Texas: "Kill the heathen negress!"

A death warrant has been issued for Kimberly McCarthy, a 51-year-old woman, by the State of Texas. Her scheduled execution date is June 26, 2013.

Execution Watch reports:

http://executionwatch.org/

"Kimberly McCarthy is a former crack addict who was sentenced to death for the 1997 slaying of an elderly, Caucasian woman [her neighbor, Dorothy Booth, age 71], during a home robbery near Dallas. McCarthy is the former wife of New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels, with whom she has a son. She is one of 10 women on Texas death row. She is the only woman with a scheduled execution. Three of the nearly 500 people Texas has put to death in the modern era have been women. The week before her scheduled execution of April 3, 2013, McCarthy's attorneys persuaded a judge to delay it until June 26.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell's action formalized an agreement . . . between Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and McCarthy's attorney that McCarthy's punishment should be put off until the fate of death penalty-related bills now in the Texas Legislature are determined. Lawmakers are about halfway through their six-month session.

McCarthy's attorney, Maurie Levin, contends the jury in McCarthy's case was unfairly selected on the basis of race. [Of the 13 jurors selected in McCarthy's case, all were Caucasians except one.]"

A CBS news affiliate reports that DNA evidence linked McCarthy to Booth’s murder and the murders of two other women: Maggie Harding, 81, and Jettie Lucas, 85, who were not Caucasians. She was never tried on those other two cases. McCarthy is scheduled to become the 500th execution in Texas since the year 1976. DPIC reports that 1,089 of the 1,332 executions since 1976 were done in the South, where there is a church on nearly every corner: the Bible Belt.

McCarthy killed a trusting, elderly neighbor who she reportedly asked for a cup of sugar to gain entrance to her victim's home. While McCarthy was addicted to drugs, she preyed on helpless people. The same can be said of Kermit Gosnell, the abortionist who murdered newborn babies as they lay crying on his table after late-term abortions. Both McCarthy and Gosnell were black medical professionals who killed repeatedly. McCarthy was an occupational therapist, and Gosnell was a doctor. Gosnell did not face the death penalty, because he was a very wealthy man in Pennsylvania. She was a working class black woman in the South, whose ex-husband was connected to a radical political organization. Capital punishment sentences depend on who the defendant is in terms of his or her economic status, the region of the country the defendant lives in, the defendant's race, and the victims' race. Gosnell killed black babies, but McCarthy killed a white woman.

When health care professionals in Louisiana killed their patients during Katrina, none of them were even imprisoned. Many police officers have been filmed killing unarmed citizens, and they suffered no prosecution whatsoever. The same district attorneys who give persuasive arguments for the death penalty regarding some defendants generally withhold prosecution when police officers do violence, perhaps to help the city avoid liability for wrongful deaths the officers caused. It appears that some killers are excused from prosecution if such prosecution would expose the city to wrongful death litigation. Sincere outrage over murders would compel the same response to every murder, but that is not what happens. There exists great disparity in application of the law.

Who shares the blame that McCarthy was addicted to crack cocaine and became a desperate junkie looking for her next fix? There is reason to believe the CIA introduced crack, a highly addictive drug, into America, possibly to derail African Americans. Wikipedia reports, "The involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in cocaine trafficking in Central America during the Reagan Administration    as part of the Contra war in Nicaragua has been the subject of several official and journalistic investigations since the mid-1980s."  See "CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the U.S."

An even more compelling reason to spare McCarthy and end capital punishment, especially in Bible Belt states like Texas, is that God forbids executions throughout the New Testament. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person" (Matthew 5:38). Capital punishment is incongruous with Christianity, yet most executions occur in the Bible Belt and are sanctioned by so-called Christians.

People who disregard commandments from Jesus might want to destroy a drug addicted murderer, but it is impossible now to kill that person. No murderer lives in McCarthy's cell. Kimberly McCarthy has been imprisoned for 15 years. She is drug-free and devoted to God. Texas has no opportunity at this point to "kill the heathen negress." Texas can only kill a vulnerable, repentant woman who prays for mercy, and reveal itself to be a heartless, vengeful heathen that is only interested in making its 500th execution in the modern DP race.

Nearly 2,000 people have signed the following petition to spare Kimberly McCarthy:

The family, friends and supporters of Kimberly McCarthy are petitioning Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in an effort to save Kimberly from being put to death by the State of Texas. Kimberly suffered from a severe addiction to crack cocaine in the 1990's, and her life went into a downward spiral into the underworld of drugs. Her association with the wrong people coupled with her out of control drug use became a lethal combination that led to tragedy. Prior to her drug use, Kimberly had no criminal record and was in the field of helping and healing the sick as an occupational therapist. When she was introduced to drugs, her life took a dark and destructive turn that led to tragedy - a tragedy that she lives with daily for which she is deeply remorseful. Over the years, Kimberly's faith in God has strengthened. Her spirit and personality touch each and every person she encounters. We are asking that Kimberly's sentence be commuted. We ask that the State of Texas show mercy! Killing Kimberly will not bring the victim back. It will only create more suffering and heartache and another victim. She could be such a positive influence to others. God can use her to touch the lives of other women headed down the road to destruction.  http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-kimberly-mccarthy

Texas Moratorium Network carries information about bills the Texas House of Representatives is considering that could have impact on McCarthy's sentence:

Next Tuesday, April 16, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence will hear testimony on HB 2458 that would prohibit seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of a person’s race.

Next Tuesday, the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will also hear testimony on HB 189 by Rep. Dutton that would affect what is allowable testimony in death penalty cases.

(b) Testimony of an informant or of an alleged accomplice of the defendant is not admissible if the testimony is given in exchange for a grant or promise by the attorney representing the state or by another of immunity from prosecution, reduction of sentence, or any other form of leniency or special treatment. Article 38.14 does not apply to accomplice testimony described by this subsection.

(c) A statement against interest made by the defendant to a person who at the time of the alleged statement was in custody with or imprisoned or confined with the defendant is admissible only if the statement is corroborated by an electronic recording.

The justice system is more concerned about money than it is about justice. Therefore, effective anti-DP advocates should launch lawsuits after each execution if some cause for legal action can be found. Whether or not advocates win, the lawsuits will demand public attention to the state-sponsored murder long past the condemned person's death, and such litigation will increase the cost of conducting executions, which is already considerably more than life in prison without parole. If McCarthy is executed, sue the CIA for distributing drugs in African American communities in the first place. Sue on behalf of McCarthy, who was changed from a well adjusted, working mother into a crack addict, and sue on behalf of her victim, who would not have been murdered if not for McCarthy's crack cocaine habit.

More information is at the Texas Moratorium Network 

http://www.texasmoratorium.org/archives/2343

If McCarthy is executed, she will be the first woman subjected to capital punishment in America since 2010. Death Penalty Information Center reports that 51 women have been executed in the United States since the year 1900. For more information, access "Women and the Death Penalty"
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/women-and-death-penalty

More information about racial issues regarding McCarthy's sentence is in this article by DPIC: 

UPCOMING EXECUTION: Lawyers Request Reprieve Because of Racial Bias in Dallas County

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/upcoming-execution-lawyers-request-reprieve-because-racial-bias-dallas-county

Mary Neal

Davis-MacPhail Truth Committee

http://DMTruth.blogspot.com

Dixie Lynchings Continue: Willie Manning

DP - The Unholy Race

(initially published Oct. 16, 2011)
  

As Mississippi prepares for the legalized lynching of Willie Manning on May 7, 2013, a man who was DENIED a DNA test to prove his innocence, I decided to re-publish my article that explains why the justice system does not care if it kills innocent people - in fact, it may be preferable. See the Atlantic.com report: "A Ghost of Mississippi: The Willie Manning Capital Case." On the eve of his execution, state officials say there should be no DNA or fingerprint testing for a condemned black man who maintains his innocence (link below). Please sign the "SAVE WILLIE MANNING" petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/public-help-save-willie-fly-manning

