Spring 2001 Newsletter

Spring 2001
VADP Bi-Annual Meeting
"The Next Step"


 


Saturday March 31, 2001  10:00- 4:00  First Unitarian Church of Richmond,
1000 Blanton Ave. (at the Carillon), Richmond

Registration/Donation Appreciated  ~~ Lunch provided

With all the developments that have been made since our Conference in October, it is apparent that we need to keep the momentum going and take... "The Next Step"
 
 

pecial guests: Del. Frank Hargrove who introduced a bill in the last session of the General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.

Margaret Edds- Associate Editor, Virginia- Pilot newspaper (Norfolk)
Renate Wolhwend and Tanja Kleinsorge -
              Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Kitty Irwin- Mother of a murder victim who recently testified for the     life of her daughters' murderer in Radford

Topics to be covered:
Starting a VADP chapter in your locale
Getting moratorium resolutions adopted in your community
Meeting with your legislators
What has worked in other communities
 

Please fill out this coupon and return to:
VADP PO Box 4804, Charlottesville, VA 22905
You can also register by calling 804-263-8148 or (888) 567-VADP or mail@vadp.org

Name  ____________________________________
Address  __________________________________
City   _____________________________________
State _____  Zip  _____________
Phone  (  ___  )  ______________
e-mail  ____________________________________

Earl Washington Released

 


On Feb. 12, after 18 years in prison, nine on Death Row, Earl Washington was released from prison- having been pardoned by Gov. Gilmore last October.  Earl became the first prisoner to be released from Virginia's Death Row since the early 70's when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a moratorium on executions.

Years and years of tireless efforts by Earl's defense team, countless editorials and special reports by the media, and public outrage finally paid off, as Earl was secretly driven from Greensville Prison in the early hours of Monday morning by Dept. of Corrections officials and brought to his new home at Support Services of Virginia.

After being briefed by his parole officer, Earl and his legal team, including Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project in NY, appeared at a press conference where Earl declared, I'm glad to be home. I'm nervous, not bitter."  Although Earl has been released from the confines of prison, he is still on extended parole and intense supervision, and is not permitted to leave the Tidewater area.

A Trust Fund has been set up for Earl. You can send your contribution payable "Earl Washington Trust Fund" to Bob Hall, 12120 Sunset Hills Rd., Suite 150, Reston, VA 20190.  If you have any questions, you can contact Bob at 703-925-0500.

(PHOTO)  Henry Heller and Marie Deans of VADP welcome Earl Washington at
press conference.

DNA Testing Ordered On Hold for Brian Cherrix


 


An appeals court in February blocked a federal judge's order that the state turn over DNA evidence in the 1994 Chincoteague murder case of Brian Cherrix.  Cherrix was sentenced to death in 1998 after confessing to the crime, but has since then said that the confession was not true. Cherrix's lawyers went to a federal judge because Virginia Courts bar introduction of new evidence after 21 days. The Attorney General's office has said that they are not necessarily opposed to the new DNA testing, but opposed to a federal court issuing such an order.


 


Virginia Man Returns Home After 13 1/2 Years on Death Row in Louisiana


 


On December 27, Louisiana officials finally allowed Michael Graham to return to his family in Roanoke. What started out as a 2- week vacation to Louisiana with some friends in 1986, turned out to be a 13- year nightmare on Death Row. There was never any physical evidence linking Michael or his mentally retarded co-defendant to the case. The evidence included a jailhouse snitch who said that Michael confessed. Another witness was pressured by police to finger Michael or else they would take her children away, and another witness simply lied.

Michael's case contained three issues that are common in death penalty cases. The pressure on the police and prosecution to "rsolve" the crime and get a conviction, the criminal justice system's reliance on testimony from jailhouse informants, and the failure of prosecutors to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense.

Three weeks after he was released, Michael appeared at the Virginia General Assembly to tell his story. He has appeared at a number of other events since, including a press conference after the release of Earl Washington. His message to Virginians:. "If this would have happened to me in Virginia, I would have been dead due to the 21- Day Rule."

Death Row Prisoner Found Dead in his Cell

David Overton, who was sentenced to death in Chesterfield County in February, 1999 for the murder of Edgar Williams, was found dead in his cell on March 1. It is unclear as to the cause of death. The state is performing an autopsy. David was 21 years old with a history of depression who asked to be executed at trial. He later changed his mind and had been pursing his appeals.

Harrisonburg/Rockingham County Bar Association Pass Moratorium Resolution

On Feb. 14, the Harrisonburg/ Rockingham County Bar Association became the second local Virginia Bar group to endorse a moratorium on executions. The measure just passed by a vote of 27-26 and takes no position on the death penalty. Congratulations to local attorney Larry Hoover who invited VADP Board member Steve Rosenfield last year to make a presentation to the local Bar group and has seen his efforts come to fruition. If you are an attorney and would like to get your Bar group to adopt a similar resolution please
contact us at 804-263-8148 or mail@vadp.org.

