George W. Bush could not resist having one more execution while he is in elected office to add to the more than 150 he signed off on as Governor of Texas, so the news is not surprising that he approved an execution by the U.S. Army for Dec 10. Theoretically, Bush could still commute the sentence to life in prison. See contact information below to urge Bush to stop this execution. Email Bush at comments@whitehouse.gov.
We can hope that the incoming Obama Administration will enact a moratorium on federal executions. To tell Obama to stop federal executions after he assumes office, you can sign a petition here. Obama has no authority to stop the execution scheduled before he assumes office on Jan 20.
From CNN:
A U.S. soldier convicted of rape and murder two decades ago will be executed December 10 in the nation’s first military execution since 1961, the Army said Thursday.
Pvt. Ronald Gray has been on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since 1988. A court-martial panel sitting at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, unanimously convicted him of committing two murders and other crimes in the Fayetteville, North Carolina, area, and sentenced him to death.
Gray’s execution by injection will be carried out by Fort Leavenworth soldiers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Army said in a news release.
Only the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, can approve the execution of a death sentence [Article 71(a), Uniform Code of Military Justice]. On July 28, 2008, the President approved the death sentence in the case of the United States v Ronald A. Gray.
Contacting the White House
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Join the “Abolish the Death Penalty Project” on Amazee.com and help us win the Amazee Bucket membership contest. We could win up to $5,000 to use against the death penalty. The project with the most members by Jan 22 wins. If we win, we plan to use one-half of any prize money we win to help needy families of people on death row travel to visit their loved ones on death row. We will use the other half of the prize money to fight against the death penalty.
First go to the project page, then you have to click on “join project” on the right hand side, then click on “register”. Then to qualify as one of the members who count towards the contest, you have to upload a picture or avatar of yourself.
We were all moved by the family members who spoke at the 9th Annual March to Stop Executions in Houston, so we were thinking of how we could help them. We all know that the death penalty is reserved for the poor. There are no rich people on death row. We will use one half of any prize money we get through this contest to help family members visit their loved ones on death row. Many families have a hard time making ends meet and the extra cost of traveling long distances to visit their loved ones on death row is a great financial burden. Some of the people on death row have young children who rarely get to visit them. The other half would be used for activities during the upcoming Texas legislative session from Jan to May 2009, such as a big anti-death penalty rally at the capitol and other projects to persuade people to support abolishing the death penalty.
