Video: Bud Welch's Lecture at ND
In this clip, Mr. Welch says that the feelings of revenge tied to the death penalty are opposed to the healing process for the family members of murder victims.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Video: Bud Welch's Lecture at ND
In this brief clip, Mr. Welch explains the background of his visit with Bill McVeigh (Timothy McVeigh's father).
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Conversion to Moratorium: The Chicago Tribune and the Illinois Death Penalty
Bruce Dold, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Editorial Page Editor of the Chicago Tribune, comes to ND this week as the third speaker in ND ASK's fall lecture series. Mr. Dold will adress the Tribune's role in the Illinois moratorium process and speak about his personal conversion and the editorial page's conversion on the death penalty, at 7:30 pm on Monday, Nov. 5 in the Hammes Student Lounge in Coleman-Morse.
Please click below for more about Mr. Dold.
Mr. Dold joined the Tribune in 1978 as a reporter. He covered the 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns and the mayoral campaigns of Harold Washington and Richard M. Daley. He was appointed to the Tribune’s editorial board in 1990 and became deputy editor of the board in 1995. That same year, he began writing a weekly column that appeared on the Commentary page of the Tribune. He was named editorial page editor of the 155-year-old newspaper in July, 2000.
Mr. Dold received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1994 for a series on the death of a three-year-old boy and the failure of the juvenile court and child welfare system to save the child. His writing contributed to sweeping reforms in the protection and care of abused children in Illinois.
He received the 1999 Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for Commentary, the 1999 Herman Kogan Award for Commentary from the Chicago Bar Association, and the 1988 Peter Lisagor Award for public service from the Chicago Headline Club. He served as a Pulitzer Prize juror in 1997 and 1998. His work has been honored by numerous civic organizations.
Under his direction, the Tribune editorial page has received more than dozen major awards, including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for editorials demanding reform of the death penalty system.
He has often appeared on national television and radio programs, including Nightline, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and Hardball with Chris Mathews.
Mr. Dold received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1977 and a Master of Science in Journalism in 1978 from Northwestern University and has served as an instructor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
In his own words
Bud Welch describes his experience following the death of his daughter:
“I was opposed to the death penalty all my life until my daughter Julie Marie was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. For many months after the bombing I could have killed Timothy McVeigh myself. Temporary insanity is real, and I have lived it. You can’t think of enough adjectives to describe the rage, revenge, and hate I felt. But after time, I was able to examine my conscience, and I realized that if McVeigh is put to death, it won’t help me in the healing process. People talk about executions bringing closure. But how can there be closure when my little girl is never coming back. I finally realized that the death penalty is all about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate are why Julie Marie and 167 others are dead.”
Mr. Welch will be speaking at Notre Dame this week, on Nov. 7 at 8 pm in the CSC Classroom; on Nov. 8 at 12 noon in the Law School and on Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm in the Hesburgh Center.
"Vengeance Solves No Problems"
Bud Welch lost his 23-year old daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. In the months after her death, he changed from supporting the death penalty to taking a public stand against it, inspired in part by his daughter's stance against the death penalty prior to her own murder.
Mr. Welch will be speaking at Notre Dame this week, on Nov. 7 at 8 pm in the CSC Classroom, on Nov. 8 at 12 noon in the Law School and on Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm in the Hesburgh Center. Click below for more.
Mr. Welch has testified before the U.S. Congress, many State Senate and House Judiciary Committees, made numerous radio and TV appearances, and met frequently with the father of Timothy McVeigh. He has addressed the British Parliament and the European Parliament as part of the Amnesty International Journey of Hope in Paris, London and Brussels.
His work as a speaker and advocate has been widely recognized. In 1997 Mr. Welch was awarded the "Champion of Justice Award" by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He was given the "Abolitionist of the Year Award" in 1998 by the Okalahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the "Felton Humanitarian Award" from Death Penalty Focus of California, the "Spirit of Compassion Award" of the Prison Action Committee in Buffalo, New York and the ACLU Oklahoma Foundation "Anti-Death Penalty/Prison Project Award." In 1999 Mr. Welch received the "Abolitionist of the Year Award" from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. And in 2002, he was named "Abolitionist of the Year" by Coloradans Against the Death Penalty.
Friday, October 26, 2007
National Update: Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Nevada and Virginia stay executions
The past week has once again included numerous stayed and postponed executions across the nation. Georgia and Texas each stayed two, while Alabama, Nevada and Virginia each halted one execution--for a variety of reasons, the most frequent being the pending challenge to lethal injection.
Expand this post below to see a listing of the dates of each stay, with links to news articles relating the full stories.
10/24 - The scheduled execution of Daniel Siebert in Alabama was stayed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Execution of Ill Alabama Inmate Blocked (source: The Associated Press)
10/23 - Georgia stays two executions in four days: Top Court in Georgia Again Delays Execution (source: The New York Times)
10/18 - Two executions in Texas postponed: Two Executions Halted Over Challenges (source: The Associated Press)
10/18 - Virginia halts execution, raising more questions about national state of the death penalty: Supreme Court Halts Va. Inmate's Execution (source: The Washington Post)
10/17 - Nevada becomes the fifth state to stay an execution since Sept. 25: Court Stays Execution in Nevada (source: The New York Times)
Sorry for our blackout
Dear ND ASK readers,
Our apologies for the technical difficulties and lack of posts you may have noticed if you've been visiting the site lately. We've cleared up some problems, and will continue to cover state and national death penalty news--there's plenty of it right now--as well as ND ASK events.
There are three more excellent speakers in our fall lectures series, so we hope to see you at an event soon!
Thank you for your continued support,
Andrea & the ND ASK team
Monday, October 8, 2007
Bush clashes with Texas on the execution of a Mexican National
According to the Associated Press, President George W. Bush has tried to halt the execution of a Mexican national on death row in Texas, Jose Ernesto Medellin (pictured to the left), whose case is to be heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Read more in The Guardian which reports, "It puts Mr Bush in the unusual position of arguing against the death penalty and against the very same Texans who helped put him in the White House. Even more unusually, it puts Mr Bush on the same side of the dispute as the International Court of Justice in The Hague."
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Lethal Injection: Recent developments
A number of developments have occurred in the last week, following the Sept. 26 decision of the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to lethal injection sometime this winter. Below, starting with the most recent, is a review of the big decisions and stays-of-execution:
Oct. 4: Oklahoma’s attorney general asked the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals not to set any execution dates until the United States Supreme Court ruled on a challenge to the lethal injection method.
Oct. 2: The Texas Court of Appeals stayed the execution of Heliberto Chi, pending the decision by the US Supreme Court on lethal injection. Some legal experts in Texas view the decision by Texas' highest appeals court and the issues it raised as an indefinite halting of all executions in the state, though Texas officials claim they plan to proceed. See the New York Times for more.
Sept. 28: The US Supreme Court granted a rare stay of execution to a Texas inmate, Carlton Turner, Jr., who had appealed to the Court due to the pending lethal injection hearing. According to the New York Times, "The decision suggests that until it issues a ruling on lethal injection, the court may be receptive to requests to delay such executions, at least for defendants whose cases raise no procedural issues."
