DPF Action Alert

Death Penalty Focus
870 Market St. Ste. 859 San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel. 415-243-0143 - Fax 415-243-0994 - http://www.deathpenalty.org

Take Action!

The issue of lethal injection will be a hot topic in the media next week because U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel will be holding public hearings on the issue of lethal injection on Sept. 26th-29th in San Jose, CA.

We encourage all of you to take this unique opportunity to write to your local papers and call into your favorite talk radio shows whenever lethal injection is being discussed or written about.

Letters to the editor can be sent directly from our website http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=letters&menu=1"


Tips for writing a Letter to the Editor

1) Letters to the Editor should be no more than 250 words.

2) Always include your full name, city and a phone number where you can be reached. The paper will not print your phone number but they will use it to verify the authenticity of your letter.

3) Whenever possible refer to an article or editorial (on lethal injection) that appeared in the newspaper you are writing to.


Lethal Injection Message Points

MESSAGE: Mistakes are being made throughout the process; when it comes to the death penalty, we just keep getting it wrong.

OVERVIEW: The issue in the lethal injection case is this: are mistakes being made during executions in CA that result in an excruciatingly painful death? There is growing evidence that the people who actually carry out the execution are unskilled, untrained and even incompetent. That’s because the state adopted this procedure and began carrying out executions without any research, investigation or proper training. But on a larger level, this is just one more example of mistakes being made throughout the death penalty system and an example of how the death penalty fails us in California.

The government doesn't know what it’s doing in the death house

1) The state of CA failed to do its homework when it comes to killing people. The lethal injection process was handed like folklore from one state to the next, without anyone doing any research or asking basic questions about the procedure.

2) In 6 out of 11 lethal injections in CA, something went wrong. The evidence shows that people kept breathing for as long as 12 minutes, when they state said they should stop breathing within a minute. The evidence shows we are getting it wrong more than we get it right.

3) Prison officials now admit that they botched the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams. Witnesses watched the technician struggle to insert the IV into Stanley’s vein. She finally gave up and simply walked out. The warden allowed the execution to proceed even though he knew only one IV had been laid. Stanley may very well have died in excruciating pain.

4) We now know that the guards actually carrying out the execution have no medical skills, receive almost no training, have criminal records and even psychiatric problems. One execution team leader was fired for bringing drugs into the prison and later reinstated and promoted. Another execution team leader is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of working in the prison. Are these people competent to carry out an execution?

5) Mistakes happen even under the best conditions with trained professionals in hospital settings. Yet in this case, personnel with no training at all, a history of alcohol abuse and mental problems are carrying out this complicated medical procedure.

6) The state of CA is turning a blind eye to the evidence of mistakes and simply carrying on with business as usual.

This is just an example of mistakes made throughout the death penalty system

1) The death penalty system consists of a series of humans actors and at each stage people make mistakes. At least 123 innocent men and women have walked free after being sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. Decisions about life and death are made based on race and geography. People are sentenced to death with lawyers who were inexperienced, later disbarred, or even drunk or using drugs. From the beginning to the end, from the decision of who should be sentenced to death to actually carrying out the execution, mistakes are made.


The death penalty fails to live up to its promises: it is a failed public policy

1) The court challenges to lethal injection show again that the death penalty fails to deliver on its promises. The death penalty does not make us safer. In fact, the death penalty diverts scare resources from programs that would increase public safety such as efforts to catch more criminals, crime prevention, and assistance to victims. The death penalty does not provide healing or closure to victims. If Morales had been sentenced to life without parole, just like his co-defendant, the family of Terri Winchell would have been sparred 25 years of painful waiting for the expected execution.


Stefanie L. Faucher
Program Director

Death Penalty Focus
870 Market St. Ste. 859
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel. 415-243-0143
Fax 415-243-0994
mailto:stefanie [at] deathpenalty.org
http://www.deathpenalty.org
http://www.californiamoratorium.org