Posts by: "Texas Moratorium Network"

Napoleon was 17 at the time of the crime and sentencing. The United States, and Texas specifically, continues to execute juvenile offenders even though the entire industrialized west has condmened and rescinded the practice. Napoleon won a stay of execution in August of last year, and we need to work for another stay and a commutation. His date has been set for May 28th 2002. The CEDP has a couple of events scheduled, and we encourage everyone to get involved.

FIGHT FOR NAPOLEON’S LIFE!

Tuesday, May 14th at 7:30pm. Learn about Napoleon’s
case and what we can do to save him. Location:
Carver Library (1161 Angelina St.)

Tuesday, May 21st at 5:30pm. RALLY TO SAVE NAPOLEON!!
Location: Governor’s Mansion (11th and Lavaca).

Regular CEDP Organizing meeting: Sunday, May 5 at 5pm.
Location: Ruby’s BBQ (29th and Guadelupe)


1) A Chance to Elect a Republican Who Opposes Capital Punishment.
2) The Race for State Representative in District 51 in Austin.
3) The Race for State Senator in District 20.
4) List of Upcoming Scheduled Executions
5) Death Row Ten Tour: Live From Death Row!
6) March Against the Death Penalty in San Antonio

Greetings moratorium supporters!

1) A Chance to Elect a Republican who Opposes Capital Punishment.

The moratorium movement has before it an historic opportunity to elect a
Republican supporter to the Texas Legislature.

On April 9, there will be a runoff election between two Republicans for the
District 28 seat in the Texas House of Representatives. As there are no
Democratic candidates running for the seat, the winner of the runoff will
win the election. This district includes all of Waller and Wharton counties
and 19 percent of Fort Bend County.

One of the candidates is Gary Gates. Gary, whose father was murdered when
he was 18, opposes the death penalty.

In addition, he supports a moratorium on executions, as well as legislation
banning executions of juvenile offenders and people with mental retardation.

According to his reply to a survey distributed by Texas Moratorium
Network, if elected, Mr. Gates would vote for a moratorium on executions,
for a ban on executions of persons with mental retardation and for a ban on
executions of juveniles.

Mr. Gates understands this issue better than most people. He has a daughter
with severe mental retardation and has adopted several children who were
considered “unadoptable” because of various personality and behavioral
problems stemming from abuse and neglect. Because he has proven it with his
own children, Mr. Gates believes that most children can be managed so that
they live productive lives.

Mr. Gates and his wife of 20 years, Melissa, have 13 children. They adopted
11 children–white, African-American, and Hispanic–several from a broken
foster care system. They are well acquainted with the social, educational,
and psychological issues that families encounter.

Mr. Gates’s presence in the legislature could have a huge impact for our
movement — if he is elected. He could help us reach across party lines and
make this a truly bi-partisan effort. In the last session of the
Legislature, only one Republican voted in favor of a moratorium on
executions. About 60 Democrats voted for the moratorium either on the floor
or in committee, including Senator Ken Armbrister, the senator representing
Gary’s area. We believe having Gary in the legislature could dramatically
affect the terms of the debate on the death penalty in Texas.

And with our help, Mr. Gates has a good chance to win!

Consider the following: In a five-way primary, Mr. Gates came in second (28
percent) to the top vote-getter, who got only 29 percent. Anyone who did not
vote in the Democratic primary is eligible to vote in the Republican runoff.

Even if you do not consider yourself Republican, we are asking you to
cross over and vote for Gary in this Republican runoff. Only about 10
percent of the district voted on Primary Election Day, so turning out
moratorium supporters for the runoff will have an enormous impact.

In the 2000 Presidential Election, 36 percent of the district voted
Democratic. Remember, there is no Democrat running in Gary’s race. For
Democrats, the only choice to have an impact on who represents District 28
is to vote for Gary Gates in the Republican runoff. For Republicans, the
best choice is clearly Gary Gates.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1) If you or someone you know lives in District 28 (it includes all of
Wharton and Waller Counties and 19% of Fort Bend County –a large area to
the west of Houston) please tell them of this opportunity and urge them to
vote for Gary Gates on April 9.

2) Volunteer to work a phone bank or walk precincts sometime before the
primary, probably the weekend of April 6-7 or on election day April 9th.
You can contact the Gary Gates campaign at 281-232-3497.

3) Pass this message on to opponents of the death penalty, and supporters of
a moratorium.

4) Make a contribution to Mr. Gates’s campaign fund. The address is:

“Friends of Gary Gates for State Representative”
2205 Ave. I Suite 121 Rosenberg, TX 77471

Donations to the Gary Gates Campaign are not tax-deductible.

Again, this is a crucial opportunity. With our support, Gary Gates will
help us roll back the death penalty in Texas.

There are a couple of other runoffs that involve people who either answered
our survey favorably or who have voted for a moratorium in the last session
of the Legislature.

2) The Race for State Representative in District 51 in Austin.

