did not agree to affirming Le’s death sentences.

Wecht, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that Le deserved a new penalty-phase 
hearing based on the trial judge’s refusal to let him question prospective 
jurors about his prior manslaughter conviction in the 1993 shooting death of a 
man in Rochester, N.Y., contending the refusal impinged on Le’s right to an 
impartial jury.

Le’s appellate attorney, James Berardinelli, said Friday that he respects the 
court’s decision, but disagreed with it. “We agree with what Justice Wecht 
mentioned in his dissent,” he said, adding that he expects Le will continue to 
appeal.

Tram Huynh, 41, sister of the victims, said in a text message Friday: “I’m glad 
[the] Supreme Court still continues with the death sentence.”

(source: philly.com)








FLORIDA:

Rep. Mike Hill laughed at suggestion that gay Floridians be executed



Pensacola Rep. Mike Hill is coming under fire from Democrats and Republicans 
for his response to a suggestion that gay people should face the death penalty 
made during his talk before a group at Pensacola City Hall last week.

During the remarks, Hill laughed off a suggestion from a member of the audience 
that he sponsor a bill to allow gay people to be executed for their sexuality. 
The suggestion came moments after Hill said he believed laws aimed at 
protecting the rights of gay people were wrong.

Rep. Carlos Smith, D-Orlando, called on Hill to apologize for the comments or 
resign.

"I’m shocked & disgusted to discover a colleague who I’ve worked closely with 
would joke about punishing me by death for being gay," Smith wrote on Twitter. 
"As a survivor of anti-gay hate violence, I know the consequences of homophobia 
are real."

Hill and Smith campaigned together last year in support of the amendment to ban 
greyhound racing in Florida, something Smith pointed out on Twitter.

"Was he thinking DOGS deserve more protection than LGBTQ people like me," Smith 
said. "How can he espouse such bigoted views and work alongside me?"

House Speaker Jose Oliva and Rules Chairman Chris Sprowls, both Republicans, 
put out a joint statement condemning Hill's actions.

"We unequivocally condemn both the question asked of Representative Hill and 
Representative Hill's laughter and refusal to push back and remind his audience 
that this is America and we don't stone people to death we disagree with," 
Oliva and Sprowl's statement said. "Such callous indifference to an outrageous 
question is unacceptable, runs contrary to our founding principles, and in no 
way reflects the beliefs of the Florida House."

"Representative Hill would do well to remember that the only story in the New 
Testament involving stoning involved Jesus putting a stop to it and saying, 
'let he who is without sin cast the first stone.' I believe he owes his 
colleagues an apology and he owes the Republican caucus a better example of 
political courage."

The exchanged happened during a meeting of the Women for Responsible 
Legislation at Pensacola City Hall on May 23.

The group bills itself as a non-partisan group and has hosted several local 
candidate forums featuring both Democrats and Republicans. Hill has spoken 
frequently to the group and has served as a moderator at some of the candidate 
forums the group has held.

During the meeting, Hill also said he was told by God to file a bill to ban 
abortion with almost no exceptions, similar to the one that recently was passed 
in Alabama. He also said an oath taken on anything but the Bible isn't valid, 
and he questioned the legitimacy of the judicial branch to rule if laws are 
unconstitutional.

Hill was asked a question about why Rep. Alex Andrade co-sponsored the proposed 
Florida Competitive Workforce Act, which would bring Florida's discrimination 
protection for LGBTQ people in line with federal rules. Although it didn't 
pass, the proposal drew bipartisan support during the legislative session.

Hill responded he didn't know why Andrade or any Republican would co-sponsor 
such a bill, but the legislation didn't represent the values of Northwest 
Florida. He added that he thought being gay was a choice.

Someone's sexual orientation, their proclivity to want to do something, that is 
your business," Hill said. "It's a behavior, and it's a choice. You can say I 
was born that way. OK, well fine, but nobody is forcing you to engage in that 
relationship even if you were born that way. It doesn't meet the qualifications 
of being a protected status."

