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Post by Maggie on Jun 26, 2005 16:40:30 GMT -5
This just backs up how I feel about DP as an English person. AT LAST a man of 'some' authority speaks out. This will NOT look good for the US Government, but who cares? (the Pros's... ooops forgot!!! LOL). This is step in the right direction. You can't teach your children that murder is wrong, then justify using 'other wordage' that their own country CAN kill it's own people. MADNESS!!! I so agree!!
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Post by Maggie on Jun 25, 2005 12:37:06 GMT -5
A 'hanging judge's' second thoughts Fairness and balance aren't possible, so death penalty should be scrapped By Donald A. McCartin The retired Orange County Superior Court Judge, co-author of a recent book, "Perfect Justice," lives in Bass Lake. This may seem strange coming from a man known as the "hanging judge" of Orange County, but I think it's time to abolish the death penalty. During my 15 years on the bench (1978- 1993), I sent nine men to death row. I believed then it was the appropriate punishment for certain murders, but recent events have altered my view. One was the Scott Peterson case. I agree with famed Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence that facts related to the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn child did not meet the threshold of a capital case. Death row is reserved for those with histories of criminal behavior who commit particularly savage murders. Peterson had a spotless record and none of us knows the true circumstances of his wife's death. Yes, the public loathes him, but that cannot be a factor in a death verdict.Several high court decisions have impacted my views as well. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles under 18 may not be sentenced to die. Appeals courts now concern themselves about killers with IQs in the subnormal range. Do we really intend to execute only intelligent killers who waited until becoming adults before committing murder? The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and some of its arguable decisions, helped influence me. A case in point is William Payton. While presiding over his 1982 murder trial, I allowed jurors to hear testimony about "Bible Billy's" jailhouse discovery of religion. The jury apparently didn't believe that his post-murder conversion mitigated the brutal rape-stabbing of his female victim. Yet the 9th Circuit Court overturned the death verdict because I had not instructed jurors to ignore the prosecutor's argument that Payton's renascence was not a mitigating circumstance. The U.S. Supreme Court recently reinstated Payton's death sentence, but had I foreseen the wasted years and resources, I'd have sentenced him to life without parole. Another I condemned, Rodney James Alcala, first landed on death row 25 years ago. He's now back in Orange County jail awaiting his third trial in the murder of 12-year- old Robin Samsoe. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit Court said I erred during Alcala's second trial by not allowing testimony from a psychologist who wanted to testify that a key witness had not only been hypnotized by several detectives but also by the prosecutor! I disagree. Still, these legal debates result in staggering expenses and years of irresolution. These expenses have helped convert me. In times of huge budget deficits, too much money is squandered in murder trials and retrials. Studies show capital cases cost triple the amount of non-capital cases. When I tried Randy Kraft, one of this country's most prolific serial killers, the tab exceeded $10 million. This hemorrhage of taxpayers' money continues as his case and hundreds more crawl through the legal labyrinth, but anyone sentenced to die is justly entitled to his Supreme Court-mandated appeals. It currently costs $90,000 more every year to house a convict on death row. Clearly, waste could be drastically curbed by simply dumping capital punishment. I recognize that basing my decision on systemic failures opens me to the argument that once the problems are corrected, capital punishment would be acceptable. Though this sounds logical, I believe fixing these deficiencies is searching for the Holy Grail. The chances of establishing faultless government, impeccable industry or immaculate religious organizations border on nonexistent. This also applies to the quest for perfect justice. Human error, inequities, biases and personal ideologies create the problems that have caused my rejection of the death penalty. Because these frailties will not magically vanish, capital punishment cannot be implemented with any sense of balance or fairness, thus it must be abolished. Objection overruled! www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/24/sections/commentary/orange_grove/article_572329.phpi am very happy to read that this courageous man went into public...a judge who very well knows what he is talking about tells his honest beliefs to all of us....my deepest respect for this man for not being like a dog eating from his masters hand and just doing what he is told to do but using his knowledge and conscience instead to say things frankly.... ADMIRABLE !!!!!!!! Mo-DAWG I couldn't agree more. Finally a judge with some balls. I hope Al "Petri-dish" Delucchi (judge who presided over Scott Peterson's trial) reads it!