In the State Representative District 51 race in Austin, Eddie Rodriguez
replied to our survey by saying he supports a moratorium on executions and a
commission to study the death penalty, supports banning executions of people
with mental retardation, supports banning executions of juvenile offenders
and supports giving juries the option of Life Without Parole as an
alternative to the death penalty. He commented, “I do not believe in the
death penalty for anyone. I would support a complete moratorium.”

His opponent did not reply to our survey, so we can not say for sure what
her postitions are. We’ve heard “here and there” that she also supports our
issues, but it would have been nice if she had answered our survey.

3) The Race for State Senator in District 20.

House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chairman Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa,
D-McAllen, is running for State Senator in District 20, which runs from the
Corpus Christi area to the Valley. Chairman Hinojosa was one of the
strongest
advocates for reforming Texas death penalty laws last session. He chaired
the House committee that favorably reported moratorium proposals and he
voted for the moratorium. He sponsored legislation to ban executions of
persons
with mental retardation.

He was the principal House sponsor of the Texas Fair Defense Act,
establishing uniform state-wide standards for appointment and compensation
of defense counsel representing indigent persons accused of crime, including
capital cases. He sponsored legislation to give juries the additional
sentencing
option of Life Without Parole in capital cases. He was the principal House
sponsor of the new law providing for post-conviction access to DNA testing.

Hinojosa’s opponent did not answer our survey. She also did not reply to our
emails or phone messages.

So, please get out on April 9 and support the candidates who support us!

4) Scheduled Upcoming Executions, according to the TDCJ, changes are
possible.

04/10/2002 Jose Santellan, Sr.
04/11/2002 William Burns
04/18/2002 Gerald Casey
04/30/2002 Rodolfo Hernandez
05/01/2002 Curtis Moore

5) Death Row Ten Tour: Live From Death Row!

The Death Row Ten are the men of Illinois who were tortured into false
confessions by corrupt members of the Chicago police department led
by Jon Burge, who was fired from the Chicago police department on
February 10, 1993, for torture. These confessions sentenced them to the
death penalty. Come listen to David Bates, a freed torture victim, Marlene
Martin of the National Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and local
speakers regarding the Yogurt Shop case and others. Most importantly,
there will be a live call-in from a Death Row 10 member currently on
Death Row in Illinois.

Date and Time: Saturday April 13–5:00pm.
Location: University of Texas at Austin Campus
CMA room 2.320 (corner of Whitis and 26th Streets)
Organized by Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Austin Chapter

6) The St. Mary’s University Student Chapter of Amnesty International USA,
with the co-sponsorship of the Esperanza Center, St. Mary’s Chapter of
LULAC, and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation will hold a march at
3 p.m. April 14th to demand that the Texas Criminal Justice system review
the case of Napoleon Beazley, the to support a moratorium on the
executions, and to mourn the loss of all human beings due to murder – state
sanctioned or otherwise.

The march will begin in front of the Alamo and end at San Fernando
Cathedral, where speakers will address the racial discrepancies and classis
inconsistencies of capital punishment, the moral dilemmas it raises, and
the particular case of Napolean Beazley. Jeanette Popp, whose daughter was
murdered and who testified for a moratorium in front of the state
legislature will be just one of four speakers including: Dave Atwood
(founder of Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty), Tom Keene
(coordinator for the Death Penalty subcommittee of justice and peace
commission of Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio), and Roger Barnes (a UIW
professor and expert on the Death Penalty).

For more information, contact Joseph Triglio at 210-256-6985, or
. If you can be in the San Antonio area on Sunday April
14, please try to attend this important gathering.

Thank you for your continued support and activism! Because of you, we are
making great progress in the movement to establish a moratorium on
executions!

Best Regards,

Scott Cobb
Texas Moratorium Network

Professor James Liebman and colleagues at Columbia University recently released A Broken System II: Why There Is So Much Error in Capital Cases, the follow-up to their groundbreaking, A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases 1973 * 1995.

Answers to frequently asked questions about the study are provided below.

Q: How is this study different from the previous study?

A: The previous study, A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases 1973 * 1995 determined the numbers and types of errors made in death penalty trials while this study, A Broken System Part II: Why There Is
So Much Error in Capital Cases, and What Can Be Done About It identifies those factors that lead to the high error rates.

The first study, A Broken System I, simply counted the number of death penalty appeals and the number of reversals, and divided to determine
the error rate. The study also looked at the reason the court gave for those reversals, and added them up.

This second study, A Broken System II has more to say about what kind of mistakes get made and explores why those mistakes get made * what
conditions exist to create these errors? The study uses a number of statistical tests to identify those factors that lead to high error
rates in capital cases. It also explores some potential solutions to those problems.

Q: What was the goal of this study?

A: The goal of the study was to identify factors that lead to the high error rate in death penalty trials and appeals.