Sept. 28: Another rare stay of an execution by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who said the state would not execute inmate Tommy Arthur, while it came up with a new formula for lethal injection. State officials said they wanted to make sure prisoners were completely unconscious before they were killed--an issue that has been problematic in recent months and has temporarily halted executions in several states, including Florida.
Judicial Update: Supreme Court to hear lethal injection challenge
On Sept. 26, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by two Kentucky death row inmates, who claim that lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is therefore unconstitutional under the 8th amendment.
Current challenges to lethal injection have effectively stopped executions in a growing number of states, including California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
37 of the 38 death penalty states all use lethal injection (except Nebraska, which still uses the electric chair).
According to the New York Times, "Lethal injection was adopted in the 1980s as a more palatable alternative to electrocution, but it has proven increasingly troublesome. Leading medical organizations have told their members not to participate, and lawyers for death-row inmates have produced evidence showing that in the absence of expert medical attention, there is a substantial risk of error in administering the combination of anesthesia and paralyzing drugs necessary to bring about a quick and painless death."
The Times also reports, "The Supreme Court case will be argued in January or February and decided by early next summer. While it is pending, judges around the country are certain to be asked to bar executions in those states that are not already under an official or de facto moratorium."
Read the Sept. 26 piece, "Justices to Enter the Debate Over Lethal Injection," for more and continue to check this site for updates.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
ND ASK Organizing Strategy Session: Tuesday, 10/9
On Tuesday, October 9, Ms. Eunice Timoney-Ravenna will conduct an evening strategy session for student activists and organizers seeking to unite the campus and community on their respective social issues.
Ms. Timoney-Ravenna is the Midwest Field Organizer for Equal Justice USA "a grassroots project of the Quixote Center that mobilizes and educates ordinary citizens around issues of crime and punishment in the U.S."
Equal Justice USA kicked off the Moratorium Now! campaign in August 1997, shortly after the American Bar Association passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on all U.S. executions. The campaign seeks to build momentum for a national moratorium by mobilizing local groups to adopt their own resolutions and to recruit others in their area to join the call.
Through the Moratorium Now! campaign, over 4,000 groups, faith communities, and local governments endorse a moratorium on executions.
Further details on the October 9 strategy session will be posted soon.
Juan Melendez to speak at ND on Wednesday, 10/3
Juan Melendez, an innocent man who spent 18 years on death row in Florida, will speak this Wednesday, October 3 at 5 pm in DeBartolo 102. His lecture is open to the public; his trip to ND is sponsored by the Hispanic Law Student Association and the American Constitution Society of the ND Law School.
Juan Melendez became the 24th person exonerated and released from Florida's death row when he was freed on January 3, 2002 after spending almost 18 years facing execution for a crime he did not commit. The photo above was taken upon his release from prison.
Melendez was convicted in 1984 at the age of 33 with no physical evidence linking him to the crime and testimony from questionable witnesses. In fact, prosecutors concealed evidence from the court in order to protect the guilty man, a police informant. Melendez's conviction fell apart when the police informant's confession came to light in 1999 - a confession that prosecutors knew about before they took Melendez to trial.
Upon his release, the state of Florida gave Melendez what they give to every inmate that leaves prison - $100.
Contact us for more information on Melendez and his lecture, at notredameask@gmail.com.
"A Capital Question" - ND ASK featured in Scholastic
"A Capital Question," a September 27 piece by Michael O'Connor in ND's Student Magazine, Scholastic, covered the objectives and progress of ND ASK.
"A Capital Question"
ND ASK's anti-death penalty campaign stresses education and advocacy,
by Michael O'Connor:
Last week, Richard Dieter, one of the nation's leading authorities on the death penalty, visited Notre Dame to discuss a national topic that he says "could become a signature issue for this university." Dieter (ND '68), the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, was the first speaker in a series of lectures this fall sponsored by Notre Dame Against State Killing (ND ASK). Aside from Notre Dame, Dieter has shared his expertise with a myriad of media outlets from the New York Times to the BBC.
ND ASK, a campaign initiated in the fall of 2006 and currently sponsored by Campus Ministry, strives to educate and and actively work toward the end of death penalty executions. Although new to the Notre Dame scene, the campaign is up and running. "Over the year we've gained many members and developed four functioning committees: prison ministry, victims' families outreach, advocacy and lobbying, and conference organization," says senior political science and peace studies major, Andrea Laidman, current director and co-founder of ND ASK. The campaign mobilizes largely on the Internet, boasting a listserv of about 200 members and blog readership of up to 300 hits a day last semester on the campaign's Web site, ndask.org.
ND ASK distinguishes itself from other student groups in its singular mission. "It is a campaign focused on one issue with a specific objective of educating the campus and working toward a moratorium on executions," Laidman says. A death penalty moratorium is a suspension of executions enacted by a state governor or legislature for a designated period of time (approximately 2-5 years) during which a commission is created to examine the death penalty cases and issues in their specific state. "One of the things we believe at ND ASK is that if you look at the facts of the issue, they only lean to one side, that being a moratorium," Laidman says.
In order to bolster the educational goals of their mission, Laidman and the students of ND ASK organized a lecture series including Dieter and national anti-death penalty spokesman Bud Welch, the father of a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing. Welch primarily discusses reconciliation and restorative justice in death penalty cases.
Dieter was impressed with the campaign. "[Anti-death penalty focus groups] are rare at the university level. They are much more common at the state level," he says. Although turnout was not overwhelming for Dieter's talk, he believes there is great potential in ND ASK. "This is a small group, but there's a lot more that could be done for this Notre Dame community. This campaign has a unique fit here and could become part of a great tradition," Dieter says.
Dieter's attendence marks the start of a building year for ND ASK. "We're hoping to engage students who approach the issue from a variety of perspectives by bringing to campus experts on the death penalty from so many disciplines," Laidman says.
Dieter says, "Everyone who participates in this discussion contributes to the national consensus of standards of decency. Voices of people can change the law."
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Op-ed piece: The State of State Killing
An op-ed piece I wrote, published in The Observer on September 17, focuses on death penalty trends in Texas and nationally. Read it below, or see The Observer website.
The State of State Killing
About every six days in Texas, a man is killed by lethal injection. This is the pace set by the current calendar of executions, where a total of 10 men were scheduled to die in August and September. Two men have recently had their death sentences thrown out - taming the frequency of executions slightly - in rare instances for Texas: A commutation by Governor Rick Perry and a stayed execution by a Dallas county judge.
Thirty-nine executions have occurred so far in 2007 across the U.S. Twenty-four of those have been in Texas. No other state has executed more than three inmates this year.
The death by lethal injection of Johnny Conner on Aug. 22 marked the state's 400th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty there in 1982. That's an average of 16 executions per year over a quarter of a century.
Sixteen deaths per year is a shocking statistic, but it fails to capture the reality of the death penalty in Texas. Calculating the average number of executions doesn't reveal that 315 of the 400 executions in Texas have occurred in the past 13 years under the tenure of only two governors.
