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The Indiana Information Center on the Abolition of Capital Punishment (IICACP) exists to expose the injustice associated with the application of the death penalty in Indiana. IICACP is open to anyone who is opposed to the death penalty.
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Winter 2006 Volume 6 Number 1
President’s Message by Chris Hitz-Bradley, IICACP President No one sets out to be an activist and abolitionists are no different. Asked what they want to do with their lives, no one starts out saying they want to spend their free time on the difficult and thankless task of trying to convince others that murderers’ lives should be spared. Most abolitionists’ activism springs from moral conviction: they believe that killing is always wrong, whether by an individual or the government. But the moral argument has a limit. For every moral argument abolitionists make condemning capital punishment, supporters just as earnestly offer one condoning capital punishment. While moral conviction is what drives most of us to oppose the death penalty, we must be careful not to allow our convictions to harm our cause. Recently, I spoke with a friend who had gotten into an argument with an angry abolitionist. The abolitionist was angry because my friend was not morally opposed to the death penalty and told him so in very strong terms. The angry abolitionist’s morally superior attitude divided her from my friend and prevented her from seeing that he was actually against the death penalty, but for practical, not moral, reasons. My friend told me about an Indiana case he knew of where the defendant had hunted down 2 men who had burglarized his house and, in retaliation, the defendant abducted murder the two men. In most counties in Indiana, this would be a death penalty case but, convicted of both murders, the defendant received concurrent 40 year sentences. The defendant and both the victims were African American. My friend told me about another Indiana case where a man served 17 years in prison for murder before evidence came to light proving his innocence. If the case had been a capital case, it could have resulted in the execution of an innocent man. My friend found compelling reasons to oppose capital punishment in the capricious way in which the death penalty is applied and in the possibility of an error resulting in the execution of an innocent man. He said he felt strongly enough about the death penalty that, if asked, he would contact his legislator to advocate for abolition. But, because of experiences like the one with the angry abolitionist, he said he would not feel welcome at an IICACP meeting. I trust that no one mistakes these comments for a suggestion that we should compromise our moral conviction on the death penalty. I believe as strongly as anyone that the death penalty is morally wrong. But we must be wary not to let our convictions prevent us from making common cause with those with differing philosophical or religious beliefs on the death penalty. The great majority of people are like my friend. They do not oppose the death penalty per se, but they have grave reservations about its application and recognize that, being a human institution, it is subject to human failings. If we are going to end the death penalty, we have to reach out to those in this group who will support us and at least not alienate the rest. DEATH PENALTY NEWS (Most of the information for Death Penalty News is from Paula Sites’ articles published in the Indiana Defender, monthly publication of the Indiana Public Defender Council, of which Paula is Assistant Director. Paula generously allows us to use her articles for the Indiana Abolitionist.)
3 Federal Executions set for May The federal government has set the execution of 3 men in the same week in May. The 3 co-defendants were sentenced to death for the same drug-related murders and are scheduled to be executed May 8th, 10th & 12th. IICACP will coordinate actions around those dates with local and national groups. Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Tommy Pruitt’s Death Sentence On September LWOP Agreement for Kerry Wilson In Floyd County, attorneys for Kerry Wilson negotiated a plea agreement that called for Wilson to plead guilty to the murders of Vicki Hunt and DaJuan Clark. In exchange for the plea, the prosecutor dismissed the death penalty request and habitual offender charge. At the time of the killings, Wilson was being held at a halfway house pending a revocation of his probation for a previous charge of battering Hunt, a former girlfriend. Wilson escaped from the halfway house and walked five miles to Hunt’s home, where he stabbed Hunt and Clark to death. Hunt’s thirteen-year-old son was in the home but was not injured. David Maust Pleads to LWOP In Lake County, David Maust pled guilty to LWOP in exchange for the prosecutor dropping the death penalty request. Maust was charged with killing three teen-aged boys and burying them in his basement. He had a previous involuntary manslaughter conviction while in the Army, an aggravated assault conviction in Texas, and a murder conviction in Illinois, all involving young male victims. With those prior convictions and three current victims, this was a case that was always likely to be a death penalty case. It was only through the extraordinary 2 year effort of Maust’s defense team that the prosecutor was convinced to agree to LWOP. Several aspects of Maust’s background are illustrative. Maust was “dumped” in a mental hospital at age 9, largely because his mother simply didn’t want him. Staff notes in his file described him standing by the window during visiting hours, waiting for his mother and making excuses for her when she did not show up. At the mental hospital and later at a children’s home, Maust was exposed to perverse sexuality, and was sexually abused as well. One psychiatrist who examined Maust concluded, “one would be hard-pressed to design a developmental sequence more likely to produce a profoundly disturbed, relationship-ambivalent, and aggression-vulnerable individual than the childhood experienced by David Maust.” Before his release from prison on his Illinois murder conviction, Maust had written to Illinois authorities asking to be committed indefinitely to a secure facility pursuant to Illinois’ “sexually violent person” law. His request was ignored. At the plea hearing, the Lake County prosecutor noted that if Illinois had done its job, the Indiana murders would not have occurred. 