**********************************************************
URGENT ACTION APPEAL----- From Amnesty International USA
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on September 29, 2009. Thanks!
18 November 2009
Further information on UA 253/09 (29 September 2009) and follow-up (06 October 2009) - Death penalty
USA Kenneth Biros (m)
Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi (m)
Mark Brown (m)
Darryl Durr (m)
Michael Beuke (m)
Richard Nields (m)
The State of Ohio has announced new lethal injection procedures and is looking to resume executions. It is seeking to execute Kenneth Biros on 8 December. Five other male prisoners in Ohio are also scheduled for execution in the coming months.
Litigation on Ohio's lethal injection process has continued since 15 September, when the state attempted to execute Romell Broom. Over the course of two hours, the execution team repeatedly tried and failed to find a useable vein in which to insert the lethal injection needle, before finally giving up (see UA 245/09). On 13 November, Ohio's Attorney General revealed that the state had decided to alter its lethal injection procedures, arguing that the changes should end all claims raised in the litigation about how the Ohio authorities carry out executions. The authorities have decided to change from a three-drug process to a procedure that uses a large dose of one chemical, thiopental sodium, an anesthetic. Secondly, the state has developed a "back-up procedure" for cases when a suitable vein cannot be found in a condemned inmate for his or her execution. This procedure would involve injecting a combination of two chemicals, midazolam and hydromorphone, into a large muscle of the prisoner, such as the thigh. In addition, the state has rejected the claim that condemned inmates have the right to the presence of their lawyers during the execution process.
The Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has said that the changes would become effective by 30 November, "in sufficient time to conduct the execution of Kenneth Biros" on 8 December. On 13 November, the US District Court judge overseeing the litigation rejected the state’s bid for an expedited schedule so that it could execute Kenneth Biros with its new method on 8 December. The state has appealed to the US Court of Appeals to have the current stay of execution, previously imposed by the District Court, lifted. The Ohio parole board has voted against clemency for Kenneth Biros. Five other Ohio inmates are currently scheduled for execution: Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi (7 January 2010); Mark Brown (4 February); Darryl Durr (20 April); Michael Beuke (15 May); and Richard Nields (10 June).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kenneth Biros, aged 51, was sentenced to death for the murder of Tami Engstrom in 1991. In a report sent to Governor Strickland on 17 November 2009, the Ohio Parole Board recommended that the governor deny clemency. The recommendation is not binding on the governor. The Ohio Parole Board also voted against recommending a reprieve while the lethal injection litigation continues, adding that "the courts are the most appropriate place to decide whether additional time is warranted before execution to further litigate the issues surrounding lethal injection". The board previously denied clemency in 2007, but Kenneth Biros received a stay of execution at that time as a result of his case being included in the litigation already underway in relation to Ohio's then three-drug lethal injection protocol.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, unconditionally, regardless of the method chosen to kill the condemned prisoner. The death penalty is inherently cruel and degrading, a punishment that is incompatible with human dignity. To end the death penalty is to abandon a destructive, diversionary and divisive public policy that is not consistent with widely held values. It not only runs the risk of irrevocable error, it is also costly, to the public purse as well as in social and psychological terms. It has not been proved to have a special deterrent effect. It tends to be applied in a discriminatory way, on grounds of race and class. It denies the possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation. It prolongs the suffering of the murder victim's family, and extends that suffering to the loved ones of the condemned prisoner. It diverts resources that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it.
Today, some 139 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. International law is abolitionist in outlook, seeking to have retentionist countries narrow the applicability of the death penalty with a view to ending its use altogether. Consistent with this, even those tried by international tribunals for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community - crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes - cannot be subjected to the death penalty. In July 2002, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court came into force. Under Article 77 of the Statute, the maximum penalty which the Court can impose is life imprisonment, subject to review after 25 years.
The USA has carried out 1,182 executions since resuming judicial killing in 1977, with 1,010 carried out by lethal injection, the method currently promoted by advocates of the death penalty as "humane." There have been 46 executions in the USA this year, 45 by lethal injection. Ohio has carried out 32 executions, four of them this year. All Ohio's executions have been carried out by lethal injection. Ohio would be the first state in the USA to adopt a one-drug lethal injection method.
Of Ohio's proposal, Jonathan Groner MD, Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, has said to Amnesty International: " 'Plan A' of the new Ohio execution protocol uses one drug administered intravenously. Thus, problems such as occurred with Romell Broom's execution are not solved by 'plan A.' Furthermore, it is not clear how an inmate will react to getting a huge dose of thiopental. In the 3-drug version, a smaller dose of thiopental was given, followed immediately by a paralytic, which blocks all responses. Without the paralytic (and with the huge dose of thiopental), how will the inmate react? Will he jerk, have a seizure, vomit? Will he have agonal respirations for an hour? Or will he just slowly turn blue? 'Plan B' requires intramuscular injection of two drugs. As far as I know, intramuscular injection of drugs is never used in clinical practice to achieve 'surgical plane of anesthesia' (meaning that the patient is so deeply comatose as to be able to endure an operation, or, in the case of lethal injection, death by asphyxiation). Thus, my opinion is that it is, indeed, an experiment."