How we Initiated Our City Councils' Passing a Moratorium Resolution
         by Kathy Fox


 


In Lexington, the Peace and Justice committee of Maury River Friends Meeting (Quakers) has been working on death penalty issues for the past 2 years. Last Spring, at one of our meetings for business, we decided that we would begin working toward presenting a proposal to Lexington City Council calling for a moratorium. It was felt that we needed to go through the church communities and get a real base of support. People from the Lexington Presbyterian (whose Session had voted to call for a Moratorium), the R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal and St. Patrick's Catholic Churches were contacted. Lavert Taylor, the minister of the First Baptist Church (an African-American church) was contacted, and petitions and written information were mailed to him.

Follow up phone calls revealed that the death penalty was not an issue for his congregation, but that he personally could see the merits of considering this issue. He referred us to the Lexington Ministerial Alliance. We had phone conversations with both the President and Secretary and sent written information documenting the injustice and ineffectiveness of the death penalty. Since Lavert is a member of both groups, he brought the motion, which was supported by the Ministerial Alliance, to the City Council where Mayor John Knapp
referred it to the Social and Economic Services Committee which Lavert chairs.

We contacted VADP who directed us to Bill Geimer, a law professor at Washington and Lee for 30 years with extensive work with death row clients. We called people from our Friends Meeting, the Catholic Church, Amnesty International, and other supportive individuals. Written information about the death penalty and the moratorium was sent to each of the committee members.

Approximately twenty people were in the audience for the presentation. We began by explaining about the moratorium movement, and its international scope. Names of major cities near Virginia calling for a moratorium were listed, and a sheet was passed out listing the groups in Virginia. The Mayor referred to the faxed letter he had received from the mayor of Charlottesville about why they had endorsed the moratorium. Bill Geimer gave
an extremely effective presentation about his reasons for supporting the moratorium based on his wealth of experience working with his students and the death row prisoners. More
specific facts and figures were given documenting the injustice.

Some W & L students from AI made a spirited statement referring to the injustice of the death penalty and specifically naming Michael Graham, an innocent man who had spent 13 1/2 years on death row in Louisiana and is now living in Roanoke. The Priest made a brief but powerful statement that we really need to go beyond the moratorium and abolish the death penalty entirely.

The proposal was approved by the committee and forwarded to the whole Lexington City Council. All three local newspapers were represented at the council meeting as well as Roanoke Channel 7 TV station. The resolution had been printed up and made available to the audience. Channel 7 gave a very good presentation of the council meeting which they included with other clips against the death penalty. We got more background information to the local newspapers, which covered the topic fairly well. The Roanoke Times printed an
associated press release. Letters to the Editor, as well as personal letters, were written in support of the council's decision, with special thanks given to Rev. Taylor.

As of March 7, 2001, only 1 letter has appeared with a negative slant to this issue. We're writing this to encourage others in Virginia to initiate resolutions for a moratorium in local town and county councils. This was a very educational experience. We saw that many are not aware of the facts and statistics related to this issue and as they were informed, minds became more open to change. One of the local newspaper reporters did not know about the 21-day rule, and openly editorialized against it in her article. Considering the limited
action taken by our state legislators, motions made by our local governing bodies can send a strong message.

Summary: Death Penalty Bills in the 2001 General Assembly

HB 1590 (Marshall):  authorizes a jury instruction in capital cases that "an individual who was sentenced to death in the Commonwealth and twice scheduled to be executed was later granted an absolute pardon absolving him of guilt for a capital murder conviction on the basis of DNA testing."  Defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 0-23.

HB 1656 (Parrish): expands death penalty statute to include murder of a person who is going to testify as a witness. Defeated in House Courts of Justice, 9-13.

HB 1827 (Hargrove): abolish capital punishment in Virginia. Defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 0-23.

HB 2345 (Almand): abolishing 21-day rule for capital cases. Defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 10-11.

HB 2349 (McEachin): requires biological evidence in criminal cases to be preserved and authorizes convicted person to petition to have biological evidence tested in order to prove innocence. Bill withdrawn by the patron, Del. McEachin.

HB 2580 (McDonnell): authorizes Virginia Supreme Court to set standards for attorneys defending death penalty cases.  Passed both houses unanimously. Awaiting action by the Governor.

HB 2664 (Morgan): declares a moratorium on executions in Virginia until JLARC completes its study of the death penalty.  Incorporated into HB 2764 (below), which does the same thing, and which was then defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 6-16.