7th Circuit Reverses James Harrison’s Convictions and Death Sentence The 7th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals reversed the convictions and death sentence of James Harrison because his due process right to trial by a judge free from actual bias was denied. Harrison was charged with the 1989 Posey County murders of Stacy Forsee and her two young children. Harrison’s attorneys discovered that not long before she was killed, Forsee had told the Indiana State Police that she had been followed by a “suspicious van,” and that she was in fear for her life because she had information about drug activity in Posey County. She told them she had been present at a local home when a large quantity of drugs was unloaded, and that prominent local officials, including Judge Redwine, had been present at the home. Judge Redwine was the judge presiding at Harrison’s trial. Harrison’s attorneys asked Judge Redwine to recuse himself so they could pursue a defense based on this information, but Redwine refused. At the hearing on the recusal, Redwine not only denied the relevance of this evidence, but presented evidence and testimony of his own. Redwine presided over Harrison’s trial and imposed the death sentence. 3 Death Penalty Bills Introduced Besides the mental illness bill discussed in Paula Sites’ article below, three other death penalty bills have been introduced this legislative session. SB 48 would require a court to impose LWOP or a term of years if a jury could not reach a decision on recommending the death penalty. SB 160 would reduce the number of witnesses a prisoner can have at his execution from 10 to 5 and allow up to 8 "adult members of the immediate family of the victim to be present at an execution." SB 122 would give the Indiana State Prison superintendent the authority to exclude witnesses to an execution if "the number of persons intending to be present at the execution would unduly crowd the viewing chamber." All 3 bills have been referred to the Committee on Corrections, Criminal, and Civil Matters. None have a hearing scheduled--yet. New Jersey Assembly Passes Moratorium On January 9th, the New Jersey Assembly passed a bill imposing a one-year moratorium on executions. The bill had previously passed the Senate and will now go to the governor who is expected to sign it. COMING EVENTS Celebrate Life On Wednesday, March 1, 2006 at 4:30 pm in the State House Rotunda, abolitionists are invited to participate in the seventh annual Celebrate Life-Alternatives to the Death Penalty. March 1st marks the date In 1847 that Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty. Amnesty International USA will recognize the Indiana Abolitionist of the Year. Come early to meet with your representative and senator and let them know of your support for life alternatives and opposition to the death penalty. Sponsors: AI, Bloomington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, IICACP, Indpls. Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, North Meadow Circle of Friends, Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg. Refreshments provided. For more information contact Karen Burkhart at (317) 839-1618. Film Debut On March 3, 2006, the documentary “After Innocence” will premiere in Indianapolis. The film documents the story of seven exonerated men as they attempt to rebuild their lives after spending decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. Plans for activities around this event are not yet complete but IICACP will at least have a presence at the premiere. We will keep members informed as plans develop. Death Row Art Show at Franklin College IICACP board member Bonnie Johnson has arranged an exhibit of the Death Row Art Show at Franklin College’s Johnson Center for Fine Arts. The show will open March 2, 2006, and run through the month. There will be other events in conjunction with the show, possibly including a dramatic presentation and speakers. We will keep members informed as plans develop. DEAD MAN WALKING PROJECT UPDATE By Ed Towne, IICACP Board member IICACP is participating in the planning of a series of events to take place in February, 2007, in what has come to be called the “Dead Man Walking Project.” Members of the fine arts faculty at Butler University, Peter Alexander, John Green, Rose Kleiman, with Judith Cebula of its Center for Faith and Vocation and Mary Mitchell of IUPUI Law School are heading up the planning and implementing. Planned events include an Oxford-style debate on the death penalty, a production of the play “Dead Man Walking” by a local college, a production of the operetta, “The Penal Colony,” a film series, a possible art exhibition, special courses offered at area colleges and universities, major speakers and a clergy panel discussing the death penalty. These events will occur at several venues in central Indiana. Planners hope that area schools can incorporate these events in their curricula, as well as area churches in their planning. Bill to Exempt Mentally Ill Defendants from the Death Penalty by Paula Sites, Asst. Executive Director of the Indiana Public Defender Council Among the many bills introduced in the 2006 Indiana General Assembly is Sen. Anita Bowser’s Senate Bill 66, an important bill for those who