From 1994 to 2000, 152 inmates were killed under then-Gov. George W. Bush. From 2000 to today, 164 have been executed with Gov. Perry in charge.
These two governors have achieved the highest numbers in American history for a state in killing its own citizens. And to what end? The murder rate in Texas remains more than double that of any state without the death penalty in the nation.
While executions continue to climb in Texas, they're declining nationally, returning to levels of the early 1990s when the American public found the death penalty far less appealing than it has in the last decade. Overall support for the death penalty is down, and a 2006 Gallup poll reported that for the first time, more Americans expressed support for life without parole as a sentencing option than for the death penalty.
A more recent poll by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in Washington, D.C., found that 58 percent of Americans want a moratorium on executions. A poll commissioned by the American Bar Association in Indiana reported that 61 percent of Hoosiers agree.
In an interview with Newsweek, Richard Dieter, executive director of the DPIC, said Americans are not expressing total opposition or moral objection to the death penalty, but rather concerns about how the state's ultimate punishment is used and implemented. The big issues are protecting the innocent, unfairness and disbelief in the death penalty as a deterrent.
According to Dieter, who comes to campus this week to deliver the opening lecture of a five-part series on the death penalty, "[T]here's common agreement about who's on death row: People who can't afford their own lawyers, and a high percentage of minorities. The end result is dissatisfaction."
Dissatisfaction, skepticism, and waning support for the idea that minor reforms can bring fairness.
Even Perry expressed concerns about fairness, with his commutation of Kenneth Foster on Aug. 30. Foster was sentenced to death even though he did not pull the trigger in the 1996 murder he was convicted of, under a Texas law that makes an accomplice to murder subject to the death penalty.
Foster was driving with a group of friends late into the night on Aug. 15, 1996. They were heavily under the influence of drugs and were committing armed robberies. One confrontation between Foster's friend, who had exited the car, and a man on the street ended in murder. Foster was sentenced to death in the case, though he sat eighty feet away in the car when his friend's gun went off.
The approach of the scheduled execution of Foster for Aug. 30 (the date of his commutation) received international attention and petitions for his execution to be called off.
The idea of executing the man who didn't pull the trigger was just too much, even for Perry.
"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement. "I am concerned about Texas law that allows capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously, and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."
As a nation, America is losing confidence in the death penalty. That's the verdict of polls, interviews, nationwide trends, events like Foster's commutation and the stance of experts like Mr. Dieter, who believe that a moratorium on executions is the solution Americans want.
Andrea Laidman is a senior political science and peace studies major, and the Director of Notre Dame Against State Killing (ND ASK), a campaign for a moratorium in Indiana.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Executing Reason: Expert Perspectives on the Death Penalty and an Indiana Moratorium
ND ASK is proud to announce its second annual fall lecture series, Executing Reason: Expert Perspectives on the Death Penalty and an Indiana Moratorium.
The series gathers some of the nation's foremost capital punishment scholars and activists:
September 20-
Mr. Richard Dieter, Esq., Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
October 9-
Ms. Eunice Timoney-Ravenna, Midwest Field Organizer, Equal Justice USA.
November 5-
Mr. Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor, Chicago Tribune.
November 19-
Dr. Michael Radelet, Sociology Dept Chair and Professor, University of Colorado.
Date TBD-
Mr. Bud Welch, National leader in reconciliation/restorative justice whose daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Watch for more details as the opening lecture approaches.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Show your Support -- Buy an ND ASK T-Shirt
You've already bought "the shirt" for this season, and if you're a freshman, you've got a Frosh-O t-shirt...Why not add to your ND collection--and show your support for a moratorium in Indiana--by purchasing an ND ASK t-shirt?
Click on the design above for a closer look. The t-shirts are black, with the ND ASK logo across the front and a quote on the back, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. -M. Gandhi".
The price is $10--just send an e-mail to notredameask@gmail.com with the size (S-XL) and quantity and we can deliver your order to your dorm room or mail it to your home if you're off-campus or not a local supporter, and arrange payment however you prefer.
Proceeds will help fund our second annual fall lecture series, "Executing Reason: Expert Perspectives on the Death Penalty and an Indiana Moratorium." Thank you for your support.
Richard Dieter to speak September 20
Mr. Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, in Washington DC, will speak at Notre Dame on Septmeber 20. His lecture, The Death Penalty in America--Present and Future, will be at 7pm in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium on Notre Dame's campus.
Mr. Dieter, himself a graduate of ND, is an attorney and an Adjunct Professor at Catholic University's School of Law. He has been the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, DC since 1992. The Center is a non-profit organization serving the public and the media with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, and conducts briefings for journalists and others working on this issue.
Mr. Dieter has worked for many years on issues related to human rights and the death penalty, including work as the director of the Community for Creative Non-violence’s pre-trial release program, the founder of the Alderson Hospitality House for visitors to the women’s federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia, and the founder of the Quixote Center’s death penalty project. He has given numerous speeches at universities and is frequently quoted in the major newspapers around the country. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, CBS Evening News, The Today Show, PBS News Hour, Fox News, CNN, C-Span, Court-TV, and many other programs.
He has testified about the death penalty before numerous state legislatures and has prepared reports for the U. S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. He has authored articles on the death penalty for both magazines and scholarly journals. His most recent publications are: A Crisis of Confidence: Americans' Doubts About the Death Penalty; Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty; and The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides. He has been an invited speaker at international events in Taiwan, Tokyo, Paris, and London, and recently testified before the European Parliament in Brussels.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Secrecy Upheld in the Execution Process, Despite Mistakes
In a July 30 article, "After Flawed Executions, States Resort to Secrecy,"* New York Times legal columnist Adam Liptak examines the shift toward protecting the identity of those involved in the execution process in several states. Ironically, this comes at a time when botched executions are increasingly reported. Amidst growing awareness of the incompetence of those performing lethal injection procedures, citizens are left with no one to hold accountable when the identity of involved officials is withheld.
Liptak writes:
"In the wake of several botched executions around the nation, often performed by poorly trained workers, you might think that we would want to know more, not less, about the government employees charged with delivering death on behalf of the state.
But corrections officials say that executioners will face harassment or worse if their identities are revealed, and that it is getting hard to attract medically trained people to administer lethal injections, in part because codes of medical ethics prohibit participation in executions."
In Missouri, for example, a doctor who "had supervised more than 50 executions by lethal injection testified last year that he sometimes gave condemned inmates smaller doses of a sedative than the state’s protocol called for, explaining that he is dyslexic."
The doctor had his right to practice revoked by two hospitals following numerous malpractice suits. In September of last year, a federal judge barred him from participating “in any manner, at any level, in the State of Missouri’s lethal injection process.”
However, the Louisiana state legislature has acted to nullify this ruling. Liptak explains:
"A new law, signed this month by Gov. Matt Blunt, makes it unlawful to reveal 'the identity of a current or former member of an execution team,' and it allows executioners to sue anyone who names them.
The governor explained that the law 'will protect those Missourians who assist in fulfilling the state’s execution process.' "
The new Missouri law even bars medical licensing boards from taking disciplinary actions against doctors or nurses who participate in executions (contrary to the stance of prominent medical organizations, including the American Medical Association).