The study found 76% of the state and federal reversals at the two appeal stages where data are available were because of egregiously incompetent
defense lawyers, police or prosecutor misconduct, or misinformed and biased judges or juries. 82% of those retried after their death verdicts were reversed at the second of three appeals (or, during the state post-conviction appeal) were given a sentence less than death, and 9% of those retried * nearly 1 in 10 * were found innocent.

This study tried to find out why. What is it about some states or counties that lead them to have higher error rates than others? Why do
some areas have better lawyers, judges and juries than others? This study attempts to answer those questions, and to identify what * if
anything * can be done to solve those problems.

Q: What was the main finding of this study?

A: The more often states and counties sentence people to death, the
more often they get it wrong.

This study uncovered a number of conditions related to error in capital
cases, including politics, race, crime control and the courts. But
running through all the data was a simple finding * the more a state or
county sentences people to death, the more often they make mistakes.
This isn’t just a matter of numbers, this is about percentages.
Everything else being equal, when death sentencing increases from the
lowest to the highest rate in the study, the reversal rate increases
six-fold, to about 80%. The more often states and counties use the
death penalty for every, say 10 or 100 homicides, the more likely it is
that any death verdict they impose will later be found to be seriously
flawed, and the more likely it is that the defendant who was found
guilty and sentenced to die will turn out to be not guilty.

Q: What are the factors that lead to these errors?

A: In addition to aggressive death sentencing, there are four key
factors which lead to errors: homicide risk to whites and blacks; the
size of the black population; the rate at which police catch and punish
criminals; and politically motivated judges. There are three additional
important findings: heavy use of the death penalty not only leads to
errors but drives up costs and slows down all courts; shoddy work at the
initial trial leads to mistakes; and the problem isn’t getting better
over time.

Everything else being equal, when the risk of a white person getting
murdered is high relative to the risk of an African-American getting
murdered, twice as many appeals are reversed than where that risk is
low. The study’s best explanation of why this occurs is that when
whites and other influential citizens feel threatened by homicide, they
put pressure on officials to punish to punish as many criminals as
severely as possible * with the result that mistakes are made, and a lot
of people are initially sentenced to death who are later found to have
committed a lesser crime, or no crime at all.

The more African-Americans there are in a state, the more likely it is
that serious mistakes will be made in death penalty trials. This could
be because of fears of crime driven by racial stereotypes and economic
factors.

It is disturbing that race plays a role in the outcome of death penalty
cases, whatever the reasons.

The lower the rate at which states catch, convict and punish serious
criminals, the higher the error rates. Everything else being equal,
states that put one offender in prison for every 100 serious crimes (100
FBI Index Crimes) committed in the state have about 75% of their death
sentences reversed. But states that put four offenders in prison for
every 100 serious crimes only have an error rate of about 36%, and
those states that catch and punish the most criminals only make mistakes
in death penalty trials about 13% of the time. States that do a bad job
of catching and convicting criminals also make a lot of mistakes at
death penalty trials. This may be because if a state doesn’t catch many
criminals, officials are under pressure to prove they are tough on crime
by trying to punish those they do catch as severely as possible. When
this leads to additional death sentences, many of which are flawed, the
overall result is that no more criminals are caught, crime remains high,
and the person they attempted to sentence to death almost always winds
up with a lesser more appropriate sentence, or is later found to be
innocent.

The more often, and more directly, state trial judges are subject to
popular election, and the more partisan those elections are, the higher
the rate of serious error. Judges who face elections keep one eye on
justice and one on the polls * and when push comes to shove, the polls
often win.

There are several other key findings.

Heavy use of the death penalty prevents the entire criminal justice
system from doing its job.
Death penalty trials are long and complex,
and as already indicated, having many death penalty trials leads to many
errors and more trials. These trials upon trials drive up costs, divert
resources and prevent the courts from doing their job as effectively and
efficiently. In states with more than 20 verdicts under review, the
appellate process often comes almost entirely to a halt.

Bad trials lead to mistakes. This seems obvious * without the resources
to do it right the first time, courts must try and get it right the
2nd or 3rd time. In the meantime, all trials are slowed, victims
are left in limbo, and tax dollars keep getting spent.

The problem isn’t getting better over time. After considering the
influence of all the other factors discussed above, direct appeal
reversal rates increased 9% a year during the study period. This means
that reforms based on the factors known to lead to capital error may not
work because other factors that are not as easy to pinpoint and fix may
continue to push capital error rates substantially higher.

Q: How did the researchers select the appeals they examined?

A: The researchers did not select appeals * they examined the outcome of
every death penalty appeal from 1973 * 1995, more than 5,400 state and
federal appeals.

Rather than attempt to sample death penalty appeals, which would
invariably lead to bias or error, the authors examined every single
death penalty appeal over a 23-year period and reported the decision
reached by the state or federal court that reviewed the death penalty
for serious error.

Q: Why did the study only look at completed trials and appeals?

A: By looking at completed trials and appeals, the study eliminated
guess-work and bias.