Moments later a member of the audience spoke up.

“In 1 Corinthians, it says that a man who has an affair with another man will 
be put to death," a man in the audience says to Hill.

Hill responded by saying, “It says that in the Old Testament, too.” Another 
person asked if he would introduce that legislation (to put gay people to 
death). The suggestion drew laughter from the room and from Hill.

“I wonder how that would go over," Hill said.

After the News Journal released a recording of the exchange, Equality Florida, 
an LGBTQ civil rights organization, and the Florida Democratic Party both 
released statements condemning Hill's comments.

"Words matter," said Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse shooting in Orlando 
and media relations manager for Equality Florida in a statement. "The comments 
made by Rep. Mike Hill this week are both deeply disturbing and dangerous. Rep. 
Hill should be embarrassed and ashamed for laughing along with the suggestion 
that he file legislation requiring the execution of LGBTQ people."

Juan Peñalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, called 
Hill's comments hateful and divisive.

"As a gay man and a Christian, my stomach turns to hear elected leaders who 
think it’s acceptable to make jokes about putting people like me to death in 
the name of Jesus," Peñalosa said in the statement. "And as a Floridian, I’m 
outraged that he has been elected to office. Representative Hill needs to 
resign and the Governor and the leaders of the Florida GOP must reject his 
remarks. I also hope Mr. Hill’s spiritual leader has a long conversation with 
him to remind him the teachings of our Lord – and if he doesn’t have one, I’m 
happy to introduce him to my Pastor.”

Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who is also chairman of the Republican Party of 
Florida, tweeted that Hill should immediately apologize.

"I am horrified by what I just heard, hate of any kind cannot be tolerated," 
Gruters said on Twitter. "Mike Hill should immediately apologize."

Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, also took to Twitter and called the exchange 
"indefensible."

"Nothing about this “exchange of jokes” is conservative let alone Christian," 
Grant wrote. "As a Christian who unapologetically believes in religious 
liberties, this exchange is nothing short of theocratically fascist, 
unconscionable, and indefensible."

Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson, who said he had no idea the meeting was taking 
place on city property when first asked about the meeting, issued a statement 
Friday about the meeting.

"The recent comments made by Rep. Mike Hill are absolutely unacceptable and 
inconsistent with the values of the City of Pensacola in every way," Robinson 
said. "We are a diverse community that embraces everyone, including the LGBTQ 
community, and to make comments even implying that any individuals in our 
community should be killed is appalling. This does not reflect who we are in 
Pensacola, and I’m embarrassed that this happened here. We welcome everyone in 
Pensacola, and we want all members of our community to feel safe and 
supported."

In an earlier statement, Robinson said the city will continue to allow any 
non-profit organization to continue to use public facilities whenever feasible 
and the views expressed by those groups "do not necessarily reflect those of 
the city of Pensacola."

"However, free speech is a fundamental right as Americans that we value 
greatly, and we do not discriminate against or prohibit anyone from using city 
resources based on their views or opinions," Robinson said.

Andrade, Hill's fellow Pensacola representative, said Hill's comments last week 
did not reflect his view of Christianity.

"I'm disappointed in Mike," Andrade said. "I hope after this he learns that 
jokes about killing people that are different than him is not a Northwest 
Florida value."

(source: Pensacola News Journal)

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

Honor D’Alemberte by reviewing Florida’s death penalty process----The former 
Florida State University president, who died recently, was opposed to capital 
punishment and aghast at Florida’s uneven process and procedures.



This column isn’t a tribute to the late Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, although it 
could be. The former Florida State University president, FSU College of Law 
dean, American Bar Association president, Miami area state legislator and chair 
of the 1977-1978 Florida Constitution Revision Commission continues to evoke 
heartfelt reaction from so many whose lives he touched since he died nearly 2 
weeks ago.

His sensibilities will continue to inspire people to envision a more just world 
and take meaningful steps to achieve it. His resolve to confront vexing 
challenges — regardless of whether they are unpopular, controversial or 
characterized by vitriolic, rather than well-informed, rhetoric — is legend.