Liptak also points to recent developments regarding flawed lethal injections procedures in Florida, where a judge ruled a week ago that procedures issued by Florida’s corrections department in May (that there is only one job requirement to be an executioner: you must be “a person 18 years or older who is selected by the warden to initiate the flow of lethal chemicals into the inmate") is inacceptable. The judge halted a pending execution, declaring that the system must include experienced and competent people before it can be allowed to carry out death sentences.
Liptak asserts:
"It would be good to know more about who is performing executions in Florida. But that state’s law, like Missouri’s, forbids the disclosure of 'information which identifies an executioner.' Quite a few states have similar laws, and a new Virginia law shielding executioners came into effect this month.
This is a serious issue to examine and monitor as lethal injection procedures continue to be analyzed across the country. Does the public have right to know who is carrying out executions and if these officials have the medical competence to do so? Or does the protection of the executioner outweigh concerns about cruel and unusual punishment, and the effective torture that can be the result of a botched dosage or otherwise flawed injection.
----
*Article accessible to Times Select members only.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Bowser Commission Formed, Members Announced
The Indiana General Assembly recently announced the members of the Bowser Commission, a group of Indiana legislators assigned to examine mental illness and death penalty sentencing in Indiana--carrying out the good work and fulfilling the moral vision of the late Indiana Senator, Anita Bowser.
On February 28, the Indiana Senate passed a resolution urging the Legislative Council to create the Bowser Commission - at a time when Senator Bowser's cancer battle was growing in seriousness. She passed away just days later. Before her illness, she had attempted to pass legislation barring execution of the mentally ill.
ND ASK applauds this step toward the work Senator Bowser hoped to see completed, in the naming members of the Commission, which will be active through November 1. We await the findings of their work, trusting that the injustice of sentencing the mentally ill to death will surface and influence future Indiana law.
See previous posts regarding Senator Bowser and the creation of the Bowser Commission by clicking the label, "Bowser," below.
The Panetti Ruling and Timberlake's Case
In January, Indiana inmate Norman Timberlake received a stay of execution after it was found that executing him before the Supreme Court heard the Scott Panetti case would be unjust and, dependent on the Court's decision, potentially unconstitutional. The June ruling of the Court re-asserts a 1986 decision, stating that in order to be executed, a convicted murderer must be able to recognize the relation between their crime and their pending death. According to this ruling, Timberlake's death sentence should be overturned, as his execution would prove a violation of our nation's principles.
Objections to the execution of Panetti, whose mental insanity includes a delusion that he is being killed to keep him from preaching the gospel, were considered parallel to those surrounding Timberlake--a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks that he is being tortured daily by a machine that will kill him to keep him silent.
The Indiana Supreme Court, in ruling that it could not allow Timberlake to be executed until Panetti was decided on
and various questions about mental illness and qualifications for the death penalty answered, provided an opportunity for justice that no lower court in the state's system afforded Timberlake.
ND ASK will monitor and report on any future hearings in Timberlake's case. It is crucial that his death sentence be overturned in light of the Panetti ruling, and we must work to ensure that the Supreme Court's recent decision takes effect in Indiana.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Supreme Court blocks execution of Texas Inmate Scott Panetti
On June 28, the Supreme Court issued a decision overturning the death sentence of Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti. The justices ruled that Panetti, who has insisted during various stages of his capital trial and imprisonment that he is being punished for preaching the Gospel, had not been shown to have sufficient understanding of what he was being put to death for.
Since the 1986 Supreme Court case of Ford v. Wainright, the execution of the mentally insane has been constitutionally barred. But the standard for determining competency has not been laid out beyond the assertion that the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment requires that a defendant who is to be executed must be able to recognize the relationship between his crime and his sentence.
Panetti killed his wife’s parents in 1992. Now 49 years old, he remains on death row in Texas. A schizophrenic who served as his own lawyer in court, often amounting to an incoherent and outrageous defense, Panetti claims that his body has been taken over by an alter-ego and that demons are bent on killing him for his Christian beliefs.
Medical records demonstrate that during the decade preceding his crime, Panetti had been hospitalized 14 times for schizophrenia, manic depression, hallucinations and delusions. He nailed shut the curtains of his house, buried his furniture and threatened his family—claiming to have seen visions of the devil. In 1995, after winning approval from a Texas trial judge to represent himself in court, Panetti repeatedly tried to subpoena Jesus and donned an array of costume-like attire (including purple western shirts and cowboy hats) in the courtroom. It was the jury of this trial that convicted Panetti in 90 minutes and sentenced him to death.
Panetti’s long and turbulent history in the capital process, a 15-year proceeding, has fueled criticisms of the courts and trial system in Texas, where it is now clear that at least one insane man has represented himself. The ruling overturning his death sentence is, as executive director of Amnesty International Larry Cox commented last week, “a much-needed step toward a more humane America.”
Monday, June 25, 2007
Update from ND ASK Director
Dear ND ASK members and readers,
In the past six weeks, we’ve been silent on this blog, due to the end of the school year at ND. The months of May and June brought transitions out of South Bend and travel to homes and jobs across the country and world for many of ND ASK’s members.
ND ASK co-founder and co-director, Will McAuliffe, graduated with the class of 2007. While he has left Notre Dame, his work on the death penalty in Indiana is just beginning. He will continue his contributions to this blog, and to our organization’s objectives and actions.
I will continue to run ND ASK on campus and across Indiana, putting together a central committee of students to lead the campaign and expand our efforts state-wide.
The past six weeks, both in Indiana and abroad, have included many events to note—some are hopeful to those who share our goals, while others must be viewed as further motivation to continue working against the death penalty.
On June 8, the parliament of Rwanda voted to abolish the death penalty.
One week later, on June 15, the state of Indiana executed Michael Lambert.
The contrast between these two events—the commutation of death sentences of hundreds of prisoners indicted in the Rwanda genocide and the failure of the Indiana justice system to grant life without parole, a sentence with a possibility of rehabilitation, to the second inmate killed in our state this year—indicates the need for a different dialogue on violence and the dignity of persons in Indiana.
With this post, ND ASK will again provide frequent coverage of capital punishment-related developments in Indiana and elsewhere. We will share campaign updates throughout the summer as we build our calendar and plan of action for the coming academic year. We will continue to address both sides of violence in our work for a moratorium on executions in the state of Indiana, working towards the prevention of violence before it occurs and an entrenched attitude of rehabilitation following tragedy.
Thank you for your continued support,
Andrea Laidman
Director, ND ASK
alaidman@nd.edu
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Iraq's Death Penalty
Found this article about Iraq's death penalty and unfair trial system to be interesting, particularly as their execution rate has risen dramatically since the new government was formed.
From CNN:Sitting on Iraq's death row is a 25-year-old woman convicted in the slayings of three relatives. She says her husband carried out the killings and fled. She confessed to being an accomplice, she says, only after being tortured in police custody...
You can read an April 20th press release from Amnesty about Iraqi trials and confessions in regards to the death penalty here.
She was tried and convicted in a single day, August 15, 2005...
