» Part 1

=== Noted
32. The oracle of Essex (Peniel Pentecostal Church)

=== Death Penalty / U.S. Human Rights Violations
33. U.S. Defends Capital Punishment Use
34. Texas to execute man said to be retarded
35. USA: Texas set to execute mentally disabled man as it heads for judicial killing record
36. Supreme Court Blocks Texas Execution
37. An open letter to President Bill Clinton as the first federa execution looms
38. Appeal for death penalty moratorium fails
39. Death Penalty Support Decreasing, Study Says
40. Death penalty moratorium is good first step
41. Commission To Review Death Penalty In Virginia
42. Halt Executions



=== Noted

32. The oracle of Essex
The Guardian (England), Nov. 15, 2000
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Peniel Pentecostal Church has faced allegations of exploitation, complaints
about the advertising of 'miracles' and unease at the extreme views of its
leader. Now claims that it is trying to take control of the local Tory party
have resurfaced - and Martin Bell is considering standing as MP. Sally Weale
investigates
(...)

Bishop Reid's Peniel Pentecostal Church has occupied this unremarkable corner of
Essex for a quarter of a century, steadily growing from a tiny house church made
up of a couple of families who used to meet in one another's living rooms to a
church with 600 regular worshippers, a high-achieving school for 160 children
based in a beautiful Georgian mansion purchased for £1.3m, and a college of
higher education offering ''accredited'' American degree courses from Oral Roberts
University (based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and set up by the controversial American
evangelist Oral Roberts), with which Peniel has close links.

It has attracted worshippers from all over the country, many of whom have left
jobs, sold up and moved down to Pilgrims Hatch to be part of the church.
(...)

But as the success and popularity of the Peniel has grown over the years, so has
the controversy surrounding the church. Independent churches, particularly
successful ones like Peniel, often attract suspicions from outsiders. These
suspicions are usually unjustified, says the Evangelical Alliance. In the
Peniel's case there have been allegations - vehemently refuted by the church -
that it has some of the characteristics of a cult. A small number of former
members have described what in their view was excessive control exercised by the
church over its congregation; they have told how they were frightened to leave,
and how they were encouraged to cut off contact with family outside.

There is also disquiet about claims of ''miracles'' at the Peniel. The church's
website features testimonials from people who claim to have been cured of
everything from eczema and endometriosis to chronic fatigue syndrome and
deafness. Last year the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint
against the Peniel over an advertisement that claimed a man who had been
bedridden and dependent on painkillers for chronic sciatica was able to walk out
of church pain-free and had not taken a painkiller since. After an investigation
the ASA said it had found no evidence to back the claims and told the church it
was in danger of raising the hopes of vulnerable people. The Peniel appealed,
but the complaint was upheld. Seven years ago the ASA upheld a complaint against
a claim made on behalf of a visiting guest speaker, Archbishop Benson Idahosa,
who was said to have raised eight people from the dead.

Then there are Reid's far-right views - gays are ''filthy perverts''; Muslims,
Hindus and Buddhists are variously described in videoed sermons as ''vile'' and
''foul heathens''. Christians who do not work, Reid said in one recording, should
be allowed to starve. He believes in capital punishment, and he would pull the
trigger himself; lethal injection is too good for them, he says in one church
video. His teachings on the family are not to everyone's taste. Writing in the
latest issue of the Peniel's newspaper, Reid says: ''Parents have a tremendous
responsibility when they have children; fathers have the biggest responsibility,
because God has placed them as 'head' of the household, to give leadership to
the family by setting the standards.'' He continues: ''In today's society,
however, many women have usurped the place that God gave to their husbands.''

And there have been concerns expressed about the church's attitude toward
disciplining children. ''How do you drive something far from a child?'' Reid asks
in one video of him preaching. ''Well you have a stick, and they have a rear end
which God caused to be cushioned.'' Two boys have been given legal aid to pursue
claims for personal injuries received as a result of assaults that they allege
they received while they were at the church school, Peniel Academy. They claim
they were hit with a tennis shoe on several occasions in a procedure known as
''paddling''.
(...)

The mother of the two boys suing the Peniel is also seeking to recover money she
paid into the church in school fees and insurance policies she claims she was
encouraged to take out by other members of the church. Reid, a former insurance
salesman, has directorships with a number of insurance companies, including
Baynes Roland and Macartney &Dowie, and the allegation - again denied by the
church - is that worshippers at the Peniel are encouraged to take out insurance
with Reid's firms. (One of the firms is advertised in the latest issue of the
church newspaper.)

