Last January, TADP staff had the honor of meeting Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, two of the West Memphis Three, who were wrongly convicted of the 1993 murders of three 8-year old Cub Scouts in West Memphis, Arkansas. They were in Nashville as part of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for the screening of the documentary about their case, West of Memphis, which Damien helped co-produce alongside Academy-Award winner Peter Jackson.

The film examines the trial, conviction, and the years of hard work that led to the release of the West Memphis Three last year. They were only teenagers when they were convicted of the murders, and Damien Echols, believed to be the ring leader, was sentenced to death, while Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley received life sentences after a tumultuous trial in which the prosecution painted them to be satanists. Subsequent DNA evidence did not connect them to the crime scene.

After nearly 20 years of  claiming their innocence, and the constant work of a large community of activists, celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines, and their legal team, which included Lorri Davis, who Damien later married, the defendants were released on an Alford plea, which allowed them to maintain their innocence but also acknowledge that the state could convict them again in a retrial. They were credited for time served and released in August of 2011.

West of Memphis will debut in select theaters on December 25. Be on the lookout for it after that at a theater near you, or be sure to rent or download it when it becomes available! You can view the trailer here. Damien also recently released his memoir, “Life After Death,” and spoke about it at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville in October.

Although the West Memphis Three are free, they are still awaiting justice since they all still have a criminal conviction on their record for something they did not do. Please sign this petition calling on Arkansas Governor Mike BeeBe to pardon them.

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 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 dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be very 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.

On Friday as the details of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut unfolded, my best friend was preparing for her youngest daughter’s 7th birthday party that same afternoon–the age of so many of the victims. Both she and I put on a brave face for the party, but it was so painful to see those young, sweet faces laughing and smiling without a care in the world and to know the horror that others just like them had not survived earlier in the day.

To say that we, as a nation, are all sickened, shocked, and heartbroken that such a tragedy has occurred yet again is an understatement. Knowing how to wrap one’s mind and heart around what has happened is a challenge and is something with which we will struggle for a long time to come.

As these grieving families and the whole Newtown community bury their children, teachers, and school administrators (as well as the shooter and his mother) this week, we at TADP invite everyone to take a moment to tell those we care about that we love them, to pray for all victims of violence as well as those who commit such horrible acts and their devastated families, and to reflect on how, moving forward, we can honor these lives taken so tragically.

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 malfunction. 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 disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very 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.

It boggles the mind to imagine how former death row inmate Jerry Hartfield, an illiterate man with an IQ of 51, is still locked up today after a Texas appeals court order a new trial for him over 30 years ago.

Hartfield was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1976 murder of Eunice Job Lowe. In 1980, a Texas appeals court ordered a new trial because a juror was wrongly excluded from the initial trial. Though state attorneys fought for a rehearing on that decision twice, the court rejected their request. In 1983, then Governor Mark White commuted Hartfield’s death sentence to life in prison, though his conviction had been overturned and and a retrial had been ordered. Nothing happened with the case for the next 23 years.

In 2006, with the help of another inmate, Hartfield filed a handwritten writ of habeas corpus, asking to either be retried or set free, arguing that his 6th Amendment right to a speedy trial has been violated. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the motion twice before it was heard by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, who said a conviction didn’t even exist in the case. “Hartfield’s position is as straightforward and subtle as a freight train….The court’s mandate was never recalled, its decision never overturned, the conviction never reinstated; yet Hartfield never received the ‘entirely new trial’ ordered by the court,” said Hughes.

The state appealed Judge Hughes’ decision, and the case went before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which called Hartfield’s incarceration “disturbingly unprofessional” but returned the case to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, requesting that it define the status of its ruling overturning Hartfield’s conviction. Such action is likely to drag the case out even longer.

This is a highly disturbing case that demonstrates just how broken things are. How are we to trust a system to make decisions involving life and death when the same system essentially forgot about a mentally impaired man who has spent the majority of his life behind bars without due process?

(Photo courtesy of salon.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 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 core trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction 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.