By looking only at those trials and appeals that have been completed,
the study avoids speculation, guess work and bias. Only by examining a
job after it’s done can one determine how well or badly the job was done
* which is why batting titles are only given after the baseball season
is over. A lot of players hit .500 on opening day, only to end the
season with a far lower average. By looking only at those cases that
are closed, the study looked only at batters who had completed the
season. If the study had guessed what the appeals under review will
look like, they would be declaring a lucky player a star, and miss the
truly great ball player. Court decisions are all subject to review and
reconsideration and only by looking at completed appeals can the outcome
of the painstaking process of court review be known.

Q: How did the researchers select the variables to test in their analysis?

A: A careful survey of legal, criminological and sociological research
identified conditions that might conceivably be associated with capital
error rates. The authors went through a careful process of testing each
condition separately and in conjunction with others to see if they were
in fact related to capital error rates.

Those who study crime, punishment and public safety have explored a host
of factors that may lead to violence and violence prevention. Rather
than reinvent the wheel, or try to independently determine what may or
may not impact trials, the authors used the variables experts in the
field use. The authors then tested each condition separately, and also
in conjunction with other factors, through a statistical technique
called regression analysis, to determine which variables had an impact
on error rates, and how strong or weak that impact was.

Q: What is a serious and reversible error?

A: A mistake that was prejudicial, was brought up in a timely manner and
was discovered.

The legal reasons that permit death verdicts to be overturned set a high
burden of proof for prisoners to meet, and assure that reversals occur
because the death sentence is demonstrably unreliable. First, it is not
enough that even a blatant legal error has occurred. In addition, the
error must be prejudicial, which in most cases means the defendant must
show that the error likely affected the outcome of the trial, or that
similar errors often affect outcomes of death penalty trials. Second,
the error must be brought up in a timely manner and in accordance with
rules of the court * an error, regardless of the severity of the
mistake, was not counted if it wasn’t brought up under the rules of the
court or if it wasn’t actually overturned by the court. Finally, of
course, the error must be discovered, not rumored or alluded to. By
sticking to such a strict definition of serious and reversible the
authors excluded trivial and technical mistakes.

In addition, the authors included four case studies in the report of
people who were innocent but were approved for execution at all 3
appeals. In each of these cases, the courts found errors that in fact
had led innocent people to be convicted, but the courts nonetheless let
the conviction and death sentence stand because the defendants were
unable to prove themselves innocent, and as a result the courts were not
permitted to overturn the verdict. It was left to reporters, students,
film makers and others to prove the innocence of those four men on death
row.

Q: How have recent changes to rules about appeals effected the quality
of trials? In other words, is the problem getting better or worse?

A: The problem is not getting better as a result of changes to the law.

The more people we try to execute, and the faster we try to execute
them, the more mistakes we make. These mistakes lead to longer delays,
and more innocent people on death row * all at taxpayer expense.

In 1996, Congress passed laws designed to decrease the number of death
penalty appeals and speed the process from conviction to execution.
Texas and other states passed similar laws at about the same time,
further cutting back on review in the state courts. In addition, states
passed laws both adding crimes for which someone could be sentenced to
death and elements of crimes that could lead to a death sentence. The
result was not fewer appeals, more efficient trials, or an increase in
the percent of people being executed (executions have decreased over the
past two years but the numbers of people on death row continues to grow).

The result of these changes was actually to make the system worse.
Courts are now trying to do more with less, with predictable results.
Rather than reserve the death penalty for the worst of the worst, and
spend time making sure trials are conducted fairly and completely,
courts rush through trials, handing down death sentences when they are
not clearly called for, as a result of overlong lists of overbroad
aggravating circumstances, hoping mistakes get caught further down the
line. The appeals courts are therefore faced with a barrage of
questionable death penalty convictions, through which they must sort.
The greater the backlog, the less careful the review * faced with the
same problem as the trial courts, the appeals courts rush the job and
get it wrong. This, of course, leads to more appeals, which puts even
more cases before the courts, which they rush through and more often
than not get wrong. Recent changes in the rules that control appeals
make matters worse by requiring courts to work even faster than before
and by adding obstacles that keep them from overturning verdicts that
are flawed and unreliable.

Q: Can you explain the methodology?

A: The authors used 19 different statistical tools, called regression
analysis, to figure out why so many mistakes are made in death penalty
trials.

Regression analysis is a statistical method for explaining the
relationship between something you want to explain and things that might
explain it. It allows you to look at the effect of individual factors
while holding other factors constant. For example, a lot happens in a
baseball game * running, hitting, pitching, defense, home field
advantage, and so on. Which of those things has the most impact? All
other factors held constant, how much difference does good pitching make?

The best way to answer these kinds of questions is to take all of the
variables, all of the things that happen, and put them into a computer
program that performs a series of calculations to determine which things
can be said with confidence to matter, and how much they matter. There
are a number of these models or programs, each with its own strengths
and weaknesses. In this study, the authors use what they thought was
the best model and then used 18 additional different models to test the
data (for a total of 19 different tests) looking at the question of why
there are so many mistakes from a number of different angles. This way
the authors get the best and most complete view of the problem.