The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority abolished capital punishment in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. But shortly after the government was handed over to Iraqis, the death penalty was reinstated in August 2004.
Since that time, more than 270 people have been sentenced to death, and at least 100 people -- including Hussein -- have been executed, according to Amnesty. Four women are currently on death row. Two of the women have their young children, ages 1 and 3, with them on death row, Amnesty says.
Monday, May 7, 2007
David Woods' Final Statement
Below is a copy of David Leon Woods' final written statement before his execution. Click on the image to enlarge it in order to read it. This post will likely be updated later with a text transcription of the statement included.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Vigil Pictures and Article
You can read more about the vigil in this article published on May 4th in the Michigan City News Dispatch. Additionally, ND ASK Co-Director Andrea Laidman was interviewed by Fort Wayne's WANE TV. A transcript and video of the coverage can be found here.
Pictures below:
Members of ND ASK pause for a picture with Father Doyle, Chairman of the Duneland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Joe Baker from the University of Illinois drove several hours to the vigil with three other U of I students.
Marty Pizzini, Education Coordinator for the Dunaland Coalition, lead a drum litany about the death penalty.
We thought we would be the youngest people at the vigil but 20-month old Gerald Hayes quickly proved us wrong.
Impending Tennessee execution of Workman
This documentary on YouTube raises some serious doubts about Philip Workman's guilt. Watch it for yourself and see what you think.
If you think this case merits clemency for Workman and/or investigation by Governor Bredesen, please send him an e-mail.
Workman's execution has been put on hold by a federal judge due to potential issues with the state's revised execution protocols. Hopefully this temporary hold will give the Governor enough time to review the case and realize that there's not much holding it together, let alone enough to be certain of Workman's guilt.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Execution Vigil
Getting off our bus at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, our collection of students from Notre Dame, St. Mary's, and Holy Cross were greeted with the tail end of a beautifully sung "Ave Maria." The smiles and warm greetings from the veterans of execution vigils that we met there briefly veiled the reason why we had all gathered together outside of the prison on a chilly night. We were there because a man was about to be killed.
It was an eclectic mix of ages and backgrounds. Former inmates stood alongside former prison employees and priests. Soon-to-be octogenarian Father Doyle mingled with students 60 years younger than he. It was a truly wonderful cross-section of Indiana. The thing that we all held in common was our belief that the execution that was about to occur was unjust and would not solve anything. As the other death row inmates put it in their letter to the Governor and the parole board, David's execution "diminishes us all."
A variety of testimonials and readings were given, ranging from religious to personal stories about David and other experiences with the prison system. People marched around with a variety of signs in opposition to the death penalty while guards paced with their dogs just inside the gates.
As the midnight hour of execution neared, we all gathered together directly in front of the gates and tried our best to light candles despite the harsh gusts of wind. We said some prayers and began our silent vigil while the final steps of the system of capital punishment were taken inside the prison in front of us. We waited for what seemed like an eternity in silence. Each time a guard passed by the entrance of the prison, I held my breath, anticipating that we were about to be hit with the tragic report of execution. However, no answer came.
At about 30 minutes past midnight, a hearse pulled around the side of the prison. Everyone's eyes followed it as it disappeared from sight. Several minutes later, we heard a door slam shut. An unspoken truth settled over our group. After 50 minutes of silence and no sign of movement from the prison, Michael Griffin from Holy Cross led us in offering prayers and petitions for the Placencia family, David Woods and his family, and the prison employees.
At about 1 am, we could see members of the Placencia family filed into a white van and were whisked away while Wanda Callahan, David’s spiritual advisor of 23 years, slowly made her way out the front and into her car. The lack of information compounded the chill of the wind and the exhaustion of the group. Wanda was the first to reach us, driving through the gate and getting out of her car to deliver her account of the execution and talk about her friend David.
David went peacefully, she said, smiling and nodding as the lethal drugs were delivered into his body. He was at peace with God, she said, and knew that he was going to a better place. She mentioned how sad it was that the first time he felt safe in his entire life was when he was sent to death row. Everyone was gathered around, listening to her shaky voice deliver such powerful words. After she had finished her account of the situation, she hugged several of us, thanking us for our prayers and thoughts. She told us that she could certainly feel our presence during the execution.
Officials from the prison approached next and told us that David Leon Woods had been executed at 12:35 am.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Minute of Silence at Midnight
This will likely be the last post before our group heads off to the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. There will certainly be a large discussion tomorrow about what happened and plenty of information posted here.
For those of you who are up at midnight, please observe a minute of silence and reflect on the pain that David's crime caused to Juan Placencia's family and the pain that this execution will cause David's family. More victims of David's crime will be created tonight by Indiana.
Also, let us hope that this execution will in fact bring healing to the Placencia family. God knows that healing will be the only good thing to result from this, if indeed even that happens.
Governor Daniels Denies David Woods Clemency
Despite the heroic efforts of David Woods' attorneys and the calls for clemency by all those who signed our petition and contacted the Governor, David Woods' request for clemency has officially been denied by the Governor. According to the Indy Star article, Governor Daniels based his decision primarily on the unanimous recommendation against clemency made by the parole board. Their letters to the Governor can be found here.
This means that, barring a U.S. Supreme Court intervention, David Woods will be executed shortly after midnight tonight.
While it may be too late for David, a call to the Governor voicing your opposition to his decision may help down the road. The Governor can be reached at 317-232-4567.
Letter from Inmates to Indiana Parole Board
This post is long overdue but is certainly still relevant as tonight, David Woods will be executed. The following is a letter written and signed by twenty death row inmates at Michigan City. Bear in mind that they are talking about a man who was 19 at the time of the crime and clearly poses no threat to society from within prison and hasn't given any evidence in his 23 years on death row that he is a danger to the guards or other inmates.
This is who Indiana is executing tonight.
Dear Parole Board Members:
This letter is in support of clemency for our friend and brother David (Dave) L. Woods, who has been a part of the Indiana State Prison Death Row Unit for twenty-two years now. Dave's presence on the Death Row Unit has had a stabilizing effect on us all because of his peaceful and accommodating nature. Dave has never refused to assist any of us in a time of distress or need, and has gone out of his way to be a friend to all. Dave has been a Range Porter several times over the years, a job that requires patience, kindness, and an attitude of caring for others. This is a position of trust amongst staff and prisoners alike. Dave is a man whose conduct conforms to a high standard of propriety and correct behavior. Dave has never, in his 22 years on the Death Row Unit, demonstrated any violent side to his decent character. We, the men that have been touched by Dave's friendship on a daily basis during these past 22 years, beseech and implore you to set a precedent in logic and mercy based on the objectives of the Indiana Department of Corrections, and spare Dave this sentence of death by execution, which diminishes us all.
Seats still left for Vigil!
At approximately midnight tonight, after 23 years on death row, David Woods will be executed at the Michigan City Prison. We fully intend to demonstrate to the Governor that this is not done in our name.
For those of you in the South Bend area, there are still several seats available on our bus to Michigan City tonight. The bus will be leaving at 9:45pm from McKenna Circle on campus which is located on Notre Dame Ave. Please register ahead of time so we know to expect you!