care about the death penalty. This bill would amend Indiana’s death penalty law to treat defendants with mental illness similarly to those with mental retardation. Defendants would be exempt from the death penalty or life without parole if a judge determines in a pre-trial hearing that: at the time of the offense, [the defendant] had a severe mental disorder or disability that significantly impaired [his or her] capacity: (a) to appreciate the nature, consequences or wrongfulness of [his or her] conduct, (b) to exercise rational judgment in relation to [his or her] conduct, or (c) to conform [his or her] conduct to the requirements of the law. A disorder manifested primarily by repeated criminal conduct or attributable solely to the acute effects of alcohol or other drugs does not, standing alone, constitute a mental disorder or disability for purposes of this provision. The bill is based on model language drafted by the ABA’s Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty, which was organized by the ABA section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of the mentally retarded The Court recognized that, because of their reduced mental capacity, the mentally retarded are not as morally culpable as others and less capable of being deterred by the death penalty. Like defendants with mental retardation, many defendants with mental illness are also less morally culpable and less capable of being deterred by the death penalty. While the Task Force was working, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of juveniles, because, like the mentally retarded, they lack the mental capacity of adults and are therefore less morally culpable and less capable of being deterred by the death penalty. This decision gave the Task Force further impetus in its work on behalf of the mentally ill. The Task Force included lawyers and law professors, as well as mental health professionals, members of the American Psychiatric and Psychological Associations, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), and the National Mental Health Association. Each of those groups has endorsed the model language on which SB 66 was based, and NAMI Indiana and the Mental Health Association of Indiana both voted to endorse it as well. Neither the Task Force nor Larry Landis and I at the Indiana Public Defender Council foresaw introducing a bill based on the model language until the 2007 general assembly, particularly because this year’s session is a short one, in which all bills must be heard in committee in their house of origin during the month of January. However, the public interest sparked by the Arthur Baird clemency campaign encouraged us to begin our efforts a year early, and we began to work to develop support from NAMI Indiana and the Mental Health Association of Indiana. NAMI Ft. Wayne has been very supportive, as well. We have identified potential supporters for the bill beyond those legislators who have historically opposed the death penalty. Although they have been reluctant to sponsor the bill during this short session, when time is tight and priorities must be narrowed, they give us hope for the future and have suggested ways to gain additional support in the coming year. For now, though, Senate Bill 66 has been introduced by Sen. Bowser and has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Richard Bray of Martinsville. Representatives from NAMI Indiana and other local affiliates will contact him to ask that he give the bill a hearing. We encourage others to do so, as well. The Indiana Catholic Conference is making the bill a focus of a luncheon event it is hosting for legislators in January. Even if Sen. Bray does not hear the bill this year, he will know and remember that the bill has interest and support. The talking points are fairly simple. Although IICACP believes that the death penalty should be abolished, if we are going to have a death penalty, it should be reserved for the “worst of the worst.” Like the mentally retarded and children under 18, those with severe mental disorders are simply less morally culpable than the rest of us. Even if you believe that the death penalty deters crime, it cannot act as a deterrent for someone suffering from a severe mental disorder. LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION NEEDED by Debbie Peddy, IICACP Board Member Help IICACP understand the Indiana General Assembly’s position on capital punishment. IICACP’s past experience shows that legislators will almost always respond to questions from constituents, but not from groups like IICACP. This makes it difficult for IICACP to accurately gauge legislative support for the death penalty. Please take a few minutes to contact your state senator and representative to get their stand on the death penalty. Pass the information to us and we will collate it. 3 Ways to find the name/district # of your representative and senator 1) Contact your local election board, county clerk, or public library; 2. Call: IN House of Representatives: 1-800-382-9842, or 317-232-9600 3. Internet: www.in.gov\apps\sos\legislator\search
Address for both senators and representatives: Statehouse Legislators’ e-mail addresses are their senate or house district number @in.gov.
POINTS TO I INCLUDE WHEN CONTACTING LEGISLATORS 1. Always mention that you are a constituent. 2. State the primary reason for your opposition to capital punishment. 3. Capital punishment is not a deterrent to violent crime. 4. Capital punishment costs far more than life in prison. 5. Innocent people have been sentenced to death, and some may have been executed. 6. Racial bias in capital sentencing violates the US Constitution. 7. Capital punishment violates Art. I, Sec. 18 of the Indiana Constitution: “The penal code shall be founded on the principle of reformation and not of vindictive justice.” 8. Life without the possibility of parole is a better alternative.