HB 2764 (Almand): declares a moratorium on executions in Virginia until JLARC completes its study of the death penalty. Defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 6-16.

HB 2799 (Devolites): declares a moratorium on executions in Virginia until JLARC completes its study of the death penalty. Incorporated into HB 2764 (above), which does the same thing, and which was then defeated in House Courts of Justice Committee, 6-16.

HB 2802 (Armstrong): requires preservation of evidence. Re-written to mirror language in SB 1366 on this topic. Passed both houses. Awaiting action by the Governor.

HJR 508 (Marshall): establishing a joint subcommittee to study the need for a moratorium on executions in Virginia. Defeated in House Rules Committee, 1-16.

SB 1134 (Marsh): abolishing 21-day rule for capital cases. Defeated in Senate Courts of Justice Committee, 4-11.

SB 1135 (Marsh): declares a moratorium on executions in Virginia until JLARC completes its study of the death penalty.  Defeated in Senate Courts of Justice Committee, 5-10.

SB 1366 (Stolle): requires preservation of "human biological evidence" and authorizes convicted felons to seek DNA testing. Establishes procedure for petitioning the Virginia Supreme Court for a "writ of actual innocence" requiring inmate to be released when he can prove his innocence using DNA evidence. Passed by both houses unanimously.  Awaiting action by the Governor. The parts of the bill relating to DNA testing will become effective immediately when the bill is signed by the Governor. The "writ of actual innocence" part does not become effective until November 15, 2002, and then only if the voters pass an amendment to the Virginia Constitution in the November 2002 election.  See SJR 419, which is next.

SJR 419 (Stolle): Proposes constitutional amendment to authorize Supreme Court to hear petitions for "writ of actual innocence" as provided in SB 1366.   Passed both houses unanimously. Does not need action by the Governor, but will have to be passed again by the legislature in 2002 and then approved by the voters in the November 2002 election.

Amazing What Can Happen In 10 days
Thursday Feb. 15 - The Lynchburg News & Advance endorses a moratorium on the death penalty.
Monday Feb. 19 - Earl Washington released.  After spending 17 1/2 years in prison, 9 1/2 on Death Row, Earl Washington became the first Virginia Death Row prisoner since 1973 to be exonerated.
Wednesday Feb. 21- The Harrisonburg/Rocking-ham County Bar Association passes a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. This becomes the 2nd local Bar Ass. to do so. Charlottesville/ Albemarle County Bar passed a resolution in April, 1999.
Thursday Feb. 21- Earl Washington appears at the General Assembly and the House Courts of Justice Committee.
Thursday Feb. 22- The Lexington City Council passes a moratorium resolution calling for a moratorium. The Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution in Jan. 2000.
Monday Feb. 26- The Fredericksburg Free Lance Star joins a growing number of newspapers calling for a moratorium.

Sunday Feb. 18- Sunday Feb. 25-  Death Penalty Awareness Week in Lynchburg includes a debate by the Liberty University (Jerry Falwell) Debate Team whether there should be a moratorium on the death penalty.

Although abolition and moratorium bills were defeated in committee in the General Assembly, the death penalty debate has intensified immensely. The time is right to approach your city council, bar association, and newspaper, as well as your state representative, to encourage them to endorse a moratorium.

(PHOTO) Del. Frank Hargrove (R-Hanover), speaks at Death Penalty Awareness
Day rally.

The 2001 General Assembly and the Death Penalty: A View from the Back Benches
by Ed Wayland

For death penalty opponents, this year's General Assembly session was the best of times and the worst of times. The best of times, because after years of polite (and not so polite) neglect, committees of both the House and the Senate spent significant time and attention discussing the problems with the death penalty. The worst of times, because, having understood that the system was broken, and faced with proposals to actually do something about it, the legislators blinked. They turned away from fundamental change and decided
instead to tinker around the edges. Virginia's machinery of death will continue to hum away pretty much as it always has.

This fall was an exciting time for those who follow this issue. In June, a Charlottesville group opposed to the death penalty met with State Senator Emily Couric, and all agreed that a bill to study the death penalty might pass, if it was carefully worded and we had a little luck. But that was the best we could hope for. Even revisions to the hated 21-day rule, which prevents the introduction of evidence into court to show that a defendant was innocent of the crime if that evidence is not discovered within the first 21 days after sentence is pronounced, seemed like pie in the sky.

Then in the fall came the Earl Washington case.  Washington, who had spent 17 years in prison and almost 10 on death row, and who had at one time come within days of being executed, turned out to be innocent, cleared by DNA evidence. Governor Gilmore, who would rather swallow hot nails than be thought soft on crime (or anyway soft on punishment) was forced to grant him a pardon.