Responding to the allegation, Brown said neither Reid nor any other member of
the church leadership had ever pressured people who attend Peniel to buy
insurance. ''In fact he would take a very dim view of anyone in the church trying
to use the congregation as a marketplace for their business, whatever it may
be.''

But perhaps the most intriguing allegation facing the Peniel is that of
entryism. The claim, again denied by the church, is that it infiltrated the
local Tory party in order to gain political influence in the area. It is not a
new story. It dates back almost three years to January 1998, when 119 members of
the Peniel church joined the Pilgrims Hatch branch of the Conservative
Association and were voted into key positions within the branch.

The allegation is that Reid, frustrated after a planning application for a
school sports hall was turned down by the local council, called on members of
his church to join the Tory party so that he might gain some influence within
local government. The church dismisses the claim as ''absurd''. Conservative
Central Office was called in to investigate, but it found nothing amiss - key
complainants, however, say that they were not even interviewed when Tory
officials visited. The Evangelical Alliance, of which Peniel is a member, has
also found that concerns that had been raised were ''groundless''.

Yes, a number of people from the congregation did join the Tory party, says
Brown; not as a coordinated effort to infiltrate the local association, however,
but to support a fellow Peniel member, Robin Maillard, who had been active in
the party for a number of years in a different constituency before moving to
Pilgrims Hatch and intended to stand as a Conservative candidate in the local
elections. ''Mr Reid has never suggested that members of the congregation join
the Conservative - or any other - party to gain influence in local politics, or
for any other reason.''
(...)

The Peniel is likely to remain in the public eye due to a number of pending
legal actions involving the church and the Tories. As well as the action for
damages detailed above, Bishop Reid and five of his church colleagues are suing
a local independent Tory councillor, Tony Galbraith, for alleged libel over a
press release he put out; the independent Conservatives are suing the official
Conservatives for alleged libel over an election leaflet; and the police are
investigating an alleged breach of electoral practice by the independents.
(...)

Whatever the truth about local politics in Brentwood and Ongar, there are
clearly people who believe they have been traumatised by their experience at
Peniel, such as Ann Barker, now 33, who went to stay at the church for help with
health problems but ran away after four months, fleeing under cover of darkness
at five in the morning.

''The reason I ran away was because they would not let me go home. I told them I
was unhappy and wanted to go home. They said, 'You are here to stay.' They knew
I had no means of going home - no money and no contact with anyone. I had nobody
to talk to, to ask, 'How do you get away?' They were all of the same mind. Once
somebody comes you stay.''

Ten years on she says: ''It was a horrendous experience. I can't say they helped
me. They would speak to you and say things that are very condemning. They would
say, 'You are rebelling. Carry on like this and you will go to hell.' When I ran
away, the feeling of relief was absolutely amazing.''

Or Bill and Jackie Jones (not their real names), who were planning to leave the
church. They say they were grilled by senior church members for two hours to
encourage them to stay. ''People took it too far,'' says Bill. ''They were puppets.
They could not think for themselves.''

Max Carter, who has known Reid for more than 30 years, moved his family down
from Lancashire to join the church, which he left 12 years ago after five years'
involvement. ''My concerns began to grow because Michael seemed to be influencing
people's lives more and more. It's very difficult to see when you are in it. He
would say things like, 'You are free to come, you are free to go; the door opens
both ways. If you want to go to hell, go.'

''Michael wanted me to get more and more involved, but I did not. We got into
repentance. It became a repenting church, hours of repenting, screaming out your
sins to God in the church. It really became awful.''

The church responds in detail to each of these allegations. ''Over a period of 24
years in the life of a church, many people come seeking help for a variety of
reasons,'' says Brown. ''Unfortunately there will of course be one or two who we
are unable to help, or who do not want the help we can offer.''
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Death Penalty / U.S. Human Rights Violations

Note:
This issue is relevant for readers of RNR in large part because the USA
constantly bullies other countries on (real or perceived) issues of human rights
- even going as far as to suggest that investigation and monitoring of the
extremist Scientology organization is tantamount to human rights violations.

» More about the death penalty

More about U.S. human rights violations


33. U.S. Defends Capital Punishment Use
Source: Associated Press
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The United States on Tuesday accused Germany of
distorting international law in a deceptive attempt to undermine America's right
to enforce the death penalty.