DAVID KACZYNSKI SPEAKS IN INDIANAPOLIS by Steve Schutte, IICACP Board member IICACP hosted a riveting presentation by David Kaczynski at our annual meeting on November 12, 2005. Kaczynski’s November 12th appearance was sponsored by IICACP and the Christian Theological Seminar. He also spoke at IU Bloomington through the sponsorship of the School of Social Work and at IU-Indy Law School through the sponsorship of Law Students Against the Death Penalty. Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, spoke of his personal confrontation with the death penalty. Kaczynski is the brother of Ted Kaczynski, the “Unabomber.” Through the mid-90s, the Unabomber mailed explosive-filled packages around the United States. Several people died and others were injured when the packages exploded. As David learned more about what was known about the Unabomber, he slowly and reluctantly concluded that his brother was the Unabomber. Kaczynski and his wife faced an agonizing decision: do nothing, hoping that the bombings would stop, but knowing that others might be attacked or tell the FBI, knowing that Ted could face execution. Ultimately, they decided that the Unabomber had to be stopped; they contacted the FBI and Ted was arrested. With the arrest, the US Justice Department’s need for the Kaczynskis’ cooperation ended. Thus, the Justice Department, which had seemed to sympathize with the Kaczynskis’ plight, including their desire to avoid having Ted killed, turned its back on the Kaczynskis focused its resources on securing the Unabomber’s death. The compassion shown the Kaczynskis as they worried about their mentally ill family member vanished. In its place, the government put a psychiatrist who sought to deny Ted’s humanity and to demonize Ted before the jury, so that the jury would feel only anger toward him. Fortunately for the Kaczynskis, Ted was represented by highly skilled, highly motivated, adequately compensated attorneys. Those attorneys worked to understand Ted, were able to retain qualified professionals to assist them in their representation, and ultimately secured an agreement that Ted would serve a life sentence. Others in similar situations have not been so lucky. Kaczynski spoke of receiving a phone call from Bill Babbitt, whose brother Manny was on California’s death row. Like David Kaczynski, Bill Babbit had helped the authorities locate and arrest Manny for crimes he committed. Like Ted Kaczynski, Manny Babbitt was seriously mentally ill. Like Ted Kaczynski, Manny Babbitt committed crimes borne of that illness. And like Ted Kaczynski, Manny Babbitt was arrested by authorities who had promised to respect the wishes of the family-members who assisted in the arrest—authorities who discarded those promises as soon as they had what they wanted. Unlike Ted Kaczynski, Manny Babbitt was sentenced to die and, in 1999, California killed him. More than most of us, David Kaczynski has learned that the death penalty survives because its supporters have been able to divide our society. By demonizing those who commit violent crimes, by denying their humanity, by convincing jurors and judges that they are somehow defective, death penalty supporters make death easier to impose. But, as David understands better than most of us, crimes are often committed by those closest to us. Crimes are committed by our brothers, our sisters, our fathers and uncles. Crimes are committed by people. Since his ordeal, Kaczynski has become Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. He also spoke of his group’s successful strategy to prevent re-institution of the death penalty in New York. He spoke of the ongoing nature of that struggle, with a message that speaks to us as well. Our effort requires coordinated work by many groups who may oppose the death penalty for different reasons. In order to reach our goal, we must identify organizations which support our movement, and bring them into our coalition. Those of us who were fortunate enough to attend David’s talk were in the presence of a man who exudes a special calm and a special understanding of human frailty. His strength and courage, and his ability to exhibit those qualities in his life and his speeches, are unique and valuable. IICACP was fortunate to have had David participate in our annual meeting. He gives us another reason to hope that the abolition of the death penalty is near. DEATH ROW ART EXHIBIT REVIEW By Edgar A. Towne, IICACP Board member “Journey from Death Row and Back: An Exhibit of art from Indiana’s Death Row” was shown at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, November 11–18, 2005. The exhibit comprised the works of 24 men on federal death row in Terre Haute and state death row in Michigan City and included pictorial works, poetry and crafts. The exhibit was IICACP’s part of the Spirit and Place Festival and was co-sponsored by the Christian Theological Seminary, and Amnesty International of Indianapolis. The artists employed a diversity of media in their pictorial works: acrylic on canvas, watercolor, drawings on paper in pencil, ink, crayon, and felt pen, even drawings in a comics format. Their work uniformly displayed effective use of color and skillful use of technique. Strong emotions show in these works, perhaps best shown in Billie