The fact that an innocent man was almost executed startled many, though it is not clear why. The Attorney General's office continued to proclaim, with appropriate trumpet flourishes, that there were no innocent people on Virginia's death row. When confronted with the fact that Virginia's Supreme Court reversed death penalty cases 8% of the time and that nationally the average for state supreme courts was 40%, they just said this showed what a great job our system does. Not as many errors. And they weren't kidding. That was the story Virginia's leaders seemed determined to stick to. Earl Washington's case exploded the myth, and things will never be the same.

Things started to happen. The Virginia Supreme Court, which had never said or done anything on this before, announced that it intended to abolish the 21-day rule in capital cases. The State Crime Commission then announced that it too was going to look at  the 21-day rule and offer its own proposals. Not to be outdone, the legislature's watchdog agency, the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission (JLARC) then announced that it was going to launch a year-long study of the death penalty itself. Most astonishing of all, Delegate Frank Hargrove (R-Glen Allen), a long-time hard-on-crime conservative Republican, announced that after much soul-searching he had concluded that the death penalty was just wrong, and he intended to offer a bill to do away with it. A couple of other conservative Republicans, Jeannemarie A. Devolites (R-Vienna) and Harvey B. Morgan
(R-Gloucester) announced that they, too, thought the death penalty should go.

So hopes were high when the legislature convened. Bills were flying in from all over the place to do good things. Delegate James Almand (D-Arlington), who has fought for years to abolish the 21-day rule in capital cases, tried again with House Bill 2345. Senator Henry Marsh (D-Richmond) offered an almost identical bill, Senate Bill 1134. Four separate bills were introduced to impose a moratorium on executions until the JLARC study is completed:  HB 2664 (offered by Delegates Morgan);  HB 2764 (Delegate Almand); HB 2799 (Delegate Devolites) and SB 1365 (Senator Marsh). And Delegate Hargrove patroned HB 1827, which sought to abolish the death penalty in Virginia.

There were a bunch of other bills relating in various ways to the death penalty. Delegate Robert G. Marshall (R-Manassas) offered House Joint Resolution 508, which called for a study of a moratorium on the death penalty. Delegate Marshall is the most vocal and shrill advocate against abortion, or for that matter against sex itself, in the General Assembly. His
involvement indicates the diverse political allies who are joining together on this issue. Delegate Marshall also offered HB 1590, which would have authorized the judge to tell the jury in a death penalty case "that an individual who was sentenced to death in the Commonwealth and twice scheduled to be executed was later granted an absolute pardon absolving him of guilt for a capital murder conviction on the basis of DNA testing."

Delegate Robert F. McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach) offered a bill, HB 2580, to involve the Supreme Court in setting qualifications for defense attorneys in capital cases. Delegate A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) offered HB 2349 and Delegate Ward L. Armstrong (D-Martinsville) offered HB 2802, both of which dealt with preserving evidence after trial for DNA testing.

There was only one bill offered to expand the death penalty, a record low in recent years. That bill was HB 1656, filed by Delegate Harry J. Parrish (R-Manassas), to expand the death penalty to cover the murder of a witness to prevent him or her from testifying in a trial.  Delegate Parrish has offered a number of bills over the years to expand the scope of the death penalty. He was one of the few members of the House who opposed Mitch Van Yahres' resolution offering an apology for Virginia's appalling role in supporting and promoting the doctrine of eugenics earlier in this century. Del. Parrish argued that those who supported eugenics were acting legally at the time and that it was unfair to second guess them now.  He did not offer his views on slavery, so we don't know whether he feels the same way about that.

Finally, there was SB 1366, offered by Senator Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), chairman of the State Crime Commission and the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. This was the response of the Crime Commission, and the Virginia establishment, to the Earl Washington case, the 21-day rule, and the critics of the death penalty. To give you an idea of where these folks are coming from, you should remember that last year it was Senator Stolle's Courts of Justice that last year proposed to reform the 21-day rule by making it a 45-day rule. This change was so laughably pathetic that everyone agreed in the end
that the bill should be tabled. SB 1366 is an effort to be less ridiculous, but still preserve most of the status quo. It does a good job. The bill has 132 patrons, 36 out of 40 Senators and 96 out of 100 Delegates.  You would have a hard time getting 132 Virginia legislators to agree that Virginia is south of Maryland, so right off the bat it's a safe bet that the bill doesn't do anything startling.

Nevertheless, in introducing the bill to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, Senator Stolle described its purpose as being "to make the administration of capital punishment more just and appropriate." That would be great if it were true. Instead this limited bill preserves the current system of trial and execution, 21-day rule and all, for the vast majority of cases.

