DP Awareness Week: The Death Penalty Punishes the Poor

-- please forward to local list serves --


DEATH PENALTY AWARENESS WEEK
February 27 to March 3

To view events happening across the country and how you can get involved, go
to our website at http://www.nodeathpenalty.org

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FIVE REASONS TO OPPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY

One of the Campaign's earliest brochures highlights five reasons to oppose
the death penalty--it's racist, it targets the poor, it kills the innocent,
it is not a deterrent, and it's cruel and unusual punishment.
During this national week of action, our CEDP list serve will highlight
one reason for each day--and highlight an event held by one of the CEDP
chapters.

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THOSE WITHOUT THE CAPITAL GET THE PUNNISHMENT

Another grim reality of the death penalty is that it is almost exclusively
reserved for the most disenfranchised in our society. As Supreme Court
Justice William O. Douglas wrote, "One searches our chronicles in vain for
the execution of any member of the affluent strata in this society."
If a defendant can afford a good lawyer and pay for experts, mitigators
and investigators, the likelihood is great if convicted that the sentence
will be less than death. Those who can't afford their own lawyers are at the
mercy of a court-appointed attorney who may have very little experience in
trying capital cases. Often, these attorneys are overworked and underpaid,
and unlikely to have the funds to afford to hire any investigators or
experts.
Take the case of Gary Nelson. According to the Southern Center on Human
Rights, Gary Nelson was represented at his capital trial by a lawyer who had
never tried a capital case before. The case against Nelson was entirely
circumstantial, based on the questionable opinion of a prosecution expert
that a hair found on the victim's body came from Nelson. Nevertheless, the
appointed lawyer was not provided funds for an investigator, and knowing
that a request would be denied, did not seek funds for an expert witness.
The lawyer's closing argument was only 225 words long. He was later
disbarred for other reasons.
Gary was released from death row after 11 years when he was lucky enough
to have pro bono lawyers take up his case. But many are not as fortunate as
Nelson, and such errors are never discovered.
When prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty against a poor
defendant, the scales of justice are tilted against the defendant. While the
defense has little money, the state on the other hand has essentially
unlimited access to experts and investigative assistance. This grossly
unfair system of "justice" has continued over the 30 years since the death
penalty was reinstated in this country.
Frances Newton was very unfortunate to be assigned Ronald Mock as her
lawyer at trial in Texas. Mock called no witnesses to testify at Newton's
trial and conducted no investigation. Frances Newton's mom Jewel Nelms said,
"He smelled of booze and marijuana every day he was in the courtroom." Ron
Mock was so inept that he was barred for life from trying death penalty
cases (and from practicing law at all until 2007).
On September 14, 2005, the state of Texas executed Frances Newton. "We
can't call it a justice system," explains Jewel Nelms, mother of Frances
Newton, "it's just a system. Because there's no justice in what they did to
my daughter. There's no justice when you know you're doing something wrong.
There's no justice when you just continue doing it."
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty works to abolish the death
penalty. There is nothing redeemable about the death penalty. It cannot be
fixed, and we shouldn't waste time trying. Money, time and energy should
instead be put into preventing the "causes of crime." A good place to start
is programs to alleviate poverty, provide better health care for the
mentally ill, and fund foster care and other social services.
These are things are political leaders should support--and stop hiding
beside a façade that using the death penalty ever does any good (except to
advance their careers).
Please consider getting involved with the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty--we need more people, more voices in order for our message to be
heard: ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY!

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HIGHLIGHTED EVENTS FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 2

** Shujaa Graham, exonerated California death row prisoner, former Black
Panther and board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, will
speak at Cornell University, Warren 345, at 7p.m. For more information,
contact Hector at ht87 [at] cornell.edu

** A debate, featuring Richard Dieter, executive director of Death Penalty
Information Center, and William Otis, counselor to the administrator of the
Drug Enforcement Agency. For more information, contact Ben at
udc.cedp [at] yahoo.com

** How to Be an Activist -- Workshop featuring Georgetown's own Ginny
Simmons, blogger extraordinaire. We are putting together informational
packets for all participants and trying to set them up with death row pen
pals. For more information, contact sbg28 [at] georgetown.edu

** Tabling theme for the Moraga, California chapter: "The Death Penalty
Punishes the Poor." Tabling at Danta quad from 11:30-1:30 p.m. For more
information, contact Devin at cedp [at] stmarys.ca.edu

For a complete listing of Death Penalty Awareness Week events, go to
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/events.html