Due to the time change between South Bend and Michigan City, the bus will be returning back to campus around 2:30am. The bus is free of charge and we encourage anyone who is interested to please join us for this important event.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Petition Sent to Governor Daniels!
A hard copy of our petition asking for clemency for David Woods was overnighted to Governor Daniels early this afternoon with 490 signatures! In addition to the hard copy of the signatures accumulated so far, the link to the petition website was included so that any signatures acquired after printing should be noted by the Governor.
However, there's more you can do!
If you have not already, please call the Governor at 317-232-4567. Simply let them know that you are asking the Governor to grant David Woods clemency. No ideological debates will ensue; it will only take a minute and every little bit counts. Talking points provided by David's lawyer can be found here for those who wish to elaborate on their requests.
You can read the text of the accompanying letter written and signed by ND ASK co-directors Will McAuliffe and Andrea Laidman below.
April 30, 2007
The Honorable Mitch Daniels
Office of the Governor
Statehouse
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-8797
Governor Daniels,
Please find attached the names and information of almost 500 people asking you to grant David Woods clemency. As is apparent by the comments left by some of the petitioners, there are a variety of reasons that people have reached the conclusion that clemency is the appropriate action: some for religious reasons, some over concerns for human dignity, and others who are simply appalled that we would execute someone with such a traumatic background and history of service to the death row community. We are certain that none of these reasons are alien to your conscience, yet we are equally certain that seeing that they are echoed throughout Indiana and the United States should give you no reason to proceed with the execution of David Woods and should bolster your confidence in granting clemency.
We would also like to emphasize the unprecedented relevance of this particular execution in relation to the release of the American Bar Association’s report on Indiana with which we’re certain you are aware. This report, in essence, has revealed many of the flaws in the judicial system particularly as it relates to capital cases. This information has existed for some time yet has never been so accessible or well-documented. To carry out an execution in the wake of such an important document that calls into question the nature and certainty of justice in Indiana would be an affront to Indiana’s central tenets “…that justice be established, public order maintained, and liberty perpetuated.” There is no justice in carrying out an execution which has resulted from a flawed and unjust system.
We sincerely hope that the words of the petitioners reach your mind and your conscience. We hope that you take great pause when you consider that 61% of Hoosiers would support a moratorium on executions. We pray that you carry out justice in the only way that our God and society finds acceptable by granting clemency to David Woods.
We thank you on behalf of all the petitioners for your consideration of this matter. We appreciate the gravity of the situation and the scrutiny which accompanies your decision, but are certain that you will inevitably conclude that society and the notion of justice upon which our country and the state of Indiana were built are not served by the death of this man.
Most Sincerely,
Andrea Laidman
Co-Director, ND ASK
Will McAuliffe
Co-Director, ND ASK
The International Death Penalty Debate Rages On
...The horrors of cruelly administered, or botched, execution are not confined to developing countries or to lands that follow the letter of hudud, traditional Islamic punishment. In Florida last December, Angel Diaz was executed by lethal injection. The three-drug cocktail that is used by 37 American states is supposed first to induce unconsciousness, then to paralyse muscles and block breathing, and finally to stop the heart. But after the first injection, Diaz continued to move, squint and grimace as he tried to mouth words...
...According to Amnesty International's latest report, “at least” (precise figures are hard to get) 1,591 executions were carried out worldwide last year, well down on the previous year, but nearly 40% higher than in 2003. Yet Piers Bannister, the lobby group's death-penalty specialist, believes that the world is gradually inching its way towards abolition....
Friday, April 27, 2007
U.S. Supreme Court overturns 3 Texas death sentences
"WASHINGTON, April 25 — The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned death sentences in three cases from Texas, all by votes of 5 to 4 and all with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy providing the margin of victory to his four more liberal colleagues.
...The three decisions on Wednesday provided the latest chapter in the Supreme Court’s dialogue with the two lower courts, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which handle appeals from the Texas death row, the country’s most active. As an exasperated Supreme Court majority has seen it, these courts have found repeated and unpersuasive reasons to evade the Supreme Court’s evolving death penalty jurisprudence.It was that jurisprudence that was the underlying focus of the dispute among the justices. A 1996 federal law, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, raised the bar against federal court review of state prisoners’ petitions for writs of habeas corpus.
...In the years since the 1996 law took effect, the court has been extremely reluctant to find error on the part of state courts of the type that would permit inmates to gain access to federal court. It remains to be seen whether the rulings on Wednesday will extend beyond the court’s sustained annoyance with the Fifth Circuit to signify a more expansive view toward habeas corpus, a prospect that perhaps explains the vigor of the chief justice’s dissent."
400 Signatures Asking for Clemency!
Our online petition has now hit the 400 signature mark, bringing us to the threshold of our original goal of 500 signatures! Obviously, there is no magic number which will force Governor Daniels to examine his conscience on this case and grant David Woods clemency so we ask those who haven't signed the petition to do so now and for those who have signed but haven't passed on the important message of forgiveness and hope to do so immediately.
The petition will close on May 1st, so there are several crucial days left for us to speak out against the inhumane execution of this man. Please sign or forward the petition immediately!
Additionally, one of David Woods' attorneys has asked for our help in contacting Governor Daniels by calling his office at 317-232-4567. Don't worry, you don't need to engage in an ideological debate over the death penalty, you simply need to voice your request for clemency for David Woods. If you wish to give a more detailed request, the following message from his attorney has been provided:
"Please call 317-232-4567 request Gov. Daniels to grant clemency for
David Leon Woods. The Board voted 5-0 against,
but we got 1 "agonized" vote from Daniels appointee Randall Gentry.
David was 19 at the time of his enraged stabbing of a 77 year old man who had previously been engaged to his mother.
His prior adult record was 1 Public Intoxication. His mother was totally dysfunctional & would have sex w/ guys younger than David in front of him. [David] didn't graduate, abused in children's home, medicated to sleep during trial.
Attorneys appointed shortly before trial; the one "right out of law school" co-counsel was doing [mitigation] investigation during trial. Mother testified for state in penalty phase & then at clemency said it was because male prosecutor told her it was the only way she could help her son & he would take her to dinner.
LWOP (Life Without Parole) was not an option at the time. David is only seeking LWOP; he told the board he didn't deserve freedom for what he did.
All the other guys on the row signed a touching letter vouching for how peaceful & kind David has been during the last 22 years.
We are still in the courts, but nothing has a realistic chance of success.
Thanks for any phone calls you can generate."
Again, please contact Governor Daniels' office at 317-232-4567 as soon as possible. Every voice counts.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Meet our Forum Keynote Speaker: Paula Sites
We're fortunate enough to have the Indiana Public Defender Council's Assistant Executive Director, Paula Sites, as our keynote speaker for our upcoming forum, Achieving the Inevitable: Ending the Death Penalty in Indiana. If you have not already done so, please register!
Paula Sites was born three days before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Birmingham, Alabama bus, and while she claims no direct memory of either event, both fill her with a measure of gratitude and wonder. She serves as Assistant Executive Director of the Indiana Public Defender Council, a statewide support center for public defenders.