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern that Ohio is seeking to execute Kenneth Biros on 8 December and has scheduled a number of other executions for the coming months;
- noting the announced change to Ohio's lethal injection protocol, and arguing that the death penalty can never be rendered humane, regardless of the method of execution;
- pointing out that a clear majority of countries have abandoned executions and that the death penalty is not an option even in international tribunals considering the crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity;
- calling for a moratorium on executions in the State of Ohio, pending abolition of the death penalty.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Ted Strickland
Governor's Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108
Fax: 1 614 466 9354
Salutation: Dear Governor
Richard Cordray, Ohio Attorney General
30 E. Broad Street, 17th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Fax: 1 614 728 7583
Email: richard.cordray@ohioattorneygeneral.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
Terry J. Collins, Director
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
770 West Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43222
Fax: 1 614 752 1171
Salutation: Dear Director Collins
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 30 December 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
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
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
*************************************************
To take action for Troy Davis or learn more about his case online, please
click here:
www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis
URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA
16 October 2008
UA 283/08 - Death penalty/Legal concern
USA (Georgia) Troy Anthony Davis (m), black, aged 40
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed in Georgia at 7pm
local time on 27 October. He has been on death row for 17
years for a crime he maintains he did not commit.
Troy Davis was convicted in 1991 of the murder of 27-year-
old Officer Mark Allen MacPhail who was shot and killed in
the car park of a Burger King restaurant in Savannah,
Georgia on 19 August 1989. Troy Davis was also convicted of
assaulting Larry Young, a homeless man, who was accosted
immediately before Officer MacPhail was shot. At the trial,
Troy Davis admitted that he had been at the scene of the
shooting, but claimed that he had neither assaulted Larry
Young nor shot Officer MacPhail. There was no physical
evidence identifying Troy Davis as the gunman and the weapon
used in the crime was never found. The case against him
consisted of witness testimony. In affidavits signed over
the years since the trial, a majority of the state's
witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. In
addition, there is post-trial testimony implicating another
man as the gunman.
In March 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Troy Davis a
new trial or a court hearing in which post-conviction
evidence could be presented. The Chief Justice of the state
Supreme Court, joined by two other Justices, dissented from
this decision, arguing that "In this case, nearly every
witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now
disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably. Three
persons have stated that Sylvester Coles confessed to being
the shooter. Two witnesses have stated that Sylvester Coles,
contrary to his trial testimony, possessed a handgun
immediately after the murder. Another witness has provided a
description of the crimes that might indicate that Sylvester
Coles was the shooter." The Chief Justice stated that "the
collective effect of all of Davis's new testimony, if it
were to be found credible by the trial court in a hearing,
would show the probability that a new jury would find
reasonable doubt of Davis's guilt or a least sufficient
residual doubt to decline to impose the death penalty."
Troy Davis was less than two hours from execution on 23
September 2008 when the US Supreme Court issued a stay of
execution to give it time to decide whether to hear his
appeal against the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling. The stay
of execution was dissolved on 14 October when the Court
announced that it had decided not to take the case. The
State of Georgia immediately moved to set a new execution
date.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has already
rejected clemency for Troy Davis, and has indicated that it
will not reconsider its decision. It has sole authority to
grant executive clemency in Georgia capital cases.
Tens of thousands of people in the USA and around the world
have appealed for executive clemency for Troy Davis. Among
them are former US President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; the European Union, the
European Parliament, and the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe; former FBI Director William Sessions, and
former and current members of US Congress Bob Barr, Carol
Moseley Braun and John Lewis.
International standards prohibit the execution of anyone
whose guilt is in doubt. Amnesty International opposes Troy
Davis's execution unconditionally, regardless of questions
of guilt or innocence, as it does all use of the death
penalty.
Since the USA resumed executions in 1977, 1,125 prisoners
have been put to death, 43 of them in Georgia. In the same
period, more than 100 people have been released from death
rows around the country on grounds of innocence, many of
them in cases in which witness testimony has been shown to
have been unreliable. Several prisoners have gone to their
deaths despite doubts about their guilt.
In late 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium on
executions. There have been 26 executions in the USA this
year.
For a full report on Troy Davis's case, see USA: "Where is
the justice for me?" The case of Troy Davis, facing
execution in Georgia, February 2007,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/023/2007.
FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible:
- explaining that you are not seeking to condone the murder
of Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, or to downplay the
seriousness of the crime or the suffering caused;
- expressing deep concern that the State of Georgia has
again set an execution date for Troy Davis despite
continuing doubts about his guilt;
- calling on the Board to reconsider its decision not to
grant clemency to Troy Davis, and to commute his death
sentence.
APPEALS TO:
State Board of Pardons and Paroles
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SE, Suite 458
Balcony Level, East Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334-4909
Fax: 1 404 651 8502
Tel : 1 404 657 9350
Email: Webmaster@pap.state.ga.us
Clemency_Information@pap.state.ga.us
Salutation: Dear Board members
COPIES TO:
Governor Sonny Perdue, Office of the Governor
Georgia State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Fax: 1 404 657 7332
Email:
http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,78006749_94820188,00.html
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after 27
October 2008.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Use shortcuts: Do whatever is necessary to make your letter
writing as quick and easy as possible. This way, letters
will not be put off and they can be sent out sooner. Start
by making a generic file for each type of concern;
paragraphs on torture, the death penalty, disappearances,
denial of medical care and so on, can be copied into your
working file and edited as needed.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.27 - Postcards
$0.42 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.94 - Postcards
$0.94 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
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
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
************************************************
______________________________________