The first two sections are basically positive but uncontroversial changes in the law requiring courts to preserve "human biological evidence" and allowing persons convicted of felonies (not just capital cases) the right to have that evidence tested in cases where doing so might show that they are actually innocent of the crime for which they were convicted. These sections are attempts to respond to the changing environment created by advances in DNA
testing. It shows how changing things can be that even these modest and obvious proposals apparently sparked a lot of debate when the bill was being drafted, especially with the Attorney General's office and the Commonwealth's Attorneys Association.

The third section deals with the 21-day rule by creating an exception for people convicted of a crime who can show, as a result of DNA testing, that they are innocent. The good news is that it applies to all felonies, not just capital cases. The bad news is that it only applies to claims of innocence backed up by DNA evidence. While this is the evidence that can be the most compelling, it is also the situation where the existing system (getting a pardon from the Governor) is most likely to work. Governor Gilmore pardoned Earl Washington because of DNA evidence. The many other problems with his prosecution were never enough for Gilmore or any of his predecessors.

Why did they limit the bill to cases involving DNA evidence? Senator Stolle explained that the bill was written by the Crime Commission's DNA task force, and they never really considered other situations. This is too bad, since DNA evidence is not the critical thing in most cases. The fact is that of the 95 people nation-wide who were found to be innocent after being put on death row since 1973, only 10 relied on DNA evidence to show innocence.

The bill sets up a procedure, independent of the 21-day rule, for a defendant who has DNA evidence proving he is innocent, to go back to court to have his evidence reviewed. Unfortunately, the procedure is quite cumbersome. The inmate must start with a petition to the Virginia Supreme Court, which then may send the case to a lower court to take evidence if it looks like that would be a good idea. Then the lower court and the Supreme Court review the evidence and the case and reach a decision about what should happen.

For no apparent reason, the bill was written so that the Supreme Court can only do this if the Virginia constitution is changed to permit it. Senator Stolle has set off on the process of amending the constitution (see Senate Joint Resolution 419). Since the earliest this amendment can actually become part of the constitution is at the election in November, 2002, the new exception to the 21-day rule created by SB 1366 also does not go into effect until November, 2002. I suppose this serves the purpose of allowing those who see this as a revolutionary and extraordinary step (like the folks in the Attorney General's office) time to make the emotional adjustment to the New Day. It will be interesting to see whether they fight to have the constitutional amendment defeated next year on the grounds that it seeks to coddle criminals.

The final kicker is that even if you are in the small group of defendants who can use the process set up by this bill, and even if you don't mind waiting on death row until late in 2002 to take advantage of it, you may not be entitled to a stay of execution. Yes, that's right. Under this bill, you have the right to go back to court if DNA evidence proves you are innocent, but if your case has already made it through most of the normal appeals process, the court is specifically prohibited from granting a postponement of your execution.

So, it doesn't apply to most defendants, it only helps when there is DNA evidence that shows you are innocent, it doesn't go into effect until November, 2002, and you can't get a stay of execution if the evidence that shows you are innocent comes along too late in the process. SB 1366 sailed out of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on a vote of 15-0 and it passed the Senate 40-0 two days later. It passed the House 99-0. It is now awaiting action by the Governor.

SB 1366 is being touted, by people who know better, as a bill that repeals the 21-day rule. Presumably this gives the legislators some comfort, and some political cover, when the time came to reject all the more significant bills. And the press has backed them up in this sham. An AP story on Earl Washington's case published in the Charlottesville Daily Progress on Sunday, February 11, says: "On Feb. 5 the Virginia Senate unanimously backed legislation that would wipe out the 21-day limit the state now places on condemned inmates to
present new evidence of their innocence. The three-week deadline after sentencing is the nation's most restrictive. The measure now goes to the House of Delegates." "Wipe out the 21-day limit"? Not this bill.

Nevertheless, there was a clear consensus in the legislature that SB 1366 was the way to go. All the moratorium bills died in committee. Delegate Hargrove's bill to abolish the death penalty was voted down in the House Courts of Justice Committee 23-0.  And the bills to revise the 21-day rule offered by Delegate Almand and Senator Marsh also died in committee, on the argument that SB 1366 offered a better approach.

Most of the other bills didn't do so well either.  Delegate McEachin withdrew his bill on DNA testing, presumably in the face of the overwhelming support for the Crime Commission bill. Delegate Armstrong's bill on preserving evidence was re-written to say the same thing as the first part of SB 1366, and it then sailed through the House, 99-0. Delegate Marshall's quirky bill to require a jury instruction on the Earl Washington case died in
the House Courts of Justice Committee 23-0. His proposal to study a moratorium similarly died in the Rules Committee, 16-1. At least Delegate Parrish's bill to expand the list of crimes covered by the death penalty also died in House Courts of Justice, 23-0.