To be able to take the life of another human being, a murder must be able to disregard the the value of the life of another. The death penalty only perpetuates this disrespect. While we think we are showing potential murderers the penalty they will face, that there is a price to be paid for disrespecting life, in reality we are condoning their belief that the lives of others can be devalued and destroyed if it suits their purposes. We do exactly the same thing when we execute anyone; we are saying killing is okay if it serves our larger purposes.

Cases like Eric Robert’s in South Dakota demonstrate this cycle of disrespect for life, not just of others but of one’s self. Robert, who was executed for the death of a prison guard in a botched prison escape, asked for the death penalty. The death penalty says that killing is justified because some things matter more than the lives of others, and Robert valued the possibility of freedom more than the life of Ronald Johnson. This system of devaluing life also led Robert to value his own life so little that knowing he would likely be executed if his escape failed actually incentivised him to try rather than remain behind bars for his 80 year sentence. As his own lawyer stated, “The availability of the death penalty encouraged rather than discouraged Robert to commit this crime.”

The reality is that worst crimes in our society are motivated by a number of issues that go well beyond the effectiveness of threats. For example, mental illness is a frequent factor in capital cases. People suffering from severe and persistent mental illnesses are often incapable of considering consequences in the manner necessary for the threat of execution to deter them. The millions of dollars wasted on capital cases could be more effectively spent on preventing crimes like these by investing in better mental health care. Instead, our current approach claims to prevent crime by threatening those who often cannot understand the threats.

Someone who respects life will not kill others because they respect life, not because they fear the wrath of the law. If we want to live in a society that values life, we must end the death penalty. Otherwise, we perpetuate an attitude that belittles the value of other human beings. Let us stop sending mixed signals and start thinking about what actually works.

Photo by Michael Wyszomierski, http://flic.kr/p/UmJg

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 dysfunction. 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 dysfunction 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 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.

Oregon is among several states to watch for repeal in coming years. The editorial board of The Oregonian recently endorsed a bill to be introduced by Representative Mitch Greenlick in the upcoming legislative session. The bill would begin the process of amending the state’s constitution to repeal the death penalty through a referendum that would be put before voters as early as November 2014.

The state has only executed three individuals in the last 50 years, two of them during Governor John Kitzhaber’s first term. Last year, Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on capital punishment, saying “I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor.”

Kitzhaber went on to issue a reprieve for death row inmate Gary Haugan, who was convicted of killings in 1981 and 2003 and waived several appeals and asked to be executed. Haugan took the case to court, where a judge ruled that he had the right to reject the reprieve. The governor appealed the ruling. Both parties are waiting to see if the Court of Appeals will pass the case on to the state Supreme Court.

While the editorial board understands the governor’s concerns and opposition to the death penalty, they argue that repeal should be up to the citizens of Oregon and not decided by one man.

The editorial board wrote, “Advances in DNA testing, combined with dogged advocacy work, have startled the public into realizing that dozens of innocent people have been wrongly sentenced to die based on faulty evidence and poor legal defense… it’s possible to picture Oregon joining the ranks of the abolitionists.”

We hope they’re right!

(Photo courtesy of globalcitizencorps.org)

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 dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness 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 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.

Last week, 110 countries voted for a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty in the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee, which addresses human rights issues. This was the largest number of countries to ever support the resolution, which is voted on every two years. In 2010, 107 countries backed the resolution.

In addition to the European Union nations, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Israel supported the non-binding resolution. Sadly, the United States joined Japan, China, Iran, India, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe along with 31 other countries in opposing the resolution, and 36 countries abstained.

France, along with other abolitionist nations, launched a campaign to get the full General Assembly to pass a resolution next month calling for a death penalty moratorium. Although such a resolution would also be non-binding, supporters say that it would help to increase moral pressure to end the death penalty worldwide.

Though it is disappointing that the United States did not join the majority of nations who support this resolution, it is encouraging that more nations are doing so. With growing support for repeal within the U.S. and five states having abolished the death penalty in the in the last five years, the United States is making progress as we move toward joining the ranks of the nearly 150 abolitionist countries.

(Photo courtesy of earthtimes.org)

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 disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as soul 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 so 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.