Entertainment through Capital Punishment

RULES of the GAME in TEN POINTS

1. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT has long been a favorite sport. You may be surprised to know that Texas was not among the top five in the DP race until after 1976. States may get double points for executing innocents or mentally challenged people, but the scores I found give all executions equal weight. The numbers quoted here are from July 2011, when Virginia led the nation with 1,386 executions. Before 1976, Texas' score was just 755, but killing another 475 since then brought Texas to 1,230. The Long Horn State can take the lead with another 50 or so people unless Virginia steps up her pace. Below are scores by state between 1608 and 1976 (lynchings are not included) for the top five states.
Virginia - 1277
New York - 1,130
Pennsylvania - 1040
Georgia - 950
North Carolina - 784

2. South Carolina was not in the top five, but no one can doubt its commitment to execution. That state holds the record for executing the youngest person, 14-year-old George Stinney. Of course, George was black. He was only 5'1" tall and weighed just 95 pounds. His guilt is highly doubtful. Some people advocate resumption of juvenile executions. See a picture of George Stinney and learn more about his death at this link: Juvenile Justice - Kids 4 Cash http://marylovesjustice.blogspot.com/2011/03/juvenile-justice-kids-4-cash.html - The law is tough on minority children. A 12-year-old Florida boy, Christian Fernandez, was charged with first degree murder. I wrote about him in "Human Trafficking by Government - Kids4Cash" at this link: http://marylovesjustice.blogspot.com/2011/10/human-trafficking-by-government.html - I don't think the D.A. can ask for the death penalty in his case since juvenile executions were outlawed, thankfully!

3. Execution (especially of potentially innocent people, the mentally challenged, and minors) is not something they want us discussing online, although it happens. Capital punishment is like a burp, which polite people ignore. Hackers are paid to destroy my computers to prevent my advocacy against criminalizing mental illness and capital punishment. Online activism for human rights may be seriously curtailed if/when one of the Internet censorship bills that are continually introduced finally passes.

4. Potentially innocent people may be worth double points in the DP race. Troy Davis was executed on September 21, 2011, and serious doubt remains about his guilt. He declared his innocence in his last moments and asked people who care about justice to "continue fighting this fight" to clear his name. Of course, efforts to clear Troy Davis postpartum and also end DP would spoil the game and reduce prison profits. Prisons are paid significantly more for warehousing condemned inmates than they get for inmates in maximum security prisons or those in the general prison population. Therefore, the petition I launched asking for a new investigation of Officer MacPhail's murder in November 2011 was cyberstalked.

5. Please pray for Thomas Arthur, an Alabama condemned man. His 2009 DNA test eliminated him for all items tested. More items could be tested at his attorneys' expense, but Alabama refuses. See his DNA test results http://www.thomasarthurfightforlife.com/images/Arthur_DNA_Test_Results_07-20090001.pdf - Thomas Arthur's execution scheduled for March 29, 2012 was stayed. Google "Mary Neal Thomas Arthur" for my articles about him. I have followed his case for years despite much cyberstalking to prevent my reports.

6. Pray for Hank Skinner, also. He was scheduled for execution AGAIN on November 9, 2011, but he was granted a stay of execution. Texas resisted testing evidence for his DNA for years. [Finally, a test was allowed AFTER Texas claims it lost the bloodsoaked jacket that Hank wanted tested.] If Hank is killed without irrefutable proof of his guilt, he might be worth double points, too. You can see his support page at Twitter @Justice4Hank at http://twitter.com/justice4hank . Google my article, "Hank Skinner, Human Sacrifice for the 1%."

7. Mentally Ill inmates may be worth double points in the DP race. Please pray for Jeff Wood. Jeff Wood is a mentally challenged young man on Texas death row under the law of parties. That means the State knows Wood never killed anyone, but he was induced to go to the store one day with a man who murdered the store manager while Wood obediently sat inside a truck like the retarded youth had been instructed to do by his devious friend. Wood reportedly did not even know that a robbery/murder was happening. Excerpt from my article about Wood at NowPublic.com states, "The actual shooter in this case, Daniel Reneau, was already executed by the State of Texas." Renault's brother commented at the article, saying that his brother should have cleared Wood before his own execution. Wood's family commented also. Continue reading about Wood at NowPublic.com: Scheduled for Texas Execution: Jeff Wood, a Mentally Challenged Young Man | NowPublic News Coverage http://www.nowpublic.com/world/scheduled-texas-execution-jeff-wood-mentally-challenged-young-man#ixzz1qXyDyaCf

8. Please pray for Andre Thomas. No sane person would eat his eyes, but this insane man did. Andre Thomas ate one eye while awaiting trial for killing his estranged wife and children. He cut their hearts out and took the hearts home in his pocket to keep them close to him (his words). Andre ate his second eye in 2009. Should acute mental patients be executed for their crimes? Members of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) do not think so, and neither does the Supreme Court. But Texas, where Andre awaits the death needle, disagrees. Andre remains on death row. See this legal blog http://www.shermancriminallawyer.com/2010/09/andre-thomas-sane-enough-to-di.html "Andre Thomas - Sane Enough to Die? - Part 1." 

9. SEE HOW YOUR STATE RANKS IN THE DP RACE at Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The pre-1976 DP scorecard for each state at this link: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions-united-states-1608-1976-state - I wonder if people take bets on whether condemned persons will receive a stay of execution. Of course, it is too late for Troy Davis, but what is your wager on four condemned inmates listed in this article: Thomas Arthur (AL), Hank Skinner, Jeff Wood, and Andre Thomas (TX)?

10. In a world with seven billion people, some decision makers think life is cheap. Ignoring potential innocence and mental illness of condemned persons is indicative of that problem. This is especially true in Bible Belt states, where lynching was a favorite sport in the 1930s and 40s. In the 21st century, human and civil rights are regularly being challenged at state and federal levels. For example, concentration camps are to be erected (some say they are already erected) under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was enacted in December 2011. NDAA allows indefinite military detention without naming a crime and without any trial. Torture in the camps has not been overruled. Extrajudicial assassinations happen to Americans, also. Concentration camps and extrajudicial assassinations are probably a natural progression for a nation where inmates are killed without irrefutable proof of guilt.

In the "post-racist" era of 21st century America

• Larry Neal, a mentally and physically disabled man was secretly arrested for 18 days (kidnapped) and killed in Memphis Shelby County Jail, and his family is denied any records or explanation. (Tennessee)
• Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old man, was shot as he sat locked in the back of an Arkansas police car where his hands were double handcuffed behind his back after having been searched twice, and his death was ruled a suicide. This is the official ruling although Carter was left-handed and was shot in his right temple. His hands were not tested for gunpowder residue (and neither were the police officers'), and the police car's camera happened to malfunction for a few minutes (officially 60 seconds) exactly at the time Carter was overcome with Houdini powers and managed to escape the handcuffs, retrieve a gun, and kill himself. (Arkansas)
• Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a retired veteran, was murdered by police when his Life Alert went off and called for emergency responders. Chamberlain telling police it was a false alarm and police calling him "nigger" and demanding entrance were clearly heard and recorded by his Life Alert operators. Chamberlain was beaten, Tasered, and shot - on tape. All of this was ruled "justifiable" police conduct. (New York)

  
Those were all black men. Now we have another legal lynching about to happen: Willie Manning's. See the Atlantic.com report: 
"A Ghost of Mississippi: The Willie Manning Capital Case."
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/a-ghost-of-mississippi-the-willie-manning-capital-case/275442/

Mississippi has a governor who seems to be a pleasant, forward-looking man. He is making Mississippi beautiful again. Gov. Bryant recently announced $69 million in early restoration projects for the Mississippi Gulf Coast following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The projects are part of early restoration activities identified as “Phase III” of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). He wants Mississippi residents and tourists to feel safe, and he also wants Mississippi to be a place known for its fairness to everyone, without regard to race. Please consider using the following information to contact Gov. Bryant on behalf of Willie Manning. 