Q: What types of finding and conclusions does the study reach?

A: The study identifies a number of facts about how the death penalty
system operates * for example, what conditions usually are present in
states, counties and years in which above average numbers of errors are
committed in capital cases. The study also offers some explanations for
why these conditions might lead to high rates of error in capital cases.

The study’s findings reveal the number of reversals of capital verdicts
in different times and the conditions that tend to be present in places
where, and at times when, rates of capital error are high. Those are
the facts of the matter. Explanations provide reasons why reversals may
occur, and why particular conditions may lead errors and reversals to
occur. For example, the study find states where judges are elected tend
to have more of their death penalties reversed because of serious
errors. That’s a fact. Other facts are that when the proportion of
African-Americans in a state goes up, or when the number of times a
state imposes a death sentence per homicide goes up, error rates also go
up.

The best explanation for this is that elected judges face pressures to
impose death sentences to calm crime fears, even if that punishment is
not legally appropriate or if corners have to be cut during trial in
order to obtain a death sentence. Judges, that is, feel the need to
keep one eye on justice and one eye on politics, and may find it to be
better politically to sentence a lot of people to death in the short run
and have a lot of those sentences reversed many years down the road than
it is to use the punishment more sparingly and have fewer mistakes
discovered later on. Whether this explanation or another one applies,
the main point is that politics interferes with the reliability of death
verdicts.

In listing policy options, the authors were careful to rely on the facts
of the matter as reasons for needing reform and for identifying the most
beneficial reforms.

Q: Don’t courts that are biased against the death penalty make it look
like there are more errors than there really are?

A: The opposite very often is true * judges are under political pressure
to approve death penalties that are flawed, and do so. And the
standards they apply are so strict that they sometimes are forced to
approve unreliable verdicts, including where the defendant is innocent
of the crime.

One of the findings of the study is that judges who feel political
pressure, primarily through elections, uphold questionable death
sentences that higher courts have to overturn because they are unreliable.

While some accuse some of courts having an anti-death penalty bias
others point to courts that have a pro-death penalty bias. An important
reason for using statistical analysis is that it looks for patterns that
are bigger and more powerful than the actions of particular judges. In
this study, the authors reviewed over 5,000 decisions made by several
thousand state and federal judges in three sets of appeals in 34 states
and across 23 years. When high error rates are found by all these
judges in all these appeals in all these states and years, it is
impossible to blame the problem on particular individual judges. It is
the system as a whole that is generating the problem, and it is the
public, taxpayers and victims across the country and across decades who
are suffering the consequences.

The authors checked to see if the judges who issue most of the reversals
are likely to have views about the death penalty that are out of line
with the views of the public and are biased against capital punishment.
They found the opposite was the case: 90% of the reversals were by
judges elected by the public. In more than half of the remaining cases
that were reversed, a majority of the non-elected judges who found
serious error and overturned the verdicts were appointed by Republican
Presidents, further arguing against anti-death penalty bias.

As the four cases in the report reveal, judges must find that strict
tests are satisfied before they may reverse. In close cases, they
usually are not permitted to reverse, and reversal usually requires
defendants to prove not only that errors occurred in their cases but
also that those errors probably caused the jury to reach the wrong
outcome. Because that is so hard to prove, courts often end up
approving unreliable death verdicts * including verdicts that sent
innocent people to death row. Only the intervention of those not
associated with the court system saved the lives of these innocent people.

Q: Aren’t most of the people who have their cases overturned guilty?

A: Not of a capital crime.

About 1 in 10 of those who have their cases overturned at the 2nd
stage of review (which was the focus of this part of the study) and are
sent back for retrial are found innocent. Imagine if 1 in 10
medications killed the patient, or one of every ten school buses
exploded * we simply would not accept that level of avoidable risk.

More than 8 of 10 reversals following the 2nd stage of review
result in a sentence less than death * which means that courts initially
sentenced someone to die where that penalty was not legally
appropriate. A premise of our system is that the punishment should fit
the crime. Our most severe punishment must be reserved for the worst of
the worst. When that is the case, there are few errors and few
reversals. The problem comes when courts try to violate the basic
premise that crime and punishment must be aligned.

Q: Based on this study, should we abolish the death penalty?

A: That is a question voters and their elected officials have to
decide. If they decide to keep the death penalty, they should take
steps to fix the mistakes.

If a mechanic tells us our car is broken, we choose to either fix the
car or get rid of it. One of our public policies, the death penalty, is
broken. Voters and their elected officials must decide to either fix it
or abandon it. If the decision is to fix the system, the study
identifies ten steps that can be taken to decrease the amount of errors,
increase the fairness of the punishment, and decrease the chances we
will execute an innocent person.

Q: Aren’t a lot of these reversals just because the rules of the game
change?

A: No. Most reversals are for violating rules that date back hundreds
of years.