Allen’s (Federal) comics booklet and his untitled abstract portrait with its sad, en-barred, Picasso-like visage peering through a tangle of flower-like brush strokes. In any future showing of this exhibit this might well be the signature piece. A range of emotions associated with imprisonment and imminent death combine in these works with hope and appreciation of animals, landscape, freedom, and loved ones on the outside. Exquisitely in pencil William E. LeCroy, Jr. (Federal) shows two children running away from the viewer on a wide beach toward the waves. Also in pencil, Phillip Stroud (Indiana) subtly professes his innocence against a forested home with a lonely figure approaching. Keith Nelson (Indiana) adorns envelopes with penciled animals and paints in hues of pink a broken heart held together by frayed tape; yet a yellow rose grows out of the brokenness. Anger, foreboding, and perhaps a fierce hope are expressed in the two strong images in crayon on paper by Michael Dean Overstreet–faces formed by a flame and a butterfly with owl-like eyes. Working with acrylic on canvas, two artists depicted the bureaucratic administration and inhumanity of the death penalty in the ways it has historically been imposed in the United States. Jeffry Paul (Federal) offers three grotesque images—a face in a gas mask, a handcuffed man whose head is connected to an electrical circuit, a featureless head whose mouth is concealed behind a perforated metal disc in whose ears are wired ear phones—each against an abstract background that suggests a dark cosmic space, a lethal space in blood-red and black, and a gray, isolating space, that of the visitation area respectively. With no human figures at all, David Hammer (Federal) depicts the stark efficient space of two lethal injection rooms, a hanging platform in a dark winter woods, and an electrocution chamber. Several inmates presented poetry also expressing these feelings. In his “Automatically Death Row,” Koor-an-Nur (Indiana) articulates rage and contempt of his situation, saying in part, “Automatically it runs through my veins/ I’m kinda afraid—as the goon squad walks me away/ Automatically it runs through my veins …” Marvin C. Gabrion II (Federal) offers “Stolen Love.” Howard Allen (Federal) offers “The Treasure of the Deep.” James P. Harrison (Indiana) offers “Just Give Your Heart to Jesus.” Daniel Lewis Lee (Federal) offers “Poem #1.” Bountaem Chanthadara (Illinois) offers “Smile to Keep from Crying.” Jeffry Paul, who has been mentioned already, offers “Then this is yours … (To Carrie).” Several of these poems are enigmatic. Still, they show strong men resigned to their situation also able to love and to hope, suggested in a haiku by William LeCroy, mentioned above, “His hand shelters me/ Among the rock’s snuffled cleft/ God is all I see.” The respect for one’s African and/or faith heritage is also found in this exhibit. Koor-an-Nur, whose poem is cited above, shows this in his self-portrait in pencil. Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl (Indiana) in his three vivid images shows the triumph of the male and female African soul as does Phillip Stroud, already mentioned, in one of his penciled images. Frederick Baer (Indiana) working in crayon on handkerchiefs represents two Psalms with vivid images meticulously drawn. One of these represents a dingy cell in the shape of the State of Indiana, bars broken by the light of the cross, the inmate’s eyes shielded from the light by his arm, in his other hand a broken hangman’s rope. Donald Wallace (who was executed by Indiana on March 10, 2005), in an image that also might be a signature piece for a future exhibition, with felt pen on paper in red and black, presents a haunting image of a bearded, blood-streaked face with the motto: “I weep not for me but for ye.” Yet the spirit of this exhibit is the glory of the out-of-doors, the sense of being free, the cherished landscapes of nature and the animals. The signature image of this exhibit is the dynamic black and white eagle descending through stars and clouds to clasp it prey or perch by Keith Canaan (Indiana). More benign and colorful are the lovely images of a tropical bird and egret by Benny Saylor (Indiana). Other landscapes and animals by David Hammer with Jeffry Paul are two colorful biblical scenes and a self-portrait and farm landscape by Hammer. Those by Phillip Stroud, and Keith Nelson have been noticed. Zolo Azania (Indiana) presents four carefully executed ink drawings in black and white, two of which focus on life inside prison, two outside. Full of symbols, these drawings gather up the feelings and meanings displayed in the exhibit. It remains to be mentioned that a brass tree of life decorated by origami birds and animals constructed by Matthew “Eric” Wrinkles greeted visitors at the entrance of the exhibit. Special mention must be made of three members of the IICACP board who were instrumental in gathering the works, mounting the exhibit, and producing a booklet of the poetry which also listed the names and addresses of the artists. Alice Fitzgerald, Nick Hess, and Michael Hartt skillfully mounted the exhibit and framed the pictorial art with the help of a grant from Amnesty International |
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