U.S. government lawyers asked the World Court, the top judicial branch of the
United Nations, to reject Germany's demand for a legal sanction and reparations
following the executions of two German citizens last year in Arizona.

The move came on the second day of hearings into the case of Walter and Karl
LaGrand, put to death for the fatal stabbing of a bank manager near Tucson in
1982.

The case underscored the deep trans-Atlantic rift over capital punishment, which
has been abolished throughout Europe. European countries protested in vain to
delay a death sentence carried out Friday against a Mexican-born man who
murdered a college student in Texas.

James Thessin, the chief U.S. agent to the court, admitted that Arizona
authorities violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to
inform the LaGrands upon arrest on Jan. 7, 1982, of their right to assistance
from the German consulate.

He told the 15 justices that the United States has presented a formal apology to
the German government.

Nevertheless, Thessin questioned Germany's motives in bringing the case to the
international court, suggesting it was a ruse to put the U.S. justice system on
trial and ``litigate the death penalty under the guise of a violation to that
convention.''

International law, said Thessin, a State Department legal adviser, permits
capital punishment ``in accordance with due process of the law and stringent
procedural safeguards, as is the case in the United States.''

The U.S. agent maintained that the panel's jurisdiction is limited to
interpretation of international treaties and does not have the power to review
criminal procedures.

``Germany, in effect, has invited this court to create a new international legal
obligation, one that would necessarily intrude deep into the domestic criminal
justice system of any state,'' Thessin said.

Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano also apologized for the violation of
the convention in the Lagrands' detention.
(...)

Germany opened its case Monday by denouncing the death penalty and noting its
concern that dozens of foreigners now on death row may not have received proper
consular representation.

German agent Gerhard Westdickenberg said violations of the Vienna convention
continue despite U.S. promises to improve compliance.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

* US states *constantly* violate the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations

34. Texas to execute man said to be retarded
UPI, Nov. 16, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Johnny Paul Penry, the Texas killer at the
heart of a 20-year legal debate about the execution of the mentally retarded,
was scheduled to die Thursday.
(...)

His case was the basis of a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which the court
held that execution of the mentally retarded was not cruel and unusual
punishment but juries must consider mitigating circumstances such as the
defendant's mental capacity.

Penry was convicted a second time after the high court's ruling but lawyers
filed a last-ditch appeal contending that the jury in the second trial was given
confusing and contradictory instructions about how to weigh his mental capacity.

In dueling news conferences Wednesday in Austin, Penry's family argued that he
was a child in a man's body who colors with crayons and cries because the state
wants to put him ''to sleep'' before Christmas. They are asking Gov. George W.
Bush for a 30-day delay.
(...)

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Penry's petition for clemency
this week. Without a recommendation from the board for clemency, the governor
can grant a one-time, 30-day stay to allow for appeals. Bush has done that only
once.

Execution of the mentally retarded is prohibited in about a dozen states and by
the federal government. Last year, the Texas Senate passed a bill to outlaw it
in Texas but the measure died in the House.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


35. USA: Texas set to execute mentally disabled man as it heads for judicial
killing record
Amnesty International, Nov. 15 ,2000
http://www.web.amnesty.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Another chilling milestone in the ugly history of US judicial killing is
looming, Amnesty International warned, as it released a letter sent to Governor
George W. Bush yesterday. The letter calls on him to prevent the execution of a
severely mentally disabled man, due to be carried out in Texas tomorrow evening.

''We are calling on Governor Bush to act in accordance with his claim to be a
compassionate leader and in line with his contention that Texas has become a
'beacon' state under his governorship,'' Amnesty International said.
(...).

''While Texas has for two decades remained fixed on its goal of killing John
Penry, the bigger picture has changed,'' Amnesty International pointed out to
Governor Bush. ''Since Penry was first sentenced to death, 13 US states have
passed laws that would make his execution illegal.''

Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of countries respect international human
rights standards opposing the use of the death penalty against mentally disabled
defendants.

Amnesty International has reminded Governor Bush that during presidential
campaigning he mistakenly told reporters that Texas does not execute the
mentally retarded, and the letter points out that several such individuals have
been put to death in his state.
(...)

''Texas has already executed more people this year than most countries,'' Amnesty
International said. AWhat is more, in the past three years it has put more
prisoners to death -- 91 -- than any other US state has executed in over two
decades of judicial killing.''
(...)