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Post by Maggie on Jun 25, 2005 9:36:04 GMT -5
OMG! That is too cool! Thanks for posting, Maggie!!! I just saw Lene posted it in the news section.... she beat me to it ;D Feel free to move this (or delete) if you want...... however, I kind of like it on the main page too. ;D
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Post by Maggie on Jun 25, 2005 9:26:19 GMT -5
A 'hanging judge's' second thoughts Fairness and balance aren't possible, so death penalty should be scrapped By Donald A. McCartin The retired Orange County Superior Court Judge, co-author of a recent book, "Perfect Justice," lives in Bass Lake. This may seem strange coming from a man known as the "hanging judge" of Orange County, but I think it's time to abolish the death penalty. During my 15 years on the bench (1978- 1993), I sent nine men to death row. I believed then it was the appropriate punishment for certain murders, but recent events have altered my view. One was the Scott Peterson case. I agree with famed Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence that facts related to the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn child did not meet the threshold of a capital case. Death row is reserved for those with histories of criminal behavior who commit particularly savage murders. Peterson had a spotless record and none of us knows the true circumstances of his wife's death. Yes, the public loathes him, but that cannot be a factor in a death verdict.Several high court decisions have impacted my views as well. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles under 18 may not be sentenced to die. Appeals courts now concern themselves about killers with IQs in the subnormal range. Do we really intend to execute only intelligent killers who waited until becoming adults before committing murder? The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and some of its arguable decisions, helped influence me. A case in point is William Payton. While presiding over his 1982 murder trial, I allowed jurors to hear testimony about "Bible Billy's" jailhouse discovery of religion. The jury apparently didn't believe that his post-murder conversion mitigated the brutal rape-stabbing of his female victim. Yet the 9th Circuit Court overturned the death verdict because I had not instructed jurors to ignore the prosecutor's argument that Payton's renascence was not a mitigating circumstance. The U.S. Supreme Court recently reinstated Payton's death sentence, but had I foreseen the wasted years and resources, I'd have sentenced him to life without parole. Another I condemned, Rodney James Alcala, first landed on death row 25 years ago. He's now back in Orange County jail awaiting his third trial in the murder of 12-year- old Robin Samsoe. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit Court said I erred during Alcala's second trial by not allowing testimony from a psychologist who wanted to testify that a key witness had not only been hypnotized by several detectives but also by the prosecutor! I disagree. Still, these legal debates result in staggering expenses and years of irresolution. These expenses have helped convert me. In times of huge budget deficits, too much money is squandered in murder trials and retrials. Studies show capital cases cost triple the amount of non-capital cases. When I tried Randy Kraft, one of this country's most prolific serial killers, the tab exceeded $10 million. This hemorrhage of taxpayers' money continues as his case and hundreds more crawl through the legal labyrinth, but anyone sentenced to die is justly entitled to his Supreme Court-mandated appeals. It currently costs $90,000 more every year to house a convict on death row. Clearly, waste could be drastically curbed by simply dumping capital punishment. I recognize that basing my decision on systemic failures opens me to the argument that once the problems are corrected, capital punishment would be acceptable. Though this sounds logical, I believe fixing these deficiencies is searching for the Holy Grail. The chances of establishing faultless government, impeccable industry or immaculate religious organizations border on nonexistent. This also applies to the quest for perfect justice. Human error, inequities, biases and personal ideologies create the problems that have caused my rejection of the death penalty. Because these frailties will not magically vanish, capital punishment cannot be implemented with any sense of balance or fairness, thus it must be abolished. Objection overruled! www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/24/sections/commentary/orange_grove/article_572329.php
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Post by Maggie on May 20, 2005 6:56:22 GMT -5
Surgical nurse I have a willingness to help. I'm in the US so anyone who is outside of the US that needs I assstance in getting info to a prisoner, or some supplies asap... let me know.