601.359.3150 (phone) - 601.359.3741 (fax) - P.O. Box 139, Jackson, MS 39205

As a previous Lt. Governor, Gov. Bryant likely has a great sense justice. It is only fair that everybody facing execution should have the right to DNA tests, especially since over 306 people were already exonerated by DNA testing, including 18 who were on death row. That usually means the inmates had been through trials and appeals, and still the courts were wrong. About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are people of color, like Willie Manning and 37 percent of Mississippi's population.

In March 2013, the U.S. Justice Department announced an agreement with a Mississippi school district to address multiple violations of juvenile due process rights, a signature effort by the Civil Rights Division to address disparate treatment of minorities by local courts (a school-to-prison pipeline case). 
http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/03/22/deal-reached-in-mississippi-school-to-prison-pipeline-case/

Learn more about Mississippi's prison system at Wikipedia: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_Penitentiary

Sign the "SAVE WILLIE MANNING" petition: 
http://www.change.org/petitions/public-help-save-willie-fly-manning

Gov. Bryant is the 64th and current Governor of Mississippi, having defeated the Democratic Party candidate, Johnny DuPree, in the 2011 general election. His website is 
http://www.governorbryant.com/

Willie Manning

Mississippi is a beautiful state. It has lovely beaches, lush vegetation, and many friendly, Christian people. Hopefully, the state can overcome its racist history and continue its progress under Gov. Bryant. At a time when other states are ending capital punishment, surely Mississippi will not execute a black man without proving guilt by DNA tests the inmate fervently requests. Such a tragedy, especially after the school-to-prison pipeline debacle, would make it appear that Mississippi has resisted efforts to overcome its past. Please ask Gov. Bryant and the U.S. Supreme Court to spare Manning and allow his DNA to be tested against the evidence. The U.S. Supreme Court is on Twitter at @iSupremCourt, and Gov. Bryant is at 
@PhilBryantMS . Call and tweet the governor and justices, please. Time is short, and this is a matter of urgency. May God bless Willie Manning and all inmates who pray for the opportunity to prove their innocence.

Statistical information for this article was provided by: 

Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
The Innocence Project
http://www.innocenceproject.org/know/

End Dixie Lynchings.

Free Darrell Lomax - Innocent on San Quentin's Death Row

My name is Darrell Lomax and I have been wrongly incarcerated on death row at San Quentin State prison for over 18 years. I was convicted even though:
~I passed a gunshot residue test
~I have an alibi
~the eye witness said it wasn't me
~the fingerprints on the gun weren't mine
and it was found in someone else's car
~the footprint wasn't mine
~My witnesses were never called
~and I couldn't afford a lawyer so I had to share a public defender with the man who made a deal to testify against me.
~When the situation with the public defender was discovered he was replaced by a former DA who made no effort to find the witnesses for my defense.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1171245

DEATH TO THE DEATH PENALTY!
~ It targets the poor
~ It is racist
~ It kills the innocent
~ It does not deter crime
~ It is barbaric
~ It is expensive (up to an additional $90,000 per year per condemned inmate)
  

FREE DARRELL LOMAX

http://www.freedarrell.com/

Inmate Number K27402

San Quinton State Prison

San Quinton, CA 94974

www.jpay.com

He's not guilty, so is it because he's black? It is shameful that America's justice system is so prejudice. "California Prisons Are Punishing Inmates With Race-Based Lockdowns"
http://www.propublica.org/article/are-california-prisons-punishing-inmates-based-on-race#ixzz2RpqqG7Yb

Release the innocent, and treat the guilty with human respect while they are in custody, and please remember, "God HATES hands that shed innocent blood" (Pv.6:17). 

MaryLovesJustice

Uganda Death Penalty Challenged

CHALLENGING THE DEATH PENALTY IN UGANDA -BY MPAGI EDWARD EDMARY
CHRISTIAN PRISON MINISTRY, UGANDA
www.prisonministry.net/cpmug

I, MPAGI EDWARD EDMARY Of Christian prison ministry-Uganda- Kampala, do make oath and state that:

1. I am an adult male Ugandan of sound mind.

2. I am a former condemned prisoner on death row, having been sentenced to death; and I swear this Affidavit in support of your Petitioners Petition to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty in Uganda.

3. The circumstances of my case were as follows:-

a) On or about the 5th day June 1981, I together with my cousin brother Mr. Fred Masembe (RIP) was arrested.
b) At that time, we were residents of Butenge Sub-county , Masaka District.
c) My parents, as well as the parents of my co-accused were also arrested, although they were later on released.
d) We were innocent of this crime.fgg
e) We were charged and our trial was in Masaka High Court. We were represented by a State Appointed lawyer.
f) We only met our lawyer 2 (two) times before the hearing.
g) At that time I had some rudimentary working knowledge of the English language, but I still needed a translator. My brother did not know any English at all.
h) We had a full trial and the state called several witnesses.
i) After several days, the Judge and the Assessors informed us that the state had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and was fully satisfied that we had committed the offences.
j) We were convicted on 29th April 1982 and sentenced to death.
k) Soon after the conviction, we were transported to the Luzira condemned section.
l) We appealed to the then Court of Appeal, which was the Highest Court in Uganda at that time. On 18th October 1983 the Court of Appeal upheld our conviction as well as the inevitable mandatory death sentence.
m) We applied for the prerogative of mercy.
n) On 28th August 1985, my brother died in the condemned section. He died of asthma, stomach pains, depreciation, physical and mental anguish. He had been denied medical attention by the prisons authorities, who stated that since he was a condemned prisoner who was due to be executed anyway, they could not waste time or money prison staff were not concerned about the welfare of the inmates.
o) On 12th July 2000, I was set free under Presidential pardon.

p) I had spent 18 (eighteen) years on death row for crime I did not commit.

4. When I was sentenced to death by the High Court and the Court of Appeal, the following happened to me:-
a) I was numb and paralyzed with shock and horror.
b) I fainted and had to be physically carried out of the Court.
c) I fell ill and had to be hospitalized in the prison hospital for some time.
d) My brother and I could not believe that a legal system could convict innocent people. While on remand, we had been told that innocent people could get convicted but we did not believe it until it happened to us.
e) My brother was even more affected by the conviction and he became weaker and weaker.
f) From the time of my conviction, I developed numerous diseases and illnesses like high blood pressure, poor eyesight and numerous other diseases.

