Post by CCADP on May 4, 2005 10:20:10 GMT -5
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
3 May 2005
UA 106/05 Death penalty
USA/Oklahoma:
Garry Thomas Allen (m), black, aged 48
Garry Allen is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on
19 May 2005. He was sentenced to death for the 1986
murder of Gail Titsworth, with whom he had had two
children. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has
recommended that Governor Brad Henry commute Garry
Allen's death sentence.
Garry Allen shot Gail Titsworth on 21 November 1986;
three days after she had moved out from their home
with their two sons, aged six and two. The shooting
occurred outside a day care center in Oklahoma City
where she had gone to pick up the two boys. The two
adults argued, culminating in Garry Allen pulling out
a revolver and shooting Gail Titsworth. Allen walked
away, but as a day care center employee was helping
Gail Titsworth into the center, he returned and shot
Titsworth in the back despite her pleas for mercy.
A police officer in the area responded within minutes
to the shooting. There was a struggle between the
officer and suspect, during which Allen was shot in
the face with the officer's gun. Allen was taken to
hospital where he remained for the next two months. As
a result of the gunshot wound, Garry Allen lost his
left eye, the hearing in one ear, and suffered
permanent brain damage.
Doubt was raised about Garry Allen's competency to
stand trial, that is, about his ability to appreciate
the nature of the charges against him or to consult
with his lawyer and to assist in his defense. After a
hearing, the trial court found him incompetent to
stand trial but capable of achieving competence. He
was committed to Eastern State Hospital where he
remained for the next four months and was treated,
including with anti-psychotic medication. At
competency proceedings in October 1987, a jury heard
evidence of the brain damage Allen had suffered as a
result of the gunshot wound, and evidence from an
Eastern State Hospital psychiatrist who testified that
although Allen suffered long-term depression, with an
associated history of substance abuse, and some
short-term and long-term memory loss, he was competent
to stand trial. The jury found that Garry Allen had
not met the burden of proving his incompetence by
clear and convincing evidence, thus finding him
competent to stand trial.
Less than a month later, on 10 November 1987, Garry
Allen entered a ''blind plea'' of guilty to first
degree murder. Under a blind plea, no sentence is
negotiated with the prosecution, and the court is free
to impose any sentence up to the maximum. A blind plea
abandons all defenses, including a conviction on a
lesser offence that does not carry the death penalty.
It abandoned a jury sentencing at which all 12 jurors
would have had to agree to a death sentence before one
could be imposed. The court found him competent to
make such a plea. At a later post-conviction
evidentiary hearing, his trial lawyer testified that,
in her view, Gary Allen was incompetent to make such a
plea and had not fully understood what he was giving
up by so pleading. Allen was sentenced to death, but
this first sentencing hearing was overturned because
the available option of life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole had not been considered. A
second sentencing hearing was held, and he was again
sentenced to death.
At this second sentencing hearing before a judge,
Garry Allen explained his decision to plead guilty. He
said that he had already put his and Gail Titsworth's
family through enough suffering: ''I just thought, you
know, that if I committed the crime and admitted
committing the crime that that would end it for
everybody because to stretch things out does nobody
any good... I just didn't want to put people through
this. I just didn't want to do that. Man, the people
might look at my family and they might associate that
my family has been in some way responsible for what
happened, but it was solely my actions. It was
something that I did and I don't want people to have
misconceptions about my family, you know... It just
didn't seem to me to be necessary to be dragging other
people in because I am the one responsible for this
crime.''
The defense presented an expert to detail mitigating
evidence. Dr Nelda Ferguson testified that Garry Allen
had been raised in poverty in an unstable family
environment, that he had been rejected by his
alcoholic mother, and that he himself had suffered
debilitating mood swings which resulted in numerous
suicide attempts. In his late teens Garry Allen began
to abuse alcohol and drugs. He was treated for
psychological problems, including while serving in the
Navy. The mitigation expert concluded that Garry Allen
had a personality disorder related to schizophrenia.