To some, this will seem yet another example of the bleak prospects facing any measure designed to inject humanity and common sense into Virginia's criminal justice system. Yet there were important developments. We are disappointed mainly because our hopes were so high going into the session.  We should not lose sight of what has been accomplished.  These battles are never over, and we made great gains this year.

First, both houses of the legislature devoted considerable time and effort to looking at the issue of the death penalty. That has never happened before.  The arguments, pro and con, were actually being discussed. This can only help those of us who believe the death penalty must end. I happened to be sitting next to Jack Knapp, the lobbyist for the Virginia Baptist Alliance on the day the House Courts of Justice Committee considered the death penalty bills. The Baptist Alliance is the only faith group that I know of that continues to support the death penalty. I asked Mr. Knapp about it, and he said, "We believe in the sanctity of life. That is why we support the death penalty." And he wasn't kidding. Arguments like this cannot survive in the light of day. All we have to do is keep shining a light on them. That happened this session more than ever before.

We discovered new allies. Delegates Frank Hargrove, Harvey Morgan and Jeannemarie Devolites, conservative Republicans all, emerged as people of conscience and character on this issue, and put their names to abolition and moratorium bills.  Delegate Vincent F. Callahan (R-McLean), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the chairman of JLARC, and one of the top Republican leaders in the House, signed on as a co-patron of one of the moratorium bills. There is even a crack among the Commonwealth's Attorneys.
Their spokesperson at the legislature reported in one of the committee meetings that their membership was, in fact, deeply divided over the whole issue of the death penalty.   Who knew?

And another conservative Republican, Delegate Paul C. Harris, Sr. (R-Albemarle), also supported the moratorium bills. As a member of the House Courts of Justice sub-committee considering the death penalty bills, Paul voted against the Republican majority and for the moratorium. He would certainly have voted for the moratorium in the full committee meeting if pressing personal business had not forced him to be absent.

We didn't get a real 21-day rule bill, but things continue to break our way. In recent years, the bills to repeal the 21-day rule have done better and gone further. It seems clear at this point that in any real sense the argument over the 21-day rule is over. No one thinks it is fair to deny an innocent man the chance to go to court to offer his proof, and there is no
one, outside of the Attorney General's office of course, who is still willing to stand up and defend this rule any more. SB 1366 is an attempt to deflect this criticism, and the wide-spread support it received is a recognition by legislators that they don't want to go home without being able to say they did something about it.

We also have the JLARC study over the months ahead.  This is an important opportunity to make the case that the death penalty costs us too much and benefits us too little.

I do not mean to minimize the difficulties ahead.  We lost a lot of battles this year, and that will continue to happen.  But the consensus that supported the death penalty has begun to crumble.  Virginia's political leaders are, as usual, slow to catch on and hesitant to embrace this change.  But I continue to believe it is only a matter of time.

Lynchburg Death Penalty Awareness Week
by Chris Barrett

It is estimated that over 5,000 central Virginians attended one or more presentations during the recent Death Penalty Awareness Week February 18-25. The series of events was co-sponsored by five area colleges and universities:  Liberty University, Lynchburg College, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, and Virginia University of Lynchburg.

Attendance was outstanding at virtually every event.  There was the usual packed house for Sr. Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking," as she spoke to a crowd of about 800 at R-MWC.  She had the audience in rapt attention for well over an hour as she mixed touching stories and hard facts and blended grim statistics and humorous anecdotes.

Certainly the most novel idea and most unusual venue of the week was the Liberty University (Jerry Fallwell) debate on whether or not there is a need for a moratorium on executions in Virginia.  L.U.'s national champion debaters argued both sides of the issue before a near-capacity crowd of over a thousand.

Recently exonerated and released from Lousiana Death Row, Michael Graham spoke at Lynchburg College about his 14 years on death row.  The overflow crowd heard him explain that if he'd been on Virginia's Death Row, he would be dead now, as Virginia's 21-Day Rule would never had allowed the admission of evidence that proved his innocence.  He truly gave "a human face" to the issue of capital punishment.

Also highlighting the week was a presentation at Central Virginia Community College by John Artis, co-defendant of Ruben "Hurricane" Carter and, like him, wrongly convicted for double-murder.  Artis told of his 15 years in prison and his subsequent work with youth offenders.

Philadelphia judge Renee Hughes, a Lynchburg native, spoke to a nearly full
Chapel at R-MWC, addressing a very racially diverse crowd about her direct involvement with capital cases.  Though she has signed off on two death sentences, she strongly opposes the use of the death penalty.