''This is hardly the record of a state setting a shining example,'' Amnesty
International said. AOne must ask whether pariah, rather than beacon, would be a
more suitable label.''

Background
Texas continues to violate international human rights standards in its pursuit
of judicial killing. In some instances, Governor Bush has opposed attempts by
Texas legislators to improve the situation, such as raising the levels of legal
representation for poor defendants, and prohibiting the use of the death penalty
against the mentally retarded.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


36. Supreme Court Blocks Texas Execution
Associated Press, Nov. 16, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Thursday night's
execution of a convicted killer said to be so mentally retarded he spends his
days coloring with crayons and still believes in Santa Claus.

The court said it wanted more time to consider a late appeal from Johnny Paul
Penry, 44, whose case drew protests from around the world.

The court did not say how long the stay of execution would last.

Penry was to become 38th Texas inmate to be executed this year -- the highest
number by any state since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to
resume in 1976. It was the third execution scheduled in as many nights in Texas.

Penry was condemned for raping and fatally stabbing and beating 22-year-old East
Texas housewife Pamela Moseley Carpenter in 1979. He was on parole at the time
for a rape.

His lawyers described him as having an IQ of 50 to 60 and the reasoning capacity
of a 7-year-old.

But prosecutors said Penry is ignorant, not retarded. Texas Attorney General
John Cornyn said Penry is ``a schemer, a planner and can be purposefully
deceptive.''

The European Union, anti-death penalty groups and the American Bar Association,
along with advocates for the mentally retarded, had lobbied Texas officials to
halt the punishment.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Penry's request for a
30-day reprieve and a commutation to a lesser sentence.

Fourteen Texas state senators sent a letter to Gov. George W. Bush asking him to
issue a reprieve. Bush has invoked his authority to temporarily halt an
execution only once in his nearly six years in office.
(...)

About two dozen states allow the execution of retarded killers, although some
are considering laws prohibiting the practice.

Penry would not be the first mentally disabled inmate executed in Texas. In
August, Oliver David Cruz, whose IQ tested as low as 63, received lethal
injection for a 1988 murder in San Antonio.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


37. An open letter to President Bill Clinton as the first federal execution
looms
Amnesty International, Nov. 14, 2000
http://web.amnesty.org/\USA
Deear Mr President

On 12 December 2000, Juan Raul Garza is scheduled to become the first federal
prisoner to be executed in the United States of America since 1963. In the name
of human rights, justice and decency, Amnesty International urges you to
intervene and prevent this backward step.

Juan Raul Garza's life is in your hands. But so too is the international human
rights reputation of your country, a reputation that is rapidly eroding as US
executions accelerate. Your decision will determine whether the United States
diverges yet further from the growing global consensus against the death
penalty, or takes a historic step into line with the human rights aspirations of
the international community of nations.

In the 37 years since the last federal execution, the world has made remarkable
strides towards full protection of this most fundamental of all human rights. In
1963, just 10 countries had abolished the death penalty. Today, 108 countries
have abandoned judicial killing in law or practice - a clear majority of the
nations of the world. Earlier this year, you said that the USA has become a
world leader for human rights under your presidency. The planned resumption of
federal executions provides you with a unique opportunity to demonstrate this
claim of leadership to the world.

This year has seen a turning point in the death penalty in the United States.
Since Governor Ryan announced in January that he was suspending executions in
Illinois because of his deep disquiet about the fairness and reliability of that
state's capital justice system, national concern about the death penalty has
reached unprecedented levels. Governor Ryan's courageous move has paved the way
for other political leaders to join calls for a moratorium on executions
elsewhere in the USA, in light of the overwhelming evidence that capital justice
across the country is indelibly marked by discrimination, arbitrariness and
error.

It was in the midst of this growing national concern that the US Justice
Department revealed the findings of its review into the federal capital justice
system on 12 September. The review confirmed the presence of widespread racial
and geographic disparities in the application of the federal death penalty,
despite the Department's best efforts to ensure consistency in capital
sentencing. Attorney General Reno admitted to being ''sorely troubled'' by the
findings. You, too, expressed concern over the results of the study.