5. The conditions of the condemned section of the prison where death row prisoners are incarcerated amount to cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment. During the time I spent on death row, the following were the conditions on the death row.
a) Since my conviction by the High Court in 1982, I was incarcerated in the condemned section in Upper Prison, Luzira.
b) At that time, we prisoners in the condemned section were incarcerated in the gallows itself (Section E).
c) The death row prisoners who were incarcerated with me at that time included my late brother Fred Masembe, the late Kassim, (Cosma) Obura and others.
d) We were also incarcerated with prisoners who were in Luzira by virtue of Detention Orders. These included the late Hon. Balaki Kirya, the late Mr. Agetta and the late Dr. Ssali.
e) We were incarcerated in Section E because the rest of the condemned section was populated with prisoners who had been dubbed rebels and prisoners of war.
f) We had no toilet facilities and we had to rely on buckets/chamber-pots. Each room had 1 (one) pot.
g) At that time (1982), we were not allowed out of our cells all day say for a few minutes to empty our chamber pots/buckets.
h) On independence Day 1982, the then President released 1200 (one thousand two hundred) prisoners from Luzira, including most of the said rebels and prisoners of war. We were transferred from the gallows to the condemned section proper.
i) Each sub-section of the condemned section had section leaders who were entrusted with solving problems/complaints.
j) From the time I was convicted and sentenced to death until I left Luzira prison, I was the a bible teacher of the condemned prisoners.
k) Each cell had 4-5 (four-to-five) prisoners, in cells meant for 1 (one) prisoner.
l) The quality of food was atrocious, and quantity of the food was very little. The food provided was posho and beans, which were provided once a day. Moreover, the food was not brought at the same time. For example, we could get posho at 8.00 am, the bean soup at 12.00 noon and the beans at 2.00 pm. We are expected to ration this food for the whole day. In many cases, a change of diet meant going without food.
m) At night, when we were locked up in our cells, we had difficulty in reconciling our feeding to our use of the chamber-pots to ease ourselves. It was degrading for someone to be eating while a cellmate was using the chamber pot.
n) Although there was flowing water, we needed a doctor’s prescription to get hot water or salt.
o) We were given 1 (one) set of uniform, either white or yellow. At the time I was incarcerated, the prisons department did not have adequate funds to provide the inmates with uniforms,when you wash it ,you had nothing to put on.
p) From the time, was incarcerated in 1982, we used to have 2 (two) blankets to sleep on. We had no beds, no mattresses and no bed sheets. It was only in 1996 that we acquired mattresses
q) We used to sleep naked since we were not allowed to own any clothes other than the prison uniform. It was not until 1996 that we were allowed to own underpants. There were no beds in Luzira condemned prison.
r) From the time I was imprisoned until Mr. Joseph Etima became the Commissioner of Prisons in 1991, all the prisoners in the condemned section were allowed only 48 (forty eight) minutes out of their cells. This period was mainly to enable us to empty our chamber pots. It was divided into 2 (two), with 24 (twenty four) minutes per cell being in the morning and the rest in the evening.
s) After 1991, the exercise and other time was increased. We were then woken up at 7.00am, allowed a few hours of exercise and locked up in our cells by 4.00pm. This continues up to this day in Luzira.
t) The lights in the cells were not switched off at night, making it impossible for us to sleep and affects eye sight.
u) Some prison wardens/guards took delight in taunting, tormenting and teasing us, constantly reminding us of our impending fate and telling us gruesome tales of executions that had gone wrong. Some of the guards did not treat us as human beings.
v) At all times, we were kept under surveillance by the guards, and we were subject to impromptu spot checks. These spot checks were made by the Search Party Squad. This is the most notorious squad in the prisons, comprised of sadistic prison warders. They are normally drawn from the Prison Training School . They mentally torture the death row inmates. When they are undertaking a search of a cell, there are normally 20 (twenty) of them who stand outside the cell, body search the inmates, send them out of the cell and then go and completely ransack the cell. They normally used to mix urine (from the chamber pots) with our water, pour urine on the floor, mix our sugar with salt, deliberately and maliciously destroy our documents, tear up our clothes and break our property like flasks. After a search by this square, it would normally take about 3 (three) months for us to recover.
w) During most of the 1980’s we were only allowed visitors once a month, on Wednesdays. The visitors would have to first register with the Prisons Headquarters before being allowed to see us.
x) Before 1997, we were only allowed visitors on Wednesday. After 1997, we were allowed visitors both on Mondays and Wednesdays. The visiting hours were from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm, for a period of not more than 30 (thirty) minutes. visits reminded us of what we were missing in the outside world.
y) The vast majority of the death row prisoners did not receive any visitors or at all. This was because most prisoners were peasants brought to the Luzira condemned section from up-country and their relatives were unable to afford the fares to come and visit them in prison.
z) We were not allowed to have physical contact with our visitors and communication with visitors on death row is through a screen of bars and a wire sieve.

aa) The body searchers that our families had to endure before being allowed to see us also added to our misery. Ladies who came to visit us were particularly degraded. They were searched by female prison officers without any privacy. The prison officers would insert their gloved fingers into the ladies private parts in full view of other female visitors. Afterwards, the said prison officer would insert the same unwashed and un-cleaned glove into the private parts of another lady visitor. This actively discouraged our female visitors from visiting us. This was cruel, inhuman and degrading to both our lady visitors and us.
bb) We were segregated and did not have contact with other prisoners in Luzira.
cc) There was inadequate medical care and little ventilation. We were constantly denied medicines, under the guise of poverty of the prison administration as well as the impression that since we prisoners on death row meant to be executed anyway, there was no need for adequate medication. As a result thereof, priority in medication was given to prisoners who were not on death row, leading to incidents of use of unsterlised needles on death row inmates that facilitated the spread of AIDS and other diseases.
dd) The hygiene of the death row inmates was so poor and we were constantly surrounded by lice, scurvy, flies and other vermin, leading to periodic outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and tuberculosis. The epidemics affected the lives of the death row prisoners as follows.

1. In 1983 – 1984, there was an acute lack of vitamins in the prison, leading to the death of 6 (six) prisoners including the late Wambua and the late Emmanuel Ethomu.

2. In October 1991, there was a dysentery epidemic in the condemned section, leading to the death of about 66 (sixty six) death row prisoners. All of these were prisoners who had eaten the prisons food.

3. In 1995, there was a red-eye epidemic, which led to many prisoners including myself getting poor eye sight.

4. Over 180 (one hundred eighty) death row prisoners died before the executions during the period when I was on death row.
ee) The nearness and whiteness of the walls in the condemned section of Luzira caused many death row inmates to develop eye-sight defects.
ff) The gallows themselves are situated within the condemned section of Luzira prison, and the daily reality of seeing the steps that lead up to the gallows caused us fears and nightmares.

6. I know that the conditions I have described above are the same/similar to the current conditions of the condemned section in Luzira.

7. I was an inmate of the condemned section of Luzira prison from 1982 to 2000 and hence I was present when the 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996 and 1999 executions were respectively carried out.

8. I was present in 1989 when 3 (three) death row prisoners were executed, which prisoners included the late Thomas Waiganda and the late Hussein Mugagga.

9. I was present in 1991 when 9 (nine) prisoners were executed, which prisoners included my cellmate the late Ben Kitanywa, the late John William Etasono, the late Milton Ongom, the late “Muzungu” Mugisha, the late Ronald Omono, the late Nicholas Okello respectively. The late Augustine Musana was also scheduled to be executed, but he had died earlier of other causes.

10. I was present in 1993 when 9 (nine) prisoners were executed, who were the late Silas Sajjabi, the late Joseph Kizza, the late Mr. Sentamu, the late Kelly Omuge, the late Ka****t Ssebugwawo, the late Babalanda, the late Ikulu***, the late Robert Kasolo and the late Musisi respectively.

11. I was present in 1996 when 3 (three) death row prisoners were executed, which prisoners were the late Dominic Oboth, the late Salim Mulumba and the late Sula Ndamagye respectively.

12. I was present in 1999 when 28 (twenty eight) prisoners were executed. These included the late Hamisi Katalikawe, the late Sylvesto Tugugu, the late James Kiyingi, he late John Fisher Igga, the late Charles Lwanga Kimbugwe, the late Elizafari Kasakya, the late John Bageya, the late Steven Sunday, the late Mr. Lubega, the late Galasiano Kintu, the late William Bataringaya, the late Madard Tindarwesire, the late Cisto Obona, the late Celestino Olango, the late Odong-Piny, the late Benson Komakech, the late William Kagarikakya, the late Joseph Andama, the late Vincent Owino, the late Yefesa Kamali and the late Leo Nyandwoha respectively. The late John Zimbe and the late Matayo Barigyenda were also scheduled to be executed, but they had died earlier of other causes.