V.A.D.P. was a major contributor to the week.  It was through V.A.D.P. that the Lynchburg planning committee was able to secure the services of Ed Wayland, Charlottesville attorney, who spoke to three different Lynchburg College audiences on the history of the death penalty in Virginia, Steve Rosenfield, also an attorney from Charlottesville, who spoke in six different classes at E.C. Glass High School, and Nancy Gowen of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation who also spoke at LC.

There were numerous other presentations in high schools and houses of worship as well as additional programs, seminars, films, and even a Mock Murder Trial at the colleges involved.


 
 

Strange Bedfellows
by Tim Stanton


 


     (Tim is also Director of Unitarian Universalists for Alternatives to the Death Penalty)

At this year's Virginia General Assembly, Frank Hargrove came into my life. Hargrove is a long time Delegate, a conservative Republican from the Richmond suburbs. He introduced a bill in 1981 to make public hanging Virginia's official form of execution. This year Frank Hargrove introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty. This year Frank Hargrove spoke to cheering abolitionists at a rally in Virginia's Capitol Square.

What's changed? Hargrove, for one. He says that in recent years he has struggled with this issue. He privately opposed the death penalty, and has decided to go public. Hargrove also told me that he has heard from his constituents on the issue. I felt particularly proud of my congregation, as we passed a moratorium resolution last summer and sent a copy to all local legislators, including Hargrove.

Frank Hargrove has taught me two things: first, that letting your legislators know your feelings are very important, that hearts and minds can be changed. But secondly it's reminded me, a lifelong Democrat, that coalitions can me made with very unlikely candidates. If I had to name four public people who have done the most for the abolition of the death penalty in the last year, I would say Pat Robertson, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Illinois Governor George Ryan, and Hargrove. Of those four, three are conservative Republicans.

Conservative legislators can be open to moratorium and abolition, especially from people of faith. We must get out of the mind set that they are lost causes. From now on when I'm in a strategy session I'm going to stop thinking of one particular legislator (or district) as a waste of time. I'm going to try to think of that legislator or district as an opportunity.
 


Timothy McVeigh Execution Set

Bud Welch lost his 23-year-old daughter, Julie Welch, in the Oklahoma City bombing. He offers the following to fellow activists and the media:

To my friends and fellow abolitionists who will be in Terre Haute for the state sanctioned killing of Timothy McVeigh, or at other protests around the country, I want you to know that my prayers are with you. I believe that a statement should be made. I ask you to be my voice on May 15 and 16, 2001. I urge you to send a clear message to our Government - and to the people of this nation - that what we are embarking on May 16 is just plain wrong. Our society should not tolerate a government with the power to kill its own citizens. Send that message in whatever way you feel is appropriate, with compassion, with nonviolence, and in peace.

When my daughter, Julie, was killed, I joined a "club" that I wish had no members: The price of admission is too high. I know the pain of losing a loved one because of a senseless act of violence. On May 16, 2001, I will stand with other families who have lost loved ones to unnecessary violence, and I will be with Tim McVeigh's family as they prepare to be victimized in a political event, staged by the Government of these United States.

Americans must be made to understand that in Tim McVeigh's mind, he was engaging in an act of revenge when he bombed a United States installation.  In his mind he was at war, and much the same as when we bomb Iraq or send more than a billion dollars in weapons to Colombia, innocent civilians die and countless lives are changed forever. The "collateral damage" from McVeigh's "war" or any other is the same: Innocent people die.

Of course McVeigh's thinking was horrifically wrong. I am simply saying that we must attempt to understand his mind set, and recognize that WE must choose to stop the cycle of violence! Killing Tim McVeigh only continues the violence. And, killing McVeigh makes him a martyr in the eyes of those who supported him and share his beliefs. We should not be surprised if one or more of his supporters tries to avenge our killing McVeigh. We should ask ourselves: How much killing and how much revenge are we prepared to live through?

I fear for our country. We need social change on the death penalty - just as we needed social change in the 1800's with slavery. We moved from abolishing slavery, to granting women the right to vote, to passing civil rights laws. We finally made these necessary social changes and we must take the next step with the death penalty. Do not allow fundamentalist religious groups to control our social agenda.

To the media, I implore you: Respect everyone who is suffering through this ordeal. Please be fair and accurate in your reporting. And please respect me, the other victim's families, the survivors, and Tim's family.

--Bud Welch  March 8, 2001


 
 


TAKE ACTION!
Write the President!


