Death penalty USA
Interesting developments from the USA
Sunshine in Connecticut
Yesterday on Thursday 5th April Connecticut state Senate voted to repeal
the death penalty throughout the state, a welcome development in the
continuing campaign against capital
punishment in the USA, although the proposed repeal must still be
passed by the democrat controlled state House of Representatives who are widely
expected to approve. Interestingly and the only questionable issue with
Connecticut’s actions here is the decision to retain the death penalty for 11
inmates on death row in the state rendering abolition non retrospective and for
future cases only. This is questionable as it sidesteps the reasons for
abolishing the penalty in the first place. None the less, Connecticut
As such should the Connecticut House of Representatives approve abolition, this will to 17 the
number of states (plus the District of Columbia) that will have
repealed capital punishment, a grouping which includes Alaska
(1957), Hawaii (1957), Illinois (2011), Iowa (1965), Maine
(1887), Massachusetts (1984), Michigan (1846), Minnesota
(1911), New Jersey (2007), New Mexico (2009), New York
(2007), North Dakota (1973), Rhode Island (1984), Vermont (1964), West
Virginia (1965) & Wisconsin (1853) (Although new Mexico holds the
dubious distinction of maintaining a death row despite having abolished the
death penalty due to not having made abolition retrospective).
This is however tempered by the fact that 33 states currently
retain capital punishment and an associated death
row including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon (Note that Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has
admirably issued a moratorium on executions in Oregon, but this is only to the
extent of his office and has not yet been legally repealed), Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming,
and out of order, last but certainly not least, the main capital state Texas.
Texas remains however the jewel in the crown of abolitionist ambition,
the staunchest capital state, the one least likely to budge on executing, and
possibly one of the states with more scandal in the name of capital punishment
than any other, including the tragic case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004
for allegedly killing his three children by arson, but for whom this conviction
has been found since to be highly unsafe due to the fact that evidence of arson
used was flawed and not suggestive of arson at all. This is bad enough in
itself however there is evidence to suggest that an enquiry set up in Texas
Of course the worst aspect of the Willingham case is that he is
no longer alive to argue his own case, and no amount of debate, discussion,
hiding of facts, curtailing of investigations etc can ever bring him back
highlighting one of the fundamental flaws in the capital punishment system,
among the many flaws it carries.
Other states currently debating repeal of capital punishment
include Kentucky , Kansas
and California
The ongoing case of Linda Carty is continuing to attract
attention. You may remember from my earlier post in November
last year or if you watched the Channel 4 documentary last year
‘The British
Woman on death Row‘ that Linda is British Grandmother with dual
British / US citizenship currently on Texas’ death row following a highly
questioned murder trial which can be read about in great detail on the Reprieve
website here the upshot of which is that the conviction of Linda appears highly
flawed due to a lack of proper representation, numerous glaring evidential
errors, and the reliance on a highly questionable witness, one of the actual
killers who in order to avoid the death penalty themselves gave unreliable
testimony against Linda in court. Death penalty aside, on the face of such
facts bringing the conviction into disrepute, a retrial at the very least is
due in Linda’s case.
That is not to be the case however, and it is now being
reported that Linda
has lost a final appeal against sentence and that a date for execution by
lethal injection could now be set at any time. This is a highly unacceptable
situation, even more so in light of the Cameron Todd Willingham case mentioned
above, which proves that not only is execution an unacceptable form of
punishment, it is also one from which there can be no comeback should it emerge
later that the conviction was unsafe as may well be the case here.
A number of things can be done should you wish to take action to
assist in the campaign to stop the execution of Linda, all as published on the Reprieve
website here, you can sign the petition for clemency, write a letter
through Reprieve to the authorities in charge, write directly to Linda offering
support, and follow numerous social media sites on the case.
I urge you to do so if you have not, and also to continue to
support the many other organisations campaigning for the repeal of capital
punishment in the USA
Mike Farrell-Deveau,
April 7th 2012
Campaign
group links:
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