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Post by Maggie on May 19, 2005 17:18:59 GMT -5
Benty's opinions come from horrible personal experiences that include the loss of his precious grandson to murder; so we can all understand that Benty sees through that prism; and part of his support for the DP comes from the fear of repeat offenders as above. I think we can all agree that we all need to work towards something like this never happening again - its just that the people here don't think simply killing all inmates convicted of murder is the answer to the possible threat of someone getting freed and murdering again. Sentencing and parole and LWOP all need to be looked at; and we need to fix the system so that cases don't fall through the cracks; and so that society is protected. But the answer is not to react out of fear and hatred. I agree 100% Tracy.....
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Post by Maggie on May 17, 2005 15:21:34 GMT -5
I never heard of it... what is it?
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Post by Maggie on May 16, 2005 8:50:44 GMT -5
The problem with jurors is that they don't take the job serious enough to follow the law.
BEYOND a REASONABLE DOUBT is not a concept I think they take very seriously.
I posted the whole article on the Scott Peterson thread in the specific case section.... but I want to repost some of it here- because I agree with Carl Worden:
That's the kind of citizens and jurors we've got to choose from nowadays: They are completely immoral, irrational, angry and vicious and just want to see someone most likely to have done it, killed. Scott Peterson's guilt doesn't need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt; close is good enough, and the problem with that attitude is what constitutes real evidence of a person's guilt in their tiny little minds. That alone should scare the bejeebers out of 54% of you! You don't ever want to be in the same shoes as those 114 innocent men that these jurors flippantly condemned to death. These jurors are a people devoid of wisdom and of principle and they are extremely dangerous sitting in judgment of others to the extent of being criminally negligent.
So what's the difference between a drunk driver, who accidentally kills someone, and an irresponsible juror who condemns a person to death on insufficient evidence? Answer: The drunk driver has an excuse!
These people who are so eager to condemn others to death on such flimsy evidence truly regard themselves as stand-up citizens for law and order, while having all the moral fortitude of the average lynch mob. It would be different if we had just one eyewitness who actually saw Scott Peterson dump Laci's body -- or something that looked like it -- off his boat in San Francisco Bay. It would be helpful if neighbors saw Scott Peterson haul something heavy into his boat or truck that morning. If there was enough blood evidence in volume in the Peterson home to indicate Laci died there, and didn't just bleed a little from cutting her hand in the kitchen, that would constitute real evidence in the mind of a responsible juror. Had the cops found Laci's body using the sonar search they conducted in the area around the Berkeley Marina soon after her disappearance, they might have been able to determine cause of death and develop other physical evidence, but after four months in the water, there's not much left to glean evidence from. The evidence we need to see is the cement blocks on the floor of the bay that were allegedly molded at the Peterson home and allegedly used to weigh the body of Laci Peterson down. If the recovered cement blocks in the bay could be solidly tied to the cement poured at the Peterson home, then that would probably be enough for me. If part of Laci's body were still attached, I'd push the button on Scott Peterson right then and there, and without looking back. Another killer could have dumped Laci's body in the same area after reading about where Scott was the day she disappeared, but only Scott would have used concrete blocks molded at his home to weigh her body down.
The problem is that no such witnesses or evidence in the aforementioned paragraph currently exist.
So what do these potential jurors regard as convincing evidence of Scott Peterson's guilt in the murder of his wife? Why, that man sold her car! He changed his appearance! He had $10,000.00 on him when arrested! He had an affair! He had $250,000.00 in life insurance on Laci! Oh, and my all time favorite: He didn't act right -- at least not according to the standards of these potential jurors! I'm telling you, people like these should never be allowed to sit on a jury in a shoplifting case, let alone a capital murder trial. These are some of the scariest and most dangerous people in America, because they can sit back and flippantly pass judgment destroying an innocent person's life, then go home acting normally, just like your average sociopath serial killer.