This essentially is a call to action involving one of D’Alemberte’s many 
priorities to change the status quo.

Recently, Florida executed a Death Row inmate under authority of the first 
warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. D’Alemberte was opposed to capital 
punishment and aghast at Florida’s uneven process and procedures, and at those 
around the country.

Years ago, he encouraged me to join an eight-member, Florida-based assessment 
team assembled by the ABA. It included an elected state attorney, a former 
public defender, a former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice, a circuit judge 
who taught the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies capital case 
sentencing course, an appellate lawyer in private practice who later served as 
president of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society and was chaired by a 
then-UF law professor with special expertise in mental illness.

The 2006 ABA report that resulted highlighted a range of findings and 
recommendations regarding the fairness, accuracy and impartiality of Florida’s 
death penalty process — the report did not take a position on capital 
punishment.

Nor did it focus upon method of execution or the staggering fiscal implications 
of capital punishment since such would require different kinds of 
subject-matter expertise.

Significantly, all findings and recommendations were unanimous.

One recommendation called for unanimous penalty phase juries to advance a death 
sentence instead of by simple majority (for example, 7-5) which was Florida’s 
standard at the time. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a decade later that 
Florida’s scheme violated the U.S. Constitution — the Legislature took 2 
sessions afterward to get it right.

Another finding documented jurors’ widespread confusion in capital cases. The 
Florida Supreme Court amended the corresponding jury instructions 3 years 
afterward.

Other key findings and recommendations involving, but not limited to, 
geographic, socioeconomic and racial disparities still apply but haven’t been 
effectively addressed.

I met D’Alemberte during the early 1990s. He requested a meeting when I served 
as assistant general counsel and clemency aide to Gov. Lawton Chiles. He was 
representing a death row inmate pro bono. My responsibilities included 
supporting the governor’s consideration of death penalty cases when they 
reached a point in the appellate process that executive clemency review would 
ensue. Chiles refrained from signing a death warrant in that instance.

The governor’s guidance simply was keep him apprised of significant issues that 
might affect his decision. I sat next to the governor in his office during an 
execution, with open phone lines to the courts, Florida’s attorney general and 
the execution chamber.

5 years after the ABA released its Florida report, former Florida Supreme Court 
Justice Raoul Cantero (appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and now practicing law in 
Miami) and I approached the Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Section — comprising 
judges, prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers (public and private) and 
academics — to propose a position supporting comprehensive review of Florida’s 
entire death-penalty process by all three branches of government. It passed 
23-3.

That was 2011. No such review has been conducted. Moreover, a commission 
established in law to monitor Florida’s process and report back to all three 
branches was eliminated by the Legislature that same year without debate in the 
Senate purportedly as a cost-avoidance measure. For perspective, courts review 
issues raised within the context of any given case — they’re not informed by a 
broad assessment of the efficacy of Florida’s death-penalty process.

More recently, Roberto Martinez, a member of the 2017-2018 Florida Constitution 
Revision Commission and former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of 
Florida — now practicing law in Coral Gables — attempted to amend his 
commission proposal to repeal capital punishment instead to require periodic 
review of Florida’s entire death-penalty process consistent with the Criminal 
Law Section position.

In a departure from traditional protocol the chairwoman of the respective 
commission committee broke a tie by voting no, effectively ending his effort to 
further, at a minimum, a constitutional framework.

In keeping with D’Alemberte’s sensibilities, death-penalty supporters and 
opponents alike have reason to advocate for meaningful periodic review of 
Florida’s entire death-penalty process by all 3 branches of government, so long 
as capital punishment is the law in this state.

(source: Opinion; Mark R. Schlakman is the senior program director of the 
Florida State University’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights----Tampa 
Bay Times)








ALABAMA:

Sanctity of life in Alabama is hogwash



I am a white man who lives in Birmingham. I have lived here for 36 years. But I 
am profoundly ashamed of what has happened in my state in the past week.