At the sentencing, his parents also appeared as
witnesses, testifying that there was mental illness on
both sides of the family. The defendant himself
testified that he drank as much alcohol as he could as
often as he could. He testified that around the time
of the murder, he was ''drinking a lot'' and
''drinking just about every day at that point''.
Garry Allen has epilepsy, which has apparently
worsened during his time on death row. He has frequent
seizures and doctors have said that he is so confused
for periods after these seizures that he would not
understand the reality of or reason for his impending
execution. In 1993, Garry Allen's IQ was measured at
111, above average. By 1999, it had dropped to 75.
Doctors have reportedly put this down to his ongoing
epileptic seizures combined with head injuries.
After having been presented with such evidence at a
clemency hearing on 20 April 2005, the Oklahoma Pardon
and Parole Board recommended by four votes to one that
Governor Brad Henry commute Garry Allen's death
sentence to life imprisonment. An Assistant Attorney
General, pursuing the execution for the state, was
quoted as saying that he believed that Garry Allen was
faking his mental impairments: ''It is easier to act
stupider than you are. It's impossible to act smarter
than you are. This guy now knows, play up my seizures,
play down my IQ.''
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Oklahoma has the highest rate of execution per capita
of its population of all the US death penalty states.
It ranks 27th of the 50 US states in terms of
population and third in the number of executions
carried out since the USA resumed judicial killing in
1977. It accounts for 76 of the nationwide total of
962 executions since that year. Oklahoma has violated
international law and standards in its pursuit of
judicial killing and its prosecutors have earned a
reputation for misconduct in capital cases (see AI
report Old habits die hard: The death penalty in
Oklahoma, AMR 51/055/2001, April 2001).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible, in your own words:
- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of
Gail Titsworth, and explaining that you are not
seeking to excuse the manner of her death or to
downplay the suffering that it will have caused;
- opposing the execution of Garry Allen;
- welcoming the recommendation for clemency by the
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board;
- urging the Governor to accept the recommendation and
to commute Garry Allen's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Brad Henry
State Capitol Building
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Fax: 1 405 521 3353
Salutation: Dear Governor
To send an email, go to:
www.governor.state.ok.us/message.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact,
including contact information and stop action date (if
applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
3 May 2005
UA 106/05 Death penalty
USA/Oklahoma:
Garry Thomas Allen (m), black, aged 48
Garry Allen is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on
19 May 2005. He was sentenced to death for the 1986
murder of Gail Titsworth, with whom he had had two
children. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has
recommended that Governor Brad Henry commute Garry
Allen's death sentence.
Garry Allen shot Gail Titsworth on 21 November 1986;
three days after she had moved out from their home
with their two sons, aged six and two. The shooting
occurred outside a day care center in Oklahoma City
where she had gone to pick up the two boys. The two
adults argued, culminating in Garry Allen pulling out
a revolver and shooting Gail Titsworth. Allen walked
away, but as a day care center employee was helping
Gail Titsworth into the center, he returned and shot
Titsworth in the back despite her pleas for mercy.
A police officer in the area responded within minutes
to the shooting. There was a struggle between the
officer and suspect, during which Allen was shot in
the face with the officer's gun. Allen was taken to
hospital where he remained for the next two months. As
a result of the gunshot wound, Garry Allen lost his
left eye, the hearing in one ear, and suffered
permanent brain damage.
Doubt was raised about Garry Allen's competency to
stand trial, that is, about his ability to appreciate
the nature of the charges against him or to consult
with his lawyer and to assist in his defense. After a
hearing, the trial court found him incompetent to
stand trial but capable of achieving competence. He
was committed to Eastern State Hospital where he
remained for the next four months and was treated,
including with anti-psychotic medication. At
competency proceedings in October 1987, a jury heard
evidence of the brain damage Allen had suffered as a
result of the gunshot wound, and evidence from an
Eastern State Hospital psychiatrist who testified that
although Allen suffered long-term depression, with an
associated history of substance abuse, and some
short-term and long-term memory loss, he was competent
to stand trial. The jury found that Garry Allen had
not met the burden of proving his incompetence by
clear and convincing evidence, thus finding him
competent to stand trial.