13. At each and every one of those executions by hanging, the following events happened.
a) There was never any notice of execution. Each time we were taken by complete surprise. All we noticed were incidents like changing of the prison warders, the restriction of our movements, the making of lists of the prisoners who were resident in every room, the unexpected roll calls, the repair of the execution machine and the orders to us to enter our cells, the repair of the execution machine and the orders to us to enter our cells. We lived in a complete fear of any unusual activity, and the slightest deviation from our normal routine increased our disquiet, sense of foreboding, restlessness and unease.
b) Without warning, the prison wardens would suddenly call for lock up before the usual time. After we had been locked up in our cells, the wardens would come and call out names at random. At this time we would all be very scared and we would be praying that our names are omitted. When the warders came and stop outside a cell door, the prisoner in the particular cell usually ended up panicking and soiling themselves. This was an extremely disturbing and nervous period for the prisoners. When the warders finally finished their selections, the rest of us normally sighed with relief, knowing that we would live to die another day.
c) Those who were selected for death and called out of their cells are dragged out of their cells while weeping, screening, wailing, kicking and screaming. They were hand cuffed and leg irons were put on their legs. At that time we saw them for the last time, and we knew that they were being led to their executions. These sights increased our mental anguish, agony, grief, heartache and distress.
d) The selected prisoners were then lead upstairs to the death chambers. We could hear them crying, wailing and singing hymns. A funeral atmosphere engulfed in the entire condemned section. Their upcoming execution serves to remind us of our impending fate.
e) The execution process took up to 3 (three) days and during these days we were confined to our cells. We would only be allowed out of our cells when all the prisoners due to be executed had actually been executed and certified dead.
f) During this period of forced confinement, we were stationery. We were forced to live, sleep and eat in the same confined conditions, with human excrement overflowing, and there was no appetite for food, sleep or conversation. There was normally a dead silence and each of us was obliged to think about our possible up-coming executions. This was cruel, inhuman and degrading, and some prisoners who were not due to be executed attempted to commit suicide.
g) The coffins for the prisoners to be executed were made in the prison carpentry section directly behind Section-A. During the 3 (three) days before the actual executions, each and every one of the prisoners in Section-A could hear the making of the coffins. This caused depression, anxiety, mental anguish and stress to many of us.
h) The black hoods and overall-like clothes to be worn by the prisoners to be executed were made by non-condemned prisoners in the tailoring section. This enable those prisoners to know that an execution was scheduled and, depending on the number of hoods and overall-like clothes required, know how many condemned prisoners were due to be executed. This led to a lot of nervous tension, strain and worry and trauma amongst the prisoners who were not on death row.

i) Those elected for execution were taken to the gallows, which were above our cells in Section E of the condemned section of Luzira prison. They kept calling out to us and singing hymns to inform us of their fate. Many of them went to the gallows pleading their innocence. Others admitted their crimes, and made peace with their enemies and the Lord. Other insists that while they committed the offences, their co-accused were innocent and wrongly convicted.
j) This process continued for the next 3 (three) days, and we could hear everything taking place in the death chambers above.
k) Throughout this period, we could hear the warders reading out to the selected prisoners the crimes they were convicted of and the amount of time they have left to their execution. This slow countdown was repeated every hour for the full 3 (three) days. It increased our sense of fear, apprehension, dread and fright. We can only imagine what it did to the inmates who were going to be executed.
l) During those 3 (three) days, the prisoners scheduled to be executed normally wrote notes/chits/letters to us fellow condemned prisoners who are not scheduled to be executed that day. These notes/chits/letters normally served as their last Wills and Testaments. The prisoners were normally pitifully poor and all they had to will are items like flasks, soap, bedroom slippers, cups and their threadbare clothes. These were usually willed to their death row colleagues. They also asked us to send messages to their families and loved ones. These notes/chits/letters were given to the prison warders who passed them on to us.
m) when the three-day waiting period was completed, those in the death chambers were led to the dressing room and then to the gallows one by one. This was usually late in the evening or at night. The others due to be executed used to recount the proceedings through songs and hymns. We who were not due to be executed would listen to these songs and decipher the message contained therein. They would tell us what was happening in clear, descriptive language. We would thus get to know who has been taken to be executed and what was being done to him at every moment. They would tell us the names of who were being led to the dressing room. They would then hear the selected ones crying and wailing, and we would get to hear every step they would take, shackled, chained and dressed and led to the gallows. We would then hear the selected one dragging his chains on the floor as he headed towards the gallows themselves. We would then be told that 3 (three) prisoners are to be executed at a time.
n) When the selected ones reached the gallows, we would be told of the further developments and how they were mounted on the gallows. The entire condemned section would then fall silent. After a few moments, we would hear a loud sound like a sudden explosion, as the trap doors of the gallows spring open and the prisoners dropped to their death. We then hear the corpses fall with a loud bang on the death table.
o) The executions were normally in the dead of the night and all the prisoners in the condemned section, especially prisoners in Section D (which is directly below the gallows in Section E), and prisoners in Section A (across from Section E) respectively could vividly hear the cries and pleadings of the prisoners being executed, the sounds of the hammer being applied to prisoners who had not died and the fall of the human corpses of the executed prisoners.
p) Soon thereafter, we would hear the activities of the guards loading the corpses into the coffins and followed by the hammering of nails into the coffins. All this often occurs in the dead of the night.
q) This cycle would be repeated until the last person was executed.
r) Since all death row inmates are known to each other, we all knew the prisoners executed, and we can still remember the last words of our executed colleagues.
s) The acute psychological torture of not knowing when it will be our turns to be executed made some of us lose our sanity and increased our angst, apprehension, disquietude and distress.
t) The trauma of the executions themselves and their dehumanizing effect on the surviving condemned prisoners made living in the condemned section of Luzira prison after each execution a living hell.
u) The treatment and slaughter of human beings like cows in an abattoir is completely dehumanizing, and amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
v) After the executions, there was usually blood on the walls and in some parts of the compound and the condemned section.
w) After the executions, many prison warders got mentally disturbed and a large number of them ended up resigning, being transferred from the condemned section or even dying. Instances are the following:

1) After the 1996 executions, Sergeant Warder Reuben Afidra went mad and died.
2) After the 1999 executions, Paul Olinga, the prison electrician who ensured that the electricity in Section E, the gallows, was working, died.
3) After the 1999 executions, the prison warder who nailed the coffins after the executions died.
4) After the 1999 executions, Sergeant Omunyokol, the prison warder who told the inmates the counterdown to their deaths, died and
5) After the 1999 executions, Principal Officer-in-charge of the condemned Section Tom Olwa, who was directly responsible for picking up the prisoners from their cells before their executions, died.
x) Sometimes, the prison warders told us that some prisoners were killed by hammers and other instruments after they failed to die by hanging on the first attempt.
y) There was a constant fear that we lived with after every execution, not knowing each morning whether this would be the day we would be executed.

14. My personal experiences regarding some the executions were as follows:-
a) Just before the 1989 executions, 1 (one) person was pardoned and 3 (three) others were called out . I was also called out of the cells with the recently pardoned Abdullah Nasur. At that time we thought that our end had come and we were terrified, alarmed and frightened. I soiled myself, it turned out that we were required by the prison authorities on other matters. The other 3 (three) prisoners were, however, executed. During that execution, everybody in the condemned section got dysentery.
b) Just before the 1991 executions, some death row prisoners (including Elias Wanyama and Kasana) had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The very next day, as we were having a thanksgiving service for them at 2.00 pm, we were ordered to go to our cells and locked up. There were so many new prison warders. The warders came to my cell, and I panicked and was horrified. They called out my cellmate Ben Kitanywa and that was his end. He was dragged kicking and screaming and it took over 10 (ten) warders to subdue him and take him away from the cell. Even then I could hear his cries and his attempts to fight the warders who were leading him to his death,he was my best friend on deathrow and we used to have a brotherly relationship, He was executed.