The study analyzed the reasons for about 500 of the reversals * all
those occurring at the second and third stages of review. Far and away
the most common reason a court reversed a death penalty at those 2
stages was because of incompetent counsel. The right to adequate
counsel has been in the US Constitution since 1792, and the obligation
to provide a qualified and competent attorney has been recognized at
least since the 1930s. The second most common reason for reversal is
prosecutors suppressing evidence of innocence or mitigation. The rules
violated in these cases also date back several decades. The right to a
properly informed jury * the right violated third most often * is as old
as the nation.

Q: The study says one solution is reserving the death penalty for the
worst of the worst. What is the worst of the worst?

A: The worst of the worst are those crimes with a high concentration of
aggravating factors.

There is no such thing as a good murder. But the laws of states with
the death penalty list factors that make murders more aggravated
because they make the crime more serious or the offender more deserving
of punishment. The study finds that death verdicts imposed where not
just one, but several, of these factors are present are substantially
less likely to be overturned due to serious error. Everything else
equal, the addition of each additional aggravating circumstance made
reversal 15% less likely at the third stage of review.

Q: Doesn’t the high reversal rate really prove the system is working
because it catches mistakes?

A: No. Evidence that a lot of mistakes are made is evidence that the
system is broken.

It may be tempting to think that a high error rate demonstrates that the
system is catching all of its mistakes, but that itself would be a
mistake. It’s like saying, the fact that we get it wrong most of the
time proves we get it right most of the time * clearly a nonsensical
proposition. That we catch so many errors is evidence that we make a
lot of mistakes. It also implies that there are probably a lot of
errors we don’t catch.

Suggesting that the number if serious errors the courts find is proof
that the system works is like suggesting that the more time your car
spends at the garage the better it works * that the higher the bills you
have to pay to fix your car, the better it runs. Clearly such claims
are absurd.

Q: What’s the bottom line?

A If a state is going to have the death penalty, it should be saved for
the worst of the worst, time and effort should be put into the first
trial, and those making life and death decisions shouldn’t be subject to
the whims of politics. In short, if you’re going to use the death
penalty, do it sparingly and do it right.

(source: Justice Project)

March e-letter:

Greeting moratorium supporters!

We have a very important action, and results of a survey to report this month. 

First, the action:

March 12 is Primary Election Day. Immediately following the closing of the polls at 7 pm, each political Party in each precinct in Texas will hold its Precinct Meeting. If you vote in the primaries, either early on on March 12, please go to the Precinct meeting of the Party for which you voted, (usually held at the precinct polling location), and submit a Resolution for a Moratorium on Executions in Texas (available at: ) 

If the resolution passes at this meeting it will go to the County, or Senatorial District, meeting, and ideally you will get yourself elected to be a delegate to that meeting. If the resolution passes then, it goes to the State Party Convention; again, ideally you will get yourself elected to be a delegate to that Convention (and even more ideally, get yourself elected to the Resolutions Committee!) This is a somewhat bureaucratic process, but it is an important way for us to demonstrate grassroots support for the moratorium. If you have any questions, email Brian Evans at 

Now, the results of our Survey

We contacted more than 300 candidates running in this year s election and asked them to respond to questions regarding capital punishment. We concentrated on races in which there is a contested primary on March 12, although we made sure to send a survey to all the statewide candidates no matter whether they have a primary opponent. As of March 6, 2002 thirty candidates responded to our survey. We have yet to receive responses from gubernatorial candidates Tony Sanchez and Dan Morales, but we know from the recent debates that Tony Sanchez is for the mental retardation bill and against a moratorium, and we know that Dan Morales is against them all. 

We will soon post the survey and responses to our web site at www.texasmoratorium.org. Below is a summary of the results so far. By November, we hope to have all the statewide and legislative incumbents and challengers on record.

Candidates were asked to answer yes, (Y) no, (N) or don t know (DN) to five questions regarding their support for:

1) Banning the execution of people with mental retardation.
2) Banning the execution of juvenile offenders.
3) Giving juries the option of a life without parole sentence.
4) Creating a Capital Punishment Commission to study the death penalty system.
5) Supporting a two-year moratorium on executions.

As expected, most Republicans who responded to the survey support the death penalty and oppose a moratorium. However, there are two major exceptions: Gary Gates of Rosenberg running for State Representative, District #28 and Douglas G. Deffenbaugh for U.S. Senate. Both answered yes to all five questions. Every Green candidate who responded reiterated their opposition to the death penalty and their support for a moratorium. Many reminded us that abolition of the death penalty is in the national Green Party platform. Most Democrats who responded support death penalty reform and a moratorium although there are a couple still sitting on the fence on this issue. The Libertarian candidate for governor also supports a moratorium.

Responses:

1. State Rep. District #28 Gary Gates, Republican
Y, Y, Y, Y, Y
Note: No Democratic candidates are running in this race. 

2. Travis County Treasurer Dolores Ortega Carter, Democrat
Y, Y, Y, Y, Y

3. Governor Bill Lyon, Democrat
Y, DN, Y, Y, DN

4. State Rep. District # 72 Jeri Slone, Democrat
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y

5. State Senator, District #17 Ronnie Harrison, Democrat
Y, DN, Y, Y, Y

6. District Court Judge 403rd District – Brenda Kennedy, Democrat
As a judge, she explained she could only answer #4 and her answer is Y.