Less than a month later, on 10 November 1987, Garry
Allen entered a ''blind plea'' of guilty to first
degree murder. Under a blind plea, no sentence is
negotiated with the prosecution, and the court is free
to impose any sentence up to the maximum. A blind plea
abandons all defenses, including a conviction on a
lesser offence that does not carry the death penalty.
It abandoned a jury sentencing at which all 12 jurors
would have had to agree to a death sentence before one
could be imposed. The court found him competent to
make such a plea. At a later post-conviction
evidentiary hearing, his trial lawyer testified that,
in her view, Gary Allen was incompetent to make such a
plea and had not fully understood what he was giving
up by so pleading. Allen was sentenced to death, but
this first sentencing hearing was overturned because
the available option of life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole had not been considered. A
second sentencing hearing was held, and he was again
sentenced to death.
At this second sentencing hearing before a judge,
Garry Allen explained his decision to plead guilty. He
said that he had already put his and Gail Titsworth's
family through enough suffering: ''I just thought, you
know, that if I committed the crime and admitted
committing the crime that that would end it for
everybody because to stretch things out does nobody
any good... I just didn't want to put people through
this. I just didn't want to do that. Man, the people
might look at my family and they might associate that
my family has been in some way responsible for what
happened, but it was solely my actions. It was
something that I did and I don't want people to have
misconceptions about my family, you know... It just
didn't seem to me to be necessary to be dragging other
people in because I am the one responsible for this
crime.''
The defense presented an expert to detail mitigating
evidence. Dr Nelda Ferguson testified that Garry Allen
had been raised in poverty in an unstable family
environment, that he had been rejected by his
alcoholic mother, and that he himself had suffered
debilitating mood swings which resulted in numerous
suicide attempts. In his late teens Garry Allen began
to abuse alcohol and drugs. He was treated for
psychological problems, including while serving in the
Navy. The mitigation expert concluded that Garry Allen
had a personality disorder related to schizophrenia.
At the sentencing, his parents also appeared as
witnesses, testifying that there was mental illness on
both sides of the family. The defendant himself
testified that he drank as much alcohol as he could as
often as he could. He testified that around the time
of the murder, he was ''drinking a lot'' and
''drinking just about every day at that point''.
Garry Allen has epilepsy, which has apparently
worsened during his time on death row. He has frequent
seizures and doctors have said that he is so confused
for periods after these seizures that he would not
understand the reality of or reason for his impending
execution. In 1993, Garry Allen's IQ was measured at
111, above average. By 1999, it had dropped to 75.
Doctors have reportedly put this down to his ongoing
epileptic seizures combined with head injuries.
After having been presented with such evidence at a
clemency hearing on 20 April 2005, the Oklahoma Pardon
and Parole Board recommended by four votes to one that
Governor Brad Henry commute Garry Allen's death
sentence to life imprisonment. An Assistant Attorney
General, pursuing the execution for the state, was
quoted as saying that he believed that Garry Allen was
faking his mental impairments: ''It is easier to act
stupider than you are. It's impossible to act smarter
than you are. This guy now knows, play up my seizures,
play down my IQ.''
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Oklahoma has the highest rate of execution per capita
of its population of all the US death penalty states.
It ranks 27th of the 50 US states in terms of
population and third in the number of executions
carried out since the USA resumed judicial killing in
1977. It accounts for 76 of the nationwide total of
962 executions since that year. Oklahoma has violated
international law and standards in its pursuit of
judicial killing and its prosecutors have earned a
reputation for misconduct in capital cases (see AI
report Old habits die hard: The death penalty in
Oklahoma, AMR 51/055/2001, April 2001).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible, in your own words:
- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of
Gail Titsworth, and explaining that you are not
seeking to excuse the manner of her death or to
downplay the suffering that it will have caused;
- opposing the execution of Garry Allen;
- welcoming the recommendation for clemency by the
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board;
- urging the Governor to accept the recommendation and
to commute Garry Allen's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Brad Henry
State Capitol Building
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Fax: 1 405 521 3353
Salutation: Dear Governor
To send an email, go to:
www.governor.state.ok.us/message.php
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact,
including contact information and stop action date (if
applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881