15. While in the condemned section of Luzira prison, inmates develop a bond/brotherhood where they start trusting one another and reveal their innermost thoughts, information and secrets. Some of them honestly confess that they are guilty of the offences they are charged with. Others maintain their innocence.
Some condemned prisoners who were executed clearly insisted that they were innocent of the crimes they were executed for. These included the following:-
a) The late Steven Sunday and the late Lubega (RIP). These were executed in 1999. Lubega was a fish-cleaner at Lake Albert , while Sunday was hunter-gatherer. Lubega met up with Sunday at the latter’s home and offered to take him to Lake Albert to make a better living. Sunday agreed. As they walked from Sunday’s home to Lake Albert (being too poor to afford taxi/bus fare), they passed a village where some one had been murdered. Being strangers, they were arrested and charged with the crime. They did not even know what the village was called and had never seen the deceased. They were eventually convicted and executed in 1999.
b) The late Medard Tindarwesire and the late William Kagirikakya. These were brothers from Kabale District. Due to scarcity of land and poverty, Tindarwesire migrated to Bunyoro and Kagirikikya remained behind on the family land. One day Kagirikikya had a quarrel with a neighbour and after a fight, killed the neighbour. Then he fled the scene of crime. Two days later, Tindarwesire arrived from Bunyoro to visit his brother. On finding his brother’s house un-locked, he went in and made himself at home. Soon thereafter, he was arrested by Local Government officials who asked him where his brother was. Not knowing where his brother was, and not even knowing what the problem was, Tindarwesire did not say a word. He was arrested. A couple of weeks later his brother was also arrested. They were jointly charged with murder. At the trial, Kagirikikya told the court that his brother was innocent, but the court chose to disbelieve him thinking that he just wanted to exonerate his brother. They were convicted and their convictions were upheld by all subsequent courts. They were executed in 1999.
c) The late Sowedi Kanyunyuzi, the late Bashir Kanyunyuzi and the late Hamisi Katalikawe. These were brothers. Sowedi Kanyunyuzi was arrested and charged with murder. His brothers were arrested when they came to visit him in prison. They were all convicted of murder and their convictions were upheld by the subsequent courts. Sowedi Kanyunyuzi informed us that although he was guilty of the crime, his brothers were innocent. They were all executed in 1999.
d) The late Yefesa Kamali. Someone was severally beaten up by robbers and on fleeing for his life, died at Kamali’s home. He was arrested, charged with murder and convicted. His convictions were upheld by the subsequent courts. He insisted that he was innocent. He was executed in 1999.

16. The late Elizafari Kasakya and the later John Bageya. They also proclaimed their innocence but they were executed in 1999.

17. Some of the condemned prisoners who are still on death row confided in me that they are innocent of the crimes they were convicted of. They are the following:-
a) Joseph Kyeyune. He is a victim of his uncles wishing to take over his (Kyeyune’s) father’s land.
b) Isaiah Bikumu. His was a case of self defence and he ought to have been convicted of manslaughter. He was misadvised by his state brief lawyer and ended up being convicted of murder.
c) Silas Kisembo. This is a prisoner who is totally illiterate. His was a case that should have been manslaughter, but he was wrongly advised by his state brief lawyer and ended being convicted of murder.

18. From the time I was sentenced to death the following events happened to my family.
a) Since I was the sole breadwinner at home. My family was left to fend for themselves and eventually suffered from poor feeding and poor health.
b) My family suffered from psychological torture, stress, rejection, depression, hate, loneliness, withdrawal and anger towards the state and society at large, as they knew that I had been unjustly convicted.
c) My brother died on death row for a crime he did not commit and this still traumatizes myself and our family.
d) My wife died in 1988.
e) 5 (five) of my 9 (nine) children died. My surviving children were not educated because I was in prison and their futures look bleak.
f) Even when I was released from prison, my surviving children and I cannot relate to each other.
g) The stigma on having been on death row has not left me and my family and I believe it will stay with us for the rest of our natural lives.
h) Up to today, there are still some people who shudder at mere*** mention of my name, saying that since I was a former death row prisoner, I must have been guilty.

19. I was innocent and the trauma of spending 18 (eighteen) years of my life on death row continues to haunt me to this day. I mourn for my late brother who died as a result of this wrongful conviction.

20. I am still traumatized up to to-day by the fact that during the time I was incarcerated, there were 5 (five) executions and I could very easily have been one of the victims of any one of those executions.

21. Upon release from prison, I with a group of former death row inmates formed Christian prison ministry-Uganda, aiming at reaching the prisoners with the gospel, helping prisoners and ex-prisoners with spiritual and material support, starting up self help projects for the ex-prisoners, helping the prisoners families with the basic necessities of life ,like education to their children , medical care, shelter food and clothings,sensitizing people about the dangers of death penalty and need for abolition.

22. Since I was released from death row, I with a group of former death-row inmates become seriously involved in the struggle to eliminate the death penalty. In particular, we have formed CHRISTIAN PRISON MNISTRY-Uganda ,to help the prisoners,exprisoners and their families, live a meaningful life.

23. I have also undertaken a 2 (two) year course IN MINISTRY/Bible at the Kiyinda Mityana and I am currently ministering in different churches ,telling fellow brothers and sisters what God did for me while on death row.

24. Since I was released from death row, I have not been arrested or charged with any crime or misdemeanor, and I know of no other former death row prisoner who has since been convicted with any crime or misdemeanor.

25. I know from interaction with fellow death row prisoners that some of them are innocent of the crimes they were convicted of.

26. I know from interaction with prisoners on death row that any of the said prisoners who were guilty of the offences they were convicted of are now fully repentant and rehabilitated and they are no longer dangerous to society.

27. I spent 18 (eighteen) years on death row and I know that it is better for a condemned prisoner to spend long periods of time in jail than to be sentenced to death.

28. I know that the death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and that it should be abolished in Uganda and be replaced by a more humane, corrective and reformatory punishment.

29. What is stated above is true to the best of my knowledge.

30. Though I went through all this ,the person the state claimed I killed was still living ,while I was suffering in the prison.

WHEREFORE I swear this Affidavit in support of the Petition to declare the death penalty unconditional in Uganda.

I am now working on building a school to benefit the kids of death row inmates in Uganda.

MPAGI EDWARD
CHRISTIAN PRISON MINISTRY-UGANDA
NSAMBYA GgOGOONYA.
P.O BOX 26391 KAMPALA - UGANDA
FAX -256-41345597
TEL-256-703909062
www.prisonministry.net/cpmug

i have sent you the whole story -affidavit was made by me to challenge the death penalty in Uganda. Please take your time to go through it.

WY Death Row: Dale Wayne Eaton

Judge: No mental evaluation needed of Wyoming death row inmate

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A federal judge on Friday denied a request from the state of Wyoming to allow its mental-health expert to examine the state's lone death row inmate.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne ruled that lawyers for the state can review a report from a psychiatrist retained by inmate Dale Wayne Eaton's own legal team once it's finished in coming months. While Johnson said he wouldn't let the state's expert examine Eaton, he said it's possible he could review that decision later.

Eaton, 59, is challenging the constitutionality of the death sentence he received for the 1988 rape and murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell, 18, of Billings, Mont. [Read full article at
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/judge-no-mental-evaluation-needed-of-wyoming-death-row-inmate/article_2086e056-93dc-11e2-8ae6-0019bb2963f4.html ]

"Keep fighting this fight": Troy Davis

Mary Neal, director

Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

http://DMTruth.blogspot.com

Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee Congratulates Maryland

Today is the 18-month anniversary of the execution of Troy Davis. The Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee honors Troy Davis's final request to "continue to fight this fight" to clear his name and end the death penalty. Congratulations, Maryland, for repealing capital punishment! The Washington Post reports:

"The 82 to 56 vote in the House of Delegates, which followed two hours of debate, reflected a growing unease among lawmakers in Maryland and across the country that the risk of putting an innocent person to death remains too great with the death penalty in place."