7. State Rep. District #8 Herman Hans Reicher, Democrat
Y,DN,Y,Y,Y
A big thanks to you for carrying on your beliefs that I believe in time that will be proven to be the right position. 

8. State Rep. District #8 Charles Nichols, Democrat
Did not answer survey. Wrote a letter that he is re-thinking views on death penalty; used to be against.

9. State Senator, District #6 Mario Gallegos, Jr., Democrat
Y, Y, Y, Y, Y

10. State Representative, District #51 Eddie Rodriquez, Democrat
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone. I would support a complete moratorium. 

11. State Representative, District #72 Tom Goff, Republican
Y,Y,Y,Y,N

12. State Representative, District #40 Eddy Gonzalez, Democrat
N,N,N,Y,DN

13. Texas Railroad Commission, Sherry Boyles
Says death penalty issues are not relevant to office

14. Chair, Travis County Democratic Party Scott Ozmun
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y

15. U.S. Senate – Lawrence Cranberg, Republican
Did not reply to survey; sent copy of editorial he wrote in the Houston Chronicle supporting the death penalty in cases where the victim is a witness to a crime.

16. State Representative, District 148 Jessica Farrar, Democrat
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
Comments:
I voted in favor of HB 236. (MR bill)
I also voted in favor of HB 2048. (Juvenile offenders bill)
I also voted for SB 85. (LWOP)
I support a state public defender program. The system in place today is underfunded and inadequate to result in a fair verdict. 
I believe I signed on as a co-sponsor of this legislation. (moratorium bill).

17. State Representative, District 58 Greg Kauffman, Democrat
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y

18. Texas Supreme Court Place 3 William Moody, Democrat
N,N,Y,Y,Depends
Comment: There may be some cases that are so clean cut and have exhausted their appellate remedies that a two year delay would be unreasonable. Cases where mandates of death are signed and execution dates already set should be looked at on a case by case basis. 

19. State Senator, District 30 – Craig Estes, Republican
N,N,N,N,N

20. State Senator, District 14 Gonzalo Barrientos, Democrat
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y

21. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3 Julius Wittier, Democrat
No reply to survey; sent letter informing us of address change

22. Railroad Commissioner – Nazirite R. Flores-Perez, Libertarian
N,N,N,Y,Y

23. Governor Jeff Daiell, Libertarian
Y- as part of a general ban. 
Y- as part of a general ban. 
Y – !
N Such a commission isn t needed to establish the obvious: Perfection is not achievable and execution is irreversible. 
Y If this were the only way to stop executions. 
Additional Comments: Let me be frank I have no sympathy for murderers but I will not risk executing an innocent individual. If elected, I will use every legal means to halt or delay executions if there is any reasonable doubt of guilt. 

24. Attorney General David Cobb, Green
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
Comments: NOTE: The Green Party national platform explicitly calls to abolish capital punishment. See http://www.gp.org/platform_index.htm 

25. Agricultural Commissioner – Jane Elioseff, Green
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
I oppose capital punishment, period. Violence by the state in response to violence by individuals is not justice, it is a perpetuation of the problem. 

26. Lt. Governor, Nathalie Paravicini, Green
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
The Green Party opposes the death penalty. It does not act as a deterrent for crime, on the contrary, the death penalty has been shown to condone violence and make it an acceptable solution to conflict. Aside from this position, the Green Party finds the Texas criminal justice system “neither just nor a system”, to paraphrase numerous personalities who have spoken on the issue. 

27. Governor, Rahul Mahajan, Green
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
The only one of these questions about which I have some misgivings is the question of Life Without Parole. Just as much as the death sentence, this seems an admission that the goal of rehabilitation no longer plays any part in the criminal justice system. I understand that most people, when regarding the most heinous crimes, consider it the only acceptable alternative to execution. I am not sure that in society as it now exists there is a better alternative, but we ought to work toward creating a genuine possibility of rehabilitation.

The Green Party, in its platform adopted in the 2000 political campaign, opposes capital punishment under any circumstances.

I don’t think additional comment is needed, except to say that if elected I plan to work very closely with grassroots groups like the TMN on the issues of concern to them. 

28. State Senator, District 16 Jan Frederiksen, Democrat
Y,N,Y,N,N

29. U.S. Senate – Douglas G. Deffenbaugh, Republican
Y,Y,Y,Y,Y
Comments: As a Roman Catholic, I have a very specific position that is in tune with our
Church that basically states that it should seldom if ever be used. One example might be a terrorist that would make us vulnerable to future hostage taking to liberate him. Perhaps, even a killer of a policeman. I will attemptto answer your questionnaire in light of this:
3. Yes, absolutely , I would like to emphasize that my father was an FBI Agent and I am very pro-law and order, and life without parole would keep known, convicted murders from preying on society.
4. Yes, although if capital punishment was seldom used, then this would probably be unnecessary.

