Archive for

March, 2014



Tennessee’s Death Penalty: What is the True Cost?

A recent article in the Tennessean makes a good attempt at beginning to address the unknown costs of the death penalty, citing everything from trial costs to housing and healthcare for inmates. The article reveals what opponents of the death penalty have known for quite some time: The state of Tennessee cannot say for certain what the real, comprehensive cost of the death penalty is to taxpayers, nor do they seem to want to.

In a time when Tennessee cannot afford services that it truly needs, such as funding for persons with intellectual disabilities, or that revenue shortfalls might lead to cuts in higher education, the state maintains a bloated and ineffective capital punishment system. What sorts of resources could we offer victims’ families for all that we are spending to pursue death for a handful of offenders?  How many unsolved murder cases could finally be closed if law enforcement had more resources?

Efforts to speed up the process present an untenable solution, as Assistant Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry says in the Tennessean article, “If you just give up the appeals and deny counsel, the number of innocent that you put to death will rise.”

As the most recent Pew poll shows, support for the death penalty is shrinking at the same time that Tennessee plans to resume executions. Perhaps unwittingly, Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, has offered a helpful solution to the state’s financial woes, when he states, “We’ve had people on death row since 1986, 1982. We really don’t have a death penalty, to be honest.”

Yes, let’s be honest, Lieutenant Governor. Let’s tell the truth about what the death penalty costs tax payers. Let’s imagine how those funds might go to real needs in Tennessee. Let’s tell the truth about the source of our lethal injection drugs.

If we really do not have a functional death penalty, why not repeal the death penalty so we can stop wasting time and money on a system that is failing.

(Photosource: khq.com)

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Ray Krone and TADP Launch Open Letter to Governor Haslam

The nation’s 100th death row exoneree, Ray Krone, and Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty are launching an open letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam asking  that the state not resume executions this year.

In his invitation to join him in signing the letter, Ray reminds citizens of the death penalty system’s failings and the continued risk of executing the innocent. Tennessee’s wrongfully convicted – Paul House, Michael McCormick, Gussie Vann, and Ndume Olatushani – bolster Ray’s claim that our state’s system is broken and cannot be trusted.

We ask Governor Haslam to stop all executions until the legislature has considered the recommendations of the Tennessee Committee to Study the Administration of the Death Penalty (2007-2009); to ensure transparency concerning the source of Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs; and to consider how the millions of dollars wasted on the death penalty might be spent to address the needs of victims’ families, for more resources for law enforcement, or for mental health and drug treatment services.  We should make sure that money is spent to improve life, not take it.

Make your voice heard. Sign the letter. Invite friends to do the same. Let’s end a system that is broken beyond repair.

Sign here!

 

 

(Photo source: http://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/exonerees/ray-krone.html)

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

TADP’s 2014 Justice Day on the Hill Demonstrates a Changing Climate in Tennessee

TADP’s  2014 Justice Day on the Hill proved what TADP supporters already know: the tide is turning in Tennessee’s movement to repeal the death penalty. Tennessee legislators welcomed citizens throughout the day (March 18) to hear concerns about cost, fairness, the risk of executing an innocent person, and the impact of the death penalty on victims’ families. Participants reported more openness from their legislators than ever before to the problems with the death penalty system in our state, a system that is failing.

The credit for such a successful day belongs to TADP supporters, people from all walks of life – attorneys, nurses, clergy, the wrongfully convicted,  and murder victims’ family members – who demonstrate to others the systemic problem of capital punishment with equal parts clarity and understanding.  This approach continues to educate individuals and move them toward repeal.

If you weren’t able to attend Justice Day, we hope you will consider writing a letter to your lawmaker indicating your support for repeal.

And again, thanks to all who participated.

(Photo source: www.dreamstime.com)

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

New Hampshire House Votes for Repeal

Yesterday, after two hours of debate and years of work by supporters of repeal, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 225-104 to repeal the state’s death penalty. The bill now heads to the Senate. Bill sponsor, Executive Director of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, and friend of TADP, Rep. Renny Cushing, whose father and brother-in-law were murdered in separate incidents, has been working to repeal New Hampshire’s death penalty for 16 years. Cushing said a family friend once told him he hoped his father’s killer would “fry,” assuming that his father’s murder had changed his opinion about getting rid of the death penalty.  It didn’t. “If we let those who kill turn us into killers, evil triumphs, violence triumphs,” stated Cushing. The New Hampshire legislature voted in 2000 to repeal the death penalty, but then Governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill.  New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan says that she supports repeal as long as the death sentence of Michael Addison, currently on New Hampshire’s death row for killing Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006,  is not affected.  Even if this bill passes, Addison’s death sentence will stand. TADP congratulates our colleagues in New Hampshire on this important step in moving the state toward repeal. Read more.