Hundreds of condemned men were exonerated after wrongful convictions by post-conviction evidence and DNA test results, thanks to work by organizations like the Innocence Project and Amnesty International. However, it was probably the wrongful execution of potentially innocent men like Troy Anthony Davis that had the greatest impact. Troy Davis was killed by the State of Georgia on September 21, 2011, with his guilt unproved. See a video about the Troy Davis execution at YouTube link http://youtu.be/T59p1n-tS3w See the video embedded below.

Maryland joins 17 states in terminating capital punishment. Bills have been introduced in other states to also free taxpayers of the expense and moral sin of potentially shedding innocent blood.

Mary Neal, director, Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee
http://DMTruth.blogspot.com

Warren Hill's Reprieve

Warren Hill got a stay of execution during the last hour before his planned execution in the State of Georgia. Hopefully, Georgia will not wait until Hills' supporters leave the prison and State Capitol to execute the sick man. Pray with me that "The Storm Is Over Now" http://youtu.be/awtPSl6zFNU - See a Kirk Franklin video.

Thank you, God and human rights advocates! Investigate to discover where Warren Hill got his weapon and why the retarded homicidal inmate had a cellmate in the first place. Commute Hill's sentence to life in a HOSPITAL. Four(4) links are in this short article. The original reports are below the video of praise.

Original reports:

Georgia Murders the Mentally Ill: Warren Hill 
http://dmtruth.blogspot.com/2013/02/georgia-murders-mentally-ill-warren.html

Georgia Kills Mentally Ill Inmates: Warren Hill
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/02/georgia-kills-mentally-ill-inmates.html

Atlanta Journal Constitution report regarding Hill's reprieve http://bit.ly/13bRhJR

Thank you very much, courts. Thank you, President Carter and Mrs. Carter. Bless abolitionists everywhere! We must continue to "fight this fight" (Troy Davis).

Blessings from Mary Neal, Director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (Google us!)

Georgia Murders the Mentally Ill: Warren Hill Story

Warren Hill's Execution Would Be Unconstitutional

Warren Hill got a stay of execution regarding his February 19, 2013 execution date. On April 23, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the federal court has lifted his stay of execution. 

Georgia prepares to execute Warren Hill. Hill is an offender with intellectual disabilities. His execution would show complete disregard for justice, state law, and the Supreme Court. Moreover, killing Hill would offend God. 

WESLEY SNIPES is currently incarcerated and serving a three-year sentence on allegations that he failed to file a tax return timely. If Snipes were made a cellmate for an untreated, mentally ill killer who beat Wesley to death while he slept, using a thick board of wood with nails driven through it, wouldn't Wesley's lawyers sue the state for GROSS NEGLIGENCE? If that sick killer was then EXECUTED, shouldn't the executed man's family sue for GROSS NEGLIGENCE and CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT? WHY wasn't the mentally challenged man sent to a mental hospital before or after his first murder instead of prison? Why wasn't his mental illness being treated behind bars? Why was security so slack at the prison that he had access to a weapon? Why was a mentally ill inmate who had already committed a murder given a cellmate? Those questions apply to the murder for which Warren Lee Hill faces execution on  July 23, 2012 February 19, 2013.

Brandon Rhode, pictured above, was another mentally challenged man who Georgia killed in 2010. Brandon was killed with drugs purchased from the back of an English bicycle shop, because he died while execution drugs were deliberately withheld from America. Brandon was the son of an alcoholic drug abuser who was born brain damaged. He killed someone as a teen. A decade later, Georgia killed this helpless, sick man in a torturous execution.

Thousands of people express outrage about Hill's execution because it is illegal to execute the mentally ill according to state and federal law.  Hill's cellmate's death clearly resulted from the prison's negligence. Inmates should not be locked in cells with armed homicidal mental patients to be killed in their sleep, and the state should not ignore its own culpability in such murders and execute sick men. A similar incident occurred in Georgia a couple of years ago when a mentally ill inmate in DeKalb County Jail also killed his cellmate. A former jail guard at Memphis Shelby County Jail reported a shocking jail death to the radio audience of a Rev. Pinkney Blogtalk Show. Apparently, jail guards released two acute mental patients from isolation to watch them have a "dog fight" to the finish. Jailers have a duty to provide a secure environment for incarcerated persons, but the responsibility is not always taken seriously. 

Millions of Americans are concerned about prisoners' human rights and object to capital punishment, but officials do not care as much about citizens' protests as they should. It would be more effective to examine death penalty cases to identify a reason to sue the state following execution. For instance, Hank Skinner begged for a DNA test for years to prove he is innocent, but his requests were denied. Finally, Texas approved Skinner's DNA test, but the bloodstained jacket that Skinner counted on to exonerate him was suddenly reported "missing" from the state's evidence storage. If Skinner is executed, Texas should be sued for negligence regarding the lost jacket. 

Every execution, especially when victims are mentally ill, should be followed by a lawsuit if any valid fault against the state can be established. 

Consider that almost no mentally ill people who are receiving proper psychiatric care do violent crimes, but states usually withhold treatment until a mentally challenged person PROVES (often through violence) that he is a danger to self and others. That standard has led to numerous avoidable murders and suicides. In such cases, the affected families may be able to sue for damages. Please help the families of Warren Hill and his victim to hold the prison and State of Georgia responsible for the inmate's death that should not have happened in a controlled environment. LAWSUITS FOLLOWING WARREN LEE HILL'S WRONGFUL EXECUTION MAY DETER FUTURE STATE KILLINGS OF THE MENTALLY ILL.

Gov. Deal's Chief of Staff, Chris Riley, and his executive assistant, Carrie Ashbee, are at (404) 656-1776.

Court Denies Hill's Bid to Halt Execution - AJC Apr. 23, 2013 http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/court-denies-hills-bid-to-halt-execution/nXTcS/

For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death ~Psalm 102:19-20


Mary Neal, Director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi
Director of DOG JUSTICE FOR MENTALLY ILL http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogstpot.com


Paragraphs 1 - 3 repeated: Warren Hill got a stay of execution regarding his February 19, 2013 execution date. On April 23, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the federal court has lifted his stay of execution.

Georgia prepares to execute Warren Hill on Tuesday, February 19, 2013. Hill is an offender with intellectual disabilities. His execution would show complete disregard for justice, state law, and the Supreme Court. Moreover, killing Hill would offend God. (1,013 words 6,253 characters in this article) 

WESLEY SNIPES is currently incarcerated and serving a three-year sentence on allegations that he failed to file a tax return timely. If Snipes were made a cellmate for an untreated, mentally ill killer who beat Wesley to death while he slept, using a thick board of wood with nails driven through it, wouldn't Wesley's lawyers sue the state for GROSS NEGLIGENCE? If that sick killer was then EXECUTED, shouldn't the executed man's family sue for GROSS NEGLIGENCE and CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT? WHY wasn't the mentally challenged man sent to a mental hospital before or after his first murder instead of prison? Why wasn't his mental illness being treated behind bars? Why was security so slack at the prison that he had access to a weapon? Why was a mentally ill inmate who had already committed a murder given a cellmate? Those questions apply to the murder for which Warren Lee Hill faces execution on  July 23, 2012  February 19, 2013. 

Lynne Stewart's Death Sentence

When a 70-year-old defendant is overly sentenced (10 years for delivering a letter) and reportedly denied cancer treatment while incarcerated, that could be a back door death penalty. This seems to be the plan for Lynne Stewart, a human rights advocate and former activist attorney. Stewart was imprisoned for distributing press releases on behalf of her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a/k/a "the blind sheik of Egypt." She also defended numerous members of the Black Panther Party and other oppressed people, often receiving little or no pay.