The Alabama legislature, led by 25 white male Republicans, passed the most 
restrictive anti-abortion law in history. In it, abortion is illegal even in 
the case of rape or incest. And women and their doctors can be sent to prison 
for life.

These anti-abortionists claim that they are motivated by a desire to protect 
the sanctity of life. I say hogwash.

In my opinion, the Alabama law is not about the sanctity of life at all. It's a 
ruse. Let's look at the facts. If the preciousness of life was at the core of 
their belief system, the anti-abortionists would be clamoring at the top of 
their lungs for sensible gun control laws. But they are not. And they would be 
marching in the streets against capital punishment. But they are not. And they 
would be unwilling to accept anything less than full access to health care for 
all. But they are not.

40,000 people died from guns last year in the United States. Alabama has the 
second highest gun death rate in the country. Now if the sanctity of life is so 
important, then why aren’t reasonable gun control laws being advocated by the 
same people who oppose abortion? No one is trying to take away the right to 
bear arms as allowed in the Constitution. Just simple gun control laws that 
would make a difference in saving lives. Where is the outcry for the sanctity 
of life in the gun control debate? The preciousness of life seems to evaporate 
into thin air when it comes to gun control.

25 death penalty executions were carried out in the United States in 2018. 
Since 1976, there have been a total of 1,497 executions. by the states. In 
Alabama, there have been 65 executions since 1983. It is estimated that 4% of 
death row inmates are innocent.

Based on that figure, 60 innocent people have been executed in the country thus 
far. And how many more innocent people are scheduled to die in the future? 
There are 2,639 death row inmates as of January, 2019. There are 191 death row 
inmates in Alabama right now, 4th highest in the nation.

Where is the concern for the sanctity of life in these death penalty cases? How 
can you be so opposed to abortion yet be in favor of the death penalty, with 
the full knowledge that innocent people will be put to death at the hands of 
the state. I guess the sanctity of life is far less compelling than 
retribution.

Why are people who are strongly opposed to abortion also against spending 
federal and state funds on access to health care? If you are in favor of 
protecting and extending life, then health care for all should be a top 
priority. Quite the opposite, many anti-abortionists are in favor of slashing 
funds

for health care. So we don't want a woman to have an abortion but it's 
acceptable for her to have poor or no prenatal care. And after the child is 
born, she won't have access to quality health care either. So much for the 
sanctity of life.

So let’s not get hoodwinked into a discussion of the sanctity of life when it’s 
not about being pro-life at all. Yes, pure hogwash.

So what were these white Republican men in Alabama trying to accomplish?

It seems clear that white men want to protect and perpetuate their patriarchy. 
They don't want to give up their control and power. They feel threatened by 
women and blacks and browns and gays and anything and everything that is not 
white. As our country has become more diversified and heterogeneous, white men 
have become more fearful and more reactionary. Their goal? To exert power by 
trying to deny women the right to own and control their bodies. It's a power 
play, pure and simple. It has nothing to do with being pro-life.

All white men in Alabama should be ashamed of themselves. Where is their 
outrage at this new law? Where is their anguish? Their silence is deafening.

I am a man and I am ready to stand up for what is right, just, and equal. It 
has always been women who are held responsible, blamed, and punished when it 
comes to pregnancy. Men are rarely if ever held accountable. Their bodies are 
never compromised. Never. Patriarchy means that men are let off the hook. We 
can't even come up with widely-enforced laws for deadbeat fathers. But we can 
now send women to prison for life for having control over their bodies.

So it’s not about the sanctity of life. It’s not about being pro-life. It is 
about preserving power and control for men. In Alabama, it’s about enacting a 
draconian anti-abortion law that can send a woman to prison. It’s about 
punishing women for wanting to control their bodies.

Total hogwash.

(source: Opinion; Dr. Alan D. Blotcky is a clinical psychologist in private 
practice in Birmingham----al.com)