HELP STOP VIRGINIA’S 103^rd EXECUTION – February 19^th, 2009 

Edward Nathaniel Bell is scheduled to be killed by the Commonwealth of Virginia at 9 p.m. on February 19^th, 2009 for the shooting death of Sgt. Ricky L. Timbrook, 32, from the Winchester police Department during a late evening police chase on Oct. 29, 1999.

  The case of Edward Bell presents Governor Kaine with one serious question and two facts. The question is one of innocence, and the facts are that too many gross procedural irregularities occurred in getting a man with intellectual disabilities to the death chamber in Virginia.

  Eddie Bell, who has an I.Q. of 68, has been deemed by qualified experts to be very likely mentally retarded, evidence which was not heard in court. The Atkins v. Virginia (2002) ruling by the US Supreme Court declared execution of the mentally retarded to be unconstitutional.

  His trial was replete with witness recantations, a conflict of interest between the key witness for the prosecution and Bell’s own council, and the predictably huge favors that were promised to the incarcerated witness for un-sworn testimony against Bell. On an infrared helicopter camera, police detected a warm body hiding near the crime scene that definitely was not Bell. There are too many unanswered questions in this case to be able to make a reasoned or humane argument for execution.

  Should Governor Kaine not intervene, Bell will be the 1^st person since re-instatement of the death penalty in Virginia to be put to death even though a federal court found that his counsel’s failures at sentencing were so extreme that they fell below the constitutional minimum required by the 6^th amendment –- that his counsel was equivalent to no counsel at all.

  Governor Kaine is Eddie Bell’s final judge and jury. What he does may depend on the message he receives from his constituency. Help us convince Tim Kaine to commute this sentence to life in prison with out parole. 

TAKE ACTION -- Contact Gov. Tim Kaine RIGHT NOW.

The most effective way to communicate your message at this stage is to write a letter asking the governor to grant clemency by commuting Bell’s death sentence to life without parole.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in your own words:

- explaining that you are not seeking to excuse the murder of Sergeant Richard Timbrook, or to minimize the suffering caused by his death;

- expressing concern at the low quality of legal representation Edward Bell received at trial, particularly at the sentencing phase, which left the jury ill-informed to make its life-or-death decision;

- expressing concern at evidence that Edward Bell may have mental retardation but has been denied the opportunity to develop and present this evidence in court;

- noting that there are lingering doubts about the reliability of Edward Bell’s conviction;

- noting that the power of executive clemency in capital cases exists precisely to prevent irrevocable injustices that the courts have been unwilling or unable to remedy;

- calling on Governor Kaine to grant clemency to Edward Bell.

(you may also sign online petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/Clemency-For-Eddie).

PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO:

Governor Timothy M. Kaine, Office of the Governor

Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor

1111 East Broad Street

Richmond, VA 23219, USA

You can also contact the governor by telephone and/or fax.  If you live in Virginia, be sure to start by stating your name and where you live.

Phone: (804) 786-2211

Fax: (804) 371-6351

Email: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm.

Salutation: Dear Governor

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

*To find where an EXECUTION VIGIL is taking place in your area - CLICK HERE

Case Background:

Edward Nathaniel Bell, a Jamaican national, was charged in the shooting death of Sgt. Ricky L. Timbrook, 32, from the Winchester police Department during a late evening police chase on Oct. 29, 1999.  Police found Bell in the basement of a house near the shooting and was initially charged with burglary.[i]  Bell was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence and has maintained his innocence since the crime occurred.  Evidence against Bell included the tight police perimeter around the crime scene on the night of the shooting. 

Extensive media coverage, including flyers with pictures of the victim’s family outside the courthouse during trial did not restrain Judge Dennis L. Hupp from holding the criminal proceedings in Winchester Circuit Court in January 2001.  During trial, prosecutors testified that Bell shot Timbrook because he had arrested him in 1997 for carrying a concealed weapon and Bell has feared that Timbrook would find a gun or drugs.

Defense introduced evidence that showed a second individual was in the vicinity of the shooting at the same time and could have easily been the actual shooter.  DNA from the gun came from at least three individuals and could not conclusively link Bell to the gun.  Nonetheless, after deliberating for only three hours, an all-white jury of nine women and three men convicted Bell of capital murder and recommended that Bell be sentenced to death.  At the formal sentencing hearing on May 30, 2001, Circuit Judge Dennis L. Hupp confirmed the jury's sentence.[ii] On June 7, 2002, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld Bell’s conviction.[iii] The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Bell’s appeal on November 17, 2008.

[i] Associated Press. Oct. 30, 1999.

[ii] Associated Press. May 30, 2001.

[iii] Associated Press.  June 7, 2002 and Edward Nathaniel Bell vs. Commonwealth of Virginia.