Visit her website at http://LynneStewart.org to get updates on her justice quest. She wrote to supporters over the 2012 Holidays, saying, "I have some personal challenges–the newly discovered lymphatic cancer that I believe will now subject me to Chemotherapy. However, I have a strong sense of never allowing any such problem deter me from someday getting released and walking out under my own power to rejoin our struggle."

Write to Lynne
Lynne Stewart #53504-054
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
PO Box 27137
Ft. Worth, TX 76127

Sign Lynne's Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/091127ls/petition.html

Contact Information
For more information e-mail us at 1lawyerleft@gmail.com

Ralph Poynter, Lynne's husband of nearly 50 years, addressed the National Lawyer's Guild convention in October 2012, in Pasadena, California. As his speaking time was running out, before the end of the speech, Poynter called upon the delegates to stand as a commitment to support Lynne’s struggle for justice and freedom, at which time the Guild members provided a thundering standing ovation. The text of his speech is below.

Brothers and Sisters, Comrades, Supporters and Friends, I hope you’re not saying Lynne Stewart is just old news. Those of you who know her personally and remember her at these conventions know she will always be a vital force among us. Those of you who were still in high school when she was arrested back in 2002 owe it to yourselves to find out about her, her career, and her case, which is still crucial to all that the Guild stands for.

Let me just say that I am Lynne’s husband and a lot prejudiced in her favor. I have lived with her, fought with her and beside her, and loved her for almost 50 years. I want her to be out of Prison where she has languished for the last three years. Did I say languish? – Lynne can’t languish – she is always the activist, always political, always compassionate. They can’t jail her spirit. But WE need her out here with us on the front lines!

The federal government locked her up because they wanted to control her defense of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and she believed that ethically and morally she had obligations to her client; and that her adversary should not, could not, dictate or curtail what strategy a lawyer must adopt. Maybe you would not have been audacious in the same way Lynne was, in issuing a press release, but she was representing a man who had been subjected to a vicious solitary confinement for many years, was ill, and appeared to be fading. It was “mandatory” to do this to save him. Now that Mubarak has been toppled and the new President has been calling for the repatriation to Egypt of that client, Sheik Omar; Lynne was right, and the lie has been put to the government’s strident and false claims that her actions somehow contributed to terrorism. And we are still fighting her case – now in a petition for Certiorari to the US Supreme Court due in December.

The last thing I want to speak on at this convention of lawyers are the legal arguments that are available in Lynne’s petition and the chances that any of them might have before the Supremes.

Many of you are familiar with the trial and have followed her appeal, and then her re-sentencing, and that appeal. I do want to say that Lynne’s case should be important to all criminal defense lawyers and particularly to Guild lawyers because what the Government has done to her can happen again. And it can particularly happen to Guild lawyers who regularly take on the cases of people whom the Government despises and who they believe cannot be permitted to win. In essence, using regulations promulgated by the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons, Lynne’s adversaries attempted to thwart her campaign to keep her client alive in Egypt and the world. Her press release, not secret, to Reuters, mirrored the many that her co-counsel Ramsey Clark had issued in the face of the same regulations. But they came after her. She is nothing more, or less, than a smart woman with great politics from a working class background. But her amazing loyalty and relationships with her clients were a threat.

Lynne’s case is important for all of you to support because someday you may be confronted in your professional life with a choice between conforming to conduct that pleases the “system”, “authority,” and doing that which you know to be right and just. Lynne chose her client and her obligation to him, and if you want to increase the safety zone for lawyers centered as she was, you will support her. To be reminded of just who Lynne is, she asked me to read a portion of a speech she gave to the Guild in Minneapolis at the convention there in 2007. It is her credo:

“I believe we have formidable enemies not unlike those in the tales of ancient days. There is a consummate evil that unleashes its dogs of war on the helpless. Our enemy is motivated only by insatiable greed with no thought of other consequences. In this enemy there is no love of the land or the creatures who live there, no compassion for the people. No thought of future generations. This enemy will destroy the air we breathe and the water we drink as long as the the dollars keep filling up their money boxes.

We have been charged here, once again, with, and for our quests, … to shake the very foundations of the continents. We go out to stop police brutality; to rescue the imprisoned; to change the rules for those who never have been able to get to the starting line, much less run the race, because of color, physical condition, gender, mental impairment.

“We go forth to preserve the air and land and water and sky and all the beasts that crawl and fly. We go forth to safeguard the right to speak and write; to join; to learn; to rest safe at home, to be secure, fed, healthy, sheltered, loved and loving, to be at peace with one’s identity.

“Our quests are formidable. We have in Washington poisonous government that spreads its venom to the body politic in all corners of the globe. We have wars – big war in Afghanistan, smaller wars in Palestine, Central Africa, Columbia, Kashmir …. Now we have those Democratic and Republican candidates and then an election, with the corporate media ready to hype the results and drown out the righteous protests.”

I now need to raise to you the plight of political prisoners in the US, (not just because Lynne is one) – numbering more and more Muslims, Earth Firsters, veterans of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s defense of minority communities, resisters, peace activists… brave men and women, held in the harshest conditions, some for more than 40 years. This is more than a worthy focus for Guild lawyers, whose opposition to illicit power should be consistent and militant. Check these folks out at Jericho and Project Salam websites. And join their struggles. Many have no legal representation or contact. Even if you correspond, or visit, or join a defense team, or take on one of their cases, your reward will be great – the satisfaction of doing the right thing with people who remain the best among us.

In closing I want to urge you to defend and champion Lynne Stewart, one of our own! Defend and champion all political prisoners! Set her free! Set ‘em all free!

Please donate.
Click here for information on contributing to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, as well as contributing to Lynne's commissary.

The Jericho Movement lists Lynne Stewart as a political prisoner. http://www.thejerichomovement.com/prisoners.html 

Help America's political prisoners, and insist that all inmates are treated humanely. They deserve nutritious food,  health care, visits and phone calls from attorneys and loved ones, and an environment that is free of torture (including solitary confinement) and the threat of death. ~Hebrew 13:3

Repeat of Paragraphs 1 and 2, because I am censored:   When a 70-year-old defendant is overly sentenced (10 years for delivering a letter) and reportedly denied cancer treatment while incarcerated, that could be a back door death penalty. This seems to be the plan for Lynne Stewart, a human rights advocate and former activist attorney. Stewart was imprisoned for distributing press releases on behalf of her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a/k/a "the blind sheik of Egypt." She also defended numerous members of the Black Panther Party and other oppressed people, often receiving little or no pay.

Visit her website at http://LynneStewart.org to get updates on her justice quest. She wrote to supporters over the 2012 Holidays, saying, "I have some personal challenges–the newly discovered lymphatic cancer that I believe will now subject me to Chemotherapy. However, I have a strong sense of never allowing any such problem deter me from someday getting released and walking out under my own power to rejoin our struggle."

Mary Neal, director of Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com

Death Sentences Reduced; Abolition Plans

There is good news regarding the death penalty:
 
Death penalty sentences have reduced by 75% since their peak in 1996  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/04/demise-capital-punishment-us
 
An Alabama state senator plans to go after the death penalty
http://www.myfoxal.com/story/20506291/ala-lawmaker-seeks-to-end-death-penalty
 
Kentucky lawmakers will consider this year whether to abolish the death penalty in the commonwealth 
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130103/NEWS0103/301030129/Lawmakers-hope-bury-death-penalty

Let us make 2013 the year when capital punishment ends in the United States of America.
 

Mary Neal, anti-DP advocate. "End DP in Bible Belt States" MaryLovesJustice Show Tape 1 at this TalkShoe link http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=621240&cmd=apop After the first 45 minutes, there is a 2minute pause inserted by cyberstalkers, then the tape continues for another hour.