 


Please write a brief and polite letter directly to President Bush. The address is below. E-mail letters are OK, but you are urged to send your appeal both by e-mail AND by regular postal mail. In your letter,

Letters can be sent to:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

VOICE: 202-456-1414
Comment Line: 202-395-1160
FAX: 202-456-2461

E-mail address: <president@whitehouse.gov>


 
 



Murder Victim's Parents Plea for Killers Life


 






Against the wishes of the parents of Tara Munsey who was murdered in Pulaski County, a jury sentenced her killer Jeffrey Thomas to death March 9. Several jurors cried openly as Kitty Irwin begged them to spare the life of the man convicted of attemping to rape and killing her 16-year old daughter. "Jeff, I want to tell you that I do forgive you and I hope one day you forgive yourself. Because I know you're hurting inside", said Irwin speaking to Thomas from the witness stand. "I don't believe in the death penalty because I believe killing is wrong. We need to treat everyone with respect", she added. Billy Munsey added, "I don't hate you Jeff, I hate what you did."

Thomas asked his attorneys to let the words of Tara's mother and father stand on their own without any evidence from his side. Yet, the jury took 90 minutes before sentencing him to death because of the level of violence used in the killing.

The Judge now has the option of taking the juries recommendation and sentencing Thomas to death or sentencing him to life without parole. A few years ago a Chesterfield County Judge did just that after a Chesterfield jury recommended that Domica Winkler be sentenced to death.

You can write Judge Colin Gibb, Pulaski County Circuit Court, Pulaski, VA. 24301. Ask him to sentence Jeffery Thomas to life without parole, as that what the victims' family have urged.


 
 


Federal Judge Allows Private Investigator for Bramblett


 


On Feb. 1, U.S. District Judge James Turk ruled that attorneys for Earl Bramblett can hire a private investigator to pursue new leads that a different person could have been responsible for the 1994 murders of the Hodges family in Vinton. Judge Turk also granted Bramblett's attorneys until April 9 to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which argues that an incarcerated person has been denied his right to due process.

No physical or forensic evidence link Bramblett to the murders. A jail-house snitch has since recanted and the state's own gun expert has changed his testimony in part. The state had set an execution date for Nov. 14, although Bramblett still had appeals in federal court.

Up and Running . . .
www.truthinaction.net  The official website for Joe Giarratano

And we continue to grow, and grow, and grow...

4,200 of you are receiving this newsletter for the first time.  That is because we received your name from Sr. Helen Prejean as part of the Moratorium 2000 movement. We hope that this newsletter will familiarize you with some of our efforts. Since 1991, we have been educating Virginians to an alternative to the death penalty. Our Advisory Board includes members of the General Assembly, religious leaders, as well as a former attorney general of
Virginia. We hope that you will consider becoming a part of our ever-growing group.

Until now 3500 were receiving this newsletter. We just increased the recipients by more than double. The costs of printing, mailing services, and postage will bring the cost of this newsletter to nearly $3000. We ask for your support so that we can cover these costs and continue making the progress that we have made.

For more information, go to www.vadp.org or contact us at the address listed on the cover.


 
 


UPCOMING EXECUTION


 


New Execution Date:  A Newport News judge has set an April 17 execution date for Walter Mickens who was sentenced to death for the 1992 murder of Timothy Hall. Last month, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an earlier split decision by a 3-judge panel. The panel had ruled that Mickens did not get a fair trial because his trial lawyer represented the victim in an unrelated case at a point before the trial. Mickens' appeals lawyer, Rob Wagner of Richmond also discovered that the judge who appointed Mickens' lawyer had just dismissed the victim's case.

Writing for the majority, Judge H. Emory Widener who dissented in the 2-1 panel decision stated that Micken's appeal failed to show that such conflict of interest adversely affected the quality of his representation.. Lawyers argued in earlier appeals that one of the juror's who was permitted to serve on the jury should have been disqualified because his brother had been murdered.


 
 


UPCOMING EVENTS


 





Thursday March 22: Women on the Row by Kathleen O'Shea, as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Charlottesville, 7:00 pm.

Saturday March 31: "The Next Step", statewide meeting of VADP, Richmond, 10-4. Contact mail@vadp.org for details. Topics to be covered:  Starting a VADP chapter in your locale. Getting moratorium resolutions adopted in your community.   Meeting with your Legislator. What has worked in other communities.

Saturday April 7: Rally at State Capitol in Richmond to protest conditions in Virginia's Supermax prisons. 2 PM. Contact Lennice Werth (804) 645-7838 or Lennice@hifitown.com
Organized by families of Connecticut prisoners housed in Virginia's supermax prisons.

Sunday, April 8: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waynesboro. 11 AM  VADP member (and director of Unitarian Universalists for Alternatives to the Death Penalty) Tim Stanton will present the Sunday service.

Friday June 29 - Monday July 2: 8th Annual Fast & Vigil at U.S. Supreme Court to protest the Death Penalty. Contact Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty at 800-973-6548.

Friday - Saturday October 5 & 6: VADP 10th Anniversary Celebration, Charlottesville.

October 5 - 21: North Carolina  Journey of Hope
 
 
 
 

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