Since 1990, she has provided training, consultation, and research assistance to attorneys representing capitally charged or sentenced clients throughout the state, and monitors the status of all capital cases filed in the state. In her capacity as Assistant Executive Director, she also works with a variety of organizations and government agencies to promote the fair administration of justice in Indiana, focusing on capital punishment as well as issues involving criminal defendants with mental illness, mental retardation, and developmental disabilities.
She recently served on the Indiana Assessment Team of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. She is a past winner of the Indiana State Bar Association Women in the Law Achievement Award and the Amnesty International USA Indiana Abolitionist of the Year.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Parole Board Letter Excerpts and Links
For those interested in the rationale of each parole board member in recommending against clemency for David Woods, here are excerpts from each of their letters. Additionally, a link to each letter is included so they can be read in their entirety.
William R. Harris:In Woods' request for clemency, his current attorneys describe his case as "has been the subject of a tortured past".[sic] He has been described as a neglected and abused child, whose case was improperly litigated on every step of the court system. However, Wood's [sic] childhood was not that bad and he was only in 3 foster homes and one county group home. The Parole Board recently saw an offender that had been in 28 foster homes and institutions before reaching adulthood, and he was not a murderer. I have to use offender to offender comparison for these decisions, not text books, and not apples to oranges.
Click here to read Mr. Harris' letter in its entirety.
...Practice making 20 stab motions, it takes so long and you can stop after 5, 10, or even 15. I believe Woods didn't stop because Mr. Placencia could identify him... Woods decided he had to die.
Valerie J. Parker:By his own testimony... Mr. Woods admitted that he was the orchestrator of the events that day...He admitted that he was without a doubt the individual who in a raged [sic] filled moment, rage directed at his mother, violently stabbed this helpless 77 year old man to death.
Click here to read Ms. Parker's letter in its entirety.
Let's face it, at the time of this crime David L. Woods was considered in every sense of the word to be an adult. He now has to suffer the adult pain caused by his adult choices. Mr. Woods had every opportunity to help Mr. Placencia after stabbing him the first time. But as this helpless elderly gentleman pleaded for his life, Mr. Woods chose to continue to hurt and not help, until he had taken all of the life from this victim. Throughout the clemency process, this board has been sufficiently advised of Mr. Wood's [sic] tumultuous, tortured past, but I say to you today that his situation is not unique enough in my heart and mind to ordain or accept murder as a response to his pain or a means of coping with it.
Thor R. Miller:The reality is that Woods is noto mentally incompetent. His legal counsel was forced to deal with a difficult, uncooperative client who even went so far as to file his own motions and failed to follow their legal advice and properly participate in his legal defense.
Click here to read Mr. Miller's letter in its entirety.
...Testimony and evidence provided concerning Mr. Wood's [sic] horrible childhood and appalling living conditions is merely an attempt to place blame where blame should not lie. Since when should having a horrible childhood give one the license to kill? Thousands of people experience horrors in their daily lives, yet most will continue to obey the law. No exceptions should be made for Woods.
Randall P. GentryMr. Woods' own testimony sufficiently revealed the crime details to a point that it is not hard to understand the cruelty of his actions. Stabbing a person twenty plus times takes effort, a great deal of rage, and huge lack of respect for life. This was no bar room fight. This was a seventy-seven year old man in his home in the middle of the night murdered by three adults.
Click here to read Mr. Gentry's letter in its entirety.
...This was not an accident, but a planned crime that may have deviated as intended. The result was murder. While we may all search to ease our minds as to why this crime occured, it is important to understand this crime did happen and Mr. Woods admits he committed the act of murder against Juan Placencia.
...In hindsight, [his background] may provide a precursor to the future, but I render a guess many children have had a similar horrible upbringing and yet failed to commit a murder.
...In my opinion, Mr. Woods is not a monster as society might define one, but Juan Placencia did not deserve to die this horrific death. With the lack of some fact or mitigation that is not currently in the record, I struggle to recommend that we should alter course from the original sentence.
...I continued to review and reread documents right up to the preparation of this recommendation to you. I was unclear on what I was looking for, justification to move forward with this sentence or a reason to recommend Clemency. The crime in question can be described in one sentence, but the reason behind the crime could take pages. I found it easy to be deflected from the decisions that has to be made. Attempts to present mitigating arguments for Mr. Woods, such as an awful childhood, a long standing issue with his mother, mild mental retardation, or even improper legal representation at trial fail to excuse what has been done.
Christopher E. Meloy, Chairman:
[Woods'] level of understanding, his introspection, and his assessment of others in his life leads me to believe that Mr. Woods' mental capacity is more than sufficient not only to understand the correlation between his actions and logical consequences but he also appears to be a person who holds a personal peace after significant, in-depth, and introspective review of his life's situations.
...the truth was accurately discovered in this case.
...When satisfied with his thefts, Mr. Woods returned to Mr. Placencia but not to help despite the elderly man's pleas but to stab him 20 additional times leaving him for dead.
Click here to read Mr. Meloy's letter in its entirety.
Please e-mail notredameask@gmail.com if you have any issues opening these links.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Live from Indianapolis: David Woods' Clemency Hearing
David's mother approached the front of the auditorium and spoke in a hushed, reserved tone. She put forth just enough effort to make her terse answers barely audible. When the defense attorney asked her the names and ages of her children, she paused and finally stated that she didn't know their ages. When asked to simply recount their names, she hesitantly proceeded to name her six children, with grinding hesitation between each name. When asked which of the siblings were David's full brothers and sisters, she said that three were, but only gave two names.
Mary Pilkington stated that, while she testified against David at his trial, she did so without her knowledge. According to Pilkington, the prosecutor "put his arms around her" and told her "I'll get your son off and I'll help you and take you out to dinner." After a pause, Mrs. Pilkington added, "I didn't know I was on the wrong side."
The most shocking stories of the day came from one of David's sisters, Mary Anne. The themes of her stories focused on neglect, abuse, and outright disturbing scenarios. She began by recalling a time when she stepped on a rusty nail in the yard. When she limped inside, her mother's response to her whimpers was "you take care of it yourself." She told about the time her brother held the door shut when she had to go to the bathroom so she was forced to go in a bucket. When her mother found out, she took the feces out of the bucket and "shoved it in [her] mouth." One time when she was sitting on a porch railing, her mother backhanded her, sending her sprawling onto the pavement below. Her mother's response to her cries of pain: running in the house to get a camera in order to snap photos of her crying daughter.
The most gruesome and twisted recollection, however, was the time that Mary Anne's mother fed Mary Anne her pet rabbit, unbeknownst to her at the time and revealed the truth to Mary Anne only after she'd eaten the rabbit by showing her the severed head of the rabbit that she had placed in the back yard. Additionally, Mary Anne testified that when she was 10 years old, she was molested by her step father. When she told her mother about it, her mother told her "don't tell no one." When the police found out about the molestation, Mary Anne's mom simply replied that "she asked for it" and attempted to bribe Mary Anne with $50 if she changed her story.
The main theme running throughout the clemency testimony was summed up in her next sentence: "I just wanted her to love me."