Picture by Amnesty International

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual claim among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile malfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Louisiana Death Row Inmate Exonerated After Thirty years

Today, Glenn Ford became the nation’s 144th death row inmate to be exonerated and released. Since 1984–thirty years–Ford has waited for this day.  Still, the question remains, “Will the state of Louisiana, and the  nation as a whole, seriously examine what went so wrong in this case?”  Atlantic writer Andrew Cohen offers this assessment of Ford’s case:

“In the next few weeks, as this story spreads, the focus naturally will be on the ending of it—Ford’s first steps toward freedom. What few will focus upon, sadly, is why it took 30 years for justice to shine through here or why anyone (in or out of Louisiana) ought to have any confidence in a judicial system that so mightily defends verdicts like this one.”

Cohen details in exhaustive fashion the bungling of Ford’s counsel and conviction, the utter weakness of his case, the apparent inability or lack of will by Louisiana’s judiciary to seek justice. Ford said after his release this morning, “My sons, when I left, was babies. Now they’re grown men with babies.”

Today, Glenn Ford – convicted by an all-white jury, with no eyewitnesses, hampered by ineffectual counsel, condemned by false testimony, now 64 years old – walked out of Angola as Louisiana’s longest serving death row prisoner, but also a free man.

Photo source: http://www.rte.ie/news/

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile malfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Bipartisan effort to end Kentucky’s Death Penalty

For years, Kentucky State Senator Gerald Neal (D-Louisville) has filed a bill to end the death penalty.  Last week, Neal was joined in his efforts by Congressman David Floyd (R-Bardstown), who became the first conservative to introduce repeal legislation (with House Bill 330) in over thirty years. Since 1976, Kentucky has executed three people while spending more than $ 100 million on the capital punishment system,  according to the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (KCADP). Congressman’s Floyd’s Louisville Courier-Journal editorial can be read here, and video footage of comments by both Floyd and Neal can be seen here.

Bi-partisan efforts are becoming more commonplace. A similar movement has emerged in Montana, and New Hampshire and Kansas have recently taken up the issue in their respective state legislatures  as well. As more lawmakers from both sides of the aisle learn just how broken the death penalty system is, bi-partisan efforts to repeal the death penalty will continue to expand nationwide.

Photo source: http://www.50states.com/flag/kyflag.htm#.Ux4ttD9dWuo 

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Supreme Court Revisits Constitutionality of Executing Intellectually Disabled Inmates

Imagine a scenario where a score on a test – literally the difference of one point – meant life or death. This scenario is played out in courtrooms everyday as a one point difference in an I.Q. test score can mean a person is eligible for the death penalty or not. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing defendants with intellectual disabilities was unconstitutional. However, the court left it to the states to enforce the ruling with only general guidance. According to Adam Liptak of The New York Times:

…finding of intellectual disability requires proof of three things: “subaverage intellectual functioning,” meaning low I.Q. scores; a lack of fundamental social and practical skills; and the presence of both conditions before age 18. The court said I.Q. scores under “approximately 70” typically indicate intellectual disability.

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in the case of Florida death row inmate Freddie Lee Hall, who was convicted in 1978 of murdering Karol Hurst, who was pregnant at the time. Hall has routinely scored between 69 and 80 on I.Q. tests, and experts have testified to his intellectual disability. The state of Florida, however, has proceeded with its plans to execute Hall, as his case was decided prior to the 2002 Supreme Court ruling and because Hall scored above the 70-cutoff point on some IQ tests.

Justice Anthony Kennedy and other justices challenged aspects of the state’s position, focusing on the rigid adherence to the 70-point score (rather than considering the test’s five-point margin of error); the state’s apparent lack of attention to the opinion of medical professionals in diagnosing inmates; and other factors, which can be read here.

Georgia death row inmate Warren Hill has been battling the state for years to demonstrate his intellectual disability, as all the experts who have evaluated him agree that he has an intellectual disability. Georgia, however, has the strictest requirement of any state in the country: one must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. In October 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Hill’s request to consider stopping his execution because of his intellectual disability. Instead, Mr. Hill has a stay of execution based on challenges to Georgia’s lethal injection protocol.

Recently, the Tennessean did a number of stories on the lack of funding for the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, specifically detailing the number of Tennesseans who have been waiting for years for assistance. This stark reality for so many of Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens raises the question of fiscal priorities: Would we rather spend millions of dollars to execute death row inmates, some suffering from the same disabilities, or spend our money on those whose needs are not being met under the current system? What broader societal problems might be addressed if the bloated mechanism of capital punishment was abolished?

Photo source: The New York Times

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

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