Your administration has told Amnesty International that it is ''unalterably
opposed'' to any unfair or discriminatory application of the death penalty. We
believe that you cannot, in good conscience, allow any federal execution to
proceed in light of the Justice Department's findings, which indicate that
prosecutorial discretion has resulted in an unacceptable arbitrariness in
federal capital sentencing. Even supporters of the death penalty must concede
that it is surely intolerable to countenance the ultimate punishment if its
imposition may have been influenced by where the crime was committed or the
colour of the defendant's skin.

In the past eight years almost 500 men and women have been executed in 29 US
states, some 70 per cent of the country's total judicial death toll since 1977.
Amnesty International has determined that many of these executions were carried
out in violation of international human rights safeguards, including the
execution of child offenders, the mentally impaired, foreign nationals denied
their consular rights, and scores of people denied the quality of defence
representation demanded under international legal standards. We deeply regret
that the federal government has consistently sought to wash its hands of this
human rights scandal.

The US Government cannot seek to escape full responsibility for the fate of Juan
Raul Garza and the other individuals under federal sentence of death. We
therefore urge you to grant clemency to Juan Garza and to declare a moratorium
on all federal executions.

Amnesty International believes that you can and should go further, as the
organization outlined in its memorandum sent to you last week. We believe, for
example, that you should exercise your constitutional authority by commuting the
sentences of all prisoners on federal death row. We submit that this act of
human rights leadership would be entirely consistent with the findings of the
Justice Department report. It is now clear that even the stringent procedural
safeguards in federal death penalty procedures have failed to prevent
unacceptable arbitrariness in its application.

Just three weeks ago, you issued a Proclamation reaffirming the commitment of
the United States to the United Nations, and celebrating the fact that for the
past 55 years the UN has led the world in ''promoting human rights and human
dignity.'' One of the central goals of the United Nations is the progressive
elimination of the death penalty and its eventual worldwide abolition, as an
essential measure for the enhancement of human dignity and the development of
human rights. At this crucial moment, you are in a position to make a lasting
contribution to the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights, by
acknowledging that the federal death penalty is inconsistent with the United
States' commitment to those universal aspirations. Amnesty International urges
you to grasp this historic opportunity.

The world awaits your decision.

Yours sincerely

Pierre Sané
Secretary General
[...entire item...]

* The publisher of Apologetics Index and Religion News Report is a member
of Amnesty International, and is in full support of the organization's stand
on the death penalty.

38. Appeal for death penalty moratorium fails
UPI, Nov. 14, 2000
Publication date: 2000-11-14
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
EL PASO, Texas, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The El Paso City Council Tuesday defeated a
proposed resolution asking the Legislature to impose a moratorium on the use of
the death penalty in Texas.

Mayor Carlos Ramirez broke a 4-4 vote to send the measure down to defeat.
Earlier this year city councils in Huntsville and Fort Worth also refused to
take up similar proposals.

Ramirez opposed the resolution because he said the death penalty was not city
business.

''When we pass a resolution, hopefully it's for items that we can have some say
or affects the city in some way. This is a no-win situation,'' he told The Dallas
Morning News.

Councilman John Cook sponsored the resolution because he was concerned that
Texas was becoming ''infamous'' for leading the nation in executions. The state
has executed 234 convicted killers since it restored the death penalty in 1982.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


39. Death Penalty Support Decreasing, Study Says
The Tennessean, Nov. 15, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
MURFREESBORO (AP) -- Public support for the death penalty has decreased over the
past decade as media attention has shifted to flaws in the process that could
lead to the execution of an innocent person, according to a study from Middle
Tennessee State University.

The study by Robert Wyatt and Kathy Keltner of MTSU and David Fan of the
University of Minnesota used a database of 15,000 Associated Press and
Washington Post articles from January 1977 through June 2000. The study uses
Fan's model for predicting shifts in public opinion based on news reports.
According to the study, shifts in news coverage come first; public opinion
follows.

`You look at which way the newspaper copy is going, and a lot of it has centered
on the idea that innocent people are being executed,` Wyatt said. `That seems to
be pushing public opinion away from the death penalty.`

The study will be presented at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion
Research in Chicago this weekend. The study says public support for the death
penalty increased from the 1970s until the early 1990s, then began to turn.
(...)

He said the debate during the period when support was increasing tended to focus
on the moral aspects of capital punishment, or on whether the death penalty
deterred violent crime.

In more recent years, the report found, news reports have focused more on
whether innocent people could be sent to their deaths.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


40. Death penalty moratorium is good first step
National Catholic Reporter, Nov. 10, 2000
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The growing disillusionment with the death penalty among local officials has yet
to have significant effect on the national scene, but increasing grassroots
dissatisfaction should be a hopeful sign for foes of capital punishment.