30. Comptroller – Marty Akins, Democrat
Y,DN,Y,Y,N

—————————–

Thank you for your continued support and activism, and we look forward to building support for a moratorium on executions in 2002!

The Texas Moratorium Network

This month’s newsletter contains

  • an apology to the Texas Greens for omitting their position in support of a moratorium,
  • updates on the upcoming elections,
  • information about the Thomas Miller-El case,

Feb. 19, 2002 Dear Moratorium Supporter, We have a busy month. Primary elections are March 12, and a there are some important opportunities to keep the media spotlight on the Texas death penalty. Primary elections: For starters, a correction: last month we said that no Texas gubernatorial candidate had declared support for a moratorium. We were wrong and we apologize. Rahul Marajan, Green party candidate for Texas Governor, is a proud moratorium supporter. More information on the Texas Green party is available at www.txgreens.org. Secondly, TMN is surveying on issues related to capital punishment all the statewide candidates and the legislative candidates who have primary opposition. We’ll report on the results in time for next month’s primaries. By the general election, we hope to post the positions of all the candidates on our website. Even if the candidates choose not to respond, at least our questionnaire reminds them that there are people who care about their opinions on capital punishment issues. Be sure to get out to candidate forums or just call up the campaign headquarters and ask the candidates to state their positions on a moratorium and on other capital punishment issues. To locate the campaign addresses of Democratic candidates: http://www.txdemocrats.org/campaigns2002-enter2.htm To locate the campaign addresses of Republican candidates: http://www.texasgop.org/filings2002/ To locate the campaign addresses of Green candidates: http://www.txgreens.org/election2002/candidates2002.htm To locate the campaign addresses of Libertarian candidates: http://www.tx.lp.org/database-ro/candidates/index.html Two points of good news; good time for letters to editors: First, the U.S. Supreme Court is granting Thomas Miller-El a reprieve from his Feb. 21 execution date to consider problems concerning the jury selection in his trial. As the Associated Press explained: Prosecutors used their power to challenge specific jurors as a way to eliminate 10 out of 11 potential black jurors before Miller-El’s trial, his lawyers claim. Miller-El is black. The only black juror chosen told prosecutors he regarded execution as ‘too quick’ and painless a method of punishment. ‘Pour some honey on them and stake them out over an ant bed,’ the man said. Miller-El’s case is perfect reason why we need a moratorium. Even if his guilt is not in question, it clear that his defense never had a fair chance to argue for punishment less severe than execution. Secondly, since the United States’ reinstatement of the death penalty in 1973, 99 prisoners have been exonerated and released from death row. The 100th is expected to be exonerated any day now. Both Miller-El’s case and the 100th exoneration (when it happens) are perfect occasions to write a letter to the editor of your local daily. We have included letters to the editors addresses below, as well as some talking points on Miller-El’s case. Remember to keep letters concise. Addresses: Austin American Statesman: letters@statesman.com Austin Chronicle mail@austinchronicle.com Houston Chronicle hci@chron.com San Antonio Express News letters@express-news.net Dallas Morning News letters@dallasnews.cm Waco letters@wacotrib.com El Paso jlaird@elpasotimes.com Amarillo opinion@amarillonet.com Fort Wort Star Telegram letter@startelegram.com Talking Points for Letters to the Editor on Thomas Miller-El: 1. The clemency process in Texas does not work. a. Governors George Bush and Rick Perry have given the final okay on over 100 executions b. During their time as Governors, only 1 person has been granted clemency. That’s compared with two people this year alone in North Carolina. c. The Pardon and Parole Board which oversees all petitions for clemency in death penalty cases is made up of 18 people, in six different offices. They are not required to meet or talk about a case, and only have to fax in their decision. This is not justice. 2. The Dallas County District Attorney’s office in Mr. Miller-El’s case was racist when choosing his jury. a. The D.A.’s office routinely excluded jurors based on race during the 1980s (time period of Miller-El’s trial) b. The D.A.’s office circulated instructions to its attorneys to exclude the following people from a jury: Jews, Negroes, Italians, and Mexicans. c. Miller-El’s jury consisted of 11 white and one black juror d. The one black juror made clear his support for the death penalty and his desire to have criminals tortured if found guilty 3. Mr. Miller-El was not physically competent to stand trial. a. He was suffering from a gunshot wound and had difficulty communicating with his attorneys during the trial b.Miller-El was hospitalized three times during the course of his trial 4.Mr. Miller-El’s case is just one example of how the death penalty system in Texas and America is not working. A moratorium on executions is needed to ensure that no innocent people are executed and to figure out why the system is broken. We’ll be writing again soon with results of our candidates poll. Best wishes, Texas Moratorium Network P.S. You can subscribe to receive this newsletter via email directly.

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