Fifty bucks says these jackass jurors wouldn't be quite so loose with other people's lives if they faced execution themselves following exoneration of a person they wrongly convicted and recommended for death. Do ya think?? I'll bet that would give them an attitude adjustment, how about you? Do you think they’d be a little more demanding of rock-solid evidence then?
It is because we have potential jurors like these, free and walking the streets, that we have 114 innocent men freed from death row -- and counting. They would have never been on death row in the first place, were it not for those fine citizens who make up that 46%.
Carl F. Worden
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Post by Maggie on May 16, 2005 10:51:37 GMT -5
Great post Tracy.
I used to be pro-DP, but that was without giving it much thought. At the time, I was also under the niave impression that wrongful convictions were a rare thing. I still had faith in the justice system back then, mostly because I had no direct experience and I assumed the government looked out for the best interests of everybody. I was wrong.
My journey began with the Scott Peterson case- but I've moved on this issue with lightening speed. I am now 100% AGAINST the DP for ANYONE...... and I am a strong advocate for the wrongfully convicted and I now know this is an epidemic in the US!
By the way..... Truth1 was wrong about the influence the CCADP has had.
Yo, Truth, listen up....... one more American voter has been swayed by the CCADP ;D
Keep up the GREAT work you do Tracy!! I am proud to know you!
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Post by Maggie on Jun 1, 2005 10:35:00 GMT -5
me too-- if you need to talk, just pm me.
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Post by Maggie on May 7, 2005 20:59:21 GMT -5
Note - this one actually did come from a smart @ss guard at the Texas Dept of Corrections, (he used his real email and so I found that out!) I sent a formal letter of complaint to the TDCJ saying how disturbing it is that someone who is responsible for the care of inmates would write this. I got a letter back from the TDCJ apologizing and saying this was completely inappropriate and the person would be warned. From: Jmgrisw@aol.com To: info@ccadp.org Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 2:28 PM Subject: Important Message From Texas Department of Corrections To whom it may concern: I just came across your web site sponsoring Texas death row inmates. The fact that I actually work in the Texas Department of Corrections, TDC (unlike you folks) places me in a unique position to speak with authority regarding these inmates. In brief I would like you all to know at CCADP that I and my colleagues have personally invested significant time ensuring these death sentences where carried out. . Do you have any idea the amount of paperwork there is to enforce a stay of execution. It is much less work and time consuming to go ahead with the execution on schedule. Sure some of the guys may be innocent but I have a good paying part time job and a family to feed and the TDC don't pay overtime since 2001 so any extra work we do goes unpaid. So you see its not that we don't care about the guys its just we are real busy and sometimes you got to throw a few good apples in with the bad ones to make your apple cider on schedule. You know how it is, don't you? Its not personal or anything, they just got a bad role of the dice. In order for us to get off work on time and keep our higher paying part-time jobs my men and I are dedicated to speeding up the current execution process. We have to ensure that the executions will go on and faster then ever by next year. Sure we like some of the guys but a job is a job, you Canada folks can understand that can't you? On a side note. If you would like I can arrange for you and your friends to witness some of the executions if you like.. They sell them at the commissary for $9.99 + tax. You would be surprised but they're kind of interesting to watch. Keep up the good work and....... Remember we love you.. OMG..................... This is beyond disgusting.... Have you ever considered taking this to the media... I'm not kidding... this is sick.
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Post by Maggie on May 7, 2005 12:05:45 GMT -5
Do you know his last name?
Or any name associated with his case?
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Post by Maggie on May 5, 2005 11:44:11 GMT -5
how come nobody is talking about michael ross and people are talking about richard cartwright when micheals exucution is closer? Hi Bourney, I'm curious, do you know why Michael Ross is volunteering to be executed? That seems very drastic to me.
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Post by Maggie on Sept 17, 2005 8:10:50 GMT -5
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Post by Maggie on May 20, 2005 6:50:53 GMT -5
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