Calls for a death penalty moratorium are being issued at the local government
level in such places as Charlotte, N.C., according to an Oct. 31 report in The
New York Times. The story reports that Charlotte is one of seven municipalities
in North Carolina that have approved a resolution calling for a moratorium. And
this is a state that has traditionally supported the death penalty.

Other cities that have approved similar measures include Philadelphia, Atlanta,
Baltimore and San Francisco.

They, in turn, join Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, a Republican who supports
capital punishment but who called for a moratorium that was adopted by the state
after it was discovered that 13 people on death row were innocent.

''When you realize that the governor of Illinois, who is a Republican, called for
a moratorium because there were 13 innocent people on death row - well, that
raises a question for everyone,'' Lynn Wheeler, a Republican who favors the death
penalty but supports Charlotte's moratorium resolution, told the Times.

Much of the battle against the death penalty was based on moral arguments and
was spurred by the popular writings of such advocates as Sr. Helen Prejean,
whose book, Dead Man Walking, and the movie based on the book, provoked wide
discussion of the issue. More recently, however, the discussion seems to be
motivated by Americans' awareness of the gross inequities in the use of capital
punishment, which is administered disproportionately to blacks and poor people.

Those without means do not get the same quality of legal advice and
representation as those who have money.

Further, people are being awakened by discoveries such as those that inspired
the Illinois moratorium. A closer look at trial records and use of DNA evidence
often show that convicted killers were badly represented by their attorneys or
simply innocent on the basis_of irrefutable science.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


41. Commission To Review Death Penalty In Virginia
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Nov. 14, 2000
Publication date: 2000-11-14
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The investigative branch of the General Assembly on Monday requested a review of
the death penalty in Virginia.

The review would focus on the fairness of Virginia's judicial review process and
the disparity between Virginia's jurisdictions in pursuing the death penalty. It
also would cover issues related to DNA testing and the state's controversial
21-day rule, which gives death row inmates just three weeks after sentencing to
ask for a new trial based on new evidence.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's request comes in the wake of
the Virginia Supreme Court's proposal to eliminate the 21-day rule, and at a
time when four newspapers and a New Jersey- based charity group have asked for
new DNA testing in the case of Roger Keith Coleman, who was executed in 1992.

Last month, Gov. Jim Gilmore pardoned Earl Washington Jr. after new DNA testing
cleared him of the rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, 19, of Culpeper. In
1994, then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder commuted Washington's death sentence to life
in prison after earlier DNA tests raised questions about Washington's guilt but
did not clear him.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


42. Halt Executions
Roanoke Times & World News, Nov. 13, 2000 (Editorial)
Publication date: 2000-11-13
http://beta.yellowbrix.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
VIRGINIA should declare a moratorium on the death penalty, with an eye toward
abolishing it.

Across the nation, even advocates of capital punishment are calling for reform.
Virginia's system, with its infamous 21-day rule and chilling efficiency, hardly
stands above scrutiny.

The state needs to re-examine how it handles capital cases, and use a suspension
of the killing to rethink whether it should have the death penalty at all.

A majority of Virginians who were asked favor a moratorium, according to poll
results released last week. In that, they mirror the wishes of most Americans,
who tell pollsters executions should stop until issues surrounding capital
punishment can be resolved.

First among the issues is innocence. In certain cases, DNA tests can prove guilt
or innocence beyond doubt. Where it has been used to challenge convictions, the
DNA evidence has shown a number of ''guilty'' people to be innocent, after all -
some sitting on death row.

So much for complacent assumptions that legal safeguards are sufficient to keep
innocent people from being tried, convicted and executed.

Given that assault on Americans' confidence in their judicial system, reasonable
people are compelled to look with new eyes on long- standing complaints about
the fairness of its administration.
(...)

Virginia, which executes murderers at a rate second only to Texas, has a
peculiar, and disturbing, distinction of its own. Even in capital cases, its
courts will consider no appeals based on evidence that surfaces more than 21
days after a trial ends.

The state must stop executing people, at least temporarily, and consider more
carefully how it comes to commit this terrible act. During the hiatus,
Virginians should consider this: Of the dozen states with no death penalty, 10
have homicide rates below the national average, none above it.

Killing does not deter killing.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]