In last Tuesdays’ Tennessean (Nov. 13), an article debuted Oxford Dictionary’s “Word of the Year.” Given Britain’s ongoing media debacles and its government’s notable 2012 gaffes, this year’s word is “omnishambles.”

Oxford University Press defines this word as, “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.”  Upon reading this definition, I could not think of a better word to describe the state of our nation’s current death penalty system: omnishambles.

Innocent people sentenced to death. Rampant racial and class bias. Exorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars wasted. Ineffective attorneys. Executions of individuals with severe mental illness. Victims’ families waiting decades for the promise of an execution.  Disproportionate sentencing. Coerced confessions. Faulty eyewitness identification.  Withheld evidence–omnishambles.

I hope in the near future when I think of the death penalty system and all its failings, another word will come to mind–history.

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 heartiness 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 soundness 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.

On Friday, Leonard Edward Smith, a man who has been on and off Tennessee’s death row for decades for the 1984 murder of Novella Webb, a Sullivan County grocery store co-owner, had his sentence reduced to life in prison.

Two retrials that ended in death sentences followed Smith’s initial trial and death sentence. Of the three accomplices, Smith was the only one to receive the death penalty. One received a life sentence, and the other a 25-year sentence in return for testifying against the other two. Last year, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that Smith should receive a new sentencing hearing because his attorneys never attempted to have the judge from an earlier sentencing hearing recused, even though the judge had been a former prosecutor who prosecuted Smith for robbery years earlier. The Court also ordered a new hearing to determine if Smith had an intellectual disability, which would exempt him from the death penalty.

After three capital trials,  the Sullivan County District Attorney Barry P. Staubus decided against pursuing the death penalty again. Novella Webb’s family agreed since, after decades of legal wrangling, they wanted this ordeal to end and to get some legal finality.

Twenty-seven years and untold amounts of taxpayer dollars later (according to a 2004 report by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office a capital trial costs 48 percent more than non-capital trial), Smith received a life sentence–a sentence he could have been given in 1985.  Instead, the victim’s family has had to endure the agony of three capital trials and years of pain and uncertainty. Tennessee can do better for victims’ families and for all Tennesseans, by putting an end to this costly, broken system and replacing it with one that still holds offenders accountable, provides more legal finality, and redirects resources to needed services and programs that provide for public safety.

(Photo courtesy of aafe.org)

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 soundness 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 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 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.

As an intern here at TADP, I have the opportunity to reflect on many aspects of the death penalty. I will be sharing some of these thoughts here occasionally, and I hope you will consider engaging in a dialogue with me.

Watching proposition 34 fail in California was a disheartening experience for me. But, this loss opened my eyes to a strange side-effect of the death penalty on our sense of justice. Many in our society continue to see the death penalty as an important aspect of carrying out justice. One of the prevailing messages of maintaining the death penalty is that it gives closure to murder victims’ loved ones.  In fact, I think that it only complicates the suffering of the family and friends of murder victims. Letting the death penalty remain allows us to pretend that relieving their loss and giving them justice is a simple process. Truth, however, continues to resist such simplifications.

Whichever side of abolition one stands on, we all care for the suffering of those who shared a life with victims. The death penalty is a response, however, that allows us to simplify this suffering. If the perpetrator is executed, we hope that the family will find closure and be able to move on with their lives. We want it to give a concise endpoint to their suffering. Listening to families of murder victims has taught me that death penalty cases last years, meaning ‘a clear cut endpoint’ is in fact a far distant, uncertain future. In other cases, the Alford plea is offered which allows a defendant who may have real evidence of innocence to plead to a lesser charge  and leave prison while maintain his or her innocence. This plea is often granted because the prosecution fears that it will lose during a new trial. Such an outcome leaves these families, again, with no legal closure. It goes down as a “win” because the plea is still guilty. The case is closed, regardless of the fact that the victims’ family and friends will never have an answer to their questions.

It is an unfortunate truth that no amount of legal process will ever replace the loved one lost. Neither judge nor jury has the power to heal these hearts, but we can certainly cause more or less harm through the process. The death penalty pretends that suffering can be turned off and on by a single action. I have not yet met anyone who has lost a loved one whose grief is that straightforward.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfon18/2439293687/

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 dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be so 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.