Sherry Hudson, a capital habeas petition investigator, took a snipe at Alabama's prolific death penalty sentencing by stating that “even in Alabama this wouldn’t have been a death penalty case.” Her role in the David Woods saga was to investigate mitigating circumstances for presentation in Woods’ appeal as no investigation had been done in the initial case. Additionally, Woods’ file from the original case had been lost or destroyed.
Wanda Callahan, a pastor from the Church of the Brethren spoke passionately about David’s reformation since his time in prison. As a volunteer pastor for the prison for 36 years, Wanda has seen her share of “rough types” but states that by no means is David one of these personalities. She had nothing but good things to say about him, stating that “he has so much goodness” and that “he acts like the peacemaker on death row.” She warned the panel that if he were to be executed that “you’re going to do a great big harm to death row. He’s what holds that place together most of the time.” Additionally she stated that “I wish my churches were full of people like David,” backing her claim “I don’t know anyone who’s as good a Christian as David is.”
Ms. Callahan posed the observation that “he never felt safe until he was on death row. Isn’t that a horrible thing?” She left the panel with this parting thought: “If you kill David, it’s going to be a cruel case of injustice. If you do, I’m certainly going to pray for you.”
After presenting several other people close to David and his case who testified along the same lines of abuse and dysfunction as a child leading to his crime, the State presented their side of the argument, backed by six members of the victim’s family.
The deputy prosecutor presented the perception that Woods “learned over time” buzz words and terms alluding to mitigation. He emphasized that Woods was the leader of the robbery and that at least 29 judges in 6 different courts have written 8 different opinions all affirming the sentence of death for Woods. He stated that “the defense is asking you to believe that all those judges and juries were unreasonable.” Additionally, he rebuffed Woods’ good behavior on the row, stating that it would be ludicrous that “he should be rewarded for not having committed more crimes.”
Additionally, the deputy prosecutor called the ABA report, released in February, a product of the “moratorium project” and claimed that it contained “many assertions” that “are false or inaccurate.” Ultimately, he concluded stating that “no reasonable person would have voted differently.”
Juan Placencia’s granddaughter spoke about her grandfather saying that he “brought those children up to love God, family and country.” She listed his 13 children and 72 grandchildren all by name, a process that took several minutes. She stated that “our community is a community of love and tradition” but cautioned that “life is not always the way we wish it would be,” refusing to accept Woods’ upbringing as an excuse for the killing. She read several letters from family members not in attendance which cited Juan’s pleas for mercy as he was stabbed, the need for enforcement of laws as a fundamental element of society, and ultimately struck the tone that “Juan’s pleas only took seconds, not years.”
Juan’s daughter, Catherine Placencia, stated that Woods “took the best man in the world: our father.” Additionally she refused to accept Woods’ childhood as a mitigating circumstance: “…he blames everything… he’s gotta look in the mirror and blame himself, because he’s the one who did this to my father.”
Another of Juan’s daughters, Mary Anne Petrie, gave a tearful statement, showing a picture of the family with Juan stating that “we’ve got pictures to look at, that’s it.” Also she qualified her desire for an execution by saying that “this is justice, it isn’t revenge.” She accused Woods of spewing falsehoods about his faith and his rationale for the murder: “No Christian would lie like he’s doing.”
Two more of Placencia’s descendants gave statements which focused on Woods making conscious choices which led to the murder and also made the conscious choice to stab Juan Placencia 21 times. One of Juan’s grandsons, Glen McDonald begged that the board “allow justice to be served so that another healing process may begin.”
After rebuttals from both sides which essentially summarized the main points of the pleas by both sides, the panel was adjourned for deliberation. Upon their return at 2:30 pm, each panel member read their letters of recommendation to Governor Daniels. Each member of the panel recommended that Governor Daniels deny clemency. These full statements will be posted on the website later, but they all focused around the severity of the crime and its inexcusability, despite Woods’ upbringing.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Reporting from the David Woods Clemency Hearing
I will be attending David Woods' clemency hearing in Indianapolis which begins at 9am today (4/23) and will do my best to update this post as soon as possible after the testimony phase of the hearing and then again after the board reads their recommendation. Check this post regularly throughout the day for updates and quotes from the hearing.
I will provide an objective report in this space as well as a separate follow-up post with my analysis of the proceedings for those interested in my take on how it went.
Stay tuned!
-Will McAuliffe
Co-director of ND ASK
Achieving the Inevitable: Ending the Death Penalty in Indiana
We are proud to finally announce our title --Achieving the Inevitable: Ending the Death Penalty in Indiana-- and schedule for the upcoming forum on April 27th-29th.
If you haven't already registered, click here to do so!
Click below to expand this post and see the schedule.
Friday, April 28
7:30 pm, Opening Remarks
8:00 pm, Screening of The Exonerated
(Jordan Auditorium)
Saturday, April 29
9:30 - 10:45, Breakfast and Keynote Address by Paula Sites, Assistant Executive Director of the Indiana Public Defender Council (Center for Social Concerns)
11- 12:15, Panel Session 1:
The American Bar Association & Indiana: Moving toward a Moratorium
(Room 121, Mendoza College of Business)
Prison Ministry: Building Relationships with Death Row Inmates
(Room 122, Mendoza)
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: Arbitrary, Capricious and Inhumane
(Room L014B, Mendoza)
12:30 - 1, Presentations:
Indiana's Movement Against the Death Penalty
--Chris Hitz-Bradley, President, Indiana Information Center for the Abolition of Capital Punishment
(Room 121, Mendoza College of Business)
From Death to Detention: 18th Century Great Britain's Penal System as the End to Capital Punishment
--Professor Sean O’Brien, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies
(Room 122, Mendoza)
Sane Punishment for the Mentally Ill
--Kathleen Bayes, Executive Director, National Alliance on Mental Illness – Fort Wayne
(Room L014B, Mendoza)
1-1:50, Working Lunch:
Group Discussions with Guest Speakers and Panelists on Students’ Role in the Movement for a Moratorium in Indiana
2-3:15, Panel Session 2:
The American Bar Association & Indiana: Moving toward a Moratorium
(Room 121, Mendoza College of Business)
The Role of Religion and Churches in Ending Indiana’s Death Penalty
(Room 122, Mendoza)
The Role of Indiana’s Media in the Movement for a Moratorium
(Room L014B, Mendoza)
3:30-4:30, Action and Information Session on the May 4th Execution of David Woods:
--Discussion of ND ASK’s planned response to the pending execution of David Woods, including a petition to Governor Mitch Daniels and a vigil at Michigan City prison. Also, Wanda Callahan, longtime spiritual adviser to David will speak to his rehabilitation and their twenty-year friendship.
7:30-9, Film Screening: The Thin Blue Line
(Jordan Auditorium)
9:15, Grotto Vigil:
--In remembrance of the victim of David Woods’ crime, Juan Placencia, and his family
Sunday, April 29
9:30 – 11, Breakfast and Closing Remarks:
(Oak Room, South Dining Hall)
Click here to register now!
Speakers and location subject to change. Updates will be sent to those registered for the